Managing Sport Events

T. Christopher Greenwell, PhD, is a professor in the department of health and sport science at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He has taught event management since 2002 and has published several articles on unique aspects of the service environment at sporting events and how these can be used as an effective marketing tool.

Greenwell has direct experience as an event manager, having planned and coordinated the event management, promotions, and game operations for all athletic events in an NCAA Division I athletic program. Events under his management set attendance records in men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and women’s soccer. Greenwell was also an event volunteer for major events such as the Super Bowl, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, NASCAR races, Kentucky Derby week, and the World Equestrian Games.

Leigh Ann Danzey-Bussell, PhD, is an associate professor of sport management at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. She has taught event and facility management courses since 2006. In 2008, she was named Outstanding Professor of the Year by Sigma Phi Epsilon (Gamma Chapter) at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Danzey-Bussell has over 25 years of experience working in the sport industry in various capacities in NCAA Division I, II, and III programs and NAIA programs as well as in the nonprofit sector. She has served as the executive director of Team Clydesdale International, a nonprofit organization responsible for hosting national and world championships in various events. She also worked as the media relations coordinator for the United States Golf Tour, and she was a sport information director responsible for event management and promotion at the University of Alabama, University of South Alabama, and Northeast Louisiana University. Danzey-Bussell serves as the chair of the North American Society for Sport Management’s Teaching & Learning Fair. A former member of the finance committee for the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, she is currently a member of the Drake Group and the Nashville Sports Council and is a TN Promise mentor.

Danzey-Bussell has volunteered for local, regional, and national sporting events, including American Heart Association walks, Southeastern Conference gymnastics championships, two NCAA Final Four championships (Indianapolis and Atlanta), NCAA swimming and diving championships, the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament (rounds 1 and 2) in Nashville, the 2018 Music City Bowl, the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis, the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta, the 2019 Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament, and the 2019 NFL draft. She also served the University of Alabama as the alumni chapter president for the state of Indiana for 10 years.

David J. Shonk, PhD, is an associate professor in the Hart School of Hospitality, Sport, and Recreation Management at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he conducts research in sport event management and has taught a course in sport facility and event management. Shonk has worked as a meeting and event planner in both professional sports and the nonprofit sector since 2003. During that time, he was responsible for planning a range of conferences, tours, and events, including concerts, on-field promotions, and special events such as the Carolina League All-Star Game. He also worked as marketing director of the Salem professional baseball club and director of development at DECA Inc.

In 2011, Shonk founded the all-volunteer organization Harrisonburg-Rockingham Sports Commission, where he serves as the executive director. He also currently serves as associate editor for the Sport Management Education Journal.