Richter breathes marketing life into Penn sports

Penn's new coordinator of marketing and promotion Bill Richter aims to sell Penn sports. Think free T-shirts. Phone card giveaways. Frequent raffle drawings and halftime contests. Now imagine a filled-to-capacity Palestra, each Penn fan donned in free red and blue T-shirts, cheering the Quakers to victory over Princeton. And now you'll understand the innovative and creative vision of Bill Richter, Penn's new coordinator of marketing and promotion. Indeed, Richter, who arrived at Penn last month, has big plans for the future of Penn athletics. One such goal, besides increasing attendance at sporting events, is to create a more "student-friendly" environment at Penn athletic contests. Take, for example, the football season ticket program. Last week, students who live on campus were given a ticket for each Quakers home game. The hope, says Richter, is that students will take the tickets to the game and enter them in a raffle. Winners of the raffle will be eligible for several different prizes. Or consider Richter's proposal to give away free Penn T-shirts to all basketball season ticket holders. Students could wear the shirts to the games, creating a "sea of red and blue" inside the Palestra and building a contagious school spirit. And while Richter does concede that these promotions, by themselves, would probably not significantly increase student attendance, the atmosphere of the game, coupled with the "extensive promotions and giveaways" should garner additional fan support. Athletic games could serve, added Richter, as a place where students can come, "take a break from their studies and enjoy some of the other things that are part of the college experience." Whatever the promotion, whatever the sport, Bill Richter is clearly dedicated to reaching out to students, providing incentives to come to games and engendering a stronger sense of school spirit. But that's only half of his job. In fact, Richter's responsibilities extend far beyond the wide world of sports and into the business realm, as he must "aggressively go after corporations," hoping to create more corporate sponsorship for the athletic program. Although Richter does claim that Penn has in place some great sponsorships -- First Union Bank, Pepsi and Peco Energy are three of Penn's more well-known sponsors -- he also believes that there is a "great deal of room to add more to our stable of sponsors." The more effective the University is in "providing those sponsorships with visibility," said Richter, the greater the probability of adding more corporate sponsors. The additional revenues provided by the sponsors would "allow [the Athletic program] to have more funds to do these kinds of promotions." The primary determining factor in wooing various corporations, however, is often the attendance. "You can get more people if you get more sponsors. You can get more sponsors if you get more people," Richter explained. Richter's mission is, therefore, to get as many fans as possible out in support of the Quakers and convince both students and corporations that football and basketball games are "exciting, happening places to be." "Penn has the luxury of a beautiful stadium and a great history. To have 20,000 empty seats [at the 60,000-capacity Franklin Field] is, in my mind, a crime. That serves nobody's best interests," said Richter, citing Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops as possible future recipients for tickets to home games. Although increasing student attendance at games and marketing Penn for corporations is no small task, Richter might just be the man for the job. Having worked in marketing and promotions, at the collegiate level for 15 years, Richter's enthusiasm for the job only seems to wax stronger with each passing year. Most recently, Richter served as the assistant athletic director for marketing and promotions at nearby Drexel University -- a job that represented an "upward move" and enabled him "to do a lot of things on a smaller level." One of Richter's former colleagues at Drexel, Matt Grimaldi, had nothing but praise for Richter. "Point blank, the guy's a hard worker. He'll do anything to accommodate the best interests of each team. He's a generally sincere, caring guy," Grimaldi, the director of Marketing and Promotions at Drexel, said. Richter's departure, added Grimaldi,was "truly [Drexel's] loss and Penn's gain." Prior to coming to Drexel, Richter had involved himself with marketing, as well as trademark licensing, in universities all over the country. At the University of Pittsburgh, Richter served as the director of trademark licensing. Before Pitt, Richter received his degree in athletic marketing from Idaho State. His career began 15 years ago as the assistant for marketing and promotions at Hawaii. Attracted by Penn's "high-profile program" and a chance to be an important administrator, Richter traveled several blocks south to work with the Quakers. If his plans and ideas go as expected, Penn should be on its way to being an even more attractive, tastefully marketed university in the 21st century. "We have a good product. It's a matter of getting the word out there."