The Reality of College Sports

My friend Joe Favorito, the top PR guy in sports, just wrote a blog explaining why we are addicted to sports and why the TV ratings continue to rise. Sports are the ultimate reality show as one of the only live TV moments we have. If you follow a specific sport, you get night-after-night dramas. If you follow a particular team or player you might have to wait a few days for the next show, but you know it’s coming. Thus, the reality TV comparison.

But when I spoke with Joe, one of the things I shared is that college sports is seemingly missing the big picture of why reality TV is so addictive. It’s the people on the show who we get to know and develop a rooting interest in. The all-time great shows understood this. Survivor, Amazing Race and American Idol to name a few. The model even works in "scripted" reality like The PITT.

The show is about the people who draw us in.

The Age of "Owned" and PESO

Before we hit on college sports, I want to go back in time. After years of working in college sports, I ended up leading global communications for Coldwell Banker Real Estate from 2004-2016. During that time, the rise of Facebook, Instagram and blogs led to the emergence of “owned” media. I remember one of the socialmedia.org conferences I attended with communications and social media leaders from some of the biggest brands in the world. During one event, those from Coke changed the game!

They did a presentation and explained how they revamped their website with what today we call “content.” They realized they could tell the Coke story better than anyone and by focusing on the stories within the brand (employees, consumers, history, etc.), the cocacola.com website would become a destination. They EVEN hired journalists and unleashed them to help Coke become a living, breathing brand that connected with their raving fans and brought in new ones.

It was unheard of at time!

That era led to the buzzword “PESO” – paid, earned, shared and owned – mix of marketing that rose like a storm in 2014. Marketing teams realized that without “Geico-like” advertising budgets, all facets of marketing needed to integrate and work together to have any shot of breaking through the clutter.

The Golden Age in College Sports Marketing

What does this brief history lesson have to do with college sports? Everything!

This should be the Golden Age of college athletics storytelling! The communications team should be fully integrated with the marketing team. Great content powers social media, advertising, cause marketing, internal communications and promotions. It makes the events (games) you run resonate. And since marketing supports sales – sponsorship, ticket sales and fundraising - you are missing so many potential opportunities without great "owned" media to engage your prospective audiences.

In an age where the word “revenue” is uttered incessantly, it’s time for athletic departments to consider who “watches” their version of reality TV and why before asking the ask.

All year we have seen college sports TV ratings rise. And while so many of us despise the portal-tied-to-NIL-mess, we are still watching. We love our teams, our schools, and the ups-and-downs of sports. But in large part, we are consuming despite ever "connecting" with our players - especially those who just came to us after how many years of being somewhere else.

To grow audiences, college athletic departments need to do more to reach more. A school's various audiences will welcome hearing from players. Let them share their love of the game, why they decided on theschool or major, what they hope to do with their NIL money or anything that can connect us. We want to see them with their friends, learning and enjoying college life. This type of content is critically important in the consumer engagement game.

The added bonus is players gain opportunities to "grow their brand." It should be a win-win.

Chief Storytelling Department

This is why the history lesson from above is important. The communications team MUST be integrated within all facets of marketing. And their role should be redefined as the Chief Storytelling Department.

With basketball now over and the major revenue-driving driving fall and winter sports in the rearview mirror, it’s time to create the roadmap to a revenue-strong 2026-27 calendar. What stories can athletic departments tell to engage the groups that truly matter in the revenue game including:

·       Students, faculty and staff

·       Residents of your local communities

·       Alumni

·       Local business community

·       Already existing fans

·       Occasional fans

I know it's hard to imagine, but graduation season is about a month away. That means schools have about four months to identify the types of stories that will resonate with each above group, which players can be utilized to tell them and then establish the plan to share them appropriately.

A new season is coming soon!