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The Fenway Gridiron Series features college, high school football games.
Courtesy of: FENWAY SPORTS MANAGEMENT |
Fenway Sports Management has added Boston-based hospital operator Steward Health Care and an undisclosed pharmaceutical company to its client roster, part of an effort to grow the agency’s consulting division.
FSM, a sister company to the Boston Red Sox, for years has counseled several companies including Dunkin’ Donuts, JetBlue and Santander Bank on their sports marketing initiatives. But those relationships largely started as partnerships with the baseball team. The new deals mark an effort to build FSM’s consulting business separate from the Red Sox.
“We’re really doubling down on this side of the business,” said Mark Lev, FSM managing director. “We think there’s a real opportunity to take our learnings and apply it to brands that may not necessarily be immediately thought of at first when it comes to sports marketing. … We’re really looking to grow that segment of what we do.”
Steward in particular is in the midst of a large expansion into numerous Sun Belt states following a recent purchase of Tennessee-based Iasis Healthcare. Steward’s sports relationships include being the official health care partner of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury.
FSM’s consulting and events division is led by vice president BriAnne Newman and aided by director Kate Hogan, managers Tom Kennedy, Katie Leighton and Olivia Whitney, and coordinator Shelby Aubin.
FSM is also in the midst of a heavy autumn slate of activity at Fenway Park that includes the Fenway Gridiron Series involving three New England college football games and three Boston-area high school games, and a return this past weekend of an Irish hurling event sponsored by AIG.
Those events have meant this will be an off year for installing an ice rink at Fenway Park, as has been done in the past, including last winter’s two-week Capital One Frozen Fenway hockey and skating festival, or a ski ramp such as what was used for the Polartec Big Air At Fenway event in early 2016. But Lev said he still intends “to have Fenway be a year-round destination and not just for baseball and concerts.”
