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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: January, 2015
Jan 30, 2015

Laura Madison is changing the car industry by provoking a discussion on what car sales representatives should be doing online. Madison works at the Toyota dealership in Bozeman, Montana, but has made national and international news through her branded website sales, creating blog posts, videos and other social media content, reviewing the cars that she sells on the lot. This has translated to hundreds of additional car sales through digital means, and made Madison's reputation grow within the car industry. Several of these aspects could be copied tomorrow by sports franchises, adopted by the team's sales representatives, and pushed into selling socially in order to help the customer better understand and engage with the ticket sales product. @LauraDrives

Jan 28, 2015

Marty Mulford has worked in sports long enough to see why it is hard for young people to access the industry. A mainstay in the ticket office with the Nashville Predators, Mulford decided to create a 75-minute audio e-book called The Sports Industry Fast Pass, with the express goal of help young people understand what jobs are available, how to interview properly for the job in question, and how to best prepare yourself for the job ahead. Mulford offers many years of experience, discussing some of the aspects of what it takes to do his job continually, including an ability to separate 'spectating' with 'relationship building' at the game with customers. Twitter: @SprtsIndstryFP

Jan 26, 2015

Justin Doherty has witnessed the growth of the Big Ten, NCAA and The University of Wisconsin during his 25 years in sports communication. Doherty talks about the transition from print media as the mainstay of journalism to now social media, where digital print rules the day. Doherty discusses some of the aspects of trying to determine what and who makes a journalist, and who should receive credentials for upcoming games. Doherty also covers several key reasons why social media can be a good thing, but also when covering breaking news or controversy, can place sports communication reactions into a tailspin. Doherty ends with talking about coaches on Twitter, and why several Wisconsin coaches, including Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, aren't on social media at all. Twitter: @JDatWisconsin

Jan 23, 2015

The National Pro Grid League has taken the nation's summertime viewing up a notch. In 2014, it was launched as a cable mainstay for NBC Sports, filling out some of the 8600 programming hours that the channel has to allot for. NPGL's Claire and Jim Kean, discuss how they created the game from scratch, designed various teams, took on ownership groups and launched within a 9-month time frame. As NPGL VP of Operations, Claire covers some of the issues that happened during the actual events themselves, and as NPGL CEO, Jim explains what the revenues, finances and pitfalls ended up looking like. The NPGL is set to launch its second season in 2015, and ready for the challenges that lie ahead in both league competition and revenue. Twitter: @TheGridLeague

Jan 21, 2015

Doug Holtzman is no stranger to sports business, working over 17 years in the field. Currently the VP of Media & Entertainment for Media Brokers Int., Holtzman has been a consultant for sports and media companies, and worked at IMG for four years, helping Air Force Academy and Northern Illinois University achieve activation through corporate partnerships. With NBA, NFL and NHL experience, Holtzman shares his knowledge of what helps keep local and national sponsors happy with a team sponsorship package, and what franchises can do to drive additional revenue through their existing partnerships. Twitter: @DouglasHoltzman

 

 

Jan 19, 2015

Amy Venuto has worked in sports sales for over 16 years, transitioning several minor league franchises and raceways into high volume revenue drivers for their executive staffs. Venuto shares some of her philosophies when coming into situations, especially how to develop a fast-track training that avoids simply presenting PowerPoint slides and going over the same topics each visit. Venuto discusses ways to avoid giving in to customers when prices are raised, or price points are finally respected, and how to reformat a "poisoned market" where the previous administration resorted to free tickets as a marketing pull. Twitter: @AmyVenuto

Jan 16, 2015

Jeramie McPeek has been with the Phoenix Suns since 1992. He's witnessed the transition from print to online, as well as how to digitally engage each fan along the way. McPeek discusses some of the platforms used in order to achieve that engagement, along with facing the fact that major brands are also at the mercy of the platform algorithms that alter communicating with the fans or followers that have already asked to receive that information entirely. McPeek also attended The Sports Fan Summit in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014 with the Tao of Sports host, and they chat about the engagement as well as learning atmosphere of the Australian sports business crowd, and running in terror from the Australian possum (google it, trust us, those things were scary). Twitter: @JMcPeek

Jan 14, 2015

Mike Hermann has served as an athletic director at three different institutions, twice at the Division I level. Now at the NAIA level, Hermann feels he has found his wheelhouse, in helping promote student athlete and fundraising success to a core constituency. While some administrators may avoid NAIA or small college athletics, Hermann advocates for the opposite approach, suggesting that some of the best principles of collegiate athletics are at the non-Division I level. Hermann shares his views on developing great alumni relations, and how to ensure that the athletic department has continuing transparency throughout the campus community. Twitter: @Hermann_sports

Jan 12, 2015

Analytical models in sports have continued to flourish as the importance of Moneyball and its subsequent equational transitions have permeated throughout the sports fan conciousness. Dr. Ben Alamar is in the unique position to both explain analytics growth on the academic level as a former professor as well as on the broadcast side at ESPN, where he helps present digestable coverage for sports viewers worldwide. Alamar presents a very expansive view of where performance estimation is growing, as well as some of the challenges that lie ahead, especially in certification to ensure that all credible research into sports analytics is performed in a peer-review setting. Twitter: @BenAlamar

Jan 9, 2015

One of the biggest challenges is fundraising at an FBS directional school, especially when the name-recognition isn't there with the alumni, nor the student body. Eastern Michigan's Associate AD of Development Dan McLean discusses some of the ways that his athletic department meets and exceeds those barriers, as well as the opportunities that are bore out of being able to create an identity where none existed prior. McLean embraces solutions over excuses, and shares his wisdom of how to build the brand, even if it means some of the legacy alumni who don't want to give up a free ride are left behind once the journey requires pay for play. Twitter: @_DanMcLean

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