The NBADL Bakersfield Jam have an interesting history since the team’s inception in 2006. Jam Co-Owner and Team President David Higdon explains some of the early missteps of the team, along with its resurrection in a unique way. The Jam went from a 10,000 seat downtown arena that they couldn’t fill while losing money, to a 400 seat practice facility in which they now generate a large B2B audience amid no walk-up tickets and a tidy profit. The concept is so new that several NBADL teams are looking to see where the Jam’s experiment is a blue print for the future. Twitter: @BakersfieldJam
Dr. Barry Kahn founded QCue, Inc., helping foster dynamic ticket pricing’s rise with the San Francisco Giants in 2010. It changed the ballgame, causing front offices to embrace analytics in revenue streams for the first time. Kahn explains how the process of variable pricing works, some of the factors which teams still aren’t doing correctly, and how it can help generate more revenue in a fractionalized world. Kahn does all of this while sitting through the World Baseball Classic at Chase Field, during the Italy vs. USA game. Twitter: @DrKahn
Ari Kaplan has been a leading figure in revolutionizing the way that Major League Baseball looks at statistical information. A key leader in the role of analytics, Kaplan has been involved with half of the MLB teams in his 23-year career. Kaplan talks about good data, sampling and the ability to see through the numbers, understanding the intangibles and how to work with great managers to determine scouting and analytic information. Twitter: @AriKaplan1
Matt Slatus has his work cut out for him at Camelback Ranch, the Cactus League Spring Training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. Slatus has to sell not only against every one of the five professional and two college teams in the Phoenix metro area, but also against 13 other Spring Training competitors, each going after the corporate and luxury entertainment dollar. The fact that Spring Training is less than 10 weeks long also makes things even more complicated. Slatus explains his role with Camelback Ranch as well as working for several years in marketing & sponsorship throughout major and minor league sports. Twitter @MattSlatus
At a university where the rival school has won consecutive FCS Football Championships, Director of Ticket Sales & Promotions Dexter Albrecht has managed to push the envelope in collegiate ticket sales. His goal is to continually establish a cohesive ticket sales strategy that ensures UND's success, regardless of whether that is on the football field, basketball court or the ice. Albrecht talks about UND, his time selling tickets for the NHL's Minnesota Wild, and how he got into the business.
Getting that first job in sports isn't easy, but WorkInSports.com has a few answers on how to do it. Since 2000, company president John Mellor has helped found one of the largest online sports job employment boards in the world. Mellor talks about what it takes to get into the industry, including some of tips on resume, grooming skills and even expectations of the "hockey stick" model. Twitter: @JohnMellor
Michael Kelly is the newly-hired COO of the Bowl Championship Series in College Football. Charged with operating a unprecedented four-team national championship playoff system, with scores of folks still against the entire BCS voting system in general, Kelly has his work cut out of him. Kelly talks about some of the challenges that he will face upcoming, jumping from the Atlantic Coast Conference as a senior associate commissioner, and where he sees college football headed in the next 8-10 years. Twitter: @MKellyBCS
The NHL's Phoenix Coyotes have undergone a remarkable transformation in a comprehensive sales effort to prove that hockey can work in the desert. The Forum, a first for the podcast, includes the four Coyotes' sales managers, offers up expertise on the ground floor of the franchise. Guests: Nick Myers (Manager of Group Sales), Lindsay Kray (Manager of Customer Service), Justin Brickner (Manager of New Business Development), and Ian Winklmann (Manager of Inside Sales). Each of the guest offers up a unique view of professional and personal growth within a major league franchise, as well as how to break into sports and stay in after someone gets there.
Ted Johnson has made a career out of gathering masses of people to events. Whether that be in his former life as a part of a political machine such as the Clinton-Gore campaign or Minnesota statewide offices, or as the Senior Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. Johnson talks about his career in ensuring brand quality, filling the house during the down times, and how to make a proper marketing effort when attempting to gain footing in a state arena funding fight. Johnson talks openly about some of the ways in which marketing sectors can be opened up further to sports fans in the future.
President of STR Marketplace Preston Hill talks about NFL teams and the opportunity to push personal seat licenses sales higher through online portals. Hill talks about the current state of the PSL, different opportunities that the teams have in order to ensure that the “waiting list” grows instead of shortens, and what teams are doing to re-engage fans with luxury suite and premium seating options.