Geico Event Q&A December 4 630 CST

[PrepGridiron]

Hi Everyone,

Rashid Ghazi will be joining us today Tuesday, December 4th at 630PM CST.

First, we'd like to welcome Mr. Ghazi to Prepgridiron.com.

Rashid Ghazi is a business leader and entrepreneur with over 29 years of experience working in sponsorship marketing, media, advertising, content production and event creation. After spending the first 12 years of his career between the Leo Burnett Company, Intersport Television and Halo Sports & Entertainment, Rashid helped create Paragon Marketing Group where he has been a Partner for the past 18 years.  Paragon which has offices in Skokie and Chicago, has grown into one of the leading independent sponsorship engagement agencies in the country with over 100 employees and regularly engages with professional and amateur sports teams, leagues and governing bodies on behalf of its clients.

In 2002 Rashid identified a new content opportunity in sports entertainment – nationally televised live high school sports programming. He first produced a high school basketball game featuring LeBron James for broadcast on ESPN2 which delivered a record rating for the network. The success of that telecast launched the live nationally televised high school event genre for ESPN. The network has since televised over 600 games delivered by Paragon featuring future NBA and NFL first round draft picks such as: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Tim Tebow, Julio Jones, AJ Green and Jameis Winston.  

Most recently Rashid has been at the forefront of creating post-season high school events featuring State Champions competing against one-another in football (GEICO Bowl Series), basketball (GEICO Basketball Nationals) and lacrosse (GEICO Lacrosse Nationals).  Other high school related events and programs Rashid has created include: Wendy’s All-Star Shootout NYC vs. Chicago All-Star Basketball Game  (1998-2004) which aired on ABC, Prep’s Chicago Hoops 65 Episode Reality Series which aired on Fox Sports Net in 2002 and FORDSON: Faith, Fasting, Football an award winning documentary which was distributed nationally via AMC Theatres and Netflix in 2009.  

Rashid went to high school at North Shore Country Day (IL) where he served as captain of the football team and Student Body President.  He graduated from the University of Redlands (CA) in 1989 where is also served as Student Body President.  He received his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University (IL) in 1999.   Rashid lives in Glenview, IL with his wife and four children. 

In collaboration with PrepGridiron Logistics, Rashid has been kind enough to give us some of his time and answer several questions posed by the members of this board. As we have done in the past, we will be asking Rashid the questions and he will be responding in the thread. We will be asking five questions and expect to open up the floor to members thereafter. Feel free to respond and ask questions, note, however, that it will be at Rashid's discretion whether he responds further. Lastly, we ask that you keep your responses civil and on topic. The thread will be heavily moderated so that we can encourage others to come on in the future. Thanks again, Rashid, and everyone enjoy. 

The first question will be asked at 430PM CST.

[PrepGridiron]

Good Evening All, 

Lots of news and conversation around the topics of tonight's Q&A, so without further ado, let's see if we can get started. 

 

[Nolebull813]

First question. 

Can you please set up as many Miami Northwestern/Southlake Carroll games as possible? 

The top teams will have enough top players to satisfy ESPN's obsession with highlighting stud players. 

Get some Florida teams to Texas!!!!

[PrepGridiron]

Hey All,

Bear with us. We are having some very unusual technical issues. 

I'm going to post the response and answer the questions from Rashid as we see if we can get him on.

[PrepGridiron]

First Question:

What’s the most common reason state organizations like CIF, UIL, or OHSAA won’t permit their state champs to participate?

[PrepGridiron]

1 minute ago, PrepGridiron said:

First Question:

What’s the most common reason state organizations like CIF, UIL, or OHSAA won’t permit their state champs to participate?

Response:

Some states feel their seasons and state championships are already long and they play enough games.  Or Postseason play doesn’t fit the philosophy of their state association.  In order for any NFHS State Association to allow their teams to play a by-law change is usually required which can be a complicated political process.  Regarding California we have had conversations with the CIF and they are open-minded about the possibility down the road, but it’s a complicated process to change or overrule the bylaw – the State Office cannot just change their no-post-season play rule.  According to our understanding they would 1) need a school to submit a rules change and then 2) have that rules change go through a vote of all 1,580 member schools.  Some schools who could qualify are hesitant to play a plus 1 game after the CIF Bowl Game which was only created a few years ago.  However, there are some CIF schools interested in playing and we intend to work with them to see if the by-laws can be changed in the next few years. In terms of Texas their State Championship usually ends the same weekend as GEICO Bowl Series.  In addition, we do not want to move the event to January which would be too late a time for most teams to play.

[PrepGridiron]

Question 2:

How do you decide the location for the games each year?

[PrepGridiron]

Just now, PrepGridiron said:

Question 2:

How do you decide the location for the games each year?

We start with the date and time periods we receive from ESPN and go from there.  Since we are starting one game at 10:30pm EST this year we knew we’d need to put at least one of the games out west.  Then we consider which teams/states can play and go from there.  Delivering an exceptional experience is a big priority for us.  We want to make the destination attractive to the teams and fanbases so the players and families are excited to travel there.  Weather is a big factor.  In the past we’ve partnered with the Dallas Cowboys and Grand Canyon University as venues.  This year we are trying to align with the high school stadiums of the participating teams to increase the crowd size and overall energy/atmosphere in the stadium.

