Tao of Sports Podcast

What's in a name? In minor league sports, Greenville's ECHL hockey franchise is the latest to embrace the weird, renaming themselves from the Road Warriors to the Swamp Rabbits. And this took every single person who has heard it by storm, including the national press. Chris Lewis explains the history behind the Greenville franchise, how its numbers haven't been stellar in attendance or corporate s...

Understanding the avenues where data and revenue can be intertwined is an asset to any future franchise executive. Haynes Hendrickson breaks down several components of data, in how it can help a franchise generate long-term sustainable revenue streams through the information break downs of their customer base. Hendrickson talks about how under-utilized some areas of data are, especially in corpora...

Super Bowl 50 is helping cap off one of the greatest times in sports business for the Bay Area of San Francisco, and at the forefront is Stephanie Martin, who explains what it entails to be entrusted with such a global brand. Martin describes some of the ways in which SB 50 will be able to encapsulate the Bay Area culture, as well as help drive attention throughout the world to the area, as well a...

AJ Machosky understands the secondary market from both the primary and secondary angles, working IMG to help drive revenue for St. John's University, Pitt and the Big East. Now in his role at Vivid Seats, AJ discusses some of the details of how to understand what drives ticket sales through digital portals. AJ focuses also on some of the issues surrounding the secondary, whether that be fears from...

The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) fits several ways into the mind of the public and the press. Several of those definitions are not necessarily correct. Dana Thomas represents the NCAA's social media as well as internal online communication traffic, helping define the organization's mission within the scope of relevant topics for its members. Thomas discusses the ways in which t...

Only two months on the job at the University of Michigan, and Brian Wagner has been a part of major national news, when three athletic facebook accounts were hacked in the middle of the night. Wagner talks about this incredible story, where spam hackers placed posts through the Michigan athletics facebook accounts, then locked out the entire UM digital team. Wagner reveals how Michigan worked with...

Dr. Bernie Mullin has helped push the envelope in terms of sports business for over 40 years. He helped start one of the hallmarks of sports business education at the University of Massachusetts in the late-1970s, served as vice president for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies, was president of a minor league hockey team, SVP of the NBA's Team Marketing & Business Operations  (TMBO),...

Natalle Brown is truly helping innovate the sports business space through Lightning Rewards, a multi-data set platform to connect fans to the Melbourne Storm National Rugby League team brand. Brown explains the Melbourne sports market, and how fighting for the fan amid 21 other professional competitive teams makes every transaction a necessary one. Brown talks about how the Lightning Rewards progr...

History is one of the major selling points for the Boston Celtics franchise and as Jim Davis explains, they have to respect that legacy while pushing forward with modern technology when creating revenue. Davis talks about the initiatives that the Celtics are establishing in order to think differently, especially when the magical playoff runs are gone and the Celtics aren't a 50-win team during a r...

The role of a development officer when creating the relationship is one of Coleman Barnes' main assets to a campus athletic department. At Miami University in Ohio as an associate athletic director, Barnes lays out his vision of what great stewardship of donors should look like. Barnes discusses several of the key components in terms of developing a metric that works for development officers, as w...

Randy Cohen isn't just a CEO, he's the Chief Energizing Officer of TicketCity, a secondary market broker that has lasted over 25 years in the business. Cohen relates his story in two formats, both in the conversation of the podcast as well as an autography "Ticket To The Limit" in which Cohen details taking his $1,200 life savings and betting himself, by investing in No. 3 Texas Longhorn's men's b...

The National Sports Forum began as the ultimate loss leader for Founder Ron Seaver, who in the first year had a $65,000 hotel bill and only three attendees come to the inaugural conference. Seaver didn't give up, and ended up transforming the NSF into one of the premier sports conferences with over 1,000 attendees in the last 20 years. Seaver shares how the NSF increases the format of its educatio...

Glitnir Ticketing's foundation in 2003 begin simply as a way to make it easier for smaller sports franchises to be able to sell tickets. CEO and Founder Gordon Krstacic has helped build Glitnir in Long Island, New York into one of only four MiLB-vendor approved ticket platforms. Krstacic sees the playing field as something that can only help increase sales, utilizing several boutique options in or...

