A Career in College Athletics

03/03/20 • 43 min

This week, I'm joined by my friend Alan Verlander, CEO of Airstream Ventures, a sports and entertainment event management company. For the past 25 years, Alan has worked in and around college athletics from nearly every angle.
Alan was the Director of Athletics at Jacksonville University from 2005-2012, then served as the Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment for the City of Jacksonville, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Jacksonville Sports Council, before going out on his own to found Airstream Ventures. Alan has led and worked some of the nation's largest events including four NCAA Basketball Tournaments, Davis Cup Tennis, Navy vs. Notre Dame Football game, Gator Bowl, Spartan Races, Florida vs. Georgia Football Game, and US Men’s and Women’s National Team Soccer matches.
We talked about the differences between working in an athletic department vs. with the City, his leadership style and his advice for young administrators looking to bring new and innovative ideas to the world of college athletics. We also chatted about attracting sporting events to new cities and money that's often left on the table when dealing with sponsors.
If you work in or around college athletics, this is going to be an episode you'll enjoy!
Follow Airstream Ventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com, on Forbes and Entrepreneur.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

Previous Episode

Student Athletes Monetizing Their Influence

I'm joined this episode by Stephanie Stabulis, VP and Senior Strategy Director at HireInfluence, an influencer marketing agency. We talk about the types of opportunities out there for student athletes if they can monetize their name, image and likeness and the role she thinks athletic administrators should play. Stephanie also gives advice on how student athletes can best position themselves to capitalize on these opportunities and also mistakes to avoid.
Linked below are articles I wrote for Forbes and Entrepreneur that included Stephanie and the topics discussed in this podcast:
Marketers Bullish on Monetization Opportunities for NCAA Athletes With NIL Rights (Forbes)
How Student Athletes Can Prepare to Become Entrepreneurs (Entrepreneur)
You can follow Stephanie on Instagram: @therealstephstabulis. You can also follow HireInfluence on virtually any social media platform: @HireInfluence.
If you're interested in the book publishing chart I mentioned in the episode, you can view it here.
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com, on Forbes and Entrepreneur.

Next Episode

Creating Halls of Fame for Collegiate Programs

In this episode, I'm joined by John Roberson, CEO and "Chief Cheerleader" of experience creation firm Advent. We're talking about the growing trend of creating or reimagining Halls of Fame on college campuses. From the space needed to the timeline to the ways in which Halls of Fame are becoming more interactive, we covered Halls of Fame from every angle. If you work at an institution considering a Hall of Fame, or any space meant to encourage fan engagement, this is the episode for you!
In the episode we talked about a few specific Halls of Fame. Here's my Forbes article I mentioned about Stanford's Home of Champions.
Below are links to Advent's case studies on the projects we mentioned:
Stanford Home of Champions

Stanford Interactive Table Only

University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame

Arkansas Hall of Honor
You can follow Advent on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Here's the TED talk "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek I recommended during the Biz Tip of the Week.
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com, on Forbes and Entrepreneur.