The weather’s cooling down, but the football is heating up! In this issue, we will unpack news in sports and the effect of COVID-19 to the start of the football season.
Grab your coffee, take a seat, and enjoy your Friday as you read through this week’s MELT Newsletter.
In this week’s issue:
Vince & SBJ’s Michael Smith Break Down CFB/NCAA
Football Ratings Revealed
NIL Updates
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MELT U PODCASTS THIS WEEK
Catch up on all of the MELT U Podcasts here – new podcasts posted bi-weekly on Spotify and iTunes!
MELT U Episode #52: Cory Moss joined CLC in 1995 and been instrumental in growing the company’s licensing business. Cory was a previous member of the NCAA Football Marketing Committee and NCAA Youth Football Committee. He was named to Sports Business Journal’s first-ever Power Player Leaders Behind the Scenes in College Sports list in 2019 and a recipient of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Up and Comers 40 Under 40 Award in 2009.
Follow him on Twitter @CZMOSS LISTEN HERE
MELT U Episode #53: Kasia Horner is a Director in the Public Affairs and Communications function at The Coca-Cola Company. In her more than 16-year career with The Coca-Cola Company, Kasia has lead sports marketing activation for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Kasia set strategic direction, managed key college sports partnerships with the NCAA, Turner Sports, and CBS and led the execution of the NCAA March Madness sports marketing campaign. Kasia is a graduate of Williams College and holds an MBA from Dartmouth College. LISTEN HERE
MELT U Podcast Series October Schedule
Coming this October on the MELT U Podcast series…
Tuesday 10/13
Kimberly Beaudin, CEO of the College Football HOF
Thursday 10/15
Burke Magnus, EVP Programming and Scheduling for ESPN ?
Tuesday 10/20
Ed Kull, Athletic Director at Fordman University ????
Thursday 10/22
Steve Pacheco, President and CEO of the American Adverstising Federation ?
Tuesday 10/27
Rick Jones, “Head Captain” of Fishbait Marketing ??
Thursday 10/29
AJ Maestas, Founder and CEO of Navigate Research
MELT U ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
This week’s MELT U Alumni Spotlight features Sydney Warren, MELT U intern class of 2017. Sydney graduated from Middlebury College and now works as an Audio & Podcasting Coordinator for ViacomCBS.
Subscribe to MELT U and you too will be on your way to becoming another #MELTU Success Story!
MELT U WEEKEND READING LIST
Expand your horizons with our curated collection of helpful articles, videos, and other essential recommendations.
Women In Sports: Sports Illustrated unveils The Unrelenting, its list of the most powerful and influential women in sports. As the only five female ADs at Power 5 schools, Washington AD Cohen, Penn State AD Barbour, Virginia AD Williams, Pittsburgh AD Lyke and Vanderbilt AD Lee made the list as one, and SI observes: “Although the percentage of female athletic directors has increased from 19% in 2009 to 24% in 2019, according to an annual report from Women Leaders in College Sports, most hires have come at the Division II and III levels, leaving this small group to represent women at the top ranks of college sports.” READ MORE.
NIL: SBJ dives into the fact that “Name, image and likeness legislation has passed for athletes who play at one of the 252 colleges or universities in the NAIA, making it the first national athletic association to approve NIL rights. The new rules, which make it permissible for athletes to make money from their own rights, go into effect immediately. Longtime NAIA President & CEO Jim Carr said that more than 90% of the association’s full membership voted to approve the new NIL rules.” READ MORE
Football Ratings: Sportico states “In the season’s first meeting between two Top 10 opponents, the No. 4 Bulldogs limited the No. 7 Tigers to a pair of field goals in a 27-6 victory that averaged 4.22M viewers and a 2.2 rating. To date, that Oct. 3 telecast ranks fourth on the year, sandwiched between NBC’s afternoon Duke-Notre Dame broadcast on Sept. 12 (4.32 viewers, 2.4 rating) and ABC’s all-ACC Saturday Night Football presentation featuring Miami and Louisville (3.80M viewers, 2.1 rating, Sept. 19).” READ MORE
MELTDOWN
Weekly Web series on YouTube hosted by Vince Thompson, covering the business of sports and the business of college sports
The MeltDown Ep. 11:
Join us as Vince Thompson breaks down the start of the College Football season and the current standing of the NCAA with Michael Smith.
VINCE LECTURING AT A CAMPUS NEAR YOU!
Vince and virtual MELT U are heading to a campus near you soon!
Tuesday 10/20: Auburn Guest Lecture
Wednesday 10/21: GCSU Class Lecture
Thursday 10/22: UAB Collat Employer Chat
Wednesday 10/28: Georgia Tech Athlete Virtual Career Fair
Tuesday 11/17: UGA PRSSA Virtual ZOOM
Book a live or virtual keynote or training session with Vince Thompson, MELT Founder and CEO! Hear from Vince on a variety of topics such as career development skills, student-athlete branding, collegiate sports marketing, and more! LEARN MORE
Looking To Land Your First Job After College? Start Here
What’s MELT?
It’s a high-powered sports marketing agency that’s based in Atlanta and works with the world’s biggest brands, teams, and events. MELT, which I founded in 2000, has become one of the nation’s leading sports marketing agencies, including a 20-year representation of The Coca-Cola Company, the activation of 17 (would have been 18) consecutive Final Fours, seven seasons of ESPN College GameDay, AFLAC’s sponsorship of The Southeastern Conference (SEC) and much more. We have won a collective 20 industry awards since 2017, including CEO of The Year, Event Marketer IT list of Top 100 Event Marketing Agencies, Chief Marketer’s Top 200 agencies, and many more. MELT and I sit in a unique position in the sports and college sports marketplace, offering insight into the significant business issues in sports and college sports.
What’s MELT U?
It’s a one-of-a-kind virtual internship program offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore the world of sports marketing. This Summer MELT U educated 1,100 students with 50 podcasts of industry leaders, live Lunch & Learns from my upcoming book, “Build Brand YOU.” MELT U will now extend the offerings to be year-round and to include newsletters, video series, seminars, student-athlete branding, and much more.
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