The New Jersey Devils are using tickets as a platform to try different ways to sell the in-game experience. VP of Ticket Sales & Service Shawn Doss explains how the new flex package option transcends several past offerings, allowing fans the ability to select games and seating location at different periods, through a reserve account system. Doss talks about the various challenges of selling in the...

Secondary market consolidation is a new trend in sports business, and at the forefront is one of the originators of the online ticket broker site Ticket Monster, Curtis Cheng, who discusses both the benefits and the ideas against the practice. Cheng presents the image of a fractional marketplace where a lot of sports franchises aren't reaching their full potential in terms of reach, and how consol...

College athletics is still behind in the data revolution, and Ryan Mosher explains his thoughts on why that's the case. Mosher talks about the various constituencies which do not communicate on campus, and what drives most of them apart in the first place. Mosher discusses how the merging of data, as well as overall implementation of a campus-wide CRM can help all parties involved, in learning who...

Being sold out for an extended period of games over the course of many seasons is something that Greg Hylton has had to deal with as the Vice President of Premium Seating and Ticketing at the Indianapolis Colts. Hylton explains the origins of the streak, started in the Colts' former home and carried over into their new one, as well as how one mishap with a Jacksonville Jaguars game cost the Colts...

Understanding the rights of a ticket holder is part of what Fan Freedom has been doing since 2011. It comes down to a question of asking 'who owns the ticket' and whether enough is being done on the behalf of ticket buyers to protect their ability to resale if they want. Fan Freedom's Chris Grimm discusses these issues on both a macro and micro level, especially when it comes to the ability for re...

Jim Rushton has got a special shorthand when talking sports business. Rushton has served in sports business for over 20 years, including CRO of the Miami Dolphins and VP of Sales Sports Radio WEEI, including Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, and New England Patriots Monday. Now, Rushton is bringing forth an evangelism of connection with IBM, from the stadium to the fan, in a way that is set to revol...

Understanding the goals of the University of Denver in athletics takes extra time, since their values are deeply rooted in their mission statement toward student-athletes. Their success isn't as common place as one might think, as lacrosse's 2015 national championship, 7 NCAA Titles For hockey, and 22 for skiing. This means Ryan Peck must pay close attention to fostering each of those priorities i...

Kathy Burrows has provided extensive consulting, workshops and direct sales training with various teams in the MLB, NBA, WNBA, Champ Car Open Wheel Racing, and AHL. Burrows shares some of her passion for selling sports, including how to open up the framework of painting more than just a picture, but an entire season. Burrows points out that there are never enough groups, and all of the groups with...

Moving a minor league baseball team 13 miles from one location to another is not supposed to be a heavy-lifting task, yet when the Hartford Yard Goats announced their intentions to move from New Britain to downtown Hartford in 2014, it became an issue with the locals. Senior Vice President Michael Abramson discusses the intangibles with the move, including creating a name change from the Rock Cats...

While the majority of the secondary is reserved for the cheaper bucket seats, it is the luxury suite experience that is beginning to transform into its own secondary resale platform. Scott Spencer works in this small segmentation as does Ep. 514's Todd Lindenbaum, trying to engage with a high-end customer through a resold product, helping both the suite owner as well as the new prospect. Spencer u...

The role of Chief Ticketing Officer is such a new title in sports, that only Ben Milsom seems to have it. But it shows where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to go, and how driven as well as passionate Milsom is toward the area of ticket sales in overall franchise revenue model. Milsom discusses his background in training, development and pushing the needle further for sales reps, as well as why the...

49ers' Legendary Wide Receiver Dwight Clark shares his thoughts on a wide variety of topics, ranging from "The Catch," playing in the NFL, serving as a general manager, and beginning a second career in sports. Clark also mentions his disdain for appearing in the 1994 direct-to-video Kindergarten Ninja, the loss of Candlestick Park compared to Levi Stadium, and working for the 1999 expansion franch...