Site Report

Washington State University Sport Management

Spokane Shock

Supervisor: Brett Gleason

Summer 2014

Zach Rivera

1307 Pike St. NE Auburn, WA 98002

I. Description of Municipality/Site Location

The Spokane Shock of the Arena Football League play in the city of Spokane,

Washington. The city of Spokane is the second largest city in the state of Washington, only

trailing Seattle. With a population of 481,000, Spokane is the largest city in eastern Washington.

It is located about an hour away from Cheney and Pullman. From 2013 to 2014, Spokane saw

1.5% job growth and is expected to raise 1.6% annually. Compared to other cities in the United

States, living in Spokane is cheaper than most metropolitan areas. The cost of living in Spokane

in 1.9% below the national average. Major industries in Spokane include telecommunications,

financial services, and transportation. The climate in Spokane is different from that of Seattle and

western Washington, especially in the summer months. Most days in July and August will reach

highs of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. As someone who grew up on the west side of the state, this

was a true shock for me and it was something I had to get used to during my time in Spokane. As

far as sport opportunities go, Spokane is very ideal to find jobs and internships. In addition to the

Spokane Shock, the city also features minor league teams such as the Chiefs & the Indians. If

you wanted to go the collegiate level for jobs or internships, Gonzaga University is located in

downtown and Eastern Washington University is about a 30 minute drive from Spokane. If you

are looking for a convenient location near Pullman, and still want to be in a big city, Spokane is

the perfect location to fulfill a your internship requirement.

II. Organization/Agency

The mission statement of the Spokane Shock is as follows:

“To deliver to our fans a high quality entertainment experience while serving and representing the Inland

Northwest on and off the field as a proud member of the Arena Football League.”

In terms of living up to its core values and purposes, I think that this organization has done a

very good job. The teams put together have always been consistently good, winning 3

championships within the last decade. The quality of football played is always high and that in

itself is high quality entertainment for our very loyal fans. During my internship, I spent a good

amount of time working under our community relations director. It is her reasonability to reach

out to various community groups and get our players and name out into the public. Examples of

some of our events included flag football games at elementary schools, open practices for the

public, and autograph sessions after every game. Out fans are very loyal and passionate about the

team. A big part of that is due to the fact that we are constantly interacting with the community

and not only do our players participate, they also love to do it. Not many professional sports fans

get a chance to get to know our players on a personal level and on any given week day, you will

see season ticket holders and fan club members at our team facility talking with staff or players.

Our organization is seen as very approachable to the public, and that is how we want to be

represented.

At the beginning of the year, the team organization was bought by a new ownership

group. They dealt with all the financial operations of the organization, so budget information and

data were not readily available to me. During the course of our season, there was turnover at the

top which included the firing of our team president. This happened after the last game of the

season, so currently we have no team president. The current organizational chart (see Appendix

1) has our owner at the top, with our most senior staff member in charge of the office. The head

coach has also taken a lot more responsibility since the team president was fired, so he is high up

on the chart. The complexity of our organizational structure is low. Our organization can be split

up into three parts based on the supervisors we have. Andrew deals with all ticket business as

well as fan engagement. Andy is the head coach and deals with the team and supervises the

athletic trainer. Ryan oversees the marketing, communication, and assists Andy with football

operations. Since these three supervisors have responsibilities in different departments, the

complexity cannot be high. Formalization is low among the office. From our former team

president down to our regular staff members, as long as we all did our job, no one felt the need to

enforce policies such as dress code or the time we were to arrive at the office. In terms of our

decision making, the organization is centralized as every decision made is discussed first with

one of the three supervisors. When a decision is made, each supervisor is on board with what is

being carried out. In terms of budget preparation and analysis, there was no information readily

available to me. The Spokane Shock operate out of two main facilities. As an organization, we

do not own any of our facilities. Our operating facility is leased out to us by Moco Engineering,

the company right next to us and the Spokane Arena is rented out. Since these facilities are not

owned by us, information regarding ADA compliance and other liability waivers was not readily

available to me. The design of our operating facility is straight forward. The front office is

located on the second floor of the facility, which contains the ticketing department,

communications, and offices of the head coach and team president. The first floor contains the

full size arena football field for our team to practice on along with the training room and locker

rooms. Maintenance of our facility is done by our own staff which include our quality control

personnel and our football operations interns. Our organization hosts a couple of programs for

our fans throughout the year. During the season, we offer memberships into the Shock Kids

Club. Kids are able to join this club for a fee. With membership, they get a shirt and backpack.

