Wrestling Fans Need to Start a Riot: New Marketing Program Ready to Take Sport to Next Level

Are you tired of wrestling programs not getting the exposure they deserve? Are you tired of youth, high school and college wrestling programs not making any money? Riot Sports Marketing, founded by former DI All-American and head coach Jim Harshaw, has created services to help grow the sport of wrestling and end the status quo. Read more to find out how.

By Matt Krumrie
Senior Editor/TheWrestlingMall.com
info@thewrestlingmall.com

Riot Sports Marketing home page

Video: What is Riot Sports Marketing?

Video: Jim Harshaw talks about why wrestling needs better marketing

Riot Sports Marketing (RSM) has created services to grow the sport of wrestling and end the status quo. 

RSM was founded by Jim Harshaw, an All American in wrestling at the University of Virginia and former head coach at Division I Slippery Rock University.  With a background in small business management and as a Division I wrestling coach, he developed RSM systems with the goal to increase attendance, media coverage and fundraising for wrestling programs as well as other Olympic sports programs.  The RSM system was developed with input from college and high school coaches, marketing and small business consultants and other leaders in the athletics community.  Built on the popular Flo platform (Flo Wrestling, Flo Swimming, Flo Track etc), this primarily web-based system is automated, sytematic and effective.

To learn more about Riot Sports Marketing, and how it can help wrestling programs at the youth, high school and collegiate level, TWM checked in with Harshaw to get some information about Riot, why and how it works, and what he thinks wrestling can do to better promote the sport.

Here is the Q&A with Harshaw:

TWM: Tell us what Riot Sports Marketing is - what the goals are?

Harshaw: RSM is a marketing system that grows attendance, media coverage and fundraising for athletics programs.  Most coaches tell me that they want the same things: more attendance, media coverage, administrative support, community support, media coverage, excitement surrounding their program, alumni support, money.  What do we do about it?  Nothing or close to it.  Maybe we have a fundraiser and sell candy bars or some other worthless item.  We should be selling our programs.  

TWM: What triggered the idea for this company and who do you feel it can help?

Harshaw: I’ve always had a passion for growing the sport.  At Slippery Rock we did some pretty cool things to promote the program and had great results.  Attendance grew significantly and there was a lot of excitement around the program.  We had a lot more media coverage than in the past. Listening to (Minnesota coach) J Robinson talk has motivated me quite a bit.  He once said (paraphrasing) “wrestling will not survive based on how well we teach single legs and double legs but on how well we market our product.”

I’ve recently become more interested in small business marketing.  After studying this for the past few years I literally had an epiphany. One night last fall I began developing a system for marketing wrestling.  Not realizing how far the rabbit hole would go,  I sat there for about 3 hours after the family went to bed and just lost myself in the process.  I was excited.  I brought it to the NWCA and they published it. I brought it to high school coaches and they used it. I brought it to a marketing consultant and we tweaked it. After talking to dozens of people I knew that we had something that could change the wrestling world. 

However, the issue was the same for all of the coaches who implemented it - great idea but I just don’t have the time. It’s just one more thing on the plate of a coach.  That’s when I realized that if we’re going to change the wrestling world I’d really have to sink some time into this. After 6 months of fine tuning and working with others I’ve put my main business up for sale and  launched RSM.  I’m committing myself to what I believe in.

TWM: Does RIOT stand for anything? Or how did the name come about?

Harshaw: When you think of a Riot you think of passionate people standing up for what they believe in. You think of an energized mass of people who believe in something enough to take action.  I want every wrestling program in America to start a riot.  Whether they buy my system or simply use the suggestions and resources on my website, we’re going to change the world of wrestling. 

TWM: What is your biggest goal with this program?

Harshaw: My biggest goal is to strengthen the sport by getting wrestling people to reconnect to their sport and to each other.  Rekindle the relationships we develop on the mat. If we do this then we’ll grow our sport and be able to instill the values of wrestling into more Americans.

We talk about the relationships we develop in wrestling.  About how we’re “brothers” because we go into battle together.  Too often these bonds are broken or weakened after we graduate from high school or college.  Riot enables these bonds to be strengthened.  It brings people together for a common cause that they believe in. 

I read a blog recently where the writer said that if one third of wrestling people would attend matches we’d be selling out gyms all over the country!  I believe him!  We just have to make it easy for them to be a fan by bringing the sport to them. I get annoyed by those who claim wrestling can’t be marketed like other sports.  It’s not exciting enough.  Golf is on TV!  It’s too hard to understand.  Try explaining football!  The time for excuses is through.  It’s time to act.

TWM: Can you tell how a program at the youth, high school or college level can benefit from this program and these principles?

Harshaw: In a word? Money. The benefits programs receive are the same as the wishes of so many coaches.  Fan support, administrative support, media coverage, fundraising. 

