Stefanie Gordon arrives on the podcast during an interesting time in her sports social media career: searching for that elusive next job. Gordon shares her experiences in the digital realm as a producer for Sports Illustrated, as well as how one tweet from a space shuttle managed to go viral, giving her the idea of how to generate the hashtag #hirestef as her job search continued. @stefmara
Karri Zaremba shares her experiences at creating connective marketing for venues through technology, both inside and outside the facility. Zaremba talks about the optimization of personalized data, marketing analytics, relevant/targeted content, and interactive technologies designed to acquire, retain, and monetize active users. Zaremba discusses the highly fragmented technology market around the venue-based sports and entertainment industry. Twitter: @karrizarem
Paul Franklin, founder of Franklin Capital Strategies, a full-service financial strategies firm with offices in Vienna, Virginia and Cleveland, OH. Franklin shares his vision of what makes a great financial strategic plan for athletes, and has worked with many professional athletes and is himself a long-time athlete and football coach. Through these experiences, he has become an expert on the intersection of sports and financial strategies. Twitter: @franklinfinplan
It's the 5th Anniversary of the original recording the Tao of Sports Podcast, with Ep. 1 guest Matt Harper, who returns for the third time to the show. Harper discusses his transition from college ticket sales to minor league baseball, as well as the founding of the college ticket association (NAATSO) and the first Sports Sales Boot Camp. Harper provides his thoughts on why he had originally agreed to be on the podcast in the first place, and some of the opportunities for connections that it gave him since that time. Twitter: @mattharper_tix
Dan Gale isn't shy about telling everyone that he finds the large sponsorship merger of Learfield-IMG College to be troubling for the landscape of collegiate athletics. Gale discusses some of the issues that arise from developing corporate sponsorship activation, especially with the lack of interest in signage and more interest in data. Gale discusses why he decided to move to an independent consultant model, along with the history behind his company's name. Twitter: @DanGaleJr
Brandon Steiner launched a sports marketing empire by using his life savings in 1987 and hasn't looked back since. Steiner discusses how sports collectibles have been resilient in their comeback potential with consumer demand, and what the sports trading card industry didn't do which has harmed that sector the most. Steiner talks about how the availability of athletes to understand their brand, engage with the marketplace and initiate it properly are the biggest challenges they face. Steiner shares why he's starting Project X on Facebook, in order to get entrepreneurs a chance to succeed in the marketplace. Twitter: @BrandonSteiner
Over two years ago, Michael Abramson came on the podcast (Ep. 520) to discuss how The Hartford Yard Goats would open up the 2016 season in their new ballpark. Almost 300 episodes and two years later, Abramson returns to the podcast to discuss why 2017, not 2016, was the opening year at home for The Hartford Yard Goats. In a story that covered the gamit from construction delays, FBI investigations and continual check-ins with sponsors, Abramson chats about how The Yard Goats kept everything focused and showed MiLB as well as the City of Hartford how well the franchise could succeed under pressure. Twitter: @YardGoatsAGM
Isabella Tamplin opens up the ticket world of Brazil for podcast listeners, sharing insight into her company, Grupo BWA, which oversees ticketing for over 30 professional soccer clubs. Tamplin discusses some of the issues facing the Brazillan soccer fan, especially in attendance and ticket buying consumption. Tamplin discusses how the area has handled venue operations since the Rio 2016 Games & FIFA World Cup of 2014.
John Katz returns for a third time to the podcast (Ep. 601 & Ep. 183), this time to discuss how Tim Tebow and a lunar eclipse, two marketing boons that helped the Columbia Fireflies achieve attendance metrics in 2017. Katz discusses Tebowmania, and how to handle the international press attention that came along with it. Katz shares how the team prepared for the lunar eclipse game in August 2017. Twitter: @JEKatz33
Jim Boone joins the podcast to chat about the volatility in the secondary ticket market for combat sports, especially considering the terrible pricing decisions of the Mayweather-McGregor bout in August. Boone discusses his insight into reselling tickets for MMA/UFC and boxing, as well as why the Klitschko brothers never yielded out a huge demand from American audiences despite their title reigns. Boone shares how his company caters to high-end clients, actually helping promoters move a lot of tickets, filling seats and generating revenue for the fighters. Twitter: @kotickets