26. Advice for Breaking into Sports Business with Steve Raquel, Univ. of Illinois Prof and Agency President
About the Farrell Sports Business Podcast
Interviews with news makers from sports business to talk leadership, entrepreneurship, industry news and their unique career paths. Hosted by Matt Farrell, President of Farrell Sports and former Golf Channel, USOPC, USA Swimming and Warner Bros.
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Episode Summary
Episode 26 of the Farrell Sports Business podcast - Host Matt Farrell talks with University of Illinois assistant clinical professor and IOV Media agency president Steve Raquel. He shares his extensive journey in sports marketing, teaching, and consulting. He discusses the importance of networking, the evolving landscape of sports marketing, and the impact of NIL on student athletes. Steve emphasizes the need for students to gain real-world experience and to be proactive in their career pursuits. He also reflects on the differences in student expectations today compared to previous generations, and shares a memorable encounter with Flavor Flav during the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Farrell Sports Business (00:00)
Welcome to the Farrell Sports Business Podcast where I interview leaders of the sports industry about entrepreneurship, leadership, and their career journey. I'm the host, Matt Farrell.
On this week's episode, we're going to go on campus to get a view from a professor who teaches advertising and digital marketing and PR and just has a constant line at his door from students who want to work in sports. My guest this week
cut his teeth at the agency world, is doing consulting now, was involved in the Olympics in Salt Lake in 2002, worked in sports marketing for McDonald's, and now is the assistant clinical professor at the University of Illinois, which explains my Illini hat a little bit as well. We've known each other for almost 30 years, but my daughter Abby,
was actually in one of my guest's classes as well. And she played wheelchair basketball there so have a great connection to the Illini program and the University of Illinois. This week's guest, Steve Raquel.
Farrell Sports Business (01:26)
Steve, welcome to the podcast. I appreciate it.
Steve Raquel (01:28)
Well, thank you for having me on your podcast. I'm looking forward to it.
Farrell Sports Business (01:32)
Well, we're going to talk about your career and what you're doing now, how that relates to sports, but I want to just start out with maybe just a little bit of background. Tell me what you're doing at the university of Illinois, and then we'll get into some of your other business pursuits.
Steve Raquel (01:52)
Absolutely. So I started as an adjunct at the University of Illinois teaching advertising classes and have
just enjoyed it, really liked it. And opportunities continue to come. And in 20, almost 2020, I believe, I became full time. I'm a clinical assistant professor teaching marketing and digital marketing are my kind of concentrations at the Geese College of Business. So it's been great. It's been a 10 year ride so far. And I have been able to teach everything from strategy to PR to sports to
digital marketing, marketing, sales, it's been fun to more than a thousand kids so far. So I love the investment into the future leaders of tomorrow, but I also just enjoy being part of the atmosphere that the university brings you. And that's been really fulfilling for me.
Farrell Sports Business (02:50)
Well, it's an awesome place. As you know, I'm new to the Illini family with my daughter graduating undergrad and master's there and just became a huge advocate of the university and everything that's about the program there.
Steve Raquel (03:05)
Yeah, and for those of you who didn't know that his daughter was one of my students, a very good student. So I enjoyed having her in class. can even imagine right now where she sat in class because people tend to be very meticulous about where they stay. So she was good. And keeping in touch with her and cheering her on has been incredible.
Farrell Sports Business (03:30)
Well, good. Well, Abby is cringing right now, which is part of the point of bringing all this up. But even for you, you did undergrad at Illinois and masters there as well.
Steve Raquel (03:40)
Yeah, I did. I actually grew up in Champaign at the end of I. So I grew up a Lanai fan. The quick story is my dad emigrated from
Philippines, he was a doctor, he did his first job in New York, and then when he got his first like real offer, he really wanted to go to a college town. So it was going to be either Champaign, Illinois, or Texarkana, Texas, or whatever, Texarkana, right? And so I can only imagine what my voice and my life would be like if I was a Texan, but I'm not. And you know, all of
my siblings. have four, three other siblings. We all, three of us graduated from there, but all four of us attended at one time. So yeah, I grew up there, got my bachelor's and my master's, and it was a great time.
Farrell Sports Business (04:40)
Well, it's a great place and we became very fond of it. But you know, maybe one other background question and then we'll jump in to some topics about college students today and working in sports. But you also do some consulting business with IOV media and with SquareStack. So you don't sit still very well, it seems. You've got a lot going on.
Steve Raquel (04:47)
Sure.
Yeah.
