Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

December 14, 2024

Max Muhleman, whose sports marketing prowess was instrumental in the founding of the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers and, thus, helped turn his adopted hometown into a major metropolitan center, passed away of natural causes at the Southminster Rehabilitation Facility on December 14, 2024. He was 88 years old.

Surviving Mr. Muhleman are his sons Lee Muhleman and Lee’s partner Amy Hill of Huntersville and Jeff Muhleman of Charlotte; his brother James of Greenville, SC and his wife Leona; and sister Susie Nuchols and her husband Bo of Maryville, TN. Mr. Muhleman was the son of Donald and Katherine Muhleman of Greenville, SC. Jean, his wife of 56 years, died in 2016. Max and Jean always enjoyed their getaways at their vacation homes in the mountains of Banner Elk, NC and the beaches of Amelia Island, FL and rooting passionately for the Georgia Bulldogs football team.

Mr. Muhleman was a nationally award-winning sports journalist at The Charlotte News when the Ford Motor Co. hired him in 1964 to represent, first, Carroll Shelby and then Dan Gurney in California. This assignment established him as a pioneer in sports marketing. Shelby and Gurney are motor sports legends and members of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

“Mully,” as he was affectionately known, opened his own sports marketing firm in Newport Beach, CA in 1972 and worked with entrepreneur Gary Davidson to develop the World Football League and World Hockey Association. In 1978 he returned to Charlotte to copartner an advertising agency and then, in 1982 opened Muhleman Marketing.  

In Charlotte, Muhleman became a national leader in sports promotion, even after selling his thriving agency to Mark McCormack’s International Management Group in 1999. One of Muhleman Marketing’s first clients was Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, the winningest team in NASCAR Cup history. On Hendrick’s recommendation, George Shinn sought Muhleman’s help to attract an NBA franchise. Muhleman presented Charlotte as a regional market with a drawing area of 50 to 100 miles, and it was a winning strategy. In 1987, Charlotte landed its first major league team, helped by an improvisational financing plan called Charter Seat Rights. This strategy evolved into Permanent Seat Licenses, a concept whereby fans purchase ownership of their seats to keep as an investment. Muhleman used PSLs to good effect when Jerry Richardson called on him to develop a marketing strategy to build a stadium and bring an NFL franchise to Charlotte. That all came to fruition in 1993. The Greensboro News and Record wrote at the time, “The man with the money is Jerry Richardson. The man with the plan is Max Muhleman.” And Richardson concurred. “It was his strategy that helped us win a franchise,” he said.

In later years, the NFL put Muhleman on retainer for franchise consulting. He developed PSL plans for multiple NFL and MLB teams, earning an estimated $1 billion. But he also regretted that PSLs became known as a surcharge for the right to buy season tickets. 

Muhleman’s stature as a sports marketer has long been recognized. He’s a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame. In 2016 the Charlotte Business Journal wrote, “Max Muhleman never lacks for promotional enthusiasm. He is, after all, the man who, as much as anyone — yes, that includes Jerry Richardson and George Shinn — took Charlotte from regional wrestling matches and minor-league baseball to the NBA All-Star Game and the Super Bowl.” In 2017, writing in Charlotte magazine, Ron Green Jr. included Mulhleman in a short list of people who have “never been afraid to dream big.” Mentioned with businessmen Hugh McColl, Johnny Harris and John Belk, along side Richardson, Shinn and other Charlotte luminaries was “Max Muhleman.” But the highest compliment may have come from Rick Hendrick, who once said, “He's not the guy who catches or throws the ball, or owns the team or drives the race car, but for him to be so well-known in the industry, he's got to be good. He's the guy that puts it all together and makes it work.”

Muhleman’s marketing successes grew out of this credo: “My philosophy is that we want to under promise and overdeliver,” he once said. “I’m determined we will never disappoint a client. We need to bat a thousand in to deliver for our clients, and that means batting a thousand in every aspect of the business. You've got to read the market correctly, and you've got to attend to every one of your client's needs, no matter how small. Anything less and you've failed.”

And Mully never did.—Larry Keith

Mr. Muhleman’s remarkable life will be celebrated at 11AM on December 30, 2024 at Myers Park Presbyterian Church. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be offered in memory of Max to the Charlotte chapter of the Salvation Army and the Lees McRae College, Attn: Jean Edwards Muhleman Nursing Scholarship Fund, 191 Main Street W., Banner Elk, NC 28604.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606. Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.