Making the Fan

This episode features industry legend Scott O’Neil.  In his most recent role, Scott was the CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, overseeing the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia 76ers.  Prior to that, he held positions of Senior Vice President of the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations division and President of Madison Square Garden Sports.   Throughout the podcast, Scott...

This week we're joined by Jamie Pollard, Director of Athletics at Iowa State University.  Since his arrival in 2005, he has re-imagined almost every facet of the department, leading the Cyclones to records in attendance and ticket sales and academic scores and some of their highest finishes in the Learfield Directors' Cup.  His leadership extends throughout the industry as he was recentl...

This week, we sat down with Rhett Hobart, Associate AD for Fan Experience and Brand Development at Wake Forest University.  Since he joined the Demon Deacons in April 2020, Rhett and his team have launched their “Welcome to Deactown” brand campaign, introduced new in-game experiences for the greater college football fan and debuted a co-branded beer, Deacon Brew, all to create the “Best Fan Experi...

This week, we welcome Kentucky’s Mitch Barnhart to the show. After 20 years as UK's Athletic Director, Mitch has produced one of the largest leadership trees with more than six former associates now holding Division 1 athletic director positions. In this episode, Mitch shares his passion for equipping people to launch people and guiding his organization with a true servant heart and integrity...

This episode of Flip the Switch features Customer Experience Coach, Keynote Speaker and Author Dan Gingiss.  Dan's latest book, "The Experience Maker," comes out today, featuring his "WISE" framework and stories from 20 years of experience working with brands, including McDonald's, Discover and Humana.  Throughout the episode, Dan and David discuss simple, yet remarka...

Joining us on today's episode is Eric Nichols, the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Branding/Chief Marketing Officer at the University of South Carolina. Nichols oversees Marketing, Digital and Social Media, and the University band and spirit programs as well as serving as the primary liaison for Licensing, merchandise sales, and outsourced entities including Learfield fo...

Today’s episode is all about appealing to the emotional side of fandom with Peter Sorckoff.  What started as a career in a therapeutic environment has evolved into 20 plus years of understanding the human subconscious impact on fandom.  Peter leveraged those insights to create immersive marketing and branding experiences for major brands in the NBA, the MLB and NHL, most notably as the Chief Creat...

Michael Thompson joins David for this week’s College Leaders podcast.  After nine years at Ole Miss, Michael reunited with Ross Bjork at Texas A&M in October of 2019 as the Deputy Athletics Director for External Relations and Business Development.  His innovative leadership has led to appointments as the 2020-21 NACMA President and membership in the SEC’s fan experience working group.  His tea...

In our latest College Leaders podcast, we are joined by Troy Dannen, Ben Weiner Director of Athletics at Tulane University, to discuss leadership and guiding Tulane through turbulent times.  Five years into his tenure, he’s revamped his senior management, increased fundraising and enhanced the student-athlete and fan experiences.  He’s a recognized leader in college athletics, recently named to th...

In this episode, David is joined by Greg Turner to dive in to the differences in fandoms and live events between China and the West.  What started as a summer internship for Greg has evolved into a 20-year career in China, moving from agencies to live events and venue management, before establishing his own company, Shenzhen High Performance Event Management.   Compared to most of our fan bases th...

The University of Miami became the first college athletic department to break into the NFT space, announcing the new CanesVault this week that will officially open on August 16. In this episode, Dan Boyd, Miami's Senior Associate AD for Sales and Marketing and Jon Parise, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GigLabs, Miami's NFT partner,  join David to discuss the strategies and behind-the...

This week’s special College Leaders segment features Rick George, Athletic Director at University of Colorado.  Rick had a rather unorthodox path to the big chair, taking on roles with the PGA Champions Tour and the Texas Rangers’ Front Office, before returning to the collegiate industry with Colorado in 2013.  Throughout this episode, Rick and David discuss Colorado’s strategic plans, its "R...