No, and what I like to tell my students is I teach what I do and I do what I teach. And so every semester I relook at all of my curriculum and all the content and go, okay, what did I learn from this last year? What's the new trends? So it allows me the ability to teach students concepts and ideas that they're going to immediately be impacted by.
and helps to shape them. It's not in school, just in college, there's what we call evergreen content, especially in marketing. You want to know what a positioning statement is? I can tell you what it is. Do you want to know what a target market is? I can tell you that. And those are things that we kind of teach all over again and again in all different classes, which is great. But what then I do is I said, OK, let's take a look at
what's going on in the world today, especially in digital. Like for example, I teach, I have a section on AI, right? And going, guys, like what AI was a year ago was completely different now. And then the tools that I would probably teach you a year ago, they're gone and they're being replaced by even better tools, right? So that's the great part for me is I can use those experiences and my knowledge.
to be able to apply that to the students so that when they transition or when they're interviewing that they're much more equipped to be able to handle kind of the new things going on in the world.
Farrell Sports Business (06:42)
It's I think it's the perfect way just to shape your your teaching and your experiences and stay sharp and I want to go to the very beginning of your career because now it's becoming a little full circle close to the beginning of where you and I first crossed paths is You know the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002 Game Olympics coming back to Salt Lake in 2034 that was
Was that really the first sports role for you or?
Steve Raquel (07:17)
No, it wasn't. So my parlay into sports really came out of college. I really wanted to be in sports, but it was really hard to do. And it's the same today. Like, you know, if you want to get sports experience, you basically have to, you have to give away your time, right? You have to, you've got to gain experience and then network. And I really, one, couldn't afford to do that. I was about to get married at the time. But I started working at an agency.
and which I served on the McDonald's account in a point of sale. And so I did that for about, I started in 93 and for two years, I kind of just evolved in the position going from new products and promoting it every month in stores to new ideas, new concepts. So I was part of the launch of Hearth Express, which was kind of a
Chipotle or not Chuck Paul, a knockoff. was a Boston chicken knockoff, right? They wanted to kind of go after that and then it didn't go very well. They ended up buying Boston chicken and then selling it. But that got me into events. then I, my activity in events then led me into McDonald's becoming a worldwide sponsor at the 96 Olympics. And so they,
created a team at Frankel where I was. There were four of us initially and we helped to provide the look of the games and the development and design of all of the point of sales for all the restaurants that they were having there. And so that was really kind of my first foray into sports. And from that point on, because of the job that I did in 96, is that, you know, when I went, you know, here's an opportunity.
I should take it. And I really aligned myself well with the sports marketing team at McDonald's and they started to see the value of sports in the store. And so I would start for other things that they were sponsoring. So for example, World Cup back in 90, I think it was, was it 96, 98? I don't remember what it was. But whenever the World Cup was back in the mid nineties, I helped develop window clangs.
that were customized, to any country in the world that McDonald's had. And so I did that. I was in charge of all of their conventions in the sports area. So I started building relationships there. And luckily I, you know, I did, I just worked my butt off and the head of the department, Jackie Woodward, who I love to death, somebody had told me that, 2002 is coming along.
And they need marketing people. They need account people. You should go and try out for it. Okay. There were about 800 people who tried out for four spots. 800 people. And for my recollection, I wasn't told this directly, is that my supporters over McDonald's called up John Krimsky at the time and said, hey, you need to hire Steve. Like, I know who will lose him.
I know he can't be on our account, but I think he'd be a perfect fit. And it was great that that was the kind of like bump I needed to jump into Salt Lake. And, you know, I, I thought personally that my wife and I were going to go into live to Colorado Springs. We were ready. We had fun houses and we had friends and all that. And then they said, Steve, you're pretty self-sufficient. We're going to move you to Salt Lake city. So.
that so I did the commute for what the three years or so that we were on it. So that's kind of how we got Salt Lake and you know, Salt Lake was a blast, you know, and from there I went to McDonald's called came back and said, Hey, we want you to work for us in the Sports Marketing Department. So I did. Right. And then I, you know, I had a couple of, you know, other stops and doing some great sports stuff at Allstate.
Farrell Sports Business (11:17)
Ha ha ha ha.
Steve Raquel (11:38)
including Allstate 400, the kicking contest, which we still see on Saturdays, which is awesome, and State Farm and working on a whole bunch of stuff for State Farm. So on the sports side, yeah. Yeah, it's great. It's the funny part is a lot of the same people too, throughout that whole kind of experience. There's like a gaggle of us who all kind of moved around the same time. So it's been fun.
