PROMOTING TEAMS A GAME ASCENT CAN'T LOSE EVER-CHANGING VENUES INSPIRE SPORTS MARKETING PLOYS.(Business) - Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Byline: Dina Bunn Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

Sports marketing has become as dynamic as the games it promotes.

``It's a product that changes every day,'' said Dennis Mannion, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Ascent Sports, which owns the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche.

Your star player breaks his ankle - everything's different. From out of nowhere, a rookie player emerges as a superstar - you have a new product to promote.

You have to react quickly to the changes, said Mannion, who is assuming the duties of President Ellen Robinson. Robinson announced her resignation last week.

Mannion, 38, former vice president of marketing for the Philadelphia Phillies, is the new breed of sports marketing executive. He earned a bachelor's degree in business and sports management from the University of Massachusetts in the early '80s when most sports teams were just beginning to become more business-minded.

With the advent of free agency and the competition for players, sports teams have grown in their sophistication from computerized ticket sales to creating community relations departments, corporate sales and entertainment and fan development.

``You have to get people like Dennis in there who have the creativity and experience to pull off promotions designed to sell tickets'' said Bernie Mullin, president and chief executive officer of Roller Hockey International, who also was a professor of Mannion's at UMass.

``Free agency has forced teams to exploit every revenue,'' Mannion said. ``It's made teams sober up and realize your parking situation matters, your ticket-takers matter, concessions matter. And way beyond that, it's made teams realize the way in which we entertain our fans and the way we communicate to our fans is critical.''

Cue the music.

Mannion and his team at Ascent, including director of entertainment and fan development Greg Von Schottenstein, are planning their attack strategy to make going to Avalanche and Nuggets games - yes, Nuggets games - as entertaining as possible this season. And they don't plan to slack off next year when everyone moves into the $165 million Pepsi Center under construction in the Central Platte Valley.

A regular feature at home games will be bass guitarist and popular New York disc jockey Harlan Hendrickson. Hendrickson will perform between periods and game play from a hangout in the upper deck at McNichols Sports Arena. Other features may include zoo keepers for mascot Rocky, a dance floor, jewelry giveaways. There will be some fan contests, but not just some guy shooting baskets from half court.

``Our job is to create a really sizzling, entertaining ambience so people feel they are getting the full experience,'' Mannion said.

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Photo

Ascent Sports senior vice president Dennis Mannion, right, poses with musician Harlan Hendrickson and vice president for fan development Greg Von Schottenstein. By Steve Groer / Rocky Mountain News.