All Good Things Must Come to an End

All good things must come to an end and The Everything College Sports Blog is no exception. This blog will be deactivated on January 1, 2010. I can’t tell you how much I (and OHIO students) have appreciated all of the contributors, readers, and comments over the past year. I have learned a lot about blogging and the support from OHIO students and colleagues has been exceptional. But, there are a lot of other great sport blogs (See my Blogroll for some ideas) and this one has become too time consuming to maintain successfully. So, I encourage everyone to visit other sport blogs and keep up with the world of college sport and working in the sport industry. Best of luck to you all!

You’ve Got to Understand Database Marketing in Today’s Sport Climate

This post was authored by Brandon Steffek, a 2009 Ohio University Sport Management graduate. Since graduation, he has been working for Full House Entertainment Database Marketing as Sales and Marketing Consultant.

Full House Entertainment Database Marketing provides targeted sales leads for direct marketing campaigns (direct mail, telemarketing, email). Over 600 sports teams and entertainment organizations have used Full House to find new business and residential customers. Full House works exclusively with sports and entertainment organizations to target businesses and consumers most likely to buy season tickets, group tickets and premium seating (suites, club seating, VIP clubs).

The following is intended to provide a brief overview of how teams use database marketing to improve their organization and generate new revenue. Whether it is professional or college sports; the principles are the same.

Database marketing from my experience can be defined as identifying new customers who possess similar characteristics of sport teams’ existing customers. Whether it’s a particular business industry, or demographic profile of a residential consumer, database marketing can be used to build custom databases of potential new prospects that can be reached through direct marketing campaigns. Database marketing can also be used to collect and market to existing customers.

Everything College Sports Named One of the “100 Best Higher Education Blogs”

The Everything College Sports Blog was recently named one of the 100 Best Higher Education Blogs by  Online Degrees Hub. Online Degrees Hub provides up-to-date information on every online school, subject, and degree, and an help you find accredited programs in a variety of subject matters.

The intent of the Everything College Sports Blog is to allow Ohio University students (and everyone else) interested in college athletics the chance to discuss contemporary issues in college sports. Students, faculty, alumni, and other guests will author various blog posts and everyone is welcome to comment and discuss the posts. This is a forum to engage in new and creative solutions to age old issues in college sport as well as discuss current happenings around the country.

Thanks to all of you who read the posts, search jobs, and are part of the OHIO immediate and extended family.

Lessons From a Recent Sport Management Grad

We have begun our 2009-2010 Blogging and welcome your comments!

The first contribution comes recent Ohio University Sport Management grad Ian Davie. I asked Ian to share his thoughts and tips for students as the new school year begins. I know students can hear it from their professors a million times, but sometimes it takes hearing it from someone in their shoes for it to sink in. Ian has certainly paid his dues in the sport industry since graduation. His life path since June 2008 includes:

-Staying in Athens, OH for 2 months to work with the Southern Ohio Copperheads (summer baseball league team)

– Living in Baltimore for 3 months and completing a PGA TOUR Internship with the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship

-Living in Bonita Springs, FL for 7 months looking for a job

-FINALLY, landing a great job with the Phoenix Suns as a Sales Consultant for past 3 months.

Getting a job is tough right now. You have to put yourself in the best position to succeed in a time when the job market is tough. Currently, my goal is to make 100 outbound phone calls a day. The point being; I talk to a lot of people and learn that many of them are unemployed right now.

Summer Break

The Everything College Sports Blog is on summer break along with Ohio University. Postings will resume in September. Job postings will continue to be updated.  Thanks for your support!

The Job/Internship Search

It is the time of year when graduating students begin to panic if they haven’t received their dream job offer or even an offer for an internship. If you are one of those still looking for a position, HANG IN THERE. One of the best interns I ever had told me he sent out over 100 applications before he landed the internship with me (4 years later, he is now the Director of Marketing at a Division I institution). So, it will happen – it just might not happen tomorrow. Keep doing the right things to set yourself up to be successful, including;

1. Volunteer with a sport organization. It might be that your resume isn’t quite solid enough to land the job you are hoping for.

2. APPLY. APPLY. APPLY. Until you have a job, your job is finding a job. So, treat the job search like a job. You must get out of bed before noon and search for jobs and then jump through all the application hoops to apply. Sometimes, the application process is difficult and time consuming to weed out those that are not serious.

Roster Management Practice Questioned

The mention of Title IX results in different reactions from different people. I’ve always found myself at somewhat of a cross roads with Title IX. I have been active in the wrestling community most of my life and have seen opportunities eliminated in that sport. I am also a female who greatly benefited from Title IX. Along comes the Quinnipiac injunction, and Title IX has become a national issue once again.

On May 22, 2009 a federal judge issued an injunction preventing Quinnipiac from dropping its women’s volleyball program or any other female opportunities. The ACLU of Connecticut has taken on the case for the women’s volleyball student-athletes and coaches. Expect this case to get more and more interesting as it unfolds and moves forward in the judicial process. During the hearing last week, it came to light that Quinnipiac set roster minimums (floors) for its women’s sports and roster maximums (ceilings) for its men’s sports. This has become common practice nationally in order to ensure compliance with the proportionality prong of Title IX. However, what makes the Quinnipiac case interesting is that beyond these roster management numbers they were allowing men’s sports to cut student-athletes prior to the first competition and then add them back after that competition, and on the women’s side, coaches were carrying their minimums through the first competition without equipment or uniforms and then most of the women who were not allowed to travel or have uniforms and equipment would quit.

Luxury Suites: Pro v. College

It has been a while since my last post, sorry! Ohio University has been very busy with the annual Sports Administration and Facility Management Symposium as well as frequent events celebrating the achievements of the undergraduates. The following is based a little bit on my own research, but is mostly the sharing of my own opinion.

As we all suffer through this downturn in the economy, high ticket prices and corporate spending on sports has caught the attention of everyone. The $800,000 Yankees suites got the media talking about corporations that are benefiting from Federal bailout money, yet are still purchasing high priced suites and other forms of premium seating for their clients while we all support their lifestyle. In the realm of college sports, we’ll have to see if any of this discussion trickles over into next season with regard to bad P.R. for any companies identified as spending big bucks for football tickets while they cut jobs, receive Federal funds from all of us, and their clients are trying to put food on their tables.

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, You’re Fired!

This post is not specific to college sports, but is is a MUST READ for anyone heading into any segment of the sport industry.

In event management, there are certain things that are non-negotiable.Two of those things, in my opinion and the opinion of many of my peers, are waivers and medical coverage. If an event manager doesn’t get waivers signed or allows someone to participate without signing a waiver–do not pass go, do not collect $200, immediate termination. We live in a litigious society. Not mandating that participants sign waivers is probably one of the single stupidest things that an event manager could do. The other immediately terminable offense is not having any or not having enough medical coverage.

UNO Athletics; The Students Have Spoken!

The University of New Orleans (UNO) Student-Athletes have had a rough couple of years. First, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the campus and athletic facilities. The result was the suspension of 9 athletic teams and decreased student enrollment. UNO Enrollment has still not recovered to pre-Katrina levels which has severely reduced the athletics funding available from student fees. This, plus recent State budget cuts (athletics share was going to be appprox. $1.5mil) have stressed the finances of the athletics department in a big way. Now, last week UNO students voted “NO” to an increase in student fees to keep athletics functioning.

The result of the “NO” vote by students will likely be the elimination of the entire athletics program. Only if the State Legislature steps in to help (or a major private donor) can the program be saved at this point.