Evan Pencek's Blog

May 2nd, 2018 My name is Evan Pencek and I am currently a freshman at the University of South Carolina. I am originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, although I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. I attended a large public school in Charlotte called Ardrey Kell High School. While at Ardrey Kell, I played baseball both in school and during the summer. I am majoring in Sports and Entertainment Management at USC, with a minor in Business Administration. My goal is to one day be apart of a professional sports team, specifically in the front office. Although that is my dream job, I am attempting to work within the industry doing anything I can to hopefully, one day, attain that dream job. This assignment has helped me focus in on the marketing side of sports, and how big of an impact it has on individual events. This assignment has allowed me to gain an insight to the marketing side of sports and shown me what does, and does not work.

On Thursday, April 19th I attended a Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball game. This game,  matched the Fireflies up with the Hickory Crawdads, the single A farm team of the Texas Rangers. On this day, students of USC were given free admittance with Carolina Card, which was a marketing tool. The student in attendance also received a free meal voucher, for a small hotdog, Lays chips, and a Pepsi product. For those of age, it was half off South Carolina brewed beer as well. Similar to that of a professional baseball game, the stadium is lined with advertisements and sponsors, mostly dealing with food and drink. Also, the back wall of the playing field is lined with advertisements, from banks to real estate companies, it has it all. Each refreshment cup also had a "Palmetto Citizens" advertisement on it, showing that everything is used as a marketing tool at a baseball game. In between batters, the advertisement on the scoreboard in left field changed, as well as the sponsor...

On Sunday, March 25th, I went to the Gamecock Athletic Park to see the USC softball team compete against the Tennessee Volunteers at Beckham Field. The objective of the trip was to see and understand marketing from a collegiate level sports game. On this specific day, it was national waffle day, so it gave the marketing team a perfect excuse to give out a free Waffle House waffle coupon to all fans. Alongside the free coupons, the first fifty students, including myself, received a free t-shirt. The shirt incorporated the Waffle House logo into a USC design, which appealed to both lovers of Waffle House and the university. The only other main source of sponsorship showcasing came from the scoreboard, which held four advertisements including: Capital One, Safelite, Verizon, and Founders. In between innings, the announcer would verbally thank a sponsor, and then proceed with an announcement, later again thanking the same sponsor. When it came to food, Coca Cola and Ritas stood out as the ...

On Sunday, April 8th I traveled back home to Charlotte to see my hometown Hornets take on the Indiana Pacers. The atmosphere within a professional basketball game is much different than that of a collegiate game, due to the mass marketing and overall large scale demographics that come with marketing an NBA team. Once you enter the Spectrum Center, the walls leading up to the court are lined with sponsors attempting to appeal to the hungry fans entering the arena. In the case of the Hornets, most of the sponsors were showcasing the food available at the arena, such as: Bojangles, Midwood Smokehouse BBQ, and Hickory Tavern. Upon entrance to the seating area, a booklet is handed to the fans, which includes the roster, as well as sponsorships that occasionally reward fans with coupons that can be used within the arena or at stores close by. The most noticeable marketing tool within the arena can be found hanging at half court; the jumbotron. Recently, the organization upgraded the large sc...