This summer, UTSA Athletics will be profiling its numerous areas to provide an inside look into how each unit serves Roadrunners’ student-athletes.
In this edition, we sat down with Robert Stockhausen, General Manager of UTSA Sports Properties, which as part of Playfly Sports manages UTSA Athletics’ multimedia rights.
Q: How does your department service UTSA student-athletes?
Robert Stockhausen: “UTSA Sports Properties serves the athletics department as a whole in a few different ways, but primarily we are in charge of revenue generation through sponsorships. That could mean a lot of things like finding corporate partners – companies that want to be involved with advertising and marketing through the games, the events and the broadcasts – and helping to amplify and improve the experience for the fans. We add a lot to the atmosphere for the student-athletes, we definitely drive revenue to help them with resources and there are also going to be, of course, NIL opportunities for these athletes to endorse companies and products. All of that works hand-in-hand with the work we do every day. It also increases audience, atmosphere at the games and makes everybody feel good about being involved with UTSA Athletics.”
Q: How many members are on your team and what roles do they serve?
Robert Stockhausen: “We just have four – it’s a pretty lean and mean team. It’s myself as General Manager; Erika Moulder is our Director of Sales, she is primarily driving our revenue and creating new sponsorship opportunities; Blake Parker is our Senior Account Executive, he works in much the same capacity, going out and building new relationships and managing the relationship with his current clients as we all do; Humberto DeLeon is an Activation Specialist, what he does is keeps everything we sell organized and then helps implement everything that we put into place. When we meet with people, it’s much from ideation, finding out their needs and what the companies are trying to accomplish. We come up with the really fun and creative ideas. Humberto helps us execute it all.”
Q: What makes UTSA Sports Properties a leader in your field?
Robert Stockhausen: “Innovation. 100 percent. There’s not a thing that we can’t do and there’s not a medium that we won’t work in. It seems like with the cooperation of athletics and the staff we have here, there’s not something we couldn’t do to provide a sponsor a great experience as being a partner and drive value for them. What they’re really looking for is not just, I want to put my logo on something. What a sponsor is asking us for is that they want to be positioned a certain way. They want our great audience of our fans to know this about our company or know this about our services or this is why we’re better than the competing brands we’re with. And this is why we’re able to deliver that in a number of different, really creative ways. We solve a lot of problems. Make a brand really familiar, make it likeable, drive calls, drive traffic, drive orders. All those different things are done while we’re serving the athletes and serving the fans. The fans are enjoying the games more because of the involvement of the sponsors.”
Q: Why did you choose to come to UTSA?
Robert Stockhausen: “I had worked in sports for 21 or 22 years at different places. I had worked for the Spurs for nine seasons. I was not doing this anymore. I was then in financial services. I got a call from Playfly with the change in rights holders at UTSA and talked to about this opportunity to lead this team. Why I chose to do it is because I love San Antonio. I grew up in Milwaukee but this has become my hometown since 2012. I was happier doing this. I enjoy sponsorships, I love working with companies, I love serving colleges. I love helping them raise money and helping them raise their profiles. The linchpin in all of this is that UTSA is special. It’s not just a 12-year-old football and a 54-year-old school. It is growing at such a trajectory and I’ve admired it from a distance working elsewhere in San Antonio. I’ve been a fan and I’ve been going to games since I moved here in 2012. I recognize the fact that if I could leverage my expertise and knowledge and all the things that I know to do and build a team that could do it, we’re going to take UTSA to a different level than it’s ever been. I also feel like the talented people that we share the RACE with are of the same mind. I think that’s what sponsors are going to see, fans are going to continue to see and the student-athletes are going to enjoy their time here. I think UTSA is a really unique and special place. When I was talked to about this opportunity, that’s what I recognized and I really want to make the most of it.”
Q: What are the most rewarding aspects of your role?
Robert Stockhausen: “It’s the fact that I know there’s a greater good that I’m serving. I feel like there are student-athletes and coaches benefitting from what we’re doing. I know that the revenue that we’re generating is going to great use. I feel like we’re helping this place grow and be better and be special. I also recognize the other people we serve are our clients – these businesses – we’re helping them grow. We’re putting fans, who are looking for companies they can trust, together with companies they can trust who are our sponsors. They’re doing business with each other and they’re supporting, collectively, UTSA, this University that is driving the economy in San Antonio. I feel like this job is so much more than just going to work and selling stuff. It’s about helping the community a great deal just organically by what I do every day.”
Q: What’s something about UTSA Sports Properties that people may not know?
Robert Stockhausen: “Initially, companies may not know who to contact or talk to. I really think the biggest misconception is, once they find us, I think they’re used to old-school sponsorship – putting an ad in the program or putting a sign up on the wall or whatever the case may be. Sure, we can do that, but we’re very sophisticated marketers. This group of people that we have are going to really listen and understand what a business wants, what they’re trying to accomplish and we’re going to use all the tools in our toolkit to come up with really good ideas and solutions that will be memorable and fun and engaging for this tremendous audience that we have. That’s the thing I think most people miss. They’re used to buying TV at this time, on this date and there’s a timestamp, or they buy radio, or there’s a billboard at this location on this highway and it’s been seen X number of times. We are much more quantitative – where we can measure what’s seen and what people are getting – but also qualitative in that we can be very creative, use multiple media, a lot of really cool strategies and make it something that brands benefit from and our fans get excited about. That passion and excitement – you can’t buy enough advertising to move people’s emotions the way that our sponsorships do. I think that’s one of the great things that we bring that people who aren’t our clients don’t know yet.”
Q: What advice do you have for students or student-athletes who may be interested in going into your profession?
Robert Stockhausen: “Get an internship. That’s what I did. I went and worked for a baseball team for free in 1993 when I was 20 years old. I worked for the Milwaukee Brewers. It was an unpaid internship but almost full-time, basically 30-40 hours a week. I earned school credit and wrote a paper. 100 percent I would recommend to anybody who is in school and who is interested is get an internship, you’ll learn just through osmosis being around us, how this works, what it is. It is a fascinating industry. I enjoy coming to work every day. I don’t know anybody who has more fun at their job than I do. I don’t mean that as a slight to anybody, but I just think that if you’re interested in marketing, interested in commerce and business, but you also have a passion for sports and you’re a fan like me and you want other fans to have a great time, I don’t know what else you could do to have a better career than that.”
Q: What type of educational background is required for your role?
Robert Stockhausen: “Everybody here has some sort of a business degree. That’s pretty common. We have two with an MBA – Erika and Humberto do. Most people on our team across the company have a bachelor’s degree in business. It’s really required to be considered, but then you’ll use your business degree every single day. I have a marketing degree myself. I understand it and I speak that language when I’m talking to brands about what they’re objectives are, what they’re looking to do and what their challenges are in the market.”
Q: What would you say to anyone looking to partner with UTSA Athletics?
Robert Stockhausen: “I want anyone curious about what we do to contact us. We’re an open book. If there are businesses out there who are interested in us, definitely give us a call. Fans should look forward to this upcoming season. We’re going to have new and exciting fun promotions that are going to add value to the experience of going to every sport. Anything you can go to starting with soccer and going all the way through baseball and softball seasons. That’s our thing. That’s what we do and I think it’s working. Not only are we raising the profile and generating a lot of revenue for UTSA, but we’re also wrapping our arms around our fans to give them the best experience we can.”