Farrell Sports Business (11:50)
I didn't know those.
So take, I mean, you put all those experiences together to now of academia consulting and digital agency and, and there has to be a line at the door of students coming to you of just like Steve, I want to work in sports.
Steve Raquel (12:24)
I do. mean sports as you know from your daughter, maybe you know. There's only few paths at the University of Illinois that focus in on sports. There's a whole group called recreation, ACES, I think it's ACES or there's another group. Mike Raycraft kind of runs kind of what we would call the sports kind of curriculum.
But his sports curriculum is very much in my mind, focused in on events and sales probably. People translate that into different things, but that's kind of the content. has some incredible relationships out in the world and he does some great things. But there isn't what I would call a natural sports marketing degree. You kind of have to cobble it. So what a lot of students do when they come to me is say, hey, hopefully they're sophomores.
or maybe they're freshmen, sometimes juniors, right? I just said, hey, get, the biggest thing you can do is two things. One, get experience now, wherever you can get it, and two, network like crazy, right? Just start networking. Where I tell students to go is go to your local division of Inoculated Athletics, right? They have formal teams, they have informal teams, they have people go and volunteer to.
do social media for some of the revenue sports and non-revenue sports or Olympic sports. They have friends who are on the team. There are those type of things that they can do. And so I get a lot, because of my network, I get a lot of different groups, both sports and non-sports, who are looking for good people too for their internships. And the strongest ones are always the ones who are.
proactive in finding kind of their way into sports.
Farrell Sports Business (14:21)
So, you know, it's funny, I'm going to use your, your AI example of what you taught a year ago is different than what you teach today. Is there anything in sports, if you were asked by students, doesn't matter 10 years ago, 20 years ago, any advice that's the same and any advice that has really just adapted with time.
Steve Raquel (14:28)
Yeah.
Ooh, let me think about that, but I'll go back to what I just said. The things that are the same are networking and being proactive. When I tell myself, like if you were a student of mine and I say, hey, here's the reality about sports. I've been in sports for more than 25 years, actively probably 15 years of that, but I still have my network of people and things that I do. But what was true then, which is true now, is you not only have to build relationships, but you have to maintain those relationships.
Farrell Sports Business (14:48)
Yeah.
Steve Raquel (15:14)
the people you grow up now that you're slaving away at a AAA ballpark or you're doing sales for a WNBA team that's not doing well, everybody will go somewhere else. And if all of you are as invested in being successful, you're all gonna get to places where you're not only gonna need each other, but there's gonna be opportunity because then you're a known quantity.
I think about sports as a sports fraternity, it's kind of hard to get in, but once you're in, you're in. Your friends know friends, they know friends, and they're the ones who are advocating for you. So for me, one way that I did it, which seemed to be very successful, for example, you were a part of this in my sports PR class, I would just bring in my friends. And I'd say, hey guys, just so you know, these kids are...
juniors, some are seniors, but they all want to go into sports. If you really like one of them, please let me know. Let me, you know, help me. I'll help the kind of transition and vice versa. And, and I tell, and this is true, has been true ever since I started teaching is that when I have a speaker, a really good speaker like you, when you come into my class, the likelihood is that you may get one person to come up and say hi to you afterwards. Right.
Farrell Sports Business (16:35)
Well, thank you.
Steve Raquel (16:42)
And you remember that person because that person made the effort. But then there's 29, 30 other kids who just kind of file out and go to somewhere else. And I keep saying, guys, if you just went up and said hi to that person, that connection is going to say a ton more than just sending them a note later on or trying to link in with them. They'll probably do it, but they won't remember you. And in sports, I look at sports very much like the entertainment industry.
You have to pay your dues. It's not fun. You have to work lots of hours. You got to do so many things to be recognized and then have kind of the reputation of moving up and people going, hey, Steve's a great guy. You know what? You should think about that because not just in sports, but just in life, I look at, I tell students, hey, your first job may be 70, maybe 80 % your resume and what you did in college. But really after that, everything is.
through your network. You get hired because somebody knows you or somebody recommends you. And I go, that's why it's so important to build those relationships because guess what? Matt may not be able to help you now, but three years from now, he totally could help you, right? He has these networks. The stuff that you're doing with baseball, you're gonna eventually, you know, potentially need an intern or you're potentially somebody who, you know, is really good.
