IÕm Grant Gardner and youÕre listening to Statistically Speaking, a podcast from the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics in Birmingham, Alabama. IÕm Zachary Taunton and each week we are going to explore how big data and advances analytics is impacting the business side of sports. So, here is this weekÕs episode... --- Zachary Taunton (ZT): Welcome back to Statistically Speaking, I am Zachary Taunton, and today we have a guest who is also in the Samford Sports Marketing program, Chase Tripi. Chase, how you doing? Chase Tripi (CT): I am doing great Zach, thank you for inviting me on. ZT: ÊAbsolutely, thanks for coming on. So, today the question we're going to address is: what is sports marketing? You know there's a huge Òworld of sports businessÓ out there that a lot of people don't know anything about. So, we're going to start out real quick with that very basic question. So, what is sports marketing, Chase? CT: You know, sports marketing is a pretty broad term, thereÕs a lot that goes into marketing an athletic event. There is the sponsorship side of it. ThereÕs the social media side of it in marketing. There's print. And there are game-time marketing promotions. But I would probably say what encapsulates sports marketing is all of the different avenues and facets that go into creating an environment for fans. Whether it's digital, or in person, it's just that environment that you can create through marketing tactics. ZT: Right, and you are most involved in the NBA, thatÕs correct? CT: Correct, IÕm a big basketball guy. ZT: Okay, so you are interested in getting the NBA, or basketball in general, to grow in China? CT: Yes, yes. ZT: So, tell me more about that and how you think you're going to get there. CT: I put a lot of focus over the past couple years in learning Chinese because there's a huge growth for the sport of basketball in China. Especially the NBA has done an incredible job of connecting with that fan base. Throughout the year they'll do promotional jerseys that have Chinese New Year logos on them and what not. So, what I'm looking to do is to gain a lot of marketing experience here in America and try to connect with a basketball team that has a large Chinese following and Chinese fan base so that over time I can help connect the fan group in China with the American fan base and hopefully continue to grow the sport and grow the talent pool so that eventually we can see a very well-diversed talent pool in America. ZT: ÊFantastic and how would you say that being in the sports marketing program here at Samford has helped you in learning about sports business and how you can take it to international sports? CT: ÊI think a lot of our classes have a good focus on the international aspect of sports. We've had the privilege of working with sports entities across the world. Whether it's the Israeli Football League, sports and soccer teams abroad. We've had a lot of good exposure to the international aspects of what's involved in sports business and sports marketing and I think that's going to give me a good foundation to work off of in the coming years to becoming an international sports executive. ZT: Okay, fantastic. At the beginning you were talking about the things that go into sports marketing. So, in your opinion what makes sports marketing different from just regular marketing? CT: In sports marketing you have every aspect of marketing a product, a service. You get the digital side of marketing. The print side of marketing. You're creating an event. YourÕre marketing an individual. You have such a broad spectrum of marketing tactics that are involved in sports marketing that you're not really just touching one thing like you would if you were product marketing or service marketing. YouÕre marketing a player, youÕre marketing a team, products and apparel, tickets....you have such a broad aspect of things you're going to be marketing towards your fan base. ThereÕs just so much that goes into it. ZT: Now, obviously you're very interested in international sports marketing. The sports culture in the United States tends to be - with a few exceptions - very different from what we see in other countries. So obviously, like what players are getting paid, with the exception of soccer players getting paid, in the United States is so far above what we see in other places. Do you think there's an openness to becoming so profit-driven, as sports have become in the United States, in other countries? CT: I think soccer is the only thing you can really compare to American salaries in the way we pay our players here. Besides that, basketball has not grown as much profit-wise recently as much as it is in America there's not as much to create, not as much profit to generate. We pay our NBA players tens-of-millions-of-dollars every year because they generate even more for the team. YouÕre just not seeing that right now abroad. I think baseball is a great sport that's been international for a decent amount of time, longer than I think that the NBA has, but just see the same kind of thing that you do with international basketball. International baseball isn't producing the same amount of profit, or salaries, that it does in America. ZT: Do you see that as a difficulty that you're going to have to overcome with international sports? Because the sports culture is just so different. If you're talking about rugby or cricket or whatever else they just don't view it the same way. CT: Absolutely, I think the cost and the profit in the NBA, in basketball, by itself is going to be a bit of a hurdle to overcome in producing. Just because in China, specifically in my case, there isn't a lot of pay behind being a basketball player. So, we need to create lines of communication and avenues for Chinese players to come to America and play basketball, but that just has to do with how popular the sports is. We need to have enough money going into the the CBA, which is the Chinese Basketball Association, to prop up their players to produce the talent to actually create that profit. So, we really need to have an avenue in which the NBA connects with the Chinese league in order to produce talent that can bring them to America. Then youÕll start to see much more profit when the Chinese people see that they have their own people coming into America to play. ZT: Right, now you can you talk to me again about the aspects of sports marketing? Now when a lot of people here sports marketing they imagine that sports marketing is actually a more narrow field than regular marketing and actually my experience that has not been true, because the skill set, and the things that go into sports marketing, tend to be so much more holistic and than just regular marketing. When you start talking about sponsorships and the all the different things that you are responsible for marketing. So, of all those different aspects, is there any particular thing that you have a soft spot towards? Whether it's sponsorships, or something else... CT: In-game marketing tactics and creating an environment is something that personally I enjoy. Because I love going to basketball games, I love playing basketball. So, I think the environment in an athletic event is what's going to make or break your experience with the team. I think if you can go to a game, or watch it on TV, and really tell there's a camaraderie, there's a community behind the team, you will be more likely to buy the tickets, will be more likely by the apparel, you will be more likely to rally behind popular or underdog players. So, I think if you can create a good in-game environment behind your promotional marketing and behind your giveaways and the things you can create within the game...if you can master that atmosphere I think it will drive everything else. ZT: Right, and this is why we love sports marketing. It's just so unique. And experiences that you get through it are just ones you really can't get anywhere else. Alright, thank you so much for coming on Chase. We enjoyed hearing about what sports marketing is and I hope we've helped our listeners understand a bit more about what makes sports so unique. CT: Until next time... --- Thank you for listening to Statistically Speaking. This podcast was created and produced by Zach Taunton and Grant Gardner. To learn more about the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics, and download more episodes of the podcast, visit our webpage at samford.edu/sports-analytics and follow us on Twitter @SamfordSACenter.