Mark Spector

Trusted Voice On The Canadian Sports Media Landscape For 30 Years, From Writing A National Column For The National Post Newspaper To Working Tv, Radio, Authoring Two Books And Writing Daily In His Role As A Columnist For Sportsnet.ca.

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Mark Spector has spent more than 30 years in hockey dressing rooms. One thing he’s learned is that the guy with the most points isn’t always the one leading the team. He writes about the NHL for Sportsnet from Edmonton, where he was born and still lives. Before that he covered the Oilers for the Edmonton Journal and wrote a national sports column for the National Post. He’s also the author of The Battle of Alberta and Road to Gold.

Mark Spector, Edmonton, Alberta, gives keynotes on leadership, mentorship and teamwork, along with evenings of NHL stories for hockey crowds.

Mark Spector speaking topics

Leadership vs. Mentorship: whether leadership is the coach’s speech, the captain between periods or the quiet player with no letter on his sweater
Why the leading scorer isn’t always the leader
What winning teams do in the room that fans never see
Inside stories from the Oilers, the Battle of Alberta and the World Juniors

Best fit for

Sportsman dinners and hockey banquets
Leadership meetings and management retreats
Sales conferences and staff events
Golf tournaments and charity fundraisers
Hockey talks and Q&A evenings

About Mark Spector

Mark was born in Edmonton in November 1965. He got his start at The Gateway, the University of Alberta’s student paper. He still tells young writers to find a place like that to learn the job, even if it doesn’t pay.

The Edmonton Journal hired him in May 1987. He stayed about 15 years, working the Oilers beat and later sharing the paper’s sports column after Cam Cole left for the National Post. Then Mark made the same move himself. He spent six years at the Post, the last few as its lead general sports columnist.

Sportsnet brought him on in 2008, and he’s now a senior columnist there. A lot of his columns are about the Oilers and Flames, and he turns up on Sportsnet’s Oilers broadcasts too. You can find him on X at @SportsnetSpec.

Radio is part of the résumé as well. For a stretch he had his own show on TEAM 1260 in Edmonton, called, naturally, The Mark Spector Show. He also co-hosted Total Sports on the same station with Bob Stauffer.

His first book came out in 2015. The Battle of Alberta: The Historic Rivalry Between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames goes back to the 1980s, when the two best teams in the NHL sat three hours apart on the same highway. Mark talked to the players, coaches and trainers who were there, and a lot of what they told him is pretty funny. In 2019 he put out Road to Gold: The Untold Story of Canada at the World Juniors. For years Canada was barely a factor at that tournament, and the book shows how that changed. The 2020 paperback added a chapter on Canada’s gold medal win over Russia that January.

Plenty of big names have sat across from him with a recorder running. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Teemu Selanne are on that list, and so are baseball stars Alex Rodriguez and Ichiro Suzuki.

Every summer he puts his name on a golf tournament. The Mark Spector Golf Classic started in 2014. The money goes to Sport Central, an Edmonton charity that collects and fixes up sports equipment for kids whose families can’t afford it. Mark figures the total is up to about $1.8 million after 13 tournaments. He’s also a huge Chicago Cubs fan, and his license plate says CUBSWIN.

Why organizations book Mark Spector

He has the stories. After three decades of road trips and dressing-room interviews, he can tell a room things hockey fans haven’t heard before.

Leadership your team can use. Some of the best leaders he’s seen in NHL dressing rooms never wore a letter, and he shows how the same thing plays out at work.

He keeps it light. There’s plenty of substance in his talks, but it comes with humor, so the non-fans in the room don’t feel left out.

He’s comfortable with a microphone. Years of TV and radio mean he’s at ease on stage and happy to take questions from the floor.

How to book Mark Spector through MCP Talent Agency

Send your date, city and audience size through the booking request form, or call 1-800-693-6665. Keep the NHL calendar in mind, since he’s covering the season for Sportsnet.
Tell MCP Talent Agency what you want out of the talk. It might be leadership, or it might just be a fun night of hockey stories. Let them know if you’d like time for questions too.
Once the quote and contract are signed, MCP Talent Agency works out travel and the run of show with Mark.

Travels from

Mark lives in Edmonton, so events around Alberta are an easy trip for him. Mark Spector travels from Edmonton, Alberta. Find more Edmonton speakers, Alberta talent and hockey speakers.

Fee to book Mark Spector

MCP Talent Agency lists Mark in the $3,501 to $7,500 range, in Canadian dollars.

A dinner in Edmonton keeps travel off the bill, while an event that needs a flight adds to it. The length and format of the talk make a difference too. See other speakers in this price range.

Check Mark Spector’s availability

Call 1-800-693-6665 or email info@mcptalent.com to check whether Mark is free on your date. You can also use the online request form.

Leadership vs Mentorship

Is it long speeches by the coach, or the captain holding everyone to account between every period? Or is leadership more subtle, and perhaps carried out by people who aren’t wearing letters, or with their name on the marquee.

FAQs

How much does it cost to book Mark Spector?

MCP Talent Agency has him in the $3,501 to $7,500 range (CAD). An Edmonton date keeps travel off the bill, while anything farther away adds flights and a hotel. Talk length matters as well. Once you call 1-800-693-6665 or send the online request form, MCP Talent Agency will put a quote in writing for you.

How soon do we need to book Mark Spector?

Earlier is better, mostly because of hockey. Mark covers the NHL season for Sportsnet, and playoff dates are the hardest to get. Things open up in the summer after the Cup is handed out. Either way, a quick call to MCP Talent Agency at 1-800-693-6665 will tell you if your date is open.

Is a virtual talk with Mark Spector possible?

Maybe. That’s something to raise with MCP Talent Agency at the start. If he can do it for your date, he’d come through on the video platform you already use, which makes it easy for people working from home to tune in. Just tell the team which platform it is and roughly how many will join, and from what time zone.

Which events suit Mark Spector?

Sportsman dinners and hockey banquets are an easy fit. So are leadership meetings and sales conferences, where his talk on leadership and mentorship gives the hockey stories a business angle. He also knows charity golf from the inside, since he’s been running his own tournament since 2014. That makes him a natural pick for a golf tournament or a fundraiser dinner.

Does Mark Spector travel for events outside Alberta?

Yes. Home is Edmonton, and he’s happy to get on a plane for events elsewhere in Canada. If it’s outside the Edmonton area, the flight and hotel get added to your quote. For anything in the States, ask MCP Talent Agency to look at his dates and the travel when you send your request.

What’s the process for booking Mark Spector?

Go through MCP Talent Agency. Fill out the online request form with your date and city, a rough headcount and what kind of event it is, or just call 1-800-693-6665. Once MCP Talent Agency confirms he’s free, you’ll get a quote and contract. The team works with you and Mark on the talk from there.