Glass Entertainment Management Official Website

 

Cheryl Collier is a lifelong Longhorn fan. For as long as she can remember, she’s attended as many home football and basketball games as possible. With season football tickets selling for $400 to $500, Collier often couldn’t afford to support her favorite team from the stands.

That’s where her boss comes in.  Rick Hull, owner of Hull Supply Co., regularly gives his season tickets for University of Texas football games to Collier, the company’s accounting officer, who organizes small office outings — tailgating and all.

“It’s always a fun time. It’s something I get to look forward to,” Collier said.

Group outings to Austin sporting events serve multiple functions for business owners and managers. From wooing prospective clients to wowing potential employees to simply kicking back with colleagues, Austin’s variety of sports teams attract the business of office leaders.

Hull also occasionally gives tickets to repeat customers to show appreciation for their business and their recommendations to other customers.

The practice of greasing the wheels with potential clients via sports is so popular that Patrick Glass grew his own business specializing in sports hospitality packages, Memphis-based Glass Entertainment Management.

 

Glass organizes packages to a wide variety of sporting events, most notable of which are the Super Bowl, NASCAR races and the Orange Bowl, in addition to local events like Memphis Grizzlies games. “Over time, when you entertain your clients at these sporting events, you’re not only securing long relationships, but you’re closing business deals and you don’t even know it,” Glass said. 

 

Glass conceded that in tough economic times, services like his are the first things companyies cut. But he tells his customers that if they’re not treating clients, their competitors are.  Building loyalty is vital to maintaining and establishing client relationships, and the unique experience of a sporting event is a great way to leave a lasting impression, Glass said.

Loyalty and cohesion are what many companies try to instill in new employees and interns who have recently graduated or are about to graduate from college.

For Austin Semiconductor LLC, Round Rock Express baseball games can illustrate valuable lessons for their interns, said Charmaine Winters, senior human resources manager.

“It gives them a chance to mingle with each other and loosen up a little bit, but also really shows them how great teams work together,” Winters said.

With bigger companies like Samsung or IBM, groups can fill anywhere from 50 to 1,000 seats in the stadium, said Henry Green, group sales manager for the Express, which is the triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.  On most Tuesday nights, which is half-price group night, 30 to 40 percent of the people in the stands are group ticket holders, said Avery Holton, communications manager for the Express. The Express and the Austin Toros, the NBA Developmental League team owned by the San Antonio Spurs, provide discounts for organizational groups, such as youth leagues, local nonprofits and businesses.  Businesses account for half the Toros’ group ticket sales, said Perri Travillion, media and community relations manager.

Businesses like Capital Printing Co. sometimes benefit from plain luck. The company won 50 tickets to the Toros game on March 10, after production manager Anthony Flores entered the company’s name in a raffle.

Flores said those who attended were very excited in the office on game day.

“I think they were more excited to come out and drink,” Flores said with a chuckle. “Some are excited just to come out and spend time with their families.”