TAMPA, Fla. — In partnership with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay and Dick Pope/Polk County Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) chapters hosted a members-only tour at the AdventHealth Training Center on Thursday, March 27.
FPRA Tampa Bay attempts to hold monthly events that provide public relations professionals insight into how other organizations implement tactics in this field. FPRA viewed the Buccaneers as a premier organization and made sure to include college students in the community who will be public relations practitioners in the future.
“We saw this as an opportunity to invite students from The University of Tampa, and we’re really excited that they came,” said FPRA president Michele Sager. “Hopefully, they got a lot of on-hand experience being here today.”
Students from the University of South Florida were also in attendance for the tour, which was led in two groups by team reporter Casey Phillips and senior director of communications Michael Pehanich.
Beginning in the press conference room, tour guests were able to see a number of destinations at the Bucs practice facility, including the lobby filled with pieces of team history, practice fields where some players were working out, the dining hall, and a recording studio.
“I thought it was actually an even better experience to have than just looking at the stadium, because we got a better insight into all the main facilities that the players go to, especially for rehab,” said UTampa senior advertising and public relations major Michele Brown.
After the tour, guests returned to the press conference room and were treated to a presentation by Pehanich and chief communications officer Nelson Luis. During the discussion, the pair detailed their responsibilities, which spanned media and player relations, organizational messaging, gameday operations, narrative creation, and monitoring both traditional and social media.
Luis and Pehanich also showed what the calendar looks like for them throughout the year and gave a deep dive on what a week’s worth of work is during the NFL season. Some slides provided advice for handling outside reporters and media outlets, as well as knowing what to post on social media.
“It was great having an opportunity to share some of our practices with public relations professionals,” said Luis. “Obviously, we’re all coming from different areas of industry. I happen to be in the sports industry, but I know that there are people from all over, in different industries, yet we still have similar skill sets that we employ in our respective jobs.”
The event was capped off by a chat with Phillips, who detailed her career background and how her role as the team reporter functions. Reflecting on her 10 years with the team, Phillips said that marketing, social media, and public relations skills are needed to work in media for a sports team, although a broadcast reel is still the most important part of landing a job.
In the future, FPRA would like to continue to have events in the region. The tour with the Buccaneers was not the first sports organization they have worked with and is likely not the last.
The Bucs plan to continue to showcase the organization and its facilities to the community.
“From our perspective, it’s always great when we can bring in folks, professionals from around the area, to come in and show them a little slice of what it’s like in our neck of the woods,” said Luis.
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Thumbnail image caption: Buccaneers team reporter Casey Phillips leads a group on a tour of the AdventHealth Training Center on March 27. Photo courtesy of Shane Petagna.