A Lion's Share
TWU alumnus finds passion in sports marketing
For TWU alumnus Jordan Eshpeter (’03) the road with the BC Lions last year was both challenging and exciting. The 30-year-old manages the ticket sales for the Lions, leading his sales team toward a single goal: to put as many bums in seats as possible at each home game. “Sometimes you pick your job and sometimes your job picks you, and I feel that the sports business has picked me,” says an enthusiastic Eshpeter.
Eshpeter caught the marketing bug while obtaining his Business Administration degree at TWU. In addition to his heavy course load, he promoted concerts on and off campus. “I remember delivering pizza every week night after classes and then doing street marketing for House of Blues Concerts Canada (now Live Nation), posting handbills and handing out flyers after concerts. It was a crazy pace,” he recalls. While he drove from TWU to downtown Vancouver, Eshpeter would listen to sports updates on Vancouver’s Team 1040 radio — igniting a passion for sports marketing.
While his busy extracurricular activities opened career opportunities in music promotion and sports, Eshpeter credits his education for preparing him for the world of business. “I’d say the classes in the bba program and my education at TWU really developed my critical thinking skills. I’ve actually encountered the problems or examples that we tried to solve in my upper-level business courses now in my every day job,” says Eshpeter.
Reflecting on his love for promoting both concerts and sports, he says, “I’ve always enjoyed being behind the scenes at a concert, but getting into the sports business I’ve realized it’s the same thing — the businesses operate almost exactly same. They attract the same type of people: high energy, extremely motivated people who love what they do.”
In addition to unlimited access to Lions games, the Richmond native has something coveted by many CFL fans — a Grey Cup ring. In 2006, Eshpeter was with the Lions in Winnipeg when they defeated the Montreal Alouettes to take home the Cup. “I felt like I was part of something big, and I felt a real sense of pride. I helped generate revenue and I helped develop a fan base,” he says. Now Eshpeter and his team are ramping up for what will be an important year for the Lions as they move to an outdoor stadium and prepare to host the CFL’s 98th Grey Cup in November.
by Erin Mussolum '95
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