Last Friday, the twenty-seventh of September, 2013, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a pre-season Washington Capitals game with eight of my classmates. Upon arriving at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. we entered through the media entrance and were greeted by two members of the Capitals public relations staff who gave us our media credentials for the game. After receiving our credentials and a run down of the nightly procedures we were ushered into an elevator and brought to the press level of the stadium. We were then shown to our seats after a brief Q&A session with Megan Eichenburg, Communications Coordinator for the Capitals, on how the Capitals’ Public Relations department functions on a day to day basis, including some of the daily tasks of each position in the department.
After the first intermission I was allowed an interview with the Capitals Managing Web Developer, Deborah Francisco, on how social media plays a role in the Capitals public relations and marketing campaigns. From this interview I learned that social media is “vital” to the Capitals because it is the “fastest way to get [their] message out.” Throughout our interview Francisco was busy managing the capitals message board where she chatted with some of the Capitals most active fans throughout the game. This is just one way the Capitals use social media to reach their community. Other outlets include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, and even Pinterest, as well as a new points reward system called CapsPowerPlay that we briefly discussed. These outlets taught me the importance of managing the relationship between their team and its community through “off-ice” relations. These outlets communicated with the Capitals fanbase through everything from pictures and stats to fashion and fan art.
Once the final horn blew and the Capitals claimed a 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers we were escorted back to the lower lever of the Stadium. Here we were shown to the pressroom in preparation for the post game press conference with Capitals Head Coach Adam Oates. In this short press conference reporters asked questions pertaining to the game and the team in preparation for Monday’s regular season opener with the Chicago Blackhawks as well as Alexander Ovechkin’s trip to Greece to light the Olympic torch, the first Russian to do so.
This was an incredible experience for my classmates and me. Not only were given the opportunity to watch an NHL pre-season game, we also got the chance to learn more about public relations in a real world sports environment. This experience truly changed how I watch sporting events now that I have seen what happens behind the scenes in both public relations and marketing departments.