SLU stands to gain 'over $1 million' in exposure for school with March Madness run
ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - As the Saint Louis University Billikens begin preparing for their first-round NCAA Tournament game in San Jose Friday night, the University is making plans to make the most out of the team's first postseason appearance in five years.
"We're not wasting any time at all," says the University's Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jeff Fowler, "we are having meetings about it today."
In fact, by 10 a.m., Monday, Fowler's marketing staff was making social media, marketing and communications plans. They later met with the admissions, alumni relations, student development and athletic departments.
"Let's all put together this plan," Fowler says, "of how we're going to be communicating and marketing and sharing this across all of our platforms during the course of, hopefully, the next couple of weeks."
It's estimated 5.6 million people watch every NCAA Tournament game. Fowler says they will be tracking how many social media mentions the school gets when their games are on.
"You just get so many more mentions and people are talking about you and reading about you and watching you and learning about your university. You can't buy that kind of marketing, positive marketing."
Washington University Sports Business Program Director Patrick Rishe tells KMOX a spot is the tournament is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in exposure and it increases with each game.
"Even if they win one game, those extra two days of exposure, especially with an upset victory, which is what they would have if they win their first game against the (Virginia Tech) Hokies, would probably lead to over, easily, over a million dollars in added exposure value for the university."
Rishe says for the trip to really pay off, the Billikens will have to win two games this weekend and advance to the third round.
"Then all of a sudden you get the visibility, the exposure of being a Sweet 16 school," he says. "Then you might see a bump in applications to the university."
Already though, Rishe says, just making the tournament should help the basketball program recruit players. It should also help sell tickets and corporate sponsorships.
"When you're selling tickets and selling corporate sponsorships you're selling people on hope, and there is certainly more hope now than there was three years ago," Rishe says.
Just how impactful can a few tournament wins be? According to Forbes, after last year's Final Four run, Loyola Chicago saw a 31 percent increase in requests from prospective students and a 660 percent increase in athletic donations.
Fowler says the last time the Billikens made the tournament, the incoming freshman class grew by almost two percent.
"Did it play some part in that? It very well could have. Is it responsible for all of it? Probably not, but it doesn't hurt," Fowler says. "It's a good thing."
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