Compliance is an interesting role for any athletic department, typically filled with mystery and the fear of bureaucracy. Shawn Farrell explains a lot of the issues surrounding why the rules are the rules, especially at the NCAA level, and why compliance is necessary for coaches, student-athletes, administrators and fans. Farrell discusses his time as a litigator, his philosophy on working with coaches in order to ensure each has a good outcome with any rules education issue, and mentoring young administrators who are just breaking into the industry.
Darryl Wolski has worked with just about every type of league in hockey, including the KHL and NHL. Wolski talks about the differences of the leagues, what players can expect in the KHL overseas as well as the NHL. Wolski then talks about why certain minor leagues may have more value to players than just dollar signs, and then discusses advising for 15-and-under Bantam Draft prospects in terms of junior hockey and college recruiting.
The forgotten child of sports revenue is sometimes its more valuable member, that being premium seating options. Thought for a long time to be an easy win with high end partners, since the economic crash of 2008, teams have found it harder to sell a premium seat. Jason Gonella talks about the role of premium seating, what exactly those customers are looking for, and how to build up a stronger base of premium seating which is valuable real estate on the seating map. A former VP of Sales for AEG & The Rose Bowl, Gonella has worked in over 17 years in premium seating, his clients include AVP Volleyball, the Los Angeles Angels, MKTG, PrimeSport, Santa Anita Park. Twitter: @JasonGonella
Sean Callanan is focused on the growth of the social media market, especially in the world of sports. Callanan’s Sports Geek is responsible for the development of over 1 million Facebook fans for his clients, helping launch Sports DP at the NBA Draft for the Minnesota Timberwolves and a social presence for the Sydney Thunder, Cricket Australia. Sports Geek is about creating a richer experiences for the ever-demanding fan through digital media, and Callanan talks about some of the ways that teams are attempting to meet that demand head-on. Twitter: @SeanCallanan
David Cieslinski has witnessed just about every type of revenue stream that a minor league franchise has to offer while in Rochester as Adirondack Sports owns both Rochester Rhinos soccer and the Rochester Rattlers lacrosse. Cieslinski talks about stadium operations, marketing and even concessions in terms of how each revenue stream wraps into team’s bottom line. Cieslinski talks about his past experience with the Carolina Railhawks.
Jim Calpin comes on the podcast to talk about the role of franchise ownership, especially when it comes to junior hockey. Calpin discusses some of the problematic issues surrounding ownership, especially when dealing with rookies who don’t seem to understand what they are getting into. Calpin examines team evaluation, including marketing, capitalization and whether certain revenue streams have been watered down by previously bad ownership. Twitter: @JPCalpin
Ticket brokers have been around forever, but it took Brittany Menard to write it all down five years ago and start selling one of the most successful guides on the industry. Menard talks about some of the details that those starting out miss when getting into the ticket broker game, as well as what any person thinking about getting into the business can expect in terms of a return on investment.
After 42 years, the CCHA is closing its doors in July 2013, and its member schools will be placed in four different conferences. Rob Murphy has been responsible for the league’s sponsorship growth over the past few seasons and shares some insight into how to achieve activation in amid the economic downtown. Murphy talks about how to engage corporate sponsors, as well as ensure communication with each of the smaller schools about why some of the larger members of the conference such as University of Michigan are gaining more traction with sponsors.
The best way to examine something is to see how the rest of the world reacts to it and that’s where John Manning comes in. Manning’s pricing principles are based in Australia, but has several years of experience in the Asian markets, focusing on the psychology of why we buy and what value we place upon it. Manning discusses some of the misconceptions that business have on pricing and how to ensure that the true value is reached each time when putting a number on a product’s value. Twitter: @PricingProphets
To say that Thomas O’Grady knows about brand indentity is an understatement. O’Grady discusses his thoughts on branding, logo identification, and how important creative services is to any professional or college team. From 1990 to 2003, Thomas O’Grady served as Sr. VP of the NBA’s Creative Services Division, responsible for a 25-person in-house team that orchestrated the creation of 20 of the 30 NBA team re-branding identities, helping propel NBA licensed product revenues from $180 million in 1990 to $2.5 billion in 2002. O’Grady also was the brand architect behind the WNBA launch, the entire brand identity of the 1995 NBA expansion Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies, the NBA.com website launch in 1995, and the 1992 USA Basketball “Dream Team” marketing, sponsorship and brand initiatives.