And I go, hey, you know what? I got a girl named Maya. She does social media over for Chicago.
and she's great, you know, maybe you want to talk to her. And I've had a lot of placements, a lot of students who get pulled into it because the relationships I have, because as you can imagine, you know, we're middle-aged people, right? And because we're middle-aged, we don't have, just general, we don't have that connection to young college students, young people. But I do because I'm a professor, because...
they're in my network. And so a lot of my network will come to me and go, hey, Steve, we're looking for a new hire. Hey, we need somebody who does sales. We need somebody who you know. Right. And that's kind of the benefit of kind of what I bring to the table. So that's kind of the similar thing. The different thing in sports, it's NIL has changed everything. It really has.
And there's so many kids who come to me and say, I want to get on the NIL train, which is technically, you know, in sports marketing, it's just basically endorsements. mean, in a sense, right? There's money involved and you trade that money for something, but the complexity of what that looks like is out of control and what people are willing to pay and what people are doing. you know, the rich get richer in terms of the agencies. So younger people.
I tell younger people, it's you know, and it's hard to tell them. It's like, you know what, if you know somebody on the team, you may want to try to help them out. Like I have a couple of students who are on team and like, hey, if you ever want somebody to look at your contracts, I'm happy to do it, right? I can help you do those types of things. But it's the complexity for that has made the entry point in that specific one a lot harder. And so...
The other part I think in sports is, and this is me, there is in my mind kind of a globalization of sports that's going on. So the opportunities are out there. I believe that, like for example, NFL's footprint wants to expand over into Europe to create a true kind of two party system type of thing where you'll have a, it's kind of like the old NFL Europe, right? But a little bit more formal, much more.
The quality is much higher and the hope that you know, the NFL team there is gonna play for the one here and then there's gonna be a true Super Bowl and a true world champion. But guess what? All that means people. All that means stuff. But once you go over to Europe, like again, I went to Europe for the first time this summer. It's like, wow, football is like a small thing. Soccer is a big thing, right? And I think soccer coming into the US with World Cup, there's opportunity there.
So it's just one of these things where, hey, if you want to go to sports, you got to think broadly. You got to think about things like, you know, US cricket, you know, they won what, the world championships. Holy mackerel, like, okay, right? There's an opportunity there to grow the sport. Pickleball, as you know, pickleball is a sport. There's opportunity there and it's, you just have to think, you got to step away. For students, I tell them, you got to step away.
from working from the NFL, the NBA, as your first thing, you will eventually get there, but get the experience, on the ground experience, with brands and with sports where you grow into it and have such an incredible insight that then you apply to whatever you're doing.
That's my short answer.
Farrell Sports Business (22:04)
It's, it's no, that's right. No, I mean, it's, really good advice because there's so many, you think I want to work in sports and that immediately means I'm in a, in a, in a basement dialing for dollars for a minor league baseball team. And there's so many other ways to get in. So this is not a intended as a generational question of these kids today or the grumpy old man on the front porch. But you know, when we were.
Steve Raquel (22:23)
Yes.
Farrell Sports Business (22:34)
coming into sports in the 90s and the 2000s. I don't know that we had it right in terms of work-life balance or other things. Are students different today? Are they looking for something different? And it's not a right or wrong question of just how's the expectation of getting into sports changed or has it?
Steve Raquel (22:58)
You know, it kind of depends on the student and and I don't tell many people and you know for the million and a half people who listen to your podcast and you know, I'm gonna sell a relation I teach in two different colleges, right? Those the students of each of them are are really different
My advertising students, I love them to death, still have great relationships with them. But they were, in a sense, more like, hey, I'm loving life, I'm enjoying stuff. And the jobs that they get, it takes them a while to get, but they're so socially, in a sense, I think a little bit more socially adaptable, that they succeed in that respect. My business students are kind of cut.
to be competitive. so while the advertising students are using my network and being connected with me in that way, my business students have been kind of burned and etched in their soul. You got to get a job. Let's get you in a suit. Let's get you interviewing. Steve's class is a means to an end to get a job. Right. And it's not bad. It's just they're motivated in different way. And so the
The students today, I think, are products of kind of where they are and what the environment kind of supports them to do. see, so for example, the ones who are in the recreation sport, they are all about sport.
the networks that Mike has to help them get jobs in sports is so much better than mine or in advertising. So that plays a part. But again, it's a little bit like sport in that, you know what, we have a draft every year, right? And some of those people are gonna be superstars. Some of them are gonna go to the G League. Some of them are gonna just walk away. And so that's gonna be the case.
