Boise’s undiscovered “cluster?” Sports marketing and promotion

This isn’t a scientific study by any stretch of the imagination, but something worth looking at in more detail. I got to thinking that it seemed that Boise had a lot of professional sports entertainment in this city, and I wondered how Boise compared with other cities of our size and type.

I went and got population data for the 10 cities above Boise, and 10 cities just below Boise, and used those as the basis for comparison. Some cities that were close in size to Boise really weren’t our type - for instance Orlando, FL. I threw those out. I also threw out cities like Irving, TX and Glibert, AZ which though incorporated in their own right are really part of a larger metroplex (in this case Dallas, and Phoenix, respectively).

The graph below shows cities similar in size to Boise and the type of sports entertainment available in that city:

Major sports teams in U.S. midsize cities

As shown, only Rochester NY, like Boise, has professional sports teams in each of the major sports, and a Division 1-A college in the city. Again, this is not scientific - I did not go through this with a fine tooth comb. It could very well be that some of these cities have suburbs near to them with some of this sports entertainment. San Bernardino, CA is such a city. Ontario and Riverside, which are both nearby, have professional sports teams. Since they weren’t housed in the same city, though, I included only the team housed in San Bernardino.

Some of these cities also had other types of sports entertainment such as an LPGA, or PGA tour stop, or a nationally important NASCAR facility. Still, Boise also has ancillary sports so I opted to let the table reflect only the major sports and div 1-A college.

So what might this indicate? That for a midsize city, Boise has a preponderance of professional sport entertainment (Boise Hawks and Burn, and Idaho Stampede and Steelheads), and thus a cluster of workers skilled in sports marketing, management, promotion, training, and other allied fields.

How might we leverage this? Consider some existing resources and conditions in the Treasure Valley that might allow us to develop this industry as a true cluster in the Treasure Valley (and around the state):

• An AACSB accredited Business School at Boise State University that could augment existing educational offerings in the state around sports management.
• An existing graduate program offered jointly by BSU and ISU, which confers a Masters in Physical Education in Athletic Administration. The College of Business and Economics could augment this degree with business courses, and create an MBA in sports marketing similar to other top schools.
• The Collier’s report which studied possible redevelopment of the Ada County Fairgrounds noted a surplus of entertainment facilities in the Treasure Valley - so the Valley has the physical space to increase events.
• Idaho has over 100 “Rec-Tech” companies in the state already - companies such as Buck Knives, 2Moto, and Banshee River Boards. Building on the existing sports management expertise we have in the Valley could help companies like these grow to the next level, and attract more companies like them to the region.
• Boise based marketing firm Wirestone has experience working in the sports marketing arena, representing firms such as Nike, and athletes like Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon.
• Idaho is coming off the successful hosting of the 2008 Special Olympic Winter Games. Boise also hosts an Ironman sanctioned 70.3 race, the Twilight Criterium, Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl, and one of the nation’s most difficult half-marathons, the Race to Robie Creek, among other events. Caldwell’s night rodeo draws over 40,000 people to the Treasure Valley over the course of five days and is one of the top 20 rodeos in the United States. There are many other examples of Idaho’s ability to handle the management and marketing of large scale sporting events.

Sports management and marketing is a $500 billion industry wordwide. The opportunity to grow our ability to train and educate people for this field could represent one of the better and more realistic opportunities the State of Idaho has to grow its economy.