Better Know The Baysox - Aaron Gunter
Tell me how you ended up with the Baysox.
I did an internship with the Daytona Cubs down in Florida, the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and they ended up keeping me on for a full season there. Then I basically saw an opportunity up here, applied, and here I am.
Where did you go to school?
Ferrum College. It's in the Southwestern part of Virginia, down below Roanoke. It's a Division III school and Billy Wagner went there.
You work in sponsorship here, is that the field you majored in at school?
I majored in sports marketing and business marketing so sort of. I went to a lot of sales classes in that major.
How many years have you been working here?
This is my third season working in the sponsorship department.
Talk about the job responsibilities you have.
Primarily, it's finding opportunities to find exposure for businesses in the area and basically executing the inventory that they invest their money into in the form of a sponsorship. Reaching out to the community and trying to get businesses involved here, that's the majority of my responsibility here.
So you're responsible for all the big signs in the outfield?
Yeah, its signage, program ads, getting businesses out on the concourse in front of our fans, sponsoring firework nights, and things like that.
What is the best sponsorship deal you've ever made?
I would say Busch Gardens because it has a lot of unique elements to it. Last year they had their animals come up and do a little show for the fans basically preaching about endangered animals and then they sponsored the fireworks and they have some heavy inclusion into the kids club. I like that deal the best because they are really fun to work with because they are on a national level. It's always fun when you can work a game and you're getting to hang out with endangered animals. That can be a fun time.
What is the best part about working for the Baysox?
I think the community aspect. Being involved, you get to interact with people and in my position you get to network with a lot of business owners and find out a lot about what people do and what's going on in the community. I like just being there to impact our fans and provide some entertainment.
What is the biggest challenge to working here?
I guess the daily grind of a 71 game season is probably the biggest challenge.
Does being in a market right between D.C. and Baltimore ever cause problems as far as finding businesses?
We do have a lot of competition, but as [General Manager] Brian [Shallcross] has said before, the benefit is that there are tons of businesses out there. You could look at it as a negative that there's so much competition and businesses are going to go somewhere else or you can look at it as a positive that there are so many businesses out there and it's just a matter of finding the right one - sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper. I would probably rather be in this situation than being in a small town competing with other big markets.
What is something about your job that you think people don't realize?
A lot of people probably don't realize the effort that goes into preseason prep. If you've never really been around it you probably don't understand that a lot of the stuff that we get done - the signs in the outfield, inventory that we provide businesses with - that doesn't happen overnight. It is a long process of getting multiple businesses involved. A lot of people, I think, don't really understand how it works. Me, for example, at a NASCAR race, you just think that the cars just get provided with sponsorships and that it was easy to do, but they had to work to get that money. That's probably one of the main things is that it's a six month process leading up to the season, it doesn't happen overnight.
What is a typical game day like for you?
Nine to 3 p.m. is a majority of just phone calls and meetings and then around 3 p.m., it's ensuring that the concourse is set up with any marketing tables, kids club tables, fan assistance tables. Anything like that that needs to be set up on the concourse needs to be ready to go around that time. And then I work on any other prep that we need to have ready whether it be artwork, a video board ad, something like that. All that inventory needs to be taken care of by then. Then I make sure the programs are going to be available for fans when they come into the stadium. Then during the game I have various responsibilities, whether it be helping out at fan assistance or tending to clients that I have here on a given night.
What is the strangest client encounter you've ever had?
Probably last year with A New Way Clinic. My contact's husband - it was her birthday - and he wanted to get up on the dugout and sing the seventh inning stretch. Then he wanted everyone in the crowd to sing her happy birthday so we kind of orchestrated that, which was kind of a unique request; it was fun though.
What is your favorite promotion that you've been a part of?
Superhero Night is fun, but I would honestly just have to say the Busch Gardens night last year, the Stress Free Saturday, because we had a lot of massage companies out on the concourse and we had the animal show and whole lot of fun stuff going on. We did a vacation giveaway and that was really cool because one was live so basically it was [Assistant General Manager] Phil [Wrye] and the emcee on the field announcing to the crowd who the winner was right before fireworks and then we had the guy coming running down out of the stands who won so that was pretty cool.
If you could pick any team to work for, who would it be?
I would say the Dallas Cowboys, but at the same time I wouldn't be able to watch the games because I would be working and I know Jerry Jones works his employees pretty hard so that's definitely a Catch-22. I guess I would probably have to say the Dallas Cowboys though because I think that would be a fun opportunity.
The Baysox 2010 campaign has come to an end. The Baysox open the 2011 season on the road in Harrisburg Thursday, April 7. They play their first game at Prince George's Stadium Thursday, April 14, at 7:05 p.m. Baysox ticket packages are now available. Click HERE for more information on 2011 ticket packages.