Farrell Sports Business (24:57)
Good comparison.
Steve Raquel (25:02)
Right? And so the best thing that I try to do in any situation is prepare them for what to expect, both in terms of knowledge and both, and then also in how to work the things that aren't teachable, if that makes sense. There are things that like you and I know that students, when they go into the job are like, holy mackerel.
Farrell Sports Business (25:22)
It does.
Steve Raquel (25:31)
And I'll give you a really good story here that I got from my daughter. We were having a conversation a couple weeks ago. my daughter works for Google. She's one of those. She's a geese kid, marketing, top of her class, total A person, A type person, went to Google and she said, dad, my first like six months sucked.
She goes, I was in the perfect job and it sucked. And it mimicked mine. My first six weeks, sort of six months at Frankel were horrible. And she said, you know, when I talk to students, well, let me rephrase. The reason she told me that is she's mentoring somebody else who was having the exact same experience. And she was trying to give her some advice. And her advice is, you know what, your first job, if it ends up sucking, that's okay.
That should be the expectation. She goes, but the thing that I learned is that in your first job, you're supposed to just do your job. The word that she said is you don't study to get it right. Students in college study to get the A. But in the real life, they have to do to get it right. And doing means failure. And failure is something they have to get used to.
You know, my daughter who is always trying to do the right thing and doing it is one of the things that she had to realize. Like I have to be okay with failure in order to succeed. And so when I go in to teach, you know, I talk to them and I go, guys, don't worry about the grade. Right? If you are a two in marketing and I get you to a five, that's not, you know, bad. It means that you got better, right? You, you learned something. And so with, with
these kids in sports, I think the biggest mentality is this, and this is not reflective of their personalities and what generation they're in, it's that they study for success. They don't do for success. And so when I encourage them early to get those experiences, those are the things that will help them to think about failure in a different way. Right? Because we all fail.
Farrell Sports Business (27:51)
It's great advice. It's really, I've just never heard it, heard it that way. Yeah. And you, you think your career is going to go on a certain trajectory and it's always going to be a ladder and I'm going to go from step one to step two. And then you're going to get knocked down a couple rungs somewhere along the way and figure it out. But I promised you one question that I was going to surprise you with, that I wasn't going to give you any advanced warning on, but I'm dying to know this one.
Steve Raquel (27:52)
Right? Awesome. Right?
Yeah.
Okay. Okay.
Farrell Sports Business (28:21)
I want to know about your encounter with Flavor Flav.
Steve Raquel (28:25)
yeah. my gosh. So my wife and I, so the great part is my daughter, Kate, who we talked about, awesome daughter Kate, and I have two other daughters who are incredible too. She works at Google and, but, but, I gotta tell a story, because it kind of all works together. Is.
Farrell Sports Business (28:49)
You
Steve Raquel (28:50)
When I was in 2000, right, I was part, because I worked for the Olympic Committee, I was part of the official delegation, which afforded me the ability to buy a ring, right, to buy a team ring. And I bought the smallest one, know, Jim Grice let me buy it and, you know, I had it on my finger. Well, my daughter has always wanted to work for the Olympics. And when she went off to college, she was...
She was like rummaging through my stuff and my Olympic ring is there. She goes, dad, can I have your Olympic ring? And I said, sure. You know, does it fit? Sure. So she's, she has worn it since college. And from that point, she is just say, Hey, I really want to work at, at, at, you know, ultimately she's like, I really want to work 28 in LA. That's kind of my dream. Work for the games. Kind of like how you worked for the game. I'm like,
Not something that I had ever encouraged from my kids, but she wants to do go, hey, if you're going do that, you got to work some Olympics. So work, be a volunteer in France. And so because she's bilingual, she was able to do it. And out of all the jobs that she applied for, she applied for water polo. And she got it. And she became the team liaison to team.
