OXFORD, Miss. – An impressive panel of influential figures in college and professional athletics will discuss the dramatically changing world of sports marketing at 9:30 a.m. Thursday (Oct. 17) at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi
Ross Bjork, Ole Miss athletics director, will serve on the panel, and Michael Thompson, senior associate athletics director for communications and marketing, will moderate the discussion.
The event, which is free and open to the public, also features:
– Renie Anderson, senior vice president for sponsorship and partnership management for the National Football League
– Mike Glenn, executive vice president for market development and corporate communications at FedEx
– Charlie Hussey, associate commissioner for SEC Network relations
– Tracy White, Southeast regional vice president of IMG College marketing company
Anderson, Glenn, Hussey and Thompson are all Ole Miss alumni. Less than two years ago, Glenn served on a search committee with former Ole Miss and NFL quarterback Archie Manning that recommended Hugh Freeze as the Rebels’ head football coach.
The panel will deal with questions that arise from a new era where television networks dictate the calendar for kick-offs and apparel manufacturers influence the designs of school colors and uniforms; where businesses invest millions of dollars weekly to advertise during sports broadcasts; and where budgets for college athletic departments are soaring, driven by revenues from lucrative TV contracts.
The group is expected to address such issues as the effort to maintain maximum attendance at sporting events even as so many games are telecast live or available online. Other potential questions involve the possibility of corporate logos on college uniforms and the rising price of tickets.
“This isn’t your father’s wide world of sports,” said Scott Fiene, the program director for integrated marketing communications at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media who helped arrange the program. “Sports marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry focused on media, branding, entertainment, loyalty, revenue generation and many other things. It’s not a game – it’s big business.”
A reception will follow the program.