Buena Vista University students will host two community sports events this April as part of a sports management course designed to provide hands-on experience in event planning.
The events — Spring Football Fest on April 16 and Dam Good Sports Day on April 25 — are organized by students in Professor Wesley Brennan’s sports management class, which emphasizes real-world application of sports business concepts.
In his first year as a professor at BVU, Brennan said the course introduces students to areas such as marketing, sponsorships, and game-day operations while allowing them to apply those skills outside the classroom.
“We are working in partnership with the athletic department to put on two community-based events for the BVU community and the Storm Lake community,” Brennan said. “All the ideas that we’re doing are 100% from the students. I’m just kind of serving here as their guide.”
The class includes 19 students, with additional volunteers assisting in planning and executing the events. Students are divided into four groups: marketing communications, game operations, fan engagement and sponsorships.
Tyme Boettcher, a sophomore business major on the sports media track, said the class has covered a wide range of topics.
“We’ve learned everything about just sport operations, how you run game days, we’ve learned about NIL, we’ve learned about sponsorships and partnerships and boosters and marketing communication,” Boettcher said. “Whether that be at the college level, in high school, at a park and recs, community activity, board, things like that. We’re just kind of learning everything as a whole.”
The Spring Football Fest took place from 4 to 6:30 p.m. April 16 at the BVU football stadium. The event included a punt, pass and kick competition, lawn games such as cornhole and giant Jenga, and a photo opportunity with football players. An unpadded open practice took place for the public to watch.
The Dam Good Sports Day event is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 25 at the same location. Activities will include a dunk tank featuring faculty and staff, lawn games and inflatables. The event will also feature the “Battle for the Net Cup,” a kickball game between the women’s basketball and women’s soccer teams. BVU’s President Brian Lenzmeier will take the first kick of the game.
Following the game, a men’s soccer alumni match will take place.
Students said the events were inspired in part by BVU’s annual Block Party and the Okoboji Winter Games, with the goal of creating more opportunities for campus and community engagement. Geneva Galler, a junior business major studying finance, management and sport business, said the events are designed to appeal to a wide audience.
As the event dates approach, Brennan said he is encouraged by the students’ work.
“It’s a good group of students,” he said. “Our big focus for the second half of the semester has been putting these events together.”
In addition to planning the events, students navigated challenges regarding athletics coordination, logistics, and participation. They hope to expand these events in the future and potentially integrate them into larger campus traditions, such as Block Party.
