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January 28, 2025

Athletics School of Business and Technology

At 7 p.m., as the Minnesota Timberwolves warm up on the court, Chief Operating Officer Ryan Tanke B’96 greets a few fans. Tanke knows exactly what it takes to get audiences into those seats, and he’s already prepping a game plan for the next Lynx and Timberwolves seasons.

“Certainly it’s an incredibly scripted and orchestrated experience that we try to create,” he said. “We call it driveway to driveway. From the time they leave their houses to the time they get home, how can we positively impact every touch point and experience along the way? We have a lot of people and technology helping with that experience. And then, in the arena, we want to deliver best-in-class entertainment, regardless of if the team is winning or the team is losing.

“Certainly you become a really big fan of the teams that you go and do this with and for, and so you certainly want to take time to enjoy those special moments, and at the same time making sure you keep the main thing THE main thing, which is, we’re here to provide entertainment and bring people together.”

Entering his sixth year as COO, Tanke oversees the business operations of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Lynx, as well as an NBA G League minor league affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa. He explains his work comes down to five verticals.

• First, ticket sales and service. “Sports has such a unique way of bringing people together, so it’s really the core of what we do,” he said.

• Second is sponsorship. From facility partners like Target and Mayo Clinic to everyone on their jersey patches, they have roughly 65 corporate sponsors, so there’s a significant team focused on sponsorship.

• Third is marketing, including live programming and entertainment, digital and social media, as well as traditional commercial Marketing.

• Fourth is business intelligence, the fastest growing area, with 15 people interpreting vast amounts of data analytics.

• And fifth is communications with a public relations team working with media to share stories year round.

“There are no two days that are alike,” he said. “We have a lot of things that we do on a day-to-day basis. But then we’re also in the business of hosting events. We have 42 Timberwolves regular season games a year, and we have 22 Lynx regular season games a year, and I also get down to Iowa regularly. When you choose this as a profession, you’re kind of choosing this lifestyle as well to a degree. You’ve got to really love that high-paced and high-energy environment to thrive.”

Tanke said he’s proud of the extraordinary team he has the opportunity to lead, and with the Lynx reaching the WNBA Finals, there was an added excitement this fall. “They have brought the entire community and state together. We launched the Lynx franchise in 1998, shortly after I started. It’s remarkable to see where the WNBA is now as a whole, to see the momentum and the movement. The arena is filled with fans and the amount of people who are experiencing the WNBA and the Lynx for the first time this season, and are just getting started, is a cool thing.”

Tanke knew when he was a business management major and a basketball athlete at Saint Mary’s that his goal was to tie his two passions together.

He decided in 1997, a year after graduating, to take a risk and pursue his dream. “I decided I would just come down to Target Center and get a job doing anything. And I thought maybe, if I just worked there, I might meet some people from the team that I might be able to network with. So every time I would see somebody with a credential who worked for the team, I would make it a point to introduce myself, find out what they did and follow up with the note.

And so that activity, really led to what became my foot in the door, which was an unpaid internship in ticket sales for the Timberwolves.

Most people don’t take that type of risk — a year after college, leaving a full-time job to go and take an internship position with no real future guarantee at that point. I think I learned a lot about the importance of taking a risk and betting on yourself and pursuing your interests.”

Through the years, Tanke quickly rose through the ranks, holding several management roles, including chief revenue officer for six years, prior to his current title.

“I think I recognize as I get older, the significance of starting as an intern, being able to grow and take the hard road of really creating a path,” he said. “It’s the ‘anything-is-possible’ mindset. And if you believe in something and pursue it with intensity for a long period of time, you can really do and be whatever you want, and I think that is an important part of the story, so I’m certainly proud of that.”

He advises students, “Pursue your passions. And, you know, the rest has a way of sorting itself out,” and adds, “I think the second part of that is you’ve got to be willing to commit an unreasonable amount of time and energy into that pursuit. I think one of the mistakes young people and people early in their careers make is they might pursue something for the right reason, but they don’t stick to it. “You have to bet on yourself. And you have to think big.”

Tanke said that Saint Mary’s, for him, was the perfect place at the perfect time in his life.

“It was a great place for me to grow as a person, to go and get a great education, and the faculty along the way were part of that journey. And to continue my passion of playing sports at a Division III level. Being part of a team creates, I think, a lot of life skills like commitment and teamwork and being able to balance playing a sport and trying to be a great student. And those life skills, I use them every day, leading three different organizations and leading a large team of people. I’m balancing and prioritizing every day. Those are things that I have certainly carried with me.

“And then, there are the lifelong friendships, relationships, and people who remain a big part of my life today, almost 30 years later, and certainly they are a huge part of the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with.”