Transcript
Speaker 1 0:05
Utilizing an effective sports strategy as an economic stimulant has allowed Indianapolis to build a reputation as the amateur sports capital of the world. Despite beginning with a lack of sports assets and an inadequate urban infrastructure, city leaders since the 1960s have consistently committed to creative ideas for revitalization, and Indy has reaped the benefits of those strategies in the years since. At the Richard M. Fairbanks Aymposium held in downtown Indianapolis on April 1, 2015, civic leaders highlighted how implementing a sports strategy improves a city beyond the generation of revenue from sporting event business boosts and tickets sold. Alongside the economic value, these leaders agreed that a sports strategy offers improved community relations and better branding for a city, both of which positively affect quality of life within the city and reputation outside of it. Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Company, and a key organizer of the 1987 Pan Am Games and the 2012 Super Bowl, begins the discussion by explaining the relationship between sports and city branding.
Mark Miles 1:12
For us, I’ve always thought at one level, it was primarily a talent strategy to make us a place that young people wanted to live and stay in, and related that as a branding strategy, because when we when we extend our profile normally beyond Indiana, we’re better known, and we can be conveyed normally in a very attractive light. I think the fact that our strategy from the very early days was in large part about having being a leader in this industry, of bringing events here, means we’re importing other people’s money while we’re pursuing talent and we’re pursuing branding. And the tourism, if you want to call it, that impact continues, normally, to be enormous.
Greg Ballard 2:00
Mick Cornett builds upon the sports strategy branding connection by relating his experience as mayor in Oklahoma City, specifically addressing the benefits of acquiring major league teams.
Mick Cornett 2:10
As far as having the major, the Major League component, I…you know, if you’re a major league city, you would have either, you know, one sports franchise all the way up to I guess New York City would have eight. I can assure you, whether you have two or three or four is it’s not irrelevant, but close to irrelevant. But going from zero to one is a massive step forward, because to a certain extent, and on a superficial level, you’ve become culturally relevant to a great deal of the general public. That’s a very important dynamic, because it’s again, on a superficial level, your peer cities are who your sports teams play. And the moment we got a major league team, and suddenly we’re playing teams from Indianapolis and Chicago and New York and LA, and suddenly there’s this level of quality that we, you know, may not deserve, but we’ve got. And that’s significant, and especially back to that quality of life component in a in a in a world that is constantly more about social media and video and ESPN and MTV, having that, that major league sports plan, that that that equivalent, is very important. And I think the fact that that we have, we ensured the NBA that the team had to be Oklahoma City and not Oklahoma, you know, for that very reason, we’d been branded by tragedy, and we were going to use the sports team to improve our brand.
Narrator 3:42
Mayor Greg Ballard adds that effective city branding involves incorporating more than individual sporting events into a sports strategy. He argues that Indy’s brand has been successful because sports have served as a catalyst for developing community relationships and creating a sense of pride and unity among Hoosiers.
Mick Cornett 4:00
As far as having the major, the Major League component, I…you know, if you’re a major league city, you would have either, you know, one sports franchise all the way up to I guess New York City would have eight. I can assure you, whether you have two or three or four is it’s not irrelevant, but close to irrelevant. But going from zero to one is a massive step forward, because to a certain extent, and on a superficial level, you’ve become culturally relevant to a great deal of the general public. That’s a very important dynamic, because it’s again, on a superficial level, your peer cities are who your sports teams play. And the moment we got a major league team, and suddenly we’re playing teams from Indianapolis and Chicago and New York and LA, and suddenly there’s this level of quality that we, you know, may not deserve, but we’ve got. And that’s significant, and especially back to that quality of life component in a in a in a world that is constantly more about social media and video and ESPN and MTV, having that, that major league sports plan, that that that equivalent, is very important. And I think the fact that that we have, we ensured the NBA that the team had to be Oklahoma City and not Oklahoma, you know, for that very reason, we’d been branded by tragedy, and we were going to use the sports team to improve our brand.
Greg Ballard 5:32
Part of the sports management, part of the sports strategy for Indianapolis has always been about doing more than the game, more than the events. And that’s a big part of sports in Indianapolis, and it should be a big part of sports everywhere else. I think the Super Bowl was just the biggest thing that everybody saw because we planted all the trees, and we did the baskets with Tony Dungy, and we do breast cancer, and we did all these other things, and we’re doing it now with the Final Four. There are other activities throughout the community. That’s a huge part of what we do. And I think one of the things I want your students to really understand, sports on so many levels brings people together. It just brings people together. Business will be spawned off of that by itself. But community relations, people feeling good about their city, about their area, is very difficult to quantify, but it’s real. It is real. All you had to do was walk with me down Georgia Street during Super Bowl week to feel that because after Wednesday, or I think honey, after Wednesday, I couldn’t walk on Georgia street anymore. Not because it was crowded, because you still could have walked, but because so many people wanted to take a picture, and I just was trying to get up to Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee [audience laughter] and an hour later, I was halfway there.
Unknown Speaker 7:07
You were going for the donuts. [audience laughter]
Greg Ballard 7:14
But and I people were telling me out there was they, you know, you understand, I’m a Marine. I grew up here. I’d left for 23 years, came back on leave, and I saw the city a certain way, but it was clear to me during Super Bowl week that not everybody saw the city how I saw the city, but they started to after that. I don’t know how many people came up to me says, I never saw my city like this. I never thought we could do anything like this. I had dozens upon dozens of those sorts of comments. I always thought we could do that. I always thought that’s who we were, but not everybody else did. And I want to make sure that all the students understand sports brings people together.
Ted Frantz 7:57
This podcast was produced by the Institute for Civic Leadership and Mayoral Archives and the Department of Communication at the University of Indianapolis. It is made possible by the support of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Indiana Humanities and the Lily Endowment. For more information, please see our website, uindy.edu/mayoral.