SportsTalk Media Group is excited to welcome back the 18th annual 68-Team Giveaway on Monday, March 18 at Buffalo Wild Wings in Moore. This event gives listeners an opportunity to have their name drawn for one of the teams competing in the postseason NCAA men’s basketball tournament, affectionately known as “March Madness.”
Depending on how an individual’s team performs in the tournament, great prizes from SportsTalk Media Group’s advertisers are awarded.
“It’s like a giant community office pool at Buffalo Wild Wings,” SportsTalk owner Randy Laffoon said. “People turn out to get a team, but they all want to know what they can win. It’s a win for the advertiser, and it’s a win for the listener.”
Buffalo Wild Wings is the perfect place to host the event thanks to its spacious complex. Show hosts from SportsTalk will be set up in the bar area atop a stage to announce teams beginning during the 1 p.m. hour of programming. Thanks to Buffalo Wild Wings’ setup, families with kids don’t have to be bashful about joining in on the fun and can nab a team, too.
“The speaker system goes throughout the whole building, so we can have a lot more people than just in the bar area,” Laffoon said.
SportsTalk program director TJ Perry has been a part of the event since its inception back in 2002.
“It’s just always been a special event,” Perry said. “Regardless of what the prizes have been over the years, the event has become more about the togetherness, about friends getting together.”
As the station’s biggest event of the year, he noted the event’s importance to SportsTalk’s listeners, as well.
“It’s the one time of the year that the loyal listeners to the station can all get together. It’s almost like a family reunion,” Perry said. “Many take vacation days to be there, because a lot of it starts in the middle of the day. They don’t want to miss anything. People meet one another and save tables.”
Longtime listener and caller Kurt Keeley echoed those sentiments. He is an event regular for many years, and he was lucky enough to win an iPad one year.
“It’s my favorite event, just the camaraderie of it,” Keeley said. “It’s always packed. I enjoy everybody getting together all in the same place for a couple hours, all of the on-air talent, hall of fame callers, people you may have never met face to face.”
Toby Rowland, host of the “T-Row in the Morning Show” and voice of the Sooners, said the event has really grown and he appreciates the opportunity to engage with listeners and callers.
“This is the one time where a significant percentage of listeners are all under the same roof at the same time,” Rowland said. “It’s grown and grown. I remember when it first started, we would give away multiple teams to the same people because we didn’t have enough people to draft all 68 teams.”
“It’s just fun,” Rowland said. “They’ve got wing sauce all over their face, and they probably have had a couple of their favorite beverages. Everybody’s excited about the tournament and the brackets being out, and so we all get together to figure out who is going to win this thing.” – BSM