Brett Bauer: Vice President of Global Partnerships at Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Amanda Groen: Partnership Activation with the Philadelphia Eagles
Joe Simler: Senior Manager of Corporate Partnerships with the Dallas Cowboys
Matt Sikich: Senior Corporate Sales Manager with the Cincinnati Bengals

Q&A
When did you know partnerships were for you?
BB: 

• Originally thought he was going the Marketing route
• Sold a sponsorship on the spot while in graduate school at Ohio University and had a great feeling of satisfaction that sparked a partnership interest

AG:

• Was not aware of it until her Marketing internship with the Green Bay Packers
• Working with partners is a form of marketing. Continually became exposed to partnerships as her career went on

JS:

• Understood he had the ability to sell
• The lowest barrier to enter the industry is in ticket sales, which he went into with the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Coyotes, and then sold suites for the Green Bay Packers

MS:

• Worked in PR for the Milwaukee Brewers are realized it was not for him
• Worked with Learfield and gained more responsibility as his career wet on

What have been the main effects of COVID-19 on your industry?
BB:

• Doing their best to sell digital content to their partners
• Fortunate that football is leading the way before arena sports return

AG: 

• Essentially renegotiating every contract with partners
• In-stadium is not currently valued as highly and new things are being given to partners

JS: 

• More time in the office but at times able to talk to more people in a day
• The NFL got lucky from a timing perspective

MS:

• Zoom meetings have replaced traditional conference calls, so it is nice to see a face
• Renegotiating terms with partners. A lot of checking in just to see how they are doing

If Camp Randall sold its naming rights, who could you see it going to?
BB: UW Credit Union
AG: Miller-Coors
JS: Epic
MS: Exact Services

Kassie Dunnihoo 

• Works for the NFL as a Social Media Production Assistant
• Graduated from the UW School of Journalism in 2020 and worked for UW Athletics

Kelli Steffes

• Works for UW Athletics as the Assistant Director of  Brand Communications
• Graduated from Oklahoma State in 2014​

Zach Rosen

• Senior Manager of Digital Content for the Washington Wizards
• Graduated from UW in 2016 and interned for the Brewers and Nationals​

Q&A

When did you first realize you had found a passion in digital media?
KD:

• Started following social media trends more closely
• Loved working in the athletic department for UW and enjoyed learning about the up and coming platforms in the School of Journalism

KS:

• Grew up with the emergence of social media
• Loved working in the athletic communications department at Oklahoma State 

ZR:

• Loved sports his entire and noticed his passion interning with the Brewers
• Enjoys the writing and podcast option of communications

How do you best utilize the different types of social media?
KD: 

• Very high praise for Tweetdeck, allows you to customize and organize your valued content

KS:

• It is essential to cater to the platform. Have to be able to differentiate your content based on the type of platform being utilized. 
• Can't neglect any form of social media, important to utilize all platforms

ZR:

• Some teams have smart audiences and some don't, and that can change depending on the platform
•  Important to put yourself in other people's shoes

How do you fine balance between playful and professional?
KD:

• Enjoys having fun, but it is tough to find that balance. Not sure she has found it yet

KS:

• The Twitter audience is brutal so you can't be sensitive about every comment
• Less opportunities in college athletics to be playful and make fun of oneself than there are in professional sports

ZR:

• Have to be extremely careful right now in a world where everything is political
• There are lines to acceptable and non-acceptable, and those lines are changing

Good Social Media Resources:

• Tweetdeck
• #SMsports
• @Skullsparks

Current trends:

• Utilizing TikTok
• Personal branding on athletes and athlete driven content

General Sports Advice

• Try to work in your athletic department
• Make connections in your field
• Build your brand

Main takeaways for fall semester:

• All events will take place virtually for the semester
• One speaker event per week for 10-12 weeks, typically on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays
• Attendance will be tracked, but no membership requirements
• Participation in the club will be completely FREE

​​

Key Points:
The Seven Key Drivers of the Sports Business Industry
1. Tickets

• A common starting position in the sports industry: individual sales, group sales, mini-plans, season ticket sales, premium seating

2. Sponsorship & Media

• Media rights is now the #1 source of revenue in sports

3. Facilities

• Building rent, concessions, ticket sales, sponsorship/advertisement, suite sales

4. Events

• Sound, amenities, fairs/festivals, sporting events

5. Food/Beverage & Retail

• Roughly 40-50% goes back to the teams
• Sports fans are walking billboards

6. Consumers

• Meeting the needs and wants of consumers: segmenting, targeting, positioning

7. Governance

• Establishment of policies and continuous monitoring of the implementation of those policies