Baltimore Ravens Fan Engagement Workshop

Ashley Morrison
Oct 30
4 min read

The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team that competes in the NFL's AFC North division. Today, Senior Marketing and Fan Development Coordinator Yajaira Rivas joins AMA to talk about her experience working for the

Baltimore Ravens.

Background:

As a first generation student from Montgomery County, Maryland, Rivas initially felt intimidated by the idea of attending a four-year college. Yet, despite her initial fears, she earned a degree in communications and pursued her passion for sports, saying “sports to me was always a platform to engage with people, connect with people.”

Raven’s Marketing Team structure:

In the NFL, each team has a Home Marketing Area (HMA) where “each team has a specific marketing territory that is assigned to them.” Specifically, the Baltimore Ravens Marketing Team is split into three groups.

The first team, Rivas’s team, focuses on fan development and activation includes things like partnerships, influencer collaborations, and fan engagement. The events and entertainment team, on the other hand, focuses on physical events such as game presentation, half time acts, in-game promotions, and cheerleading. The final team focuses on brand and advertising including marketing graphics, art, stadium reservations and social media.

Although teams are assigned to specific activities, Rivas notes that they aren’t confined to their own areas and often collaborate on each other’s tasks alongside their main responsibilities.

Rivas’s role specifically:

One of Rivas’s main focuses is on RavensWalk, a brand partnering opportunity “where all of our partners activate essentially three hours before kickoff.” In this event, brands partner with the Baltimore Ravens, providing fans with fun interactions, gift cards and giveaways. Another one of Rivas’s specific focuses is on the Ravens gaming league, as well as fan affinity events “from local parades, pride festivals, any other NFL initiatives that we need to be checking marks on and keeping in touch with.”

What’s it like in the offseason, or when the Ravens have a bad year?

Rivas explains that there is no offseason, because the marketing team is always budgeting and planning for the next season. Similarly, she outlines that the marketing is actually more important when the Ravens aren’t doing well because fan engagement becomes more about the marketing and game experience rather than just the success of the team. “Now we get the opportunity to get fans in the building who may have not come because they were whatever price,” Rivas explains. “You see, accessibility increases” and it’s important to still make the fans feel special. She says the goal is to make the fans feel “a part of something bigger, and that’s what everyone was looking for.”

Advice to those pursuing sports marketing:

Rivas advises members of AMA to have three nonnegotiables when finding a job. “If there’s a fire around you and you can smile around you while everything’s burning, that's your ideal,” she says. Everyone has different thoughts and opinions but “you have to stay true to yourself because once you burn out you have to have something you can hold onto or else it’s not going to be fun.”

Today’s Workshop

Rivas tasked the AMA to select one of the following assignments:

#1 - New Fan Experience on Ravenswalk:

You and your team have been given a budget of $30,000 dollars to create a new premium space on RavensWalk. This space will be a 30x30 ticketed area where fans can get an exclusive gameday experience while on RavensWalk.

Please outline the following:

Idea: Pitch of new premium space (Name, potential sponsor, general operations plan, etc.) 

Ticket Cost & Reasoning 

Main Features of the Area/Layout of the area 

Target Demographic 

Location

Budget

#2- Plan a New Event for the Ravens:

You have been tasked to plan a new event for existing and/or new Ravens fans. This event will be held yearly and look to attract a specific fan demographic or deepen an already existing one (women, gaming, youth etc.) Please outline the event, its purpose, and which fan group you will look to target.

Additionally, you can include a potential overall cost based on intended idea elements.

Idea: Pitch of new event (Name, potential sponsor, general operations plan, etc.)

Ticket Cost & Reasoning 

Main Features of the Event 

Target Demographic

Groups came up with the following ideas:

A collaboration with LEGO with a figure customizable to look like any fan
An exclusive fan experience called RavensNest with a tent, boat, and raffle to win a chance to walk the field
A poppi prize wheel located on Ravenswalk that gives fans the chance to win free merch and poppi
A virtual reality stadium ride experience called Ravens Flight that shows fans Baltimore “from the wings of a Raven” sponsored by Under Armor
An annual event called The Ravens Market showcasing local artists/performers and supporting local companies to give back to the community
A community-powered mixer with vendors and a player panel called Flock Friday
A social for the parents of athletes called Flock Together Parents sponsored by Under Armor