Year: 2019

Highlight Reel: My Week Behind the Scenes in Chicago Sports

jzamoran Sports Business Program News, Student Experience

By Larissa Gojdycz | Photos by Kathy Hillegonds and Randall Spriggs

When I first read about the “Behind the Scenes with Chicago Sports Organizations” course, the only thing I could think of was sign me up. Then I realized that the class was one week long, Monday through Friday, so would require me to take time off from work.

The class attends a Blackhawks game at the United Center. (Photo by Randall Spriggs)

Being employed full-time while attending the MBA program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business is not uncommon for many students. Balancing work with graduate school is not easy. But after thinking it over, and realizing I could complete an otherwise 10-week course in a one-week time frame, I knew it would be worth it.

The week-long course ended up offering so much more than what I had expected. It was jam-packed with events ranging from speaking to a panel of DePaul alumni who work in sports to watching the Blue Demons men’s basketball team beat Texas Tech in overtime. When coworkers questioned why I took time off from work to go to class, I questioned why they wouldn’t take the time for a class like this.

Here are some highlights from the week:

Meeting Chicago Sports Teams

Jacqui Lorio, director of Guest Services for the Chicago Bulls, speaks to the students. (Photo by Randall Spriggs)

Our class met and visited five major Chicago sports teams. That’s right, we went to the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox offices and stadiums, where we met with the employees of each team and received tours of the facilities. One of my favorite tours was of the American Airlines 1914 Club at Wrigley Field, led by Cubs Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Colin Faulkner. A few years ago when the Cubs wanted to increase revenue without being able to add seats, they dug out the dirt from under the seats in the stadium and created three premier clubs. The 1914 Club was a sight to see. The Cubs designed the room to replicate the era of the 1910/1920s, with gold and sleek accents. The Chicago Cubs offers the 1914 Club to ticket holders in the section behind home plate, where they can access drinks and food and buy exclusive Cubs gear only available to that suite. It was amazing to see how a company was able to think out of the box to increase revenue without adding seats to a stadium.

Visiting Sports Agencies and Companies

Students visit the Chicago headquarters of rEvolution, a sports marketing and media agency. (Photo by Kathy Hillegonds)

Another component of the sports industry we learned about was sports agencies and companies. Our class visited three agencies that deal directly with sports teams or companies that have sports sponsorships and/or relationships, like Gatorade, which was one of the companies we visited. We got to see the behind-the-scenes of how these agencies execute marketing campaigns for brands that want a sports integration or experience. Our class ended the week with a brainstorming session with the agency 4FRONT, which gave us some hands-on experience with the work they do and some interesting insights on how they do it.

Networking

Whether it was with the sports teams, agencies, brands or even fellow students in the class, meeting and networking with people was a definite highlight of this course. Over the week we met with more than 70 professionals in the sports space and were able to talk one-on-one with whomever we wanted to. It was invaluable being able to connect and chat with everyone. At the end of the week we had a round-table discussion panel with DePaul alumni who currently work in sports: Kacie Dohrmann of Northwestern Athletics; Mike Gordon of Learfield/Northwestern Sports Properties; Nick Bennett of the Blackhawks and Tim Weaver of the Wolves. We also met with three Kellstadt Graduate School of Business alumni, who were once students in this course: Max McNutt of Marketing Werks, Roger Uy of DePaul Athletics, and Graeme Jones of 4Front.

On top of making connections with people during the site visits, I made many connections with students in the class. Many of us were in the same boat with our careers, so we were all very excited to be exposed to the number of people we got to meet as well as make connections among ourselves.

The class visits the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Photo by Kathy Hillegonds)

These highlights are just a small peek into the amazing and productive week I had with the “Behind the Scenes with Chicago Sports Organizations” course with Andy Clark, director of the sports management program at the Driehaus College of Business. The days were filled to the brim and we were always on the go, but the experience is something that will stick with me for the rest of my MBA journey, as well as career.

Larissa Gojdycz graduated from Marist College in New York with a bachelor’s degree in advertising. She works full-time as a media manager for a large retail company and is pursuing her MBA, with a focus on entrepreneurship, at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Originally from northern New Jersey, she is still adjusting to Chicago winters, even though she’s lived in Chicago for five years.

Originally posted on the Inside Kellstadt blog.

