About Kirk Wakefield & Team Sports Marketing
When I offered the first sports marketing class at Ole Miss in 1998, the only available texts were essentially rehashed Principles of Marketing books with sports examples. I then began to write my own chapters, working closely with ten executives from the top performing sports properties across all sports categories.
That early work resulted in the textbook, Team Sports Marketing, published by Elsevier in 2006. The goal of that book was to provide students, employees, and managers with research-based findings on how fans respond to team sports marketing. Since writing that book and coming to Baylor, I’ve learned more and more about how fans respond to properties and sponsors. This online text updates and expands on our knowledge–and shares it with others in an easily accessible format. Much of what I’ve researched and learned has come from our advisory board (see below) of the Sports Sponsorship & Sales program at Baylor University.
The focus of the text remains on marketing team sports. However, as Mark Cuban reminds us, “We don’t sell sports, we sell entertainment.” Consequently, we also include within the scope of the text any form of entertainment which depends upon building and maintaining a highly identified, passionate fan base.
Author contact Info: Kirk_Wakefield@Baylor.edu; 254.710.4267
Kirk Wakefield: Bio
Baylor Sports Sponsorship & Sales Advisory Board Members
TEAMS (Executives on advisory board)
- NBA Office: Murray Cohn, Jeremy Walls, Scott Mayo
- Atlanta Hawks/Thrashers: Corey Breton
- Charlotte Bobcats: Flavil Hampsten
- Dallas Mavericks: George Killebrew, George Prokos, Eric Ferrell
- Houston Rockets: Cris Garthe, Gretchen Sheirr
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New York Knicks/MSG: Lois Friedman
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Wayne Guymon, Matt Bowman
- Orlando Magic: Joe Andrade, Karen Rundle, Katie Stocz
- Phoenix Suns: Jeff Ianello, Nick Forro
- San Antonio Spurs: Frank Miceli, Lawrence Payne, Joe Clark, Tim Salier
- Washington Wizards: Jake Reynolds
- Texas Legends: Bill Boyce, Drew Mitchell
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Jason Howard
- Chicago Cubs: Colin Faulkner
- Cleveland Indians: Eric McKenzie
- Florida Marlins: Andrew Silverman
- Houston Astros: Bill Goren, Shane Hildreth
- Texas Rangers: Jay Miller, Jason Fortune
- San Diego Padres: Tyler Epp
- Dallas Cowboys: Robin Woith, Jason Koettel, Jennifer Surgalski
- Denver Broncos: Chris Faulkner
- Houston Texans: Greg Grissom, Brian George
- San Francisco 49ers: John Vidalin
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Ben Milsom
- Tennessee Titans: Stuart Spears
- Chicago Blackhawks: Steve Waight, Chris Werner
- Circuit of the Americas: Geoff Moore
- LA Kings/Galaxy: Chris McGowan, Kelly Cheeseman
- Pittsburgh Penguins: David Peart
- FC Dallas: Kris Katseanes
- Houston Dynamo: Bryan Krahm, Rocky Harris, Marcus Madlock
- Feld Motor Sports: Ryan McSpadden
- Homestead Miami Speedway: Shawn McGee, Bethany Tiffin
- Shell Houston Open: Steve Timms
- Temple University (IMG): Todd Pollock
- Air Force Academy (IMG): Doug Holtzman
CORPORATIONS (Executive, Company, Category)
- Dan Migala, Property Consulting Group
- Eric Fernandez, MediaLink, Interactive Media
- Dawn Turner, American Airlines, Airlines
- Tom Hughes, Reliant, Energy
- Stuart Selig, State Farm, Insurance
- Jason Simpson and Bill Moseley, AT&T, Telecom
- Angie Tipton, HP, Electronics
- Lynda Carrier Metz, Pizza Hut, Restaurants
- Bill Spicer, Dr Pepper/Snapple Group, Soft Drink/Bottled Water
- David Nottoli, General Motors, Automobiles
- Curtis Partain, American Airlines Center, Venue
- Kelly Roddy, Focus Brands (Schlotsky’s, Cinnabon, Carvel), FSR
- Robert Dedmon and Tom Coughlin, Daktronics, Scoreboard/Video
- Jon Heidtke and John Burnett, Fox Sports, Media
- Bill Glenn, The Marketing Arm, Sports Marketing Agency
- Merrill Dubrow, M/A/R/C Research, Market Research
- John Dillon, Denny’s, Full-Service Restaurant
- David Katz, Sportsfanlive.com, Social media
- Dave Cagianello, The Richards Group, Advertising
