We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Prince Uche. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Prince below.
Prince, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s one of the most important lessons you learned in school?
Often in the sports industry, we are told “it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know”. This is something I was told in my first sports management undergrad class, so it became what I believed. I took this class during the pandemic so, in order to learn more about the sports industry, I did two things. I started Palace Sports, and I just started connecting with as many sports professionals as I could on LinkedIn, thoroughly believing that if I could just have these connections, I could further my standing in the sports industry with “who I knew.” And I established some substantial connections and had conversations with people like the President of Business Operations for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the President of the Greensboro Swarm. However, after those conversations had ended, that tended to be it; they just became another connection listed on LinkedIn. It wasn’t until my third and last year of undergrad, when we were allowed back on campus after the covid period, that I had a ticket sales professor who shifted my perspective on what these industry connections meant. He told our class, “it did not matter who we knew if they weren’t willing to go the extra mile to support us. It is about the quality of the connections that we make that determine how far we can make it into the industry.” It was thanks to this professor that I had the chance to attend the NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland and while I did meet a lot of people at this event, with the lesson from that professor in mind, I was able to gain 2 invaluable mentors that consistently assist me to this day whenever something comes up. So while it might be nice to say “hey, I am connected to this General Manager or Team Owner”, it’s even better to be able to say that you have a few people in the industry that will be there for you no matter what.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Ogbonna Uche but I tend to go by my nickname Prince. I originally started Palace Sports as a way for me to learn more about what was happening in the sports industry while being able to share that knowledge with other people. So the first aspect of what we do is sharing news, highlights, and stories on social media. We know that the way my and younger generations consume information is changing so we make sure to cater to them. The other aspect is the Palace Sports Agency which works with eligible high school, college, and even some professional athletes in securing endorsement deals by reaching out to companies and building their individual brands. What really sets us apart is that we do not just focus on traditional American men’s sports. We want to make sure that we highlight all athletes that deserve it regardless of age, gender, race, disability, etc. Another thing is the way we interact with our fans or as we call them our “Royal Fam”. I want our followers to know that this would not be possible without them so I make sure to do different things to interact with them as often as I can. I am most proud of the growth Palace Sports has seen since I started it in 2021 and I am excited to see where we will go next.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I believe that it is our willingness to cover women’s sports as well as men’s that has developed our reputation. The fact that we covered the FIBA U19 girl’s team really helped out as most of the coverage was focused on just the guys. Then our agency’s breakdown on up-and-coming athletes of both genders has led to some high-profile coaches following us that wouldn’t have if we just focused on men’s sports. We want to be able to showcase stories to our followers that the traditional ESPN or Overtime doesn’t.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I’d say to make sure that you’re doing as much for your team as they are doing for you. Right now Palace Sports is not at a place where anyone is getting paid, but I want to make sure that everyone who is on this team is getting something valuable out of being with us. We make sure that whatever aspect of the sports industry someone is interested in, they can get experience doing it with us in order to build up their resume/portfolio. All of us are still in college (I finish grad school summer of 2023) and are still trying to make our entrance into the sports industry, and I believe that the work we are doing with Palace Sports will streamline their future success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thepalacesports.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepalacesports/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ogbonnauche/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThePalaceSports
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PalaceSports
- Other: Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/palacesports