When you graduate from a college and become an alumni you begin receiving materials from your school/program. Make no mistake, they are marketing materials.  They help you stay connected, informed, and, if they are successful, active.  They are soliciting donations because they are the lifeblood of a school or athletics program.  My alma mater, the University of Virginia, has never tried to sell me a candy bar. They sell me on their product. And I respond. I donate. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never donated to my high school wrestling program. I’m not  connected or informed. Besides, they’ve never asked me. If they did I know that my $100 would go further there than it would at a college or university so I’d certainly support.

In the end, Riot brings money into a program.  But it’s much, much more than that. 

TWM:  Can you talk about some programs that are implementing these principles now?

Harshaw: Every program that has implemented Riot tools has had success.  This season we have many, many more  coming on board. 

TWM: As an All-American wrestler and former DI head coach, what do you feel can be done and needs to be done in the sport of wrestling to help market the sport?

Harshaw: I think we need to think big in every way.  Break the mold, stop doing things they way they have been done just because they’ve been done that way before.  Change the rules, make waves, market ourselves, stand out, be bold. Wrestling develops leaders.  Let’s take advantage of our strength.

TWM: Why doesn't wrestling market itself like other sports?
Harshaw: First, we like to use excuses. Second, our professional counterpart has evolved into an entertainment industry. Now, we have MMA and it’s become all the rage. 

Some of the basic marketing principles we’re talking about are these. You have to be “top of mind”.  That means you have to put your product in front of consumers a lot and in different formats.  You have to make them feel like they are part of a community. You have to not only get them to buy in but to want to come back for more.  We have to create engaging events.  Why not take a lesson from the most popular sports- cheerleaders, music, announcers, giveaways, entertainment, etc.  No need to re-create the wheel.

TWM:  How easy is it for a program to be set up with this system? How do they implement this and what are the costs?
Harshaw: It’s really easy for a program to get started with Riot.  First, we set you up with some tools to be placed onto your website.  Then we show you how to leverage them and several others that are not web-based.  Finally, to solve the time issue that coaches run into, we have developed the Riot Internship Program. The coaching staff finds an intern and we take it from there. We hold their hand while they implement a year-round marketing system to strengthen your fan base including increasing attendance, media coverage and fund raising. 

As for fees, it ranges from $50-$100 per month.  You’ll easily raise much more than that and we have a program to make it free. So the system itself can generate money before any donations come in. 

Here is one way to think of it.  I came across a fundraiser recently where you sell $13 candles and make 40% profit.  So, if you want to make $2,500 you have to sell just shy of 500 candles.  That means you spend over $6,250.  Invest your money into something that gives you a return.  With Riot, if you have 100 supporters that donate just $25 annually you’ll have the same return.  Stop asking supporters to buy something and start giving them something they want.

TWM: What drives you most to make this type of system work?
Harshaw: What drives me to do this is my passion for wrestling.  It’s the greatest, most exciting sport in the world.  We are a sport that leads in so many ways.  Why not step away from the rest of the athletics world and take an innovative step in strengthening our sport.

TWM: What do you think is holding wrestling back the most?
Harshaw: Wrestling develops a dependence on oneself.  We are strong individuals who like to depend on no one.  I think that holds us back as much as it pushes us to excel.  If we take the opportunity to leverage others to help us we can become a stronger community.

TWM: Do you think wrestling can ever become more popular, or is it a sport that is stuck with the fan base it has and can't grow?

Harshaw: I really don’t care how popular wrestling is for popularity’s sake.  I want our sport to flourish because I believe in the values that it instills in people.  Do I think it can grow?  Yes. It should grow.  But it’s been shrinking on some levels due to a lack of marketing. Yes, Title IX has made it hard for us but if we were stronger and more entrenched we’d be harder to axe. However, if we take the opportunity to think of our programs as a business that we need to invest in then we can take it to new levels. I think that in 20 or 30 years  it can rival football and basketball as the most popular high school sports if we take the right steps now.  Someone has to take steps to make things happen.  There are organizations out there doing their part and there are organizations that focus on the wrong things.  I hope that the leaders in our sport see marketing as a necessity. 

And another thing…I’m going on a rant here… we hear so much about grass roots development. Why do we not hear about getting our wrestling fans reconnected? We talk about getting more kids on the mats and making more opportunities for kids like Beat the Streets has been so successful at. That’s crucial. Why are we not teaching coaches how to cultivate alumni or how to make the “ask” to donors? Like it or not, we live in a world where the bottom line is money. Unless you are among the elite programs where winning makes you invincible, the bottom line is money. These are tools that are as important as anything else a coach can learn

Want to find out more about how Riot can help your program? Contact Riot Sports Marketing