CAMPUS ENGAGEMENT

Athletic Internship Program

The Cleveland State Department of Athletics offered its revamped internship program for the 2022-23 academic year, providing students and interested individuals the opportunity to gain experience working in real-life situations as part of an NCAA Division I athletics program. The experience allowed interns to explore the sports industry with hands-on experience in a variety of departments such as marketing, communications, ticketing, digital content, and more.

In addition to hands-on experience and educational programming, interns were also provided with resume reviews, job search assistance and interview preparation.

Csu Sport Management Partnership

During the 2022-23 men’s and women’s basketball campaigns the Department of Athletics partnered with the new Sports and Entertainment Management Program in the Monte Ahuja School of Business to drive student attendance at selected games. Through the ‘United We Stand’ promotion, students in the Sports and Entertainment Management Program were able to gain practical learning experiences while helping to create an outstanding gameday environment.

Selected games featured raffles valued at over $15,000 for Cleveland State University students and student groups, including Cavalier and Guardians tickets, group lunch with CSU President Laura Bloomberg and the opportunity to make a full-court putt for $5,000.

Weston Ideation Lab Collaboration

In collaboration with the Cleveland State Department of Athletics, the Weston Ideation Lab launched the ‘Every Athlete is a Startup’ program, which provides student-athletes the opportunity to learn and apply marketing, personal branding and entrepreneurship skills to identify their unique value proposition, potential revenue streams and more in relation to Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities.

Through workshops, guest speakers, discussions, exercises, and research projects, student-athletes were able to understand the Business Model Canvas from ideation to business formation.

STUDENT-ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT

Throughout the 2022-23 academic year there was a large emphasis placed on studentathlete development, carrying out the Viking Promise to help student-athletes grow as people during their time at Cleveland State. A new initiative launched this year were Leadership Lunches, in which captains from CSU programs joined Athletic Director Scott Garrett and other administrators for informative and engaging conversations.

Student-athletes also had the opportunity to take part in a variety of other programming during the year including; coaches panels, industry nights and the inaugural Ready, Set, Pro conference.

Vespys

Cleveland State hosted the 11th annual Viking Excellence In Sports Performance Yearly Awards (VESPYS) in May of 2023, handing out 11 awards; Newcomer of theYear (Laken Voss, Volleyball), Bleed Green (Kayla Zdanowicz, Track & Field), Coach of the Year (Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Men’s Soccer), Heart of A Viking (Lacrosse), Best Sport Moment (Men’s Soccer), We Are CSU (Brittany Wampler, CSU Career Development and Exploration), Best Photo (Ellie Mckibbin, Women’s Swim & Dive), Male Athlete (Bojan Kolevski, Men’s Soccer), Female Athlete (Destiny Leo, Women’s Basketball), Mr.Viking (Raul Teichmann, Men’s Tennis), and Ms.Viking (Helena Novatsidis, Women’s Soccer).

STUDENT-ATHLETE ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Cleveland State Student-Athlete Advisory Council continued to be one of the nation’s best during 2022-23, with over 100 student-athletes in attendance at every meeting, including representation from all 19 programs.

Under the guidance of second-year president Helena Novatsidis (women’s soccer) and Faculty Athletics Representative Dr. Rob Kleidman, CSU SAAC served as a voice for the 365+ student-athletes, while also providing programming and support throughout the academic year. Highlights included women’s soccer being crowned champions at the Fall Follies game night, record-breaking attendance at designated Bleed Green contests, and most importantly department-wide buy-in for a variety of community service projects.

1,301 Largest

Crowd at Men’s Soccer

Since 2010

245K Total Revenue From Ticket Sales

3,300 Postseason Event Attendance

TICKETING & FAN ENGAGEMENT

Cleveland State fans once again proved to be some of the best during the 2022-23 academic year, with more than 44,000 supporters in attendance at home contests throughout the year. Behind season ticket accounts for men’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and lacrosse, in addition to single-event ticket opportunities in men’s soccer, swimming & diving and women’s basketball, ticket revenue for the year eclipsed $245,000. For the fifth straight year, men’s basketball season ticket revenue increased, in addition to growth in mini plan and group ticket sales, resulting in 32,000+ fans at the Wolstein Center during 2022-23.

Cleveland State On Espn

Cleveland State fans around the world were able to watch the Vikings compete last year, as 275,000+ viewed Cleveland State Athletics events, including a handful of contests on national TV. Twelve different Cleveland State teams appeared on the ESPN family of networks throughout the year, including multiple championship performances.

In addition, Cleveland State men’s basketball appeared on regional television, with two contests broadcast live from the Wolstein Center on Bally Sports Ohio. The Vikings also made their Twitch debut, with all esports contests during the inaugural season broadcast live on the platform.