Public Relations (PR) Director of the Year 2006

Doug SCOPEL Nashville Sounds Pacific Coast League Triple-A (AAA) Minor League Baseball

Who is the best PR or media relations director out of the current list of 737 professional minor league and independent sports teams which we cover? Without question, it has to be Doug Scopel, of the Pacific Coast League's Nashville Sounds.

Sure, he writes a wicked press release, and they come in with Swiss timing. He handles media requests with both ease and grace.

The thing that makes Scopel stand out, though, is that he is a big-picture guy who is helping reshape minor league sports news for the better.

Doug does all of the extras for his club. He's been putting together historic data on past players to connect the modern fan to the history of Nashville baseball.

He has been a vocal advocate for the league building better connectivity between PCL clubs, and even connections with the Triple-A International League. He sees, as we do here at the editorial staff of MLN, the change from teams operating in isolation in their local markets to a coordinated system where sharing information on players, home and away, generates more fan interest and, ultimately, sells more tickets.

In a job description of the sports business where a lot of people pass through from this career to that, Doug Scopel is truly blessed by being one of those rare people who is exceptional at what he does, enjoys his job, and wants to leave his mark on the front office side of the game.

The results of his handiwork may be subtle, but how many minor league clubs have enough brand recognition that they're featured at the airport as a centerpiece of the sports bar? Or that you can ask pretty much anyone on the street in town about the Sounds and get a favorable, and passionate response. Sure, other people may do some of the deals that get these things to happen, but the positive flow that they get from the community starts at the desk of Doug Scopel.

It is for this exceptional service to the media relations of Minor League Baseball, and for his efforts to keep Sounds Baseball sounding off loudly in the community and the league, that we honor him with the 2006 MLN Ralphie Award for Best PR Director.

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