Scott Jurgens talks about the challenges facing an FCS powerhouse in Montana State, where the wins on the field are there, but it really takes an additional effort of marketing in order to engage the audience. This doesn’t just include football, as basketball may be a winner, but harder to draw fans to because of the cold weather and the remoteness of Bozeman, Montana. Jurgens expands on the efforts in order to embrace the new culture that is building at MSU, as well as some of the social media and marketing efforts in order to ensure that the stands are packed every home game. Twitter: @ScottJurgens
A communications expert with over 25 years of experience in terrestrial radio, Bob Cohen talks about some of the challenges facing those who are trying to develop a great corporate sponsorship campaign for a sports franchise using broadcasting rights. Cohen shares his enthusasm for the radio industry, after spending 20 years at Clear Channel Communications, one of the largest terrestrial radio owners in the United States. Cohen talks about his vision to combine different ways of ensuring that sponsorship activation happens between the client and the franchise, determining that what is necessary isn't just signage, but a real dialogue between the two. Twitter: @BCohenStrategy
Jason Anderson has sold tickets since the mid-2000s, and in that time, has gain a ton of experiences. Anderson shares his views on ticket selling, especially for the Dover International Speedway, where one annual event can make or break the company's bottom line. Anderson talks about the skill level required to build prospects into customers, as well as how he transitioned from the NFL and Arena Football League, where he sold for the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Voodoo, respectively. Anderson was present when Hurricane Katrina struck the Ninth Ward, and relives some of the scary parts of that entire ordeal. Twitter: @JAndersonTix
Bill Sutton has helped bring sports business into the modern age; his legacy is in developing the NBA's Team Marketing & Business Operations into some of the most dynamic sales centers in all of sport, coupled with his tenures at the University of Central Florida and now at University of South Florida overseeing two of the more innovative sport management programs in the country. Sutton talks about the role of sales in sports, as well as integrity into what is being sold and who is selling it. Sutton also speaks about the issue of Mark Cuban's criticism about sports management programs and the advent of sports marketing degrees, and whether debt service is one of the biggest issues facing those students who decide to go after advanced degrees in sports management. Twitter: Sutton_ImpactU
Ryan Donckers has worked in every component of the sports industry paradigm. A punter at Eastern Washington University, Donckers’ parlayed his student-athlete acumen into a job as Director of Ticket Sales at the Spokane Indians MiLB team. Donckers has the ability to share both sales knowledge on the ticket and corporate sales side, as a former corporate sales rep for Washington State University and IMGL. Now as the Director of Sports Sales for Red Lion Hotels, Doncker’s job is trying to accommodate large football rosters, as well as create the meeting spaces necessary for football operations directors to smoothly transition toward game time. Twitter: @RDonks14
Fieldhouse Media has been one of the companies that has been working with college athletic departments in terms of social media education, monitoring and brand protection. Kevin DeShazo talks about some of the ways that college athletic directors can protect their department through social media initiatives such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. DeShazo isn’t really a fan of the adoption of Snapchat, and discusses its possible pluses and potential failings, both for the athletic department and the end user. DeShazo covers various points of entry for social media into how to draw fans to games as well as ensure that what is said on those platforms by student-athletes and coaches is consistent with the department’s brand message. Twitter: @KevinDeShazo
One of the premiere journalists covering the world of sports business today is Mike Ozanian, who shares insight into everything from media rights to franchise valuations. Ozanian goes deeper when talking about the impact of fans actually in the building compared to those watching on televisions at home. This includes the largess of media rights deals such as the $8.3 Billion deal between Time Warner Cable and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ozanian also discusses the idea of whether the teams are competing against themselves in terms of attracting fans through the doors while also trying to get them to watch through other media. Ozanian speaks on the athlete as a brand driver of revenue both individually and within a franchise structure. Twitter: @SportsMoneyBlog
The role of brand and corporate sales are discussed with Brendan Falvey, who has worked on every corner of brand development in sports. Falvey has been on the side of the sports franchise with the Colorado Rockies, selling sponsorships to companies. He has also been on the company side, trying to initiate sponsorship opportunities. And finally, Falvey has been on the business development aspect as a middle man between the company and team, trying to best create activation for both the client and the team. His experience is dynamic, helping ensure that the role of brand and brand development is taken serious by all parties involved. Twitter: @BFalvey
The former members of the Big East Conference, amid the departure of The Catholic 7 schools, transformed the college landscape in 2013-14 by the creation of The American Athletic Conference. The AAC was expected to do well, but no one expected one of its flagship schools, UCONN, to capture both the men’s & women’s NCAA basketball title, as well as another flagstaff school, UCF, to have a BCS bowl bid and stunning win over Baylor. Mark Hodgkin talks about his role in the branding creation of the AAC’s inaugural digital footprint, as well as some of the highest and lowest of being a young conference upstart against the legacy of the Big East brand. Twitter: @Mark_Hodgkin
NCAA Division II is quickly becoming just as sharp on revenue generation as its Division I cousins, although the slices of pie may be a tad smaller in scope. Pace University’s Zach Dayton discusses some of the various aspects of how a smaller university athletic program manages to generate revenue, through ticket sales, corporate sales and marketing, as well as runs an efficient operation with a smaller, multi-duty staff. Twitter: @Zach_Dayton