Sports marketing brings creative halftime shows

Ranging from national acts to local under-the-age-of-12 sports teams, JMU's sports marketing department works diligently to provide diverse halftime shows.

Athletics marketing is given an annual budget to use on all of the sports teams at JMU, according to Brad Edmondson, who is in JMU promotions and in charge of booking events.

While men's and women's basketball takes most of the budgeted halftime money with their shows, money also goes to pregame activities at football games and entertainment for men's and women's soccer and baseball.

"I call around the nation to find acts [with which] other schools have had success," Edmondson said.

After working with the magic group Quick Change, which Edmondson called "a magical transformation group" at Auburn University, he decided to bring the talent to JMU.

Quick Change, which was ranked the No. 1 halftime act in the country by the National Basketball Association and National College Athletic Association, came to both the men's and women's basketball games the weekend of Jan. 28 and 29.

Edmondson hopes that if a crowd likes an act, the audience will be inclined to return the following game to see them again.

After finding talent, Edmondson draws up contracts that guarantee both the entertainment's talents and performance time at JMU.

"We contract national acts like Quick Change and the Extreme Team Dunkers, [which is] first because we have to work with their schedule," Edmondson said.

Athletics marketing then recruits groups that have a fairly heavy schedule, trying to see if they can perform at one of the games.

After sports marketing works with larger organizations, they look to local under-12 sports teams and promotional deals to fill the halftime slot.

Edmondson's duties don't end with getting the entertainment to come to Harrisonburg.

"If needed, we are responsible for setting up the entertainment in a hotel and [we] provide their transportation, which we sometimes share with other schools nearby who also schedule the act," Edmondson said. "We don't have to deal with riders, (clauses in contracts requiring particular wanted foods and products) which is nice."

Athletics marketing also works with the cheerleaders and Duke Dog to coordinate a full halftime show. Since they are sharing a limited amount of time, he works with the groups to allocate time limits.

Students tend to have their favorite halftime performances.

"The slam dunk team that performed at halftime at [the Old Dominion University] game was the best halftime show this year," senior Craig Shackelford said. "But, I think they should bring back the 3-point shooting contest at halftime."

Recent halftime shows have worked to involve the audience and students, giving away prizes from places such as Crutchfield and Papa John's Pizza.

"The last basketball game I went to, my friend won an MP3 player by naming a Britney Spears song," senior Sanjay Murty said. "I think it's great when they involve the students in the halftime shows, especially for prizes."

In the future, Edmondson hopes to get students more involved. "Our goal is to get more students at games — they are what creates the atmosphere," he said. "Students are going to see a lot of things change. Games are going to be a lot more exciting. We are going to take halftime entertainment to a new level."

Edmonson promises an exciting 2004-'05 football season.

"I can't say what we are going to do next year [at football games], but there will be no excuses to not be there," Edmonson said. "It's going to be a totally different atmosphere."