General Information

• Satellite office of ESPN Regional Television • Office of Five people

– Brant Ringler (Executive Director)– Anne Rector (Supervisor of Operations and Events)– Hope Lockett (Supervisor of Sales and Marketing)– Trisha Branch (Ticket Manager)– Adam Powers (Project Event Assistant)

• Based in Charlotte, North Carolina/Reports to Bristol, Connecticut

• Founded in 2003 Plains Capitol Fort Worth Bowl and in 2006 became Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl

General Information

• ESPN Regional Television has multiple events • 6 Bowl Games

– Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl– Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl – Sheraton Hawaii Bowl– PapaJohns.com Bowl – New Mexico Bowl – St. Petersburg Bowl

General Information

• Basketball:-Anaheim Classic (www.AnaheimClassic.com)-Old Spice Classic (www.OldSpiceClassic.com)-O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off

(www.PuertoRicoTipOff.com)-Pizza Hut Big East/SEC Invitational-O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic-ESPNU Women’s College Basketball Invitational-Dick’s Sporting Goods Spartan Clash-ESPNU BracketBusters

General Information

• Golf:-Champions Skins Game-ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway-Par-3 Shootout-Skins Game

• Olympic Sports:-ESPNU Invitational Series presented by ConocoPhillips

Organizational Structure

• Executive Director- Oversees 20 volunteer committees (of over 220 people)

• Main Role- – to maintain relationships of sponsors during the

offseason– taking care of them during bowl season– Works with the pentagon to bring in military members

of every branch which they honor during the game– Puts together the game day script for operations &

television

Organizational Structure

• Supervisor of Operations & Events• Main role- – to help out in dealing with different teams & their

sports information directors– Orders bowl gifts for players– Does accounting & budgeting for bowl– Helps with activation of sponsorships

Organizational Structure

• Supervising & Marketing• Main Role- – Handles the execution of sponsorship of main

packages– Gets 80 sponsorships per year– Maintains the website & makes sure all the

sponsors are displayed properly– Works to create program ads, video board specs

for the game

Organizational Structure

• Ticket Event Manager• Main Role-– Decides where everybody is going to sit in the

stadium– Prints the tickets – Involved with free tickets to active duty armed forces

members– Groups the individual & corporate sponsors– Oversees the “Ladies Day Out Committee” for the

coaches wives & children

Organizational Structure

• Project Event Assistant• Main Role-– To assist anybody in the office that needs

assistance– Veteran & charity tickets– Execution of game day operations

Organizational Structure

• Overall Goal- – Each position works together to make the bowl

game successful & honorable.

Organizational Structure• Executive Council:• Made up of city leaders, such as former State Senator Ken Brimer,

the President of the Chamber of Commerce, & other high ranking leaders in the city of Fort Worth.

• Help get the word out about what the Bowl is doing on a monthly basis

• Meets once a month from September to December• Board of Directors:

• Board of directors is made up of a lot of volunteer committee chair

• Main purpose: communicate with committees to make sure everything is according to plan

Organizational Structure

• Volunteers: • 20 different volunteer committees• Set up suites on Gameday• Make sure 10 Cars per team• Women’s day out• Children’s hospital visits with players• Welcome Home Hero

Organizational Structure

• Formal or Informal?– Both (In Fort Worth office)• A lot of informal face to face communication with in

the office• Formal interaction through e-mail to keep track of

information incase something comes up.

Organizational Structure• Formal Communication– ESPN: Charlotte Office

• Boss visits 3-4 times a year• Updating on ticket sales, etc• Trust has developed over the years so no micromanaging

– Military• Very formal but more relaxed with familiarity over time

– Universities• Phone calls and follow-up emails• Fly in representatives for meeting to discuss the process

– Volunteers• Email committee chairs

Organizational Culture

• Internal Conflict– There’s not much of it– Open-door, open-communication policy– Act as a small family– Big issues are rare but will have group meeting if

necessary to work it out

Organizational Culture

• External Conflict– ESPN

• Not much conflict• Some time delays

– Military • Very easy to work with

– Volunteers• Sometimes have to micromanage but for the most part the volunteer chairs

handle situations

– Universities• Have to stay on top of them to get paper work and site visits pre bowl game. • Stay in constant communication with them during bowl week to try and

combat any issues

Organizational Culture

• Changes Over the years- – This will be the 7th year of the bowl’s existence– Moved from 2 different office locations to 1– Change in management positions in Charlotte• Management style has not• Built multiple relationships with different people• Have a micromanage style/ lets the Ft. Worth office

make own decisions as long as they are in formed with big ones

Organizational Culture

• 1st 3 years was called the Fort Worth Bowl• Plains Capital Bank was the title sponsor• 2006 Changed to the Armed Forces bowl• Bell Helicopter became the title sponsor• No positions changed • ESPN had to get comfortable after investing 3

years of the Fort Worth Bowl

Organizational System

• Once a month, from September through December, meetings are conducted– Executive council– Board of directors

– Scripts are made to conduct the meeting– People who sit-in on these meetings relay the

information to the appropriate persons.• Volunteer committees• Corporations • Etc.

Organizational System

• When asked about organizational communication change…

• Feelings of fortune came to mind about the employees & volunteers

• Because of the open door policy in place, everyone has free reign to suggest change

• open communication allows them to know what works & doesn’t work

Organizational System

• What makes ESPN unique to work for?– Working for a company like ESPN is awesome!– Unprecedented benefits are given to employees – Apart of the Disney corporation– “Sports is something that usually gives people

hope and something to be happy about. At a time, when our economy is in turmoil it is good to know that we can provide others a scapegoat, while honoring our patriots overseas at war.”