The Little Theater was alive with knowledge on Friday with a business lecture presented by Brandon Blagg, a business analyst with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Blagg shared his insight about ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, digital marketing, game day operations and market research.

Students from business and media classes who attended the lecture learned about the importance of ticket sales — the single largest source of revenue the Bucks earn.

“The most interesting part of my job is creating the schedules each year,” Blagg said.

Each year Blagg helps creates game schedules to increase revenue and fan experience in order to create the most beneficial schedule. The Buck’s use segmentation, utilizing data from Ticketmaster to target specific categories of people and using demographics to increase ticket sales.

With the new arena currently under construction for the 2017-18 season, corporate sponsorships have increased emphasis for the Milwaukee Bucks. Blagg expressed the importance of partnerships. Currently, the Bucks partnerships are sold on renewable contracts. The Bucks currently have deals with Milwaukee Tool, Uber and Raise.

Changing the subject to digital marketing, Blagg recommended being calculated and specific about the target audience. Facebook Lead ads, a newly-released feature that fans can subscribe to automatically creates opportunity for sales reps. Blagg called the new social marketing method “revolutionary.” Other social marketing methods include email campaigns.

The topic of food and beverages, a source of the Buck’s revenue, was also brought up as a part of gameday operations. Blagg talked about the importance of pricing strategies and pricing elasticity. So revenue goes up as well as the fan experience (including post-game service and staffing). To increase fan experience Blagg told students about estimated line times, being able to see how the long the wait for concessions will take. Blagg called it an “interesting concept.”

Blagg concluded by talking about market research. One thing he uses is regression analysis, a process used to estimate the relationship among different variables. By putting in different game variables like temperature, day of the week and opponent, the Bucks are able to model and rank games to compare revenue from different years.

For students who want to get a job in the sports industry, Blagg recommended getting involved in something to show a track record.

“Anything where you can get your hands working to show future employers,” Blagg said.

Back Ground

• “The most interesting part of my job is creating the schedules each year”
•        Went to KSU
•         Went to Washburn for law
•         Works for Bucks NBA

Business help

•         Have tangible past
•         “Anything where you can get your hands working to show future employers”

Ticket Sales

•         Largest single source of revenue
•         Made-up up of different product types

o   full season tickets (41)

o   Half season tickets (22)

o   Flex

o   Individual

o   Suites – to businesses (for clients)

•         New Arena 2018/19 season

o   Leveraging increased future demand to drive present sales

•  Locked in prices
•  contract pricing
•  guaranteed seating
•         Segmentation

o   utilizing data

•  data from ticketmaster

o   understanding demographics

•  identify categories with high amounts
•  Target specific people
•         targeted companies

o   coordinated w/ social media and email

o   you don’t want to diminish your products

o   dynamic pricing

corporate sponsorship

•         increased emphasis under new ownership
•         minimum buy-in
•         partnerships sold on renewable contracts

o   raise, Milwaukee tool, uber

•         naming rights

o   currently: BMO Harris Bradley center

o   new arena

•  hoping to announce naming rights partner within  a month
•  higher impressions during construction and unveiling
•         NBA adding jersey patches

o   league trending toward more business centric mindset

o   76ers jersey patches (stubhub)

•  retail jersey sales (may change)
•  TV broadcast
•         pitching a partnership

o   mutually beneficial relationship

o   estimating impressions

•         using demographic /psychographic data

o   impressions

o   closed deal with mad city roofing

Digital marketing

o   want to be calculated and specific over who their targeting

o   email campaigns

•  facebook lead adds
•         “revolutionary”
•         subscribe button automatically creates opportunity for sales reps

o   social marketing targeting

Game day operations

o   bucks are leasing

o   food and beverages

•  pricing strategies
•  price elasticity
•         increasing price to gain revenue and fan experience

o   fan experience

•  staffing
•  post-game service
•  pistons-line management
•         estimated line times

o   “interesting concept”

Market Research

•         regression analysis

o   input variables (days, temp, team)

o   Measures impact

•  a model to rank games and compare $ over years
•         2016-17 season projections