DePaul Students Discover the Power of Sports Business to Do Good

jzamoran Student Experience
Students in the Introduction to Sports Management course, taught by Senior Instructor Andy Clark, pose for a photo before delivering presentations. | Photo courtesy of Gina Ciolli

 

By Gina Ciolli

​The world of sports has the ability to better a community through programs and initiatives that put wins and losses aside for a greater purpose. Families facing economic hardship during the holidays or local school kids who cannot afford lunch can have these weights lifted off them through the philanthropic services of the athletic icons in their city. These acts of service may seem to be fleeting, but the memory of them can last years afterwards.

These acts are what we were tasked to highlight in DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business Introduction to Sports Management course in the fall quarter.  Our student team project aimed at exploring corporate social responsibility (CSR) among a broad range of categories related to sports. The class was filled with passionate students eager to learn as budding professionals in the industry that we have been a part of as young fans.

Taught by Sports Management Program Director Andy Clark, the course featured guest lectures by leaders from different areas of the sports industry who offered insight into what they do and how we can get started in the business. The sports philanthropy student team project incorporated many of the concepts we learned throughout the quarter.

To launch the project, our class was introduced to Philanthropy Playmakers, which “advises athletes and sports organizations on how to leverage sports to accelerate community impact.” Philanthropy Playmakers co-founders Eric Shainock and Erica Prosser helped design our project and attended multiple class sessions throughout the quarter to consult and advise each team.

Students were arranged into seven teams that focused on athletes, teams, leagues, legacy events, esports, sports non-profits and brands. Throughout the quarter, each team conducted extensive research on their topics to understand CSR best practices in their discipline. Through interviews and research, each team developed innovative ideas to drive philanthropy in sports forward.  These insights helped us develop our own original CSR program. ​

The judging panel for the student sports philanthropy team project presentations (front row from the left): Tony Rokita, Erica Prosser and Eric Shainock. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

The project culminated with final presentations to a panel comprised of Prosser, Shainock and DePaul alumnus Tony Rokita, director of alumni relations for the Chicago Bulls. In addition to providing feedback to each team, Rokita shared a story about Bulls legend Michael Jordan meeting with a Make-A-Wish Foundation-supported child with cancer before a game. The conversation the two had was a brief moment in which the child sat up in his bed and exhibited a new found energy he had lost during his battle with cancer. His family was greatly affected by this moment, as was Rokita who says it has stuck with him in the more than 20 years since and showed him the impact sports can have during difficult times.

Our team’s topic was legacy events. From Super Bowls to All-Star Games to the Olympics, these events evoke immense passion and civic pride. It is an honor for a city to host one of these events whether it is their first or their sixth time, but with hosting such a large event comes a greater responsibility to leave a lasting legacy for the surrounding community. My team focused on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the many events leading up to the games. Our focus was on sustainable efforts to reduce a negative impact on the environment through implementing green practices and ways to benefit the homeless population in the city. One of our original ideas for the 2028 Games was to partner with Tesla to offer a sustainable transportation system in the city. This topic offered a unique approach to the project as legacy events can hold a larger impact for the athletes and fans.

Each project succeeded in finding what makes sports so special as an impactful tool for change in society and it was interesting to see shifts in perspective with every new topic. Following the presentations, Eric Shainock shared: “Erica and I were thrilled to work with DePaul to develop a sports philanthropy project for the class. After external interviews and extensive research, the students delivered final presentations that exceeded our expectations. They really took ownership of the project and provided insights that could very well be implemented within the sports philanthropy industry right now. We were proud to be and expose future sports business leaders to an emerging and critically important sector of the sports industry.”

People love sports for the camaraderie, the excitement and just for the plain fun of it. The world of sports has a unique ability to benefit communities, raise money for organizations, bring attention to important issues and provide opportunities for people in ways that other industries cannot do, all while fans cheer on their favorite teams.

Records will always be broken and teams will always chase championships, but sports philanthropy continues to develop as an important “teammate” to the efforts of those in the industry to help others. This project established the great importance of CSR in sports and helped us, as budding professionals, to understand the multi-dimensional industry beyond statistics and league standings.

Gina Ciolli is a sports communications major at DePaul.

Originally published on DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business & Kellstadt Graduate School of Business website.

DePaul Students Test Chicago Cubs Customer Service

jzamoran Student Experience, Team Projects
Taught by Andy Clark, the five-week hospitality leadership course partnered with the Chicago Cubs Service Excellence Program to improve the sports organization’s customer service.

