Inside Las Vegas Sports Marketing: UNLV’s Megan Caligiuri on Trying to Shape the Best Sports Family Value in Town

UNLV’s Megan Caligiuri

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

You might not hear much about Megan Caligiuri. She’s usually the one behind the camera shooting video — not in front of it. But you can find Caligiuri at UNLV’s sports events because she’s the one shaping the messaging and imaging of UNLV Athletics in the competitive Las Vegas sports market.

Caligiuri is UNLV’s associate athletic director for content creation and fan engagement — a lofty responsibility these days in Las Vegas where the local NHL team’s brand is everywhere, the NFL Raiders are on their way to a new domed stadium, a new baseball park is the sports star of the summer, new pro teams like the Aces and Lights have sprouted and UNLV wants to return to its once lofty sports perch.

Caligiuri, 33, spent 12 years as a student and staffer at Virgina Tech where she got to know current UNLV Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois after growing up in Delaware. Caligiuri was working in marketing in Boulder, Colorado for an online strength and conditioning start-up called TrainHeroic when Reed-Francois contacted her about doing marketing for UNLV Athletics. Caligiuri started her UNLV gig in August 2017.

 

LVSportsBiz.com asked Caligiuri about UNLV’s sports marketing issues last week.

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LVSportsBiz.com: When you arrived a once-great UNLV basketball program was drawing much smaller crowds than years past. From a marketing perspective, what did you think needed to be done to make UNLV hoops more relevant again so that people would fill Thomas & Mack Center?

Megan Caligiuri: Assess the fan experience. We knew the first thing we needed to do was a listening tour. We held focus groups with different constituent groups, sent out surveys (over 20k surveys the last 2 years), and assembled a Rebel Fan Council that meets quarterly to provide perspective, feedback and ideas. Time is a precious nonrenewable resource, so we are continuously working on ways to provide the best door-to-door fan experience at a family-friendly price. We created new value-added ticket packages, added the Runnin’ Rebel Fest before our biggest games, boosted in-game entertainment and engagement, and plan on an annual introduction of new fan enhancements (Here is last year’s as an example.)

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LVSB: What sports marketing idea at UNLV is doing better than you expected and which one hasn’t worked as well as you were hoping for?

MC: We have had a very positive response to the Faithful Fan Pricing initiative, which guarantees season ticket holders who buy tickets in 2019 will get into Las Vegas Stadium for the same per-game price in 2020. As a result, we have already more than doubled the number of new season tickets purchased last year and are at the second-highest season ticket sales in nine years with three months still left until kick. As far as an idea that didn’t go as planned, we tried moving Rebel Block Party into Star Nursery Field as a centralized location to activate pregame activities. We found that folks in Star Nursery have their own tailgating traditions, so this year we will be moving it back to its original location closer to the stadium and with different programming and activations than in past years.

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LVSB: What is your approach to marketing the football team as they move from a modest stadium miles from campus to a luxurious new domed stadium a couple of miles from campus? Do you find people are buying tickets to UNLV football games this year so that they get a chance to buy tickets at the new stadium?

MC: As mentioned, we are seeing a lot of success in our Faithful Fan Pricing initiative. There is a lot of excitement around Las Vegas Stadium and what the venue has to offer both in its central location in the Valley and the amenities it offers. Folks are capitalizing on the opportunity to experience a world-class venue in 2020 for the same per-game price as 2019. This fall will be a season-long celebration as we say goodbye to Sam Boyd Stadium, show appreciation for our faithful fans and position our student-athletes to compete in the postseason. (Reed-Freancois confirmed for LVSportsBiz.com Monday that, “New season ticket sales are up 425% over same time last year.”)

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LVSB: How are you positioning UNLV sports in a market with so many options and do you feel the saturation of sports choices will help or hurt UNLV’s ability to generate ticket sales and income?

MC: As it relates to the city’s sports market–a rising tide lifts all boats. Las Vegas is not only a world-class city, but it is also now a world-class sports city. Folks who maybe weren’t paying attention to sports are now becoming sports fans. In addition to being the best family-friendly value in town, what makes UNLV unique across the country is Las Vegas itself, and what makes UNLV unique in Las Vegas are students. We have 480 student-athletes, many of whom will stay in Las Vegas and become contributing members of the community when they graduate. You’ll see more content this year spotlighting our student-athletes, coaches and programs, and telling our unique UNLV story.

 

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LVSB: What’s the main message you’re trying to convey in your marketing about UNLV sports?

MC: UNLV Athletics provides the best family value in town. We are committed to continuously listening to our fans and implementing ideas and initiatives to enhance their experience.

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