Tao of Sports Podcast

There are many cross-sections of the sports business environment, but none are probably as bizarre as the true urban legends of the past. Arnie "Tokyo" Rosenthal is a part of that rich history, with his ability to con himself through New York Yankees media relations from 1977 to 1984, as a member of the media. Rosenthal relates his story of getting the ultimate access pass, and seeing some of the...

The Spokane Empire are the rebranded name of the former Spokane Shock, which dominated Arena Football 2, and Arena Football, from 2006-15, becoming the only professional indoor franchise to secure a championship in both leagues. Ryan Eucker serves as the director of operations, and reveals the story behind the rebranding, which became a point of contention after leaving the Arena Football League i...

David Sher has several years of experience on the primary side of the market, working not only in sports with the Washington Nationals, but also at Live Nation, as well as consulting for various venues. Sher doesn't necessarily agree with the idea that the secondary market is fan-friendly, especially when it comes to brokers and the splits between earnings that the promoter/performer receives comp...

Andy Dolich's career has spanned over 40 years, with just about every type of sport imaginable. Dolich recalls his early days with the Philadelphia 76ers, Maryland Arrows, Washington Capitals and Washington Diplomats. But Dolich's 15-year stint with the Oakland Athletics helped set him apart, revitalizing the Bay Area Major League Baseball team that only 326 season tickets, increasing it to over 1...

Architecture design for sports venues has drastically changed over the years, incorporating not only new aspects inside the venue, but also making the building fit within the overall cityscape. Bill Johnson discusses his latest passion project for HOK, designing and building the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, housing both the NFL Falcons & Atlanta United FC. Johnson talks about the preparations...

Sean Owens has helped build sports revenue for organizations for over 21 years, chiefly with the Charlotte Knights during the mass sellout streak in a new stadium in the downtown district. Owens discusses some of the ways that he gets young sports executives to embrace better sales tactics, including developing phone skills that stick. Owens talks about some of the misconceptions when it comes to...

Isabelle Perreault gave a fantastic digital maturity findings report at during the 2015 S.E.A.T. conference in San Francisco, and this podcast focuses mostly on her report. Specifically, Perreault talks about some of the ways that the industry has yet to adapt to change, and some of the promising features in which executives are turning the corner with their social media and digital culture. Perre...

Jeff Ferguson appeared on the Tao of Sports Podcast back in Ep. 189, and has returned to share his outlook on the last two years of sponsorship sales. This may be a drastic turning point in the industry, Ferguson suggests, as the budgets start to become more open toward sponsorship pitches. Ferguson shares his views on selling sponsorships, as well as understanding the other side of the table, alo...

The advances in livestreaming have allowed consumer accessibility to events that normally were ignored by traditional media outlets. EverSport CEO Wayne Sieve discusses the convergence of how new media and high definition have transformed availability of event broadcasts onto every device imaginable. Sieve talks about the early days of livestreaming, back at Yahoo! in the mid-2000s, prior to leavi...

Consumer demographics are one of the key ways that franchises are gaining insights into how their fans behave. Cole Harper founded DoorStat around the idea of engaging each piece of data to reveal more about consumer habits, trends and ways to build revenue around a cohesive manner of interaction with the venue. Harper discusses some of the ways that the buzzword trends of "big data" have been tra...

Paul Neuberger has perfected the art of the cold call into helping various organizations train their staff on doing it right. While Neuberger can talk statistics of closing all day long, it comes down to the delivery, and the ability to listen, which has helped distinguish his efforts at teaching young professionals what they should do when getting a prospect client over the phone. Neuberger speak...

The Aspire Group has made great strides into developing U.S. sports sales techniques in the Australia sports market. Overseeing those efforts has been Ben Pincus, along with his wife, Nicole (who was interviewed on Ep. 78 of the podcast when she was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway). Ben Pincus illustrates some of the misconceptions about selling in the Australia sports market, as well as assets that...

Robin Monsky has worked at four World Series, seven Super Bowls, one Davis Cup Final, several NCAA regional basketball tournaments and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (Press Chief, Centennial Olympic Park) and currently represents clients and events ranging from The Chicago Marathon and the Harlem Globetrotters to the Laureus World Sports Awards and ESPN. Monsky talks about her time with the Atl...