 

By Robin Florzak

A DePaul University business course gave students an opportunity to help the Chicago Cubs organization hit a home run for fan services this summer.

Students enrolled in the five-week hospitality leadership course partnered with the Chicago Cubs Service Excellence Program to become “secret shoppers” who tested the quality of all aspects of the sports organization’s customer service. They called and messaged Cubs representatives to see how well they answered common fan questions, evaluated Wrigley Field tours, and assessed events at Gallagher Way, a ballpark-adjacent green space where the Cubs host concerts, farmers markets, yoga classes and other activities. Students also spent an afternoon at the Cubs’ Wrigleyville corporate offices answering fan mail, coordinating season ticket holder correspondence and assembling premier tickets sales materials.

“The class gives our students a chance to gain real-world consulting experience,” says Andy Clark, director of the sports management program at the Driehaus College of Business, who taught the course. “They are learning firsthand how customer service, customer insights and business analytics come together to affect sales and fan engagement. Brad Nagel, assistant director of talent acquisition, and the rest of the Cubs organization have been terrific partners for this project.”

At the end of the five-week course, students presented their confidential analyses of service delivery outcomes, trends and recommendations to Cubs directors in ticket sales, marketing, business strategy and human resources.

“One of the main things I’ve learned from this class is how to work together in a large group to understand each other’s strengths and organize the project so that each student is able to have a meaningful contribution based on his or her skills and own experiences in a consulting project situation,” says Scott Baird, an MBA student who took the class. “Working in groups to accomplish a task is an essential skill in any career.”

His classmate, senior Mary Rossi, agreed that the course provided students skills “that we can take back to our careers, not only in sports, but in general business.”

“This was definitely one of the highlights of my university career,” Rossi adds. “Not many other university students can say they were able to work with the Chicago Cubs on a project for several weeks for a class. Great insights, experiences and a fantastic behind-the-scenes look at the business side of one of the greatest MLB teams.”

Originally published on DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business & Kellstadt Graduate School of Business website.

DePaul Students Pitch Marketing Ideas for McDonald’s All American Games

jzamoran Student Experience, Team Projects

By Robin Florzak

As a Braham, Minn. high school senior in 2013, DePaul Blue Demons Women’s senior guard Rebekah Dahlman was one of 24 elite players from across the country selected to play basketball in the McDonald’s All American Games. Dahlman didn’t imagine then that a few years later, she and four DePaul University graduate business school classmates would be presenting a marketing plan at McDonald’s new West Loop offices for this national high school hoops all-star event.

Jesse Larios presents to McDonald’s marketing and communications managers. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

“As a student athlete myself and a McDonald’s All American alumna, I never knew how much went into all the planning, marketing and advertising for this event,” says Dahlman, who is studying in the Master’s in Marketing program at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. “I thought we (the student teams) all brought great ideas, and, from their (McDonald’s) feedback, it seemed like they loved all of our ideas and would consider using them at the future games.”

In March, McDonald’s marketing managers heard presentations from four Kellstadt student teams as well as six teams of undergraduate DePaul business majors who proposed strategies for driving awareness of the McDonald’s All American Games on a national level and increasing tickets sales in the host city. The project was part of the Sports Sponsorship Marketing course taught by Andy Clark, director of the Sports Management Program at DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business.

Rebekah Dalman | Photo by Steve Woltman

All 10 of the student teams presented to an impressive group of McDonald’s marketing and communications managers led by McDonald’s Head of Sports Alliances John Lewicki, along with recent DePaul graduates Rachel Rossner (BUS ’16) and Claribel Diaz (BUS ’17), who, as students, took Clark’s course. Joining the presentations evaluation team were representatives from McDonald’s agencies, DDB, Golin, KemperLesnik, Narrative Group and Content Collective.

“The feedback from the panel for all 10 teams was outstanding,” Clark says. “John Lewicki developed this experiential learning project specifically for our Sports Sponsorship Marketing classes. Prior to the final presentations John came to DePaul two separate weeks to work with the students. We can’t thank John enough for his time and expertise during the six-week project.”

The project “not only prepared me for pursuing my dreams in marketing but also it gave me a taste of what really goes into the process of working on a huge event like the McDonald’s All American Games,” Dahlman says. “I appreciate all that goes into this having a successful turnout and an exciting week.”

Originally published on the Driehaus College of Business & Kellstadt Graduate School of Business website.