We also have the Shock Fan Club, which is open to season ticket holders. This club offers

special privileges to the select fans such as being able to attend after game parties and such

special events such as road trips to away games. During the summer, the organization and

YMCA of Spokane hold a football camp for all kids interested. For our external stakeholders

such as our key sponsors, we have various game day promotions to get our sponsor’s names out

to the public. For example, for our last home game we handed out ‘Go Shock’ banners with

CenturyLink logos on it. CenturyLink is one of our external stakeholders and sponsors. Blue

Linen Cleaning Supply is our official service for our player uniforms and all of their logos are

seen on the game day apparel of all the coaching staff. As far as evaluation procedures go with

staff, it is determined on a case to case basis. For example, our communications director is on a

year to year basis so he will not be needed during the off season. Other staff members such as

our player personnel head will be retained year round. The reasoning behind this is because

communications between fans and the organization is not needed during the off season as

opposed to the player personnel director, who is constantly recruiting new players. As far as long

range goals for the organization go, the new ownership wants to emphasize ticket sales. This past

month, we have hired a new sponsorship person and ticket salesperson. Our Chairman wants

ticket sales to increase for this next season. Previously, the organization didn’t emphasize sales

as much as the last ownership group so increased attendance is definitely a vocal point for this

next season.

III. Internship Summary

In terms of finding an internship, I was very fortunate in finding one early. Coming into

my senior year, I knew that I had to secure an internship sooner rather than later. I started

looking on Teamwork Online for positions that were close in state or within reasonable driving

distance of my hometown. I knew right from the beginning that unless I was able to secure a paid

entry level position, I wouldn’t be able to support myself financially. The reasoning behind

trying to find a local internship is because I would have the option to move back home or live

with friends at a largely reduced rate. The exception to my ‘local rule’ was San Francisco,

Portland, and Cleveland. I have close family who would have let me stay with them. The first

opportunity that I considered was at my high school, under my old football coach and current

athletic director. Earlier in the year when I was researching old Site Reports in the Sport

Management Resource Room, I came across a former student who had interned at my high

school under the old athletic director. During Thanksgiving break I went into my old high school

and talked with the athletic director. He said he would be open to letting me on an as an intern

but he did specify that he would not have a lot for me to do. I decided to look elsewhere for

better options. Via Teamwork Online, I applied for internships with the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle

Mariners, and an opening with the WSU Athletic Department. None contacted me with

interviews. In February, I saw an internship opportunity with the Spokane Shock. I knew that one

of my good friends just got hired on as the Communications Director at the beginning of the

season. Brett Gleason, whom I went to high school and college with told me that I could

interview with the Spokane Shock in March if no opportunities came up for me. I saw this as

great opportunity to work in the sport of my choice and I called him up the next day to schedule

an interview at the facility. I interviewed with the Game Operations Director, John McMullan

and was hired on after about five minutes of interviewing.

Since I got hired on in March, I could not begin office hours until after I graduated. I

started off commuting to Spokane for game days. Since I had been working football game days

for WSU for the past three years, the game day experience for the Shock was not that different.

However, with Shock games there were in game promotional giveaways, similar to that of a

basketball game. As opposed to the WSU games where we would hand out promos at the gate,

with the Shock, we would throw promos at the fans. In the office, I tried to get to know every

single department and how they operated. Working with community relations for example, was

very rewarding to me in the sense that I got to see how much this community loves the Shock

and how much support this organization has behind it. Interacting with fans and being out of the

office was definitely the biggest positive from this internship.

