The University of Tampa is more than just a school. It’s a community full of students, faculty and staff. The athletic marketing team promotes community spirit by its commitment to encouraging high attendance to sporting events. “Getting non-sports people to the games has been the hardest,” said alumni Amber Molidor, marketing and promotions coordinator. At the same time, the marketing team tries to bring people in. “You scratch my back and we scratch yours,” said senior accounting major Amy Martinez, Vice President of Administration.
The goal is not to build an athletic empire but to build more UT spirit, at events and on a personal level. Every week, athletics marketing has a table in Vaughn, advertising about the week’s upcoming games.
“Every Friday and Saturday, we promote the games very heavily in many ways from posting flyers, going on the golf cart, social media and word of mouth,” said junior sport management major Craig Warzecha. This year, the home opening volleyball game attracted 963 students. And this year’s Midnight Madness attracted over 1,700 students.
Along with promotion, members of the marketing team believe that just because there is no football team doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support the school’s athletic teams. “There’s so much other stuff to do in the area,” said Warzecha. “Why go to a game when I could go to happy hour or to the beach? These are just a few examples of excuses used to not support.”
Warzecha and the other members have theme nights targeting different organizations. Past theme nights have included Pink Night (for breast cancer), Armed Forces night, Jersey Shore Night and Tie Dye Night. Recently, there was international night for soccer.
“We have so many international students at UT and we had a fabulous turnout at our game with audience members bringing their homeland flags, scarves and signs,” said Molidor. During the game, halftime events took place. “Even if you don’t like soccer, you can come for the free food,” said Molidor.
Different events take place at the volleyball games such as dancing and music. The band has a big role in supporting the sports teams. “We are constantly changing what we do in order to get more people to come out. We’re trying everything but we need a little push from everyone else,” said Molidor.
A big problem for the team has been the discussion of the fact that there is no football team. “As a sport management student, the one thing we really miss out on here is a football team and that aspect of the college experience,” said senior sport management major Nicolle Apicella. “I wish we could find a way to increase interest. Sports are a great way of bringing people together.” Having a football team would mean cutting other sports teams, making the attendance rate higher and at the same time, many teams would be lost. Title 9 states that there has to be a certain ratio for our school to have different sports teams. Our school has to be equal to be in Division I.
Students firmly believe that adding a football team would equate to more school spirit. “People are complaining at something were not realistically getting,” said junior nursing major Kelsea Roccapriore, Vice President of Public Relations. “The first step to having a football team is having a Division I team.”
Changing our school to a higher ranking would mean more expenses. Just changing the athletic culture would change a lot of aspects of the athletic side to UT. “It really bothers me when athletics gets pinned for everything,” said Roccapriore. “School spirit is part of UT, athletic marketing is part of UT and it’s not just about going to sports games. It’s about going to dance happening and SP events – it’s about the school.”
UT sports teams have won 12 national championships. The volleyball team is now number seven in the country. They are always in the top 10, promoting themselves very well.
“Student Government has been great,. They have been so supportive by coming to the games,” said Warzecha. The key is getting the entire school to be part of the UT spirit. “We are not going to get 5,000 to 6,000 students from campus to come to games but 1,000 or 2,000 who are really positive about our school,” said senior sports management major Luz Insignares, Vice President of Community Relations. Students who are passionate about sports will be the ones attending the games but others not so much. “People need to start embracing UT by going to events in order to support each other,” said Roccapriore.
It all comes down to word of mouth. According to Warzecha, “It all comes down to word of mouth and social media.” Spartacus, UT’s mascot, has over 1,000 friends on Facebook. UT Spartans on Twitter has over 300 followers. Reaching out to people will allow for more people to be aware of what’s going on. “We reach out to everyone, faculty, Gateways professors and RAs,” said Roccapriore. According to Martinez, “President Vaughn attends games as well.”
Athletic marketing wants your feedback. Feel free to reach out to them with ideas as to what you want them to do to better promote sporting events. “We always welcome input – we are constantly open to other’s opinions,” said Molidor.
To follow sporting events on campus, you can add UT mascot on Facebook, Spartacus Tampa Spartan and/or follow Tampa Spartans on Twitter @utspartans.
Yasaman Sherbaf can be reached at yasaman.sherbaf@theminaretonline.com.
Our twitter is @SpartacusUT
Division 1 now. Make the move.