Powered by Nevco, A New Gameday from CollegeAD focuses on how athletic departments are working towards the eventual return of sports and what that will look like on gameday. Lisa Campos who serves as the Director of Athletics at UTSA joins the podcast to discuss messaging, the digital space, and making major pivots to combat the pandemic.
She started the conversation by saying that life in San Antonio is similar to every part of the country dealing with the impacts of COVID-19. She said she’s proud of the way higher education was able to pivot in the spring semester, then grow over the past few months to offer some type of student-athlete experience.
AD Lisa Campos, who was hired in late 2017, says their messaging has played an important role throughout this crisis. She explained as things slowed down, they were able to tailor their messaging to student-athletes, donors, and fans.
Campos said the messaging hasn’t solely focused on the pandemic, but also the lives of their student-athletes, something she believes fans are anxious to see.
She said her department rose to the challenge and found new and exciting ways to function in this new normal, and in many cases, she’s found it has brought people closer together. She explained that because of Zoom calls, because of team calls, they found a way to be more connected and reach out to each other. She says her coaches have pivoted and found a new way to recruit and stay connected, utilizing their creative media and digital staff members. The creative staff at UTSA has been thrown a lot of work and ideas, and Capos says they have risen to that challenge, finding interesting ways to communicate with season ticket holders, donors, and fans.
Campos said the digital transition at UTSA was accelerated over the course of the last few months, but it was space they were already dedicating resources to. She says that foundation helped with their messaging during the pandemic but they also have an eye to the future where the digital space becomes paramount. She gave an example of how the NBA has really done well with social media and they studied their approach and how many generations are connected on social media and they expect it to be a part of game day. In the near future, they will be utilizing social media to connect their fans and have in-game social experiences.
Next, the conversation turned to new revenue opportunities brought on by the abrupt changes during the pandemic. Lisa Campos explained some of the cost-cutting measures have generated revenue and helped add some efficiencies and streamline processes. The example she gave actually comes from last season when UTSA was already dabbling with digital content.
She said they swapped out their long post-game notes on a game with a quick recap from the coach, she believes moves like that will pay off in a fast-moving and constantly connected world. Campos explained that things like that at efficiency and to her that is revenue producing. She also explained that their partnership with Roadrunner sports properties means they are always looking for revenue and partnership opportunities on social media.
Campos explained that their partners have embraced this new digital and social future, they have shared ideas about how to have fan engagement and interact on social media. She said their involvement is helping her staff look at doing things in a different way.
She says her main message to UTSA student-athletes, fans, donors, and the larger community is that they are going to do everything with them in mind. She says they want to make sure all of their guests, fans, and student-athletes are in a safe environment. Dr. Lisa Campos said the second part of that message is that in Texas people are ready for football to be back; they are preparing for a full season, right now at 50% capacity as the guidelines specify, she says they want their fans back.