Building a Primetime Brand in College Athletics

Promoting college athletics requires workers to know about different sports, as student-athletes from all university programs deserve support. The athletic calendar is usually active year-round, with Division I schools offering at least 14 sports. Sports marketing is one way to generate student-athlete support for their day-to-day college experience, and externally through fan attendance and community engagement. While established winning programs at the Power 5 level can generally draw legions of fans to any home event, smaller schools and struggling teams must get creative to keep their supporters engaged and grow their fanbase.

Today’s guest on the WorkInSports Podcast is University of Colorado Associate Athletic Director Ricky Zum Mallen, who joined the Buffaloes’ athletic department in the fall of 2022. Excluding the 2020 COVID-shortened season, Colorado’s football program hasn’t had a winning season since 2016. Despite the struggles, Colorado’s hiring of Deion Sanders generated buzz in Boulder, with CU selling out its season tickets in April, the first time that season tickets sold out since 1996. In this episode, Zum Mallen and VP of Content and Engaged Learning Brian Clapp discuss:

• How the award-winning sports marketing campaigns he produced at Eastern Michigan were conceived • What goes into optimizing a huge marketing moment like hiring Deion Sanders • Why being willing to move (Zum Mallen worked at six schools in 10 years) helps you climb the ladder for college athletics jobs • What the path to working in a Power 5 athletic department looks like

Enjoy the full episode to learn more about sports marketing in college athletics. Also, subscribe to the WorkInSports Podcast for more sports career advice. You can also access additional content on our YouTube channel.