Australia. And so what that means is she goes on the buses, she answers all their questions, she's the interpreter to all the things that are going on and just make sure that they're taken care of. Well, she did that on purpose because I told you about my other two daughters. My other two daughters also play water polo. They play both play in the college level and some of their coaches in the past are Maggie Stephens, Amanda Longin.
and a number of other of those Olympic players. So it was kind of a natural thing. And it was great for Kate because she was immediately able to make connections with the American team. And, you know, in this whole time in the spring, all of a sudden, you know, Flava Flav comes into play and says, hey, I'm going to back them up. I'm going to give them money. I'm going to support them. Crazy. And the really only tickets that we got for the Olympics when we went over there to see Kate was
water polo. Honestly, it was just to see Kate and we went to go see the Olympic team and crazy enough in that I saw I didn't I met flavor flave formerly once, but I saw flavor flave. But here's the story. I'm sitting in there watching the US team beat up on somebody. I don't remember what it was. And all of a I look there's a rustling over on the left hand side. And all of a sudden all these people come in and
Farrell Sports Business (31:22)
You
Steve Raquel (31:35)
a group of three or four people go up almost to my level to the left. And I look over there and I go to my wife, go, I think I know that person. And she goes, who it is? And I go, I think that's Joe Biden. And she goes, what? And I go, I think that's Joe Biden. And remember, when I landed in France, Joe Biden had just dropped out, pretty much. It was right after the debate. And so I'm going.
That's really weird. Jill Biden's there. And I think she was with either her daughter or M.O.F.'s daughter. I don't remember. There was enough people. Anyway, so we're just sitting there. I'm like, that's weird. Nobody notices her except for like me and a couple other people. So I'm kind of always looking over there. And then another dust up starts happening in that corner. And all of a sudden, all these people come in and Flavor Flav comes in and he's like, all right.
you know, doing his thing. And I'm like, honey, I'm going down there. I'm going down there because that's his type of person. I'm not too far. I'm like two doors down. So I go in there and I was able to get a great video, which is great of him just celebrating. But then he took off. Go to the next game. We're coming in. And I have the pleasure of knowing the communications manager for USA Water Polo. I've known him for years. And I came up to him and I'm like, hey.
Farrell Sports Business (32:47)
you
Steve Raquel (33:04)
You know, he was escorting Flavor Flav and he was being interviewed by actually KTLA, right? I think that's LA's one. was, kind of, they were kind of doing this promo with him and they were taking time and I go, Hey dude, can I like, you know, take a picture of them? He goes, yeah, yeah, just wait until afterwards. So just waited a couple of minutes. He was done. I'm like, Hey Flav, you know, take a picture, know, get in here.
Farrell Sports Business (33:15)
It's LA.
You
Steve Raquel (33:34)
Took it and then he's off to the races. My friend just said, hey, he only has time for one person. Boom. But he was great. He really is kind of an amazing person. Just the way that he's invested so much into the team. And my hope, I've talked to people from that, my hope is that more sports celebrities come out of the work to do the same. Because Flavor Flav backed it up.
He gave him, I think, I don't know how much money, he gave him money to help people pay for things. He showed up to support them. I think there was somebody else who did that for the rugby team. So you and I were living in the Olympic world, right? We know NGBs are not, you know, outside of maybe two of them are not very cash rich, right? And those athletes are struggling. And if you don't know this is
you only make, you make the Olympic team. Before that, you could be Team USA, but before that, there's all this other stuff. So there's not really kind of this, you know, place where everybody is, where then you can support that. There's a run-up to it. So I applaud Flava Flav. I think it's great. I hope more people do it too.
Farrell Sports Business (34:54)
I, I, I loved it. mean, there were, and there's no criticism at all. Some of the, some stars were there for the photo op clearly that guy's invested literally, you know, figuratively. and so he came out kind of really winning people over, including me. So
Steve Raquel (35:15)
Absolutely, I'm trying to find a picture really quickly that I have if you have. So, you know, here's a picture of him, like that's how close I was. That's what he was doing. Yeah.
Farrell Sports Business (35:24)
Well Steve, awesome stuff. want any of your social accounts, where should people, could people find you or your business? Shameless plug time.
Steve Raquel (35:35)
No!
Yeah, shameless plug. You know what? Honestly, LinkedIn is the best place to kind of follow me. I do have a TikTok account. It tends to be much more lighthearted. But how funny can a 50 something year old person be on TikTok? I don't know. But find me on LinkedIn, Esrakel. You know, want to connect with me, say, hey, you know, I heard the podcast and would love to connect with you.
happy to do that. I'm kind of, again, I'm protective of my network because I know if you're in my network, you have access to my network. And there are people who go into networks and all they want to do is exploit the other people in the network. So be particular, be purposeful, and I'm more than happy to connect and help you.
Farrell Sports Business (36:23)
Steve, you're awesome. Thanks for the time on this and love the flavor, flavor story.
Steve Raquel (36:27)
yeah, absolutely. Hopefully I'll see him in LA. Yeah. All right. See ya.
Farrell Sports Business (36:32)
You guys are tight. Thanks, Steve.
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