My responsibilities as an intern ranged in variety, as I made myself available to multiple

departments. Within the communications department under Brett I assisted with the creation and

maintenance of an all-time player statistics Excel worksheet (see ‘Printed Materials’) as well as

game photo sorting for various press releases and promotional material. Under the football

operations department, I assisted with the cleanup of player lunches, field set up during game

day, and driving players to various medical appointments. I got to know many players on a

personal level, being around them all the time. Working within this department was beneficial to

me, as I eventually want to work closely with the players in a scouting or general manager

capacity. Within community relations, my duties included taking pictures at various community

functions and towards the end of my internship I was able to supervise events in place of the

supervisor. It was pleasing to see that the community relations director trusted me enough to run

events when she was unable to.

Since I was technically communication intern under Brett, my major project was to relate

to something within that field. After hours of brainstorming with Brett, we decided that my

major assignment would be management of the Facebook account. This included the selection of

game photos to release to the public, creating player profile articles, and scheduling various

status updates throughout the week. This project was very useful and beneficial to me, as social

media plays a major source of communication and news in today’s society.

The work environment of the Shock was a fun atmosphere, but with most minor league

sport organizations, there were not enough funds to accomplish what the staff as a whole

envisioned. While we were able to cover necessary expenses such as facilities rental costs and

player compensation, most of the equipment we used in the office was outdated. Computers had

not been replaced in years, our field at Spokane Arena was beat up and fading, and the location

of our facility was not centralized to the city. I’ve heard many complaints by fans that our facility

is very hard to find.

In terms of how I spent my time with the Shock, I categorized my time into how much of

it I spent in a certain department (See Appendix 2). I devoted my time to communications,

community relations, football operations, and other relevant tasks (internship work, job

applications, etc.). At the beginning of my internship, I devoted a big chunk of my time to the

communications department to learn everything that I could. As the months went on however, I

ventured out and offered my help in other departments, time permitting. I put in time with

football operations and community relations almost equally. Towards the end of the season, I

spent a lot of time filling out applications via Teamwork Online and gathering materials and

research for my Exit/Site reports. In order to work in a professional sport organization such as

the Spokane Shock, there are some key skills and competencies that you must have. Depending

on the department you want to work in skills will vary, but through my observation I have found

that you must be able to work with discretion. Working for a team and players who are within

the public eye, you as a staff member are exposed to sensitive information. For example, I was in

a conversation with the head coach and player personnel director about a player who was about

to be suspended. While this was indeed interesting news, this was something I could not talk

about outside of work with fans. That is bad publicity and while it may be released to the media

later, it should not be discussed until an official release is printed. As far as practical knowledge

is concerned, most everyone in the office has a working knowledge of Adobe Suite and the

Microsoft Office programs. Working within the communications department, I have from time to

time had to work with Photoshop and Premiere for video/photo editing needs. The creation of the

comprehensive statistics sheet was through Microsoft Excel. Even if you’re someone who is on

the phone all day like a ticket salesman for example, it is still useful to have Photoshop

knowledge. You could be creating sponsorship packets for a potential client.

In terms of monetary expenses, I was in a unique situation of not having to pay for

housing. Prior to my internship starting in June, I was unable to secure an apartment lease in the

Spokane area. This was due to the fact that no apartment complex in the area would commit to a

three month lease (three months was the extent of my internship). I had no plans of staying any

longer than the duration of my internship, so with the permission of Brett, I was able to stay in

his apartment for three months. While I did have to pay for half his rent, it was still much

cheaper than what I would have been paying for my own apartment. My only other expense that

I had to take care of was food and other necessities.

IV. Learning Experiences

1. Take the first couple of weeks to absorb everything around you.

At the start of my internship, I intentionally kept to myself and observed everything

around me. From interactions between staff and players to how a seasoned ticket

salesman makes his pitch to a fan, I left no mental stone left unturned. Once every hour, I

took a walk around the whole facility to observe practice and to see what the football

operations staff was working on. I did this because I was not entirely sure of what I

wanted to do within the sport industry, just that I wanted to work in it. Without all of my

observation, I wouldn’t have been able to see what the day to day would be like in certain

areas. I could pick and choose based on if I liked the jobs that a certain department was

doing. Now, looking back on it, I have such a better perspective and goal of what I want

to accomplish in my career. I have a better understanding of what route I want to go in

terms of departments and area of expertise.

