As M.M.A.'s popularity explodes, so do the various options used to measure a fighter's success. Author Reed Kuhn comes onto the podcast to talk about his book, Fightnomics, which looks at breaking down statistical factors in where a fighter's focus is on and questions various fighting tactics over the years. What really matters in a fight? What surprising factors don’t? Kuhn discusses why the M.M.A. is ready for a Moneyball era of its own and how analytics can change the entire playing field. Common theories about MMA get put to the test with a little bit of science, and a whole lot of numbers. And so much more. Kuhn talks about how the fight game will never look quite the same after the book's examination how fights go down, and what really matters in a cage fight. Twitter: @Fightnomics
Partnership development in sports is one of the key ways of ensuring corporate sponsorship growth. Aileen McManamon works as a conduit between the sports organization and corporate partner, trying to ensure that brand development fosters an ROI for any major business affiliation with a team or sports event. McManamon talks about some of the factors that go into creating good activation, as well as some of the larger scale VIP experiences, such as the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. McManamon discusses her time as President and COO of the Vancouver Canadians minor league baseball franchise, as well as the Director of Marketing for FIAT, overseeing affiliations with Tour de France, German Hockey League and European Motorsports. Twitter: @Ms_Sportsbiz
In the last 10 years, Ralph Morton has helped initiate one of the most active sports commissions in the United States. As Executive Director of the Seattle Sports Commission, Morton has been in some of top dealings for major league teams, area data and political conversations over publicly-funded stadiums and arenas. Morton also helps bridge the game for major outside sports promotions that want help accessing the market and media when putting on events in the city of Seattle. Morton talks about the Seattle Super Sonics’ departure and its effect on Queen Anne Hill around Key Arena, as well as the history of the Seattle Sports Commission throughout the years.
Nate Silverman has worked for two NBA teams, run his own sports consulting firm, and sold corporate sales for Learfield Sports. Silverman knows the sales game and how to move inventory. Silverman talks about some of his methodology, including how to engage high dollar CEOs into buying the night of a game for the rest of the season, as well as getting them to pull out that infamous "black card" with no credit limit. Silverman talks about his time at the Seattle Supersonics, including his ability to get the preferred vendor status for the Microsoft account which meant a ton of inbound calls while the rest of his colleagues were making out-bound ones. Silverman talks about his utter disappointment in the Sonics leaving town, his decision not to go with the team, and his time running his own consulting firm.
Mike Veeck is part of baseball marketing lore. Veeck is third in the fourth generation of marketing geniuses which have graced baseball since William Louis Veeck Sr. became president of the Chicago Cubs in 1919 and created Ladies Day, bringing out more women to the ballpark. Not to be outdone, Mike Veeck's father, Bill Veeck, was famous for "umpireless games" and sending 3-foot-7-inch Eddie Gaedel to the plate in a game. Now, Mike is the resident baseball marketing genius, running several minor league franchises including the independent St. Paul Saints, which has a pig deliver baseballs to the umpire and had "Senator Larry Craig Bobblefoot Night." Mike Veeck talks about some of the aspects of sports marketing, as well as why major and minor league humor isn't really that different, but that its more about implementation. The "Fun Is Good" author & czar suggests that while social media has some great communications factors for teams, the live experience needs to be pushed harder with more customer service and fan access to heroes in order to thrive in the new sports economy of the digital age. Twitter: @MikeVeeck
Ryan Madayag has a had a long successful career in sports marketing, starting with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks in 2004 as the team's fan development manager, which fostered a Super Bowl run in 2006 and the berth of the Seattle Sounders FC in 2008. Madayag talks about the Seattle market, some of the aspects of what traditional media still means even in a tech-savvy city, and how to impact fan engagement enough to draw them into the stands. Madayag talks about some of the challenges of marketing multiple college sports compared to only two professional ones, and some of the factors that go into building one of the best home football advantages in newly-renovated Husky Stadium.
Athletic administrators cannot do better than to replicate someone like Bill Hogan, who has been in the sports field for over 30 years at three different universities. Hogan talks about his time at Seattle University, especially mentioning the fighting to search out the department's long history which had been placed underneath a pool to rot. Hogan discusses his vision for bringing back Division I athletics to Seattle University after 29 years as well as capturing the city's attention by playing at the Key Arena. Hogan exemplifies his philosophy on grooming young administrators in his department and takes a few shots at the host, which is not unlike Hogan at all.
Jessica Smith is one of the best sports social media analysts who completely refrains from calling herself an expert and never trusts anyone who claims to be an expert. Smith talks about what really works and what doesn’t in social media, especially in the world of branding. Smith discusses strategies and tactics of ever evolving platforms such Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Smith stresses the importance of school athletic departments to leverage their traditional media assets by telling their stories via social media. Twitter: @WarJessEagle
Website: http://socialnsport.wordpress.com/
In 1999, Leroy Denton recognized an issue of redemption of tickets for local sports events and decided to do something about it, forming Ticket Return, a company that has grown from a lone client in the Peoria Chiefs its first year into becoming the largest ticketing vendor of minor league baseball clients. Denton has now set his sights on developing one of the premier ticket conferences annually, with Ticket Forum, Feb. 7-8 in Charolette, NC and talks about some of the ways that the conference will develop its attendees, including presenting a certification process for all Ticket Return acumen in order to help its clients hiring those interviewees who have truly mastered the Ticket Return system. Twitter: @TicketReturn More information on Ticket Forum, click here.
Michael Mink has been around football for his entire life and now considers himself blessed with an opportunity to found his own indoor football conference, the X-League. Mink has seen the challenges of running minor league football franchises in the past, with an experience in Yakima where the team was doing well, but the entire league was not and collapsed around him. Now in Florida, Mink feels he has a legitimate shot at making the X-League a success; that means ensuring that each team owner has the acumen to operate their franchise effectively for the sake of league health. Mink talks about some of the issues surrounding his motivation to get into coaching in general, including the guidance of his mother, as well as some of the other important lessons he’s picked up along the way. Twitter: @XLeagueFootball