By Emma Churgin
This past Tuesday, October 4th, PRSSA-UD and the UD Sports Marketing Club went on a field trip to meet the Sports Marketing and Communications team for the Philadelphia Flyers. This was a fantastic experience where we learned more about the ins and outs of each professional’s role. The field trip included a panel where we were able to ask each member questions and then was followed by a pre-season game with the Philadelphia Flyers against the New York Islanders.
We spoke to four professionals; the Events Director, the Senior Marketing Director, the Communications Director, and the Senior Group Sales Representative. All of the members were enthusiastic when talking to us and gave advice about how they started their careers to get to where they are now. The most inspiring advice that I took from them was the importance of being confident in yourself to take on different roles while still being able to rely on your team members. Each member’s role is fast-paced; they need to think quickly and be on top of their game and they have admitted this could get overwhelming. However, having confidence in yourself, as well as in your team members, will make the work much more enjoyable.
I was amazed to hear of all the projects that their roles had included. To give an example, the Events Director, Lyric Hamilton, is in charge of setting up each Flyers game as well as setting up concerts with artists like Ariana Grande and Lizzo. She is also the backbone of everything getting done within the arena. Due to the nature of her role, she is constantly working, and setting boundaries with her work life is very important to prevent burnout. When asked where she would like to progress with her career, Lyric Hamilton shared that she aspires to own the Wells Fargo Center; and with her strong personality and commanding work ethic, she persuaded me that she will make that goal a reality.
The team also shared their favorite stories when working in their roles. One that stood out to me was when Senior Marketing Director, Ben Dicandilo, told the story about how Gritty became the team mascot. He said that he was one of the creators for deciding on every feature of the mascot including the color, size, and eye shape. Over time when they had just a few options left they decided to go with the more “crazy” option. If you have ever seen a picture of Gritty, you would understand what he meant by crazy. The day Gritty was introduced to the Flyers Ben Dicandilo shared that the team went to Twitter to see how the fans would react. Posts said things such as, ‘the marketing team needs to be fired’ ‘what were they thinking, etc. However, there was enough press about the mascot that publications like GMA and Jimmy Fallon called to get Gritty on. The marketing team took a risk and it clearly paid off.
Overall, the field trip was an amazing professional experience with the help of the panel. I am thankful I got to share this experience with other PRSSA members and I’m glad I got to hear from the panel!
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