Ray Schulte Recap

On Wednesday, February 8th, 2017, the University of Maryland Sports Business Society welcomed Ray Schulte to campus. Schulte is the Founder/CEO of Schulte Sports Marketing & PR, a small agency located in nearby Potomac, MD. Schulte Sports Marketing & PR specializes in representing prominent sport figures for their off-field business related activities, as well as performing the PR for corporate and non-profit partners. Schulte currently works with HOF Don Mattingly, current Orioles manager Buck Showalter, and has worked with Cal Ripken Jr. and the Roberto Clemente Estate in the past.

Schulte started out working with J. Walter Thompson, one of the largest ad agencies in the world at the time. After spending a short time with them right out of college, Schulte left the agency with an idea in mind. His idea was about how to package and brand athletes, the concept he used to start up his own agency, Schulte Sports Marketing & PR in 1984. With the help of a few connections he made, he was able to acquire his first client, Don Mattingly, who at the time played for the New York Yankees. From there, he went on to start working with clients like Buck Showalter and the Roberto Clemente Estate, where he managed their marketing efforts and their non-profits. In the early 2000s, Schulte started working with Cal Ripken Jr. on his journey to his Hall of Fame introduction in 2007. Schulte has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA over the course of his career helping them with their PR efforts for various events, as well as many other corporate and non-profit partners. Schulte has been able to establish long-term success in the industry because he is well-trusted by his clients.

While Schulte has made a career out of packaging and branding players, he wanted the students in attendance to understand that anyone can be packaged and branded. Students can brand themselves working on building their own "human equity". This goes beyond the classroom and the resume, it goes to learning the tools students will need to be successful in the real world. The example he gave for sports marketing was learning how to utilize LinkedIn and Constant Contact. Learning the tools students will need to be successful in the real world will not only separate themselves from the rest of the applicant pool, but it will help build themselves to be better at their work. The goal for students should not be to separate themselves from the rest of the applicant pool to impress the employer, it should be to build themselves in order to be better at their work. With that goal in mind, students will be able to build their own human equity in order to establish long-term success in whatever field they choose to go in.