Tao of Sports Podcast

Wearing his beloved Philadelphia Eagles jersey for the interview, Jeffrey Gitomer sits down to discuss sales ethics, practice of humility and why Wells Fargo did none of those things. A legendary sales trainer and author, Gitomer talks about where sales reps go wrong, and how they need to build up their own acumen without relying on their managers to do it for them. Gitomer focuses on sales traini...

Recognizing some of the issues facing her own generation and the uneasiness with sports sales, Layna Carnicom has embraced getting out of her comfort zone. Carnicom discusses some of her own original misconceptions in the sports market place, especially when it comes to learning to sell season tickets, groups, and mini packs. Carnicom talks about her frustration with some of her sports management...

Looking through the lense of sports merchandise, Mikko Simon brings international activation experience to the brands that he has worked with. As Vice President for Point 3 Basketball, Simon discusses the guerilla marketing efforts of attacking less of the traditional retail space dominated by Nike or UnderArmour, and instead focusing on local basketball tournaments. Simon discusses the avoidance...

For the 12th straight season, Minor League Baseball has garnered over 41 million fans. MiLB Chief Marketing Officer David Wright discusses the marketing efforts underway to ensure that the fan attendance number grows instead of remains static. Wright talks about some of the ways in which sponsors have now started to affiliate with MiLB as a vast network of teams for activation, as well as various...

Sports sponsorship activation has changed drastically over the last few years with the advent of digital components, as Michael Hurley sees it, there are few sponsors actually negotiating out what they see in a team's deck. Hurley discusses how some of the old ways of thinking, especially when it comes to product level sponsorships, are no longer relevant and must be done al la carte. Hurley talks...

James DeMeo returns to the podcast for his second stint (Ep. 505), this time discussing the security surrounding the Rio Olympic games, and some of the ways in which communication become critical in a massive environment. DeMeo talks about his belief of terrorism being a real threat, not just of the international flavor, but also of the local, small-time kind, as he covers some of the national iss...

Returning to the podcast for a second stint (Ep. 390), Bryan Bedford discusses his transition to opening his own sports marketing and player consulting firm in Oklahoma City. Bedford talks about utilizing his coaching past at TCU to help high school parents and students understand the college recruiting process, as well as walk through a college athletic football office's viewpoint. Bedford sees h...

Fresh off of co-hosting the inaugural Sports PR Summit in San Francisco at the offices of Twitter, Lauren Teague discusses the landscape of social media and digital experts in sports. Teague talks about some of the challenges facing digital professionals as live streaming becomes more evident, as well as how the social media role at teams and leagues has transitioned from communications to marketi...

Michael Brooks has helped launch one of the more significant eSports associations at the varsity collegiate level across the United States. The National Association of Collegiate eSports has grown quickly out of the NAIA's Kansas City office, as Brooks tells it, with over 20 charter university members offering scholarships, 70 percent of the eSports programs being under campus athletic departments...

NCAA Hockey may be a regional sport, but Holy Cross markets it as one of its primaries. Senior Associate Athletic Director of External Operations Joe Bertoletti is responsible for the sales and marketing of the athletic department, and discusses some of the nuances of selling a sport in a hockey-mad area, where there are few comparable programs to judge everything from pricing to marketing against...

While the public may assume that every athlete and sports figure writes their book solely, Michelle Hill reveals that there are a lot of them relying on ghostwriters. Hill owns Winning Proof, and serves as a ghostwriter for high profile athletes, coaches and sports business figures. Hill discusses why a ghostwriter can be invaluable to the execution of a book, getting the entire story narrative ou...

Sports supervision in college athletics is a crucial component of administration. Maryland's Associate Athletic Director for Sports Administration Tyler Mariucci discusses his passion for the sports monitoring segmentation, which in many ways, helps build future athletic directors by learning how to communicate with program coaches. Mariucci talks about switching over from development to sports ov...

Founded in 1970, The West Coast Conference has been home to that region's private religious schools. WCC Commissioner Lynn Holzman discusses some of the nuances of overseeing a private school conference, as well as how the conference "got" Las Vegas for its annual tournament first. Holzman talks about the WCC's foothold in specific areas such as media rights, and the conference is working on susta...

