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The Tao of Sports Podcast – The Definitive Sports, Marketing, Business Industry News Podcast

Sports Revenue Analytics veteran and sport management professor Troy Kirby interviews the team behind the teams in Front Offices and Athletics Departments throughout the world, revealing an industry of specialists and minds unseen by the local or national media. Examined in this podcast are current or long-standing industry topics; tickets, business, analytics, moneyball, revenue, finance, economy, sales and jobs of the NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. Also included are topics surrounding third party vendors, sports business, revenue, marketing, mentoring interns, facilities, managing employees, as well as how to not only break into sports, but stay in the industry long-term. The often-invisible side of the industry is where the Tao of Sports Podcast attempts to pull back the elusive curtain, providing information both to industry insiders and those who want to work in sports. Troy Kirby is a sport management professor at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Washington.
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The Tao of Sports Podcast – The Definitive Sports, Marketing, Business Industry News Podcast
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Now displaying: August, 2015
Aug 31, 2015

AJ Machosky understands the secondary market from both the primary and secondary angles, working IMG to help drive revenue for St. John's University, Pitt and the Big East. Now in his role at Vivid Seats, AJ discusses some of the details of how to understand what drives ticket sales through digital portals. AJ focuses also on some of the issues surrounding the secondary, whether that be fears from the primary market side about tickets flooding through digital markets, or the Super Bowl resale issue where several mechanisms did not take hold, short-selling happened, and how the perception of the secondary changed overnight.

Aug 28, 2015

The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) fits several ways into the mind of the public and the press. Several of those definitions are not necessarily correct. Dana Thomas represents the NCAA's social media as well as internal online communication traffic, helping define the organization's mission within the scope of relevant topics for its members. Thomas discusses the ways in which the NCAA has attempted to engage with the public, as well as some of the things that they have learned along the way. That includes not responding to every comment left by a social media follower. Thomas also shares some of the ways that the internal web communication have helped clean up some of the committee processes as well as minutes, in order to deliver the most relevant information to its member institutions. Twitter: @NCAADana

Aug 26, 2015

Only two months on the job at the University of Michigan, and Brian Wagner has been a part of major national news, when three athletic facebook accounts were hacked in the middle of the night. Wagner talks about this incredible story, where spam hackers placed posts through the Michigan athletics facebook accounts, then locked out the entire UM digital team. Wagner reveals how Michigan worked with Facebook's London office, then its Silicon Valley crew, and learned quite a few ways to protect themselves for the future. Wagner also discusses some of his views on social media, especially when having a major college coach with a unique brand in football's Jim Harbaugh, as well as ways that microsites can help establish customer service aspects for the fans attending games or trying to seek out specific information. Twitter: @BrianRWagner

Aug 24, 2015

Dr. Bernie Mullin has helped push the envelope in terms of sports business for over 40 years. He helped start one of the hallmarks of sports business education at the University of Massachusetts in the late-1970s, served as vice president for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies, was president of a minor league hockey team, SVP of the NBA's Team Marketing & Business Operations  (TMBO), president of a WNBA franchise, and even Vice Chancellor/Athletic Director of the University of Denver. If that wasn't enough, Mullin launched the third-party ticket sales revolution in college athletics in 2007, creating the Aspire Group which has expanded to over 30 properties across the nation. Mullin shares his vision for where ticket sales, as well as marketing, in the college and sports space has to grow, especially on the mentality of young professionals working today. Mullin's short hand working with college administrators, as well as the Aspire Group's professional growth of its employees, has culminated in a wider development of revenue for athletic departments across the board.

Aug 21, 2015

Natalle Brown is truly helping innovate the sports business space through Lightning Rewards, a multi-data set platform to connect fans to the Melbourne Storm National Rugby League team brand. Brown explains the Melbourne sports market, and how fighting for the fan amid 21 other professional competitive teams makes every transaction a necessary one. Brown talks about how the Lightning Rewards program works, some of the ways that fans interact and engage with each other using the social media aspects, and how the Storm reap the ultimate rewards of fan loyalty in the process. Brown speaks about the sporting culture of Melbourne, as well as how membership works, including the cradle-to-the-grave loyalty to one sports club brand over the others. Twitter: @NatalleBrown

Aug 19, 2015

History is one of the major selling points for the Boston Celtics franchise and as Jim Davis explains, they have to respect that legacy while pushing forward with modern technology when creating revenue. Davis talks about the initiatives that the Celtics are establishing in order to think differently, especially when the magical playoff runs are gone and the Celtics aren't a 50-win team during a rebuilding run. Davis speaks to the heart of gaining the trust of the fan, and how to embrace face-to-face meetings with customers in order to bond season ticket holders with the team long-term. Twitter: @JimDavis78

Aug 17, 2015

The role of a development officer when creating the relationship is one of Coleman Barnes' main assets to a campus athletic department. At Miami University in Ohio as an associate athletic director, Barnes lays out his vision of what great stewardship of donors should look like. Barnes discusses several of the key components in terms of developing a metric that works for development officers, as well as ensuring that the relationship building isn't merely "party planning" but actual transition toward a gift-making decision. Barnes shares his view on the pending budget issue regarding the IRS tax benefit for annual fund gifts, especially if the practice goes away, and how that may affect athletic departments across the country. Twitter: @ColemanBarnes

Aug 14, 2015

Randy Cohen isn't just a CEO, he's the Chief Energizing Officer of TicketCity, a secondary market broker that has lasted over 25 years in the business. Cohen relates his story in two formats, both in the conversation of the podcast as well as an autography "Ticket To The Limit" in which Cohen details taking his $1,200 life savings and betting himself, by investing in No. 3 Texas Longhorn's men's basketball tickets tickets in 1990, selling those $6 tickets for $15 each. Cohen has built a larger than life persona and empire, with employees who have averaged 19 years with the company, which now generates over $100 million in revenue. Cohen expands on his thoughts about the primary and secondary, as well as some of the legal ramifications coming down the pike with the class action lawsuits in California and New Jersey. Twitter: @TicketCity

Aug 12, 2015

The National Sports Forum began as the ultimate loss leader for Founder Ron Seaver, who in the first year had a $65,000 hotel bill and only three attendees come to the inaugural conference. Seaver didn't give up, and ended up transforming the NSF into one of the premier sports conferences with over 1,000 attendees in the last 20 years. Seaver shares how the NSF increases the format of its educational tracks in order to cater to the multiple needs of the sports business professional, as well as enhancing the ability of the speakers to be as open as possible with their ideas and solutions to the complex problems facing franchises today. Seaver talks about some of the variable ways to engage both conference attendees and sponsors, including the changing world of the tradeshow booth philosophy of selling by vendors. A big reason for Seaver's success - protecting the price point of what the NSF sells its attendee badges at. Twitter: @NatlSportsForum

Aug 10, 2015

Glitnir Ticketing's foundation in 2003 begin simply as a way to make it easier for smaller sports franchises to be able to sell tickets. CEO and Founder Gordon Krstacic has helped build Glitnir in Long Island, New York into one of only four MiLB-vendor approved ticket platforms. Krstacic sees the playing field as something that can only help increase sales, utilizing several boutique options in order to drive revenue, by implement not only C.R.M. options but also telephone sales measurements and other customizable contracts for the entire platform's cohesive ecosystem. Krstacic shares his industry knowledge on what has helped drive ticket sales for the likes of the Indianapolis Indians, as well as how Glitnir's social media aspects have increased the amount of data analytics per customer. Twitter: @GlitnirTicketng

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