Flo Rida Concert & ESPN/College Football Playoff Fan Central

The weather turned a bit frigid in Tampa on Saturday, January 8^th, but the events of the day and the cool temperatures served as a great learning experience for the Baldwin Wallace University Sport Management program students on the College Football Playoff Experiential Learning opportunity.

Some students were assigned to the ESPN/College Football Playoff Fan Central, while others were assigned the Flo Rida Concert.

The Fan Central Group was responsible for securing the premises of the Tampa Convention Center, and while the work wasn’t taxing, it opened the eyes of many students to the various roles that need to be filled to ensure the smooth and secure flow of a sport mega-event.

“Every role isn’t going to be the greatest,” said senior Sport Management major Mackenzie Nelsen. “But we’re still responsible for doing our jobs. Additionally, it opened a lot of eyes for students who haven’t been on these types of trips before as to how organizations need to coordinate and manage staff.”

The Flo Rida Group was likewise responsible for security and crowd management at Curtis Hixon Park. The rain and cold weather had a greater impact on these students as all of them were working outside in the chilly conditions while the vast majority of the Fan Experience students were inside the climate-controlled confines of the Tampa Convention Center.

“It’s something we all know,” said senior Sport Management major and Sport Management Club President Cole Horan of working in poor weather conditions. “But it’s one thing to know bad weather can happen on the day of your event and another for all of us to experience working in it. Some of our freshmen students on the trip received a little bit of a shock today.”

Despite the poor weather early in the day, the Flo Rida concert went off without a hitch in the evening and the students managed to persevere through the chilly conditions.

The students will be split into groups again on Sunday, January 8^th with some heading to work the Clearwater Beach Bash, a celebrity flag football game featuring performances by the Clemson University and University of Alabama marching bands. The other group will head out to work the Florida Cup, an international soccer competition in which Clubs represent their countries in a format similar to the Davis Cup in tennis.

For more information on the Baldwin Wallace University Sport Management program, please contact Asst. Professor Dr. Charles Campisi at ccampisi@bw.edu or visit https://www.bw.edu/academics/undergraduate/sport-management/.

Baldwin Wallace University Sport Management: Experiential Learning from Day One!