[PrepGridiron]

1 minute ago, PrepGridiron said:

Response:

Some states feel their seasons and state championships are already long and they play enough games.  Or Postseason play doesn’t fit the philosophy of their state association.  In order for any NFHS State Association to allow their teams to play a by-law change is usually required which can be a complicated political process.  Regarding California we have had conversations with the CIF and they are open-minded about the possibility down the road, but it’s a complicated process to change or overrule the bylaw – the State Office cannot just change their no-post-season play rule.  According to our understanding they would 1) need a school to submit a rules change and then 2) have that rules change go through a vote of all 1,580 member schools.  Some schools who could qualify are hesitant to play a plus 1 game after the CIF Bowl Game which was only created a few years ago.  However, there are some CIF schools interested in playing and we intend to work with them to see if the by-laws can be changed in the next few years. In terms of Texas their State Championship usually ends the same weekend as GEICO Bowl Series.  In addition, we do not want to move the event to January which would be too late a time for most teams to play.

Never knew this about the CIF. This is great insight. Thanks

[PrepGridiron]

Question 3:

Are your invites solely based on the final USA Today rankings?

[PrepGridiron]

Just now, PrepGridiron said:

Question 3:

Are your invites solely based on the final USA Today rankings?

No, we use USA Today rankings as part of the formula but we look at other national reputable polls as well.  In addition, we’ve been televising games for 15 years so our Paragon staff is knowledgeable about teams by monitoring and attending hundreds of games in that timeframe.  And we’ve built a strong network of coaches, administrators and media members that we rely on for information as well. 

[PrepGridiron]

Question 4:

  Any chance you’ll ever increase the number of games at the event? Possibly from two to three if enough qualified teams are available?

[PrepGridiron]

Just now, PrepGridiron said:

Question 4:

  Any chance you’ll ever increase the number of games at the event? Possibly from two to three if enough qualified teams are available?

It’s possible, we’d like to grow the event to give more teams an opportunity to compete.  Expansion depends on more states buying in, budgets, team availability and securing the airtime on television.  And state champions aren’t always easy to predict.  Sometimes the team that wants to play does not win State while the teams that win State do NOT want to play  Other teams win state and feel like their season is already over – it’s a mindset we are slowly working on changing.  We’ve found it’s been an easier sell-in for coaches who know about it and talk about it with their players as a season-long goal. The other major factor is that not every team that wins the State Championship and is ranked is always available to play.  Factors such as travel party size (we fund travel parties to a certain size), dates, advance notice (for a surprise State Champion) vacation plans and finals schedule also play a part.  

[PrepGridiron]

Question 5: Are you constantly trying to expand the number of states that participate?

[PrepGridiron]

Just now, PrepGridiron said:

Question 5: Are you constantly trying to expand the number of states that participate?

Absolutely, we regularly have conversations with state associations about postseason play and the opportunities it provides for high schools.  This year we added Nevada and Hawaii to the list of states that allow their teams to play that already includes Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Utah, Washington and Maryland privates.  We frequently attend NFHS section meetings to present to state association directors and it has paid off by the increase in states that allow teams to play over the past few years. 

[PrepGridiron]

Guys, Rashid is having some technical issues, but is going to try and field questions through me. Feel free to ask questions and we will do our best to field them. 

[nsraiders22]

This Rashid from Paragon aka NSRaiders 22.  Go ahead and ask away. Will try my best to answer. Apprecaite the questions and interest. 

[Columbiafan]

I have a question 

 

You mentioned that not only are the games possible to increase but that more states will be involved

 

 

Any possibility that a state could field multiple state champs in a single year if the situation is set up for it to work out

 

 

Also could we eventually see it broken into regions once enough states agree to it,  (like southeastern region could have FL and GA teams and maybe another state or 2?)

[PrepGridiron]

Hi Guys, we've solved the technical issues, but as you can see Rashid is signed in as @nsraiders22. Fire away with the questions.

My first question: Are you involved in the GEICO Showcase ESPN does at the beginning of the year?

[Columbiafan]

Just now, Columbiafan said:

I have a question 

 

You mentioned that not only are the games possible to increase but that more states will be involved

 

 

Any possibility that a state could field multiple state champs in a single year if the situation is set up for it to work out

 

 

Also could we eventually see it broken into regions once enough states agree to it,  (like southeastern region could have FL and GA teams and maybe another state or 2?)

@nsraiders22

[Ararar]

Thanks do you ever envision a national championship tournament with your bowl games

[nsraiders22]

There are four that are under strong consideration for the last 2 spots: Colquitt, Lee County, STA and St. Frances.  We had positive conversations with Lakeland and St. Louis but they respectfully declined to play this year.  

[HawgGoneIt]

Just now, nsraiders22 said:

This Rashid from Paragon aka NSRaiders 22.  Go ahead and ask away. Will try my best to answer. Apprecaite the questions and interest. 

We're glad to have you on. 

What are some of the best things that you think teams will get from being a part of this series? 

 

[Columbiafan]

Just now, nsraiders22 said:

There are four that are under strong consideration for the last 2 spots: Colquitt, Lee County, STA and St. Frances.  We had positive conversations with Lakeland and St. Louis but they respectfully declined to play this year.  

So odds are if STA loses to Lakeland this week FL will not play in geico bowl this year? 

[World Citizen]

What are the chances for a non state champion to participate?