Understanding the fan's true thoughts on pricing and venue product offerings is what Victus Advisors specializes in. Managing Principal Brian Connolly explains that doesn't just mean surveying current fan bases, but also the fans who are no longer coming to games. Connolly shares his insight into what venues can do to change up their facility in terms of premium sections, as well as the actual rev...

Coming out of Wall Street, Jim Dries is seeking to revolutionize the sports data segment with PiLYTix. Dries discusses how to show more about the customer to the sales rep, as well as ensure that it translates to actionable information which drives more revenue for the sports franchise. Dries talks about some of the misconceptions about data gathering, as well as overall pitfalls that occur. Twitt...

The Oklahoma City Dodgers have managed to couple two dynamic legacies together into one premiere baseball package; both the Dodgers' historic brand through affiliation and their stadium, which resides in the legendary Bricktown area of Oklahoma City. Senior Vice President Jenna Byrnes talks about how the team engages with the community, as well as positions its marketing power in order to draw its...

Frisco, Texas' Justin Wakeland High School is an amazing success story for young teenagers looking to gain a footing in the sports industry. Program instructor Leon Friedrich describes the program, which utilizes real world internships, guest speakers and an intense amount of classroom instruction to create experience for each of the students participating. Friedrich talks about the expectations p...

Brad Matthews has been a fixture in the sports sales landscape of Miami for over 16 years, first with the Marlins and Heat, then for 14 years with the University of Miami handling premium sales. Now at Florida International, Matthews discusses his challenges of enhancing the revenue generation concepts by building a sales team as well as how to interact with CRM. Matthews describes some of the way...

Mino Solomon has been in the sports sales game a long time, starting with at the tail-end of the Seattle Supersonics and becoming part of the group that headed up the Oklahoma City Thunder sales team. Solomon discusses his time in Seattle and his recent return with the Seattle Sounders FC, along with various ways to tackle both sales strategies and leadership. Solomon shares that he gets irked by...

Fresh off of being named one of the Forbes 30 under 30 in the sports category, SportTechie senior writer Mark Burns discusses the state of sports journalism today. Burns talks about some of the ways to gather sources on stories, as well as ensure that quotes aren't taken out of context, and highlights issues with aggregation which may lose context amid overall content. Burns shares his thoughts on...

Almost a year to the day that he first appeared on the podcast (Ep. 549), Dave Wakeman returns to discuss some of the factors of sports revenue generation and branding when coupled with technology. Wakeman shares his experience consulting with various companies and teams, including his appearance at the 2016 Sports Sales Boot Camp at the ALSD Conference in Pittsburgh. Wakeman also tackles some of...

Ken Troupe returns to the podcast (he was on Ep. 4 in 2012) and talks about what he's learned since that time, crossing over from the team side with the Arizona Coyotes to SportsDesk Media. Troupe discusses the importance of data in ticket sales, along with corporate sales metrics, and how to develop a shorthand in the conversation between teams and brands. Troupe talks about his educational aspir...

Kate Dobie is the first female general manager to head an Australia Baseball League team, doing so with the Brisbane Bandits, her third ABL franchise. Dobie speaks about the methods used to gain momentum with the Australian population to attend games. Despite having roots in Australia since the 1800s, Dobie points out that some of the modern promotional tools are still trying to be reckoned with b...

Understanding where a campus identity is, and where it should be, is the hallmark of Grand Valley State. The university and the athletic department are firmly entrenched in the attitude of being the best NCAA Division II school nationally. GVSU Deputy Director Doug Lipinski explains the mindset and attitude of the Lakers program, and why it matters to stay at a place that isn't in the Power 5 or F...

If you try to discount around Joe Rixon, he'll be the first line of opposition that you find. Rixon discusses his disdain for the practice, as well as the lack of marketing around it even to make discounting even somewhat effective. Rixon talks about the misperception about the secondary market tends to cost organizations revenue. Now a board member on the National Association of Athletic Ticket S...