By: Bryan Delgado ('12)
For the first time, Ohio University’s Sports Administration program held a stand alone day featuring some of the brightest minds in the industry coming together at the National Sports Forum in Oklahoma City.
Over 25 alumni attended the event, discussing sponsorship and marketing best practices, new trends and favorite successes and failures. On a day usually reserved for organizations such as the NFL, MLB and Motor Sports to gather, OHIO sought to bring in alumni representing all areas of sports to have a frank discussion on the state of sports sponsorship and marketing.
The conference started with a presentation from OHIO professor Craig Davis on the results of a survey conducted with the top 50 sports sponsors around the country. The survey, in conjunction with the National Sports Forum, was commissioned to find out how sponsors felt about the job sports marketers are doing in connecting their brands to sports fans.
Andy Dolich (’71) moderated the first session that included advice from Mike McAllister (’06) on tailoring proposals using data research and analysis. Next, Matt Kittle (’09) gave a presentation on career progression and the current state of the sports job market.
During lunch, a panel consisting of Mike Redlick (‘96), Dan Migala (‘07), Brian Gainor (’07) and Dolich discussed the future of sponsorships and where the industry was headed.
Migala had one of the more interesting takes on sponsorship saying, “Sponsorships make the things we love happen.”
After lunch, Gainor moderated the afternoon session. He started with a presentation on how to use social media to enhance personal branding as well as expanding and connecting with your personal network. through technology. Next, Sean O’Hara (’10) presented on using hospitality experiences to further connect with sponsors. Jason Bitsoff (’12) followed on how Feld Entertainment creates events around the country.
Migala finished on his perspective of being creative within sports sponsorships. That includes not only looking at how sponsorships are presented and activated, but also the different financial models that could be used to fund them.
Overall the experience was a total success as attendee’s were able to come together and have a frank discussion on the state of sports sponsorship and marketing. Start making plans to attend the second annual day next year in Orlando.