2. Ask questions.

Coming into my internship, I noticed right from the beginning that there was a lot going

on. Ticketing was in the middle of renewals, community relations had two events a day,

football operations were trying to figure out uniform combinations, and communications

had a game program to complete every home game. While this seemed overwhelming at

first, I was determined to learn, like any good intern. Don’t be afraid to ask the team

president or head coach questions. Chances are that they would be happy to help in any

way they can.

3. Talk to someone new every day.

Combined with the football team, I worked with over 50 people every day. If you truly

want to make an impression in a business, make yourself known to as many people as

you can. You don’t have to make a long conversation with them, just take 5 to 10 minutes

getting to know someone a personal level. Especially with football players, they really

appreciate a staff member taking the time out to talk to them. It’s always great to make

friends that help you pass the time with in the office, but it is also a quick way to

network.

V. Evaluation

As a graduate from Washington State University’s Sport Management program, interning

with the Spokane Shock is an ideal location to fulfill your experience requirement. Especially if

you grew up in Washington, it is a great alternative to stay in stay and close to home. The staff is

full of alumni from Washington State University and Eastern Washington University, and they

tend to hire interns from the respective schools. For those who want an opportunity to stay close

to Pullman after they graduate, Spokane is only an hour and a half drive north. Arena Football

acts as a minor league system to bigger football leagues such as the Canadian Football League

and the NFL, so the chance to get to move up within the sport is likely. A great thing about

working for the Spokane Shock specifically is that the staff seems more willing to groom their

interns and hire from within. Three of our most experienced and tenured supervisors all started

out as interns with the Shock. Their rise from intern to the position that they are in now took on

average of about 3 years. I would highly recommend the Spokane Shock organization to any

graduating sport management major.

VI. Recommendations for Future Interns

1. Save money early and as much as you can.Not every intern will have the luxury of living with their boss rent free like I did. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to complete this internship. Put some money aside during your undergrad career so that when it comes time to find an apartment and pay bills, you will be prepared.

2. Network early during your undergrad career. You’ll never know who will help you later on.Thanks to my relationship with Brett, my supervisor, I was able to lock down an internship in February AND a place to live during my internship. Not only in business, but in life is it important to make and maintain relationships.

3. Make yourself available to everyone.The best way to impress people within a company is to constantly being available to assist in anything they may need. The more useful help you offer people, the more indispensable you become. When you become indispensable, you usually get hired.

4. Learn as much as you can about the organization’s history and structure.It impresses the tenured staff and makes you extremely useful in answering fan questions. If you know a lot about the team, you can talk to a fan for hours on end.

VII. Appendix/Printed Materials

Appendix 1 – Organizational Chart

Nader Naini

Chairman

Andrew Dolan

Sales/Fan Engagement

Trevor Sharpe

Group Tickets

Kendyle Anderson

Corporate Sales

Kevin Cheek

Ticket Sales

Andy Olson

Head Coach

Julie Woolf

Athletic Trainer

Andrew Downing

Sports Med. Intern

Kendall Eriksen

Sports Med. Intern

John Kelley

Quality Control

Ryan EuckerMarketing/Player

Personnel

Genaro Fernandez

Eqiupment Manager

Tanner Braun

Football Ops Intern

Jack DeLamontagne

Football Ops Intern

Brett Gleason

Communications

Zach Rivera

Intern

Erika Meyer

Com. Intern

Chelsea Fork

Com. Intern

Crystal Medina

Community Relations

Appendix 2 – Time Chart

43%

6%7%8%

36%

Time Spent with the Shock

CommunicationsFootball OperationsCommunity RelationsGame DayMiscelaneous (Internship, Ap-pliations, etc.)