Murray Cohn has been a bedrock at the NBA's Team Marketing & Business Operations in Orlando for over 11 years, the last 7 as the VP of Ticketing. Cohn discusses what TMBO is all about, helping incorporate ways to enhance the revenue and idea-sharing for all 30 teams through sales innovation. Cohn talks about some of the ways to build up training exercises with a franchise's staff, including a 'hus...

For the past 15 years, Brandiose has been at the cutting edge of developing and reworking sports team logos and identity. This goes beyond the simple piece of creating a hat or uniform, and transforms into a deep-dive into how the team reflects the local area around it. Jason Klein is co-founder of Brandiose with his childhood friend, Casey White. Klein discusses some of the rehabbing, as well as...

The Seattle Storm have proven that the WNBA product can work and be highly effective without an NBA parent company behind it. A member of the Storm since the early 2000s, when they did have the Seattle Sonics in the Key Arena, Kyle Waters has worked his way up from an Inside Sales Rep in 2005 to SVP in 2015. Waters talks about how the WNBA brand is pushed out into the community, showcasing an incl...

Look no further than Shawn Smith for the digital strategy success of the NBA Development League, where Facebook "likes" and Twitter "followers" for each team and the NBADL are at astronomical highs, outpacing even some major league professional teams around the globe. Smith speaks about the way that engagement goes beyond just a few metrics, and how the NBADL product was pushed out to build a foll...

Brad Wolverton covers college sports for the Chronicle of Higher Education, seeing it from the view of academia reporting, and analyzing several of the issues that affect a campus as a whole. Wolverton discusses the Missouri protests which removed both the university president and chancellor, started by Mizzo football player who went on a hunger strike and showed the true power that student-athlet...

Kevin Kleps represents the changing world of sports business, crossing over from traditional financial coverage at Crains Cleveland Business to cover the sports business segmentation of the major Ohio city. Kleps starts off with his assessment of how to build not only a reputation within the sports business beat, but also sources that can help yield information otherwise not found anywhere else. K...

Michael Rust is part of the analytics revolution for third party ticket sales groups, serving as the coordinator for database marketing at the Aspire Group, on the campus of Miami-Ohio University. Rust discusses how he goes about merging a lot of different segmentations together, from various campus constituencies, then presenting that information to administration. Rust says that he doesn't expec...

Dustin Toms has been utilizing his background in journalism and public relations, not just to help build the social media and communications plan for the Spokane Indians minor league baseball team, but to improve his sales tactics and marketing plan throughout the season. Toms shares his viewpoint of coming into sports sales, as well as how he has prepared himself for expanding his abilities to in...

Lindsey Boggs has started to blaze a trail in the sales world, through her early adoption of LinkedIn as a social selling tool. On the LinkedIn platform, Boggs has a 99% Social Selling Index (SSI), and has trained three teams to generate more leads, convert more prospects into sales, using her system of connecting through the Sales Navigator system. LinkedIn's head of marketing Justin Shriber call...

Jim Fiore was once on the fast-track for college athletics administration stardom. After a decade of leading Stony Brook University into an FCS powerhouse, with a phenomenal turnaround, including capturing the 2011-12 UnderArmour Northeast Region AD of the Year, to being terminated by the school in 2013 amid allegations that surfaced in an ESPNW article. Fiore discusses some of his thoughts on the...

The Stockton Heat are part of the American Hockey League revolution to extend to the west coast, and have taken over the operations of the Stockton Thunder, an ECHL team that last north of the San Francisco bay for over a decade. Jason Camp describes the challenges ahead of the franchise, rebranding with a new type of hockey in an area long though to be part of the Sacramento media market, which i...

Peter Roumeliotis is tasked with the importance of hitting two different-speaking audiences for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, both in English and French, each with their distinct cultural tastes for the winter sport. Roumeliotis discusses how he is able to coordinate, as well as reach both groups, and ensure that every team, even those in the standings cellar, get recognized when they do...