This week’s episode strays from our usual podcast pattern.  David is joined by Justin Doherty, Wisconsin's Senior Associate AD for External Communications and member of EngageMint's tribe.  Outside of his roles in brand communications, marketing, video services and facility branding, Justin has authored four books on Wisconsin history.  David and Justin have embarked on a 25-book challen...

In our latest podcast, David sits down with John Kosner.  After 20 years at ESPN, where he transformed its digital media strategy, John co-founded Micromanagement Ventures with former NBA Commissioner David Stern. John currently leads Kosner Media, where he invests in and advises sports tech companies focused on sports media, sports betting and gambling and player development.   This episode cover...

A long-time sports executive, Rick Burton brings a breadth of experience and insights to this week’s podcast.  After roles in brand management with Miller Lite, a stint as commissioner of the National Basketball League in Australia and Chief Marketing Officer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rick has spent the last 12 years at Syracuse University as the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management an...

Flip the Switch is all about uncovering the latest trends in sports and entertainment and the experiments organizations are running.  Working alongside college athletic departments has inspired a new series: Flip the Switch - College Leaders.  Joining David on the show will be senior leaders who are transforming the industry and implementing those trends and experiments.  Our first guest of the se...

Our guest this week is Nick Sautner, CEO of Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.  A worldwide leader in sports and entertainment, Eden Park was the first venue to host a sporting event and a concert at full capacity since the pandemic and has won a number of recent global awards, including the Product Innovation Award for  "Staydium Glamping".  Sautner has also been recognized as EVANZ Su...

This week, we welcome Kevin Gober, Senior Director of Arena Employee Experience and Learning & Development for the Atlanta Hawks, back to the podcast.  A recurring guest on the show, Kevin shares his takeaways from welcoming fans back to venues and gets candid on the staffing challenges that State Farm Arena has faced.  For venues across the country preparing for a return to full capacity, thi...

For our second Flip the Switch Live episode, we are joined by Dan Gale of Leona Marketing Group and Tim Rebich of Varsity Partners.  Sharing their perspectives as third-parties in the college athletics space, this episode is more idea-based than best practices focused.  Dan, Tim and David forecast where college athletics is headed and the impacts NIL and multimedia sponsorship will have on the ind...

Our latest episode features Jen Rottenberg, Chief Marketing Officer for Fan Controlled Football (FCF).  Just as it sounds, this new professional league gave the fans the ability to select everything from team names, colors and logos to the plays that were called on the field during the game.  To make that all happen, data is at the heart of everything FCF does, attracting four uniques audiences an...

This week's guest is Mike Farrell, Assistant AD for Broadcasting and Video Production at University of Maryland.  As part of Maryland's 75-year Terrapin Club "Reinvented" campaign, Mike and his team created Terrapin Club +.  Often referred to as "Netflix for Terps", the subscription service is the first of its kind in college athletics and features five shows to creat...

Today’s guest is Jason Fox.  After 6 years in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins, Jason launched EarBuds in 2018.  What started as a platform to facilitate consumers and fans being able to listen to the same playlists as their favorite athletes in real-time has morphed into a new social listening experience through EarBuds’ partnerships with Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora and Sp...

Joining the show this week is Brittany Hodak.  Recently named Chief Experience Officer at Experience.com, Brittany shares her frameworks that organizations can adopt to cultivate super fans and experiences.  Prior to joining Experience.com, Brittany co-founded a marketing and collectibles company ZinePak (later named The Superfan Company), which was featured on Shark Tank and earned one of the hig...

Rachel Jacobson is the President of the Drone Racing League.  After 21 years in the NBA, her last role being VP of Global Business Development, and a brief stint in the private sector, Rachel was named president of DRL just one year ago.  DRL is a technology company first and the decisions they make from a business, employee and customer experience standpoint are all from a technology perspective,...

Jim Cavale is the Founder and CEO of INFLCR.  With NIL legislation set to go into effect this summer, college athletic departments face so many unknowns. Jim and his team recently launched INFLCR Verified and INFLCR Plus, initiatives to help athletic departments and student-athletes proactively prepare for this change and provide them the tools to capitalize on their brand power and voice. This ep...