JOB: IWRF Marketing Opportunity

The International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) is requesting the service of sport marketing professionals to serve on our recently formed Marketing and Sponsorship Committee. Can you please distribute the attached document to your sport management list serve, as well as to any qualified professionals that you feel may be interested?

Thank you for your consideration.

John Bishop

President, IWRF

Phone (561) 964-1712

February 1, 2011

Dear Sport Management Faculty and Practitioners:

My name is John Bishop, and I am President of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF). The IWRF is the international governing body for wheelchair rugby, a full contact sport for quadriplegics. We currently have more than 24 member nations actively participating in our sport, with at least 10 other countries in the development stage. We are recognized as an official Paralympic Sport by the International Paralympic Committee, and have been so since 1996.

Historically our efforts have been focused on increasing the number of member nations and quality of play at international events. We recently made a strategic decision to create a marketing committee to develop revenue lines in order to increase the IWRF budget to more effectively address the mission of our federation. For this reason the IWRF has formed a committee for marketing and sponsorship. The majority of committee members are wheelchair rugby practitioners with minimal marketing experience. Recently the committee asked Michael Cottingham to serve; he is a former disability sport practitioner who will be an assistant professor at Southern New Hampshire University in the fall. Michael’s provision of technical reports and academic research has been of benefit to the IWRF, and after extensive discussion, the IWRF marketing committee has decided to explore the opportunity to include 1-2 other academics or practitioners in the field of sport marketing and sponsorship on the IWRF marketing committee. These individuals do not require any previous experience with disability sport to be eligible.

This will be a service committee which would hold meetings by conference call approximately every six weeks, and would require some ‘homework’ between meetings; including development of marketing plans, acquisition of sponsors and strategic sponsorship, and assisting in strategic planning. The IWRF would request a one year commitment with the option of renewing service after the first year. The primary focuses of this committee will be the development of strategic partnerships and facilitation of sponsorships, increasing attendance and examination of consumer behavior, and addressing issues of branding.

While this will be a service committee, the IWRF would whenever possible assist academics in data collection for research projects related to sponsorship, consumer behavior and branding. Serving on this committee would provide the opportunity to conduct unique quantitative and qualitative research on an organization developing a comprehensive marketing plan from the ground up, and this experience could easily be brought into the classrooms providing students with unique case studies and service learning opportunities.

Applications should be submitted electronically and directed to John Bishop at marketing@iwrf.com. Applications should include a cover letter explaining why you want to serve on the IWRF marketing and sponsorship committee, along with a copy of your curricula vitae or resume. Priority will be given to those with practical and/or academic experience in the context of consumer behavior, sponsorship and/or branding.

For questions or additional information, please contact John Bishop at marketing@iwrf.com.