After spending three years with Octagon and a brief stint with Captiv8 Promotions, DAN GACETTA chose a good time to join the National Lacrosse League offices in Manhattan. He took over as NLL Dir of Business Development last October, just after the league agreed to a new, seven-year CBA with the players' union. Gacetta says the deal puts the league in a "very stable state" financially, as well as with the fans, who can "rest assured that we're good to go for quite some time now." Gacetta chatted with THE DAILY recently about how the NLL fanbase is growing in different demographics, why he is addicted to CNBC, and where his allegiances lie when it comes to jam bands.
YouTube generation...
When you look at our consumer and our fan base, we skew a little bit younger. They’re a little bit more media savvy. While TSN is great in Canada, we’re going to have 70 games streamed live on YouTube and those games will generate as many if not more eyeballs than we would get with a digital sports network.
Following the kids' lead...
Our growth with older fans is stemming from parents bringing kids to NLL games. You’ll have a number of youth teams in attendance and they’re there with their families. That growth is organic, I think it’s always going to be there. You also have that young male consumer who’s up for a fun Friday or Saturday night who’s looking for an action packed, dynamic evening of entertainment.
A day in the life...
My primary role is to generate revenue. Ultimately, the first thing I think about when I walk into the office is what are those strategic proposals that need to be pushed over each day. But I’m always curious to know what our media awareness is out there, and what the reach we generated the night before was. Where we picked up in certain media, how did we do attendance-wise the past weekend. All of those make the league more marketable for me as I’m reaching out to brands.
Media diet...
First thing I do is go to CNBC in the morning. I also commute into New York from Connecticut, so I’m on my phone for a good hour. I’ll be looking at my CNBC app, CNN app, the ESPN app. And then I’ll follow what’s shaking on Twitter. Years ago when I was in advertising, I was working on a financial services piece of business and managing that. That got me hooked on CNBC.
A little bird told me...
Right now with the Olympics going on, I really enjoy following ALAN ABRAHAMSON. He tweets about really sort of more lifestyle happenings with what’s going on with the athletes in Sochi. I’ve known Alan for years dating back to my days as an action sports marketing rep at Octagon.
Best spot for a business lunch...
In Fairfield, I would say probably Barcelona. In New York, I tend to like the old tried and true Smith & Wollensky any day.
Turn up the tunes...
I’m a big fan of jam bands. WIDESPREAD PANIC is one of my favorite groups, and DAVE MATTHEWS BAND. When I’m snowboarding, I’ll put on the headphones and listen to CITIZEN COPE or KINGS OF LEON.
