LANGLEY, B.C. — For Trinity Western University alum, Jordan Eshpeter, the road with the B.C. Lions this year has been a tough and exciting year.
The 30-year-old has been working as the Manager of Ticket Sales overseeing a group of eight staff who have the collective goal of putting as many bums in seats as possible at each BC Lions home game. “Sometimes you pick your job and sometimes your job picks you, and I feel that the sports business has picked me,” says an enthusiastic Eshpeter.
Eshpeter caught the marketing and promotions bug when he was obtaining his bachelors in Business Administration at Trinity Western University. While enrolled in a heavy course load by day the “Type A” student also promoted concerts on and off campus. “I remember delivering pizza every week night after classes and then doing street marketing for House of Blues Concerts Canada (now Live Nation), posting handbills and handing out flyers after concerts. It was a mental and crazy pace,” recalls Eshpeter. But while he drove from the Langley University to downtown Vancouver the then student would listen to Vancouver’s Team 1040 radio getting all of the sports updates – ultimately igniting a passion for a future career in sports marketing.
While his busy extracurricular activities exposed him to career opportunities in both music promotion and sports, Eshpeter credits his education for preparing him for what the real business world was about. He says, “I’d say the classes in the BA program and my education at TWU really developed my critical thinking skills. University taught me how to think. And I’ve actually encountered the problems or examples that we tried to solve in my upper level business courses now in my every day job.”
Reflecting on his love for promoting both concerts and sports Eshpeter says, “For me they’ve really been about the same thing. If you’re promoting a sports event or a concert – the only thing different is what happens after the lights go down so-to-speak. Athletes and rock stars are the same type of people – same personality type who are excellent at something. I’ve always enjoyed the behind the scenes at a concert but getting into the sports business I’ve realized it’s the same thing – the businesses operate almost exactly same. They attract the same type of people: high energy, extremely motivated, people that love what they do, underpaid, overworked and passionate!”
While the Richmond native is still relatively new to the football franchise he does have something that is coveted by many CFL fans – a Grey Cup ring. Eshpeter followed the Lions to Winnipeg in 2006 where they defeated the Montreal Alouettes taking home the Cup. He recalls the win by saying, “I actually felt like I was a winner. It was a really weird feeling – I felt like I was part of something big, and I felt a real sense of pride. I helped generate revenue and I helped develop a fan base.”
With the season officially over Eshpeter and his team are already ramping up for next season. “We’re responsible for business development, targeting our fan base, businesses, and then packages that we advertise during our off-season,” he says. And 2010 will be an important year for the club as the BC Lions move to an outdoor football stadium and prepare to play host to the CFL’s Grey Cup in 2011.
“Really TWU taught me how to think and that’s what allowed me to be in a leadership position today like I am,” says Eshpeter. “The job that I have here at the Lions is fairly close to a job that is a really good fit for my vision, skill set, my background, my personality – I really feel like I’m in a good place.”
Trinity Western University, in Langley, B.C., is a provincially chartered, independent Christian liberal arts and sciences university, enrolling approximately 4000 students. TWU offers 42 undergraduate majors, ranging from biotechnology, education, theatre and music, to psychology, communications and biblical studies. TWU's 16 graduate degree programs include nursing, counseling psychology, business, theology, linguistics, and leadership, and interdisciplinary degrees in English, philosophy and history. TWU holds Canada Research Chairs in Dead Sea Scroll Studies, Developmental Genetics and Disease, and Interpretation, Religion & Culture.