During the May Intersession at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, experts from some of the world’s largest collegiate, professional and Olympic sports organizations Skyped with Ole Miss students via a new Sports Marketing and Communications class.
Leading the class was Scott Pederson, a pioneer in the world of sports marketing for the past 30 years, handling some of the most high profile events, corporations and celebrities in the world.
Pederson has staged a World Series, helped develop the National Football League’s most high profile event property (Punt, Pass & Kick), and negotiated endorsement contracts for professional athletes. He has consulted with each of the four major sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NASCAR and NBA) and his integrated marketing and communications agency developed the marketing and public relations plan for Lance Armstrong’s “LiveStrong” yellow wrist band program, widely considered one of the most successful cause-marketing campaigns in history.
Will Norton, Dean of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, was the brainchild behind the idea of creating a new integrated marketing and communications class exposing students to the multi-billion dollar sports industry.
Pederson accepted Norton’s offer to build and teach a unique course where officials from the NBA, Major League Baseball, Olympics, NASCAR, Big 12 Conference and the Atlanta Sports Council used Skype to make 30 to 40 minutes presentations.
“There are sports marketing programs on virtually every major college campus these days, “ said Pederson, “but Dean Norton and I wanted to create a class at Ole Miss you would not be able to find anywhere else in the world”.
Some of the featured guests from the May Intersession class included:
Len Komoroski, President/CEO of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavs spent 45 minutes with the class on the eve of the Cavaliers winning the NBA Draft Lottery. Students had the opportunity to hear how the team dealt with the sudden and very public departure of superstar LeBron James to the Miami Heat.
Tracy White, Senior Vice President of IMG College, the new multi-media rights holder of Ole Miss Athletics explained the relationship between IMG College, and the 70+ other schools they represent, as well as what Ole Miss fans could expect from this new relationship.
Dan Corso, Executive Director of the Atlanta Sports Council, described the process the city of Atlanta used to win the bid to bring April’s NCAA Final Four to the community.
Jack Tyson, head of ticketing for the Atlanta Olympic Games and the PGA TOUR, discussed the process and plan Atlanta utilized to sell a record number of tickets to the 1996 games.
Wally McCarty, Senior Business Development for NASCAR, explained how sponsors justify spending $20 million on the sponsorship of a race car, and why there are so many other logos placed on each car.
In addition to the guests on Skype, Ole Miss Athletics Department leadership also spent time with the students to understand aspects of the school’s budget, relationship/compliance with the NCAA, the role of media relations, and why the marketing department created “The Season” instead of producing a traditional coaches show.
“Mr. Pederson reached out to each of us and showed us how we can each follow our passion through the sports world,” said Alexandra Donaldson, a junior in the IMC program. “I would love to see sports marketing become an official part of the IMC program and so do a lot of other students. It would be more than beneficial to Ole Miss.”
Pederson and other sports industry leaders hope that Ole Miss could one day become the home for the country’s top sports marketing leaders.
“The sports industry is going to continue to grow.” said Pederson. “There is no reason Oxford can’t be seen as the premier home for such a program”. –– Scott Pederson, journalism professor, Meek School of Journalism and New Media
Email Scott Pederson at scott_pederson@celebratepositive.com
