Behind the Jerseys with Smokies Baseball

Behind the Jerseys with Smokies Baseball Show Notes: In this episode of More Living with Jim Brogan, host Jim Brogan interviews Amanda Rich, Director of Marketing for the Knoxville Smokies, discussing the team's second season back downtown at Covenant Health Park. Amanda highlights fan experiences, theme nights, family activities, and community partnerships. Jim also covers key financial topics, including estate planning, the importance of coordinating beneficiary designations with your overall plan, and portfolio diversification, particularly regarding the "Magnificent Seven" mega-cap tech stocks and their outsized influence on S\&P 500 index performance. Full show transcript: Jim Brogan 00:00:02 You're tuned into more Living with Jim Brogan, broadcast live from the Brogan Financial studios at Newstalk 98 seven, where old fashioned values, expert knowledge and genuine understanding come together to give you the retirement straight talk you deserve. Jim's a former National Advisor of the year recipient and a financial educator, and he's here today to talk about how you can live out the best years of your life. Jim and the Brogan financial team have been helping retirees and retirees across the southeast for over 20 years in their pursuit of financial independence. You can reach them during the week at 865862 6800. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn because More living with Jim Brogan starts now. Speaker 2 00:00:46 Hello, East Tennessee, and welcome to More Living with Jim Brogan, where it's all about living the best years of your life. Your way is you're listening to Newstalk 98 seven Waukee. As spring brings a new energy to Knoxville, as it does every year. One of the city's most exciting traditions continues to reestablish itself in the heart of downtown, and it is Knoxville Smokies baseball. Speaker 2 00:01:12 With the Knoxville Smokies back on the field, fans are experiencing Southern League action in a whole new way right here at home. And today we're joined by Amanda Rich. Amanda is director of marketing, social media and community relations for the Knoxville Smokies. We'll talk about the team's return to downtown Knoxville, how the Smokies are building connections throughout the community, and what fans can expect as the season gets underway. We'll also explore the role sports play in bringing people together, and why the Smokies continue to be such an important part of East Tennessee. Good morning Amanda. Welcome to More Living. Amanda Rich 00:01:51 Good morning. Thanks for having me. Speaker 2 00:01:53 Absolutely. It's great to have you. talk to us about. Give us a snapshot for listeners who who may be new to the Smokies of what the Smokies are today compared to who they were. Amanda Rich 00:02:09 Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're hoping now that we're in the heart of downtown Knoxville with our return last season hitting season two. You know, we're hoping to be that vessel in the community. Amanda Rich 00:02:19 having the the Knoxville Lions recognize that we are back here, and we hope to be a hub to just bring everybody together, whether it's to enjoy baseball one Knox, the soccer team, or any other special event that we're holding at the stadium this summer. Speaker 2 00:02:34 Absolutely. Now talk a little bit about your role, Amanda, how did you come to the Knoxville Smokies and describe your role as Director of marketing, social Media and community relations? Amanda Rich 00:02:47 Yeah, I'm a little bit newer to the team. Still, I come from a background in minor league baseball, so I've been here for almost three months now with the Smokies. But my role is really here to help kind of build those relationships within the community. We're heavily focused on the old city being right next door to us, building those relationships with those business owners and those partners, getting exposure for them, driving business for them, but also bringing more businesses downtown. We're filling the storefronts below the stadium and hoping to create, you know, this area of buzz on game day. Amanda Rich 00:03:23 We've been activating the plaza for the first time this year with games and activities, live music, giveaways, with the idea that we really want to bring the community out for this event. Whether you have a ticket or not, you can be part of the activities. And then once gates open, go inside and enjoy a great baseball game. Speaker 2 00:03:42 And it can be a great family activity. And we're going to get into all that today. But, but first you said you've been in minor league baseball. So tell us a little bit about your journey and and what drew you personally to working with the Smokies organization and moving to Knoxville. Amanda Rich 00:03:58 Yeah, absolutely. I have a huge passion for sports, specifically with baseball and minor league baseball. I love the fun and the community driven experience that we really do have. so I spent five years with the Lansing Lugnuts. they were the High-A affiliate of the Athletics. and as a driven young individual in sports, I wanted to continue to grow and continue to develop my skills. Speaker 2 00:04:23 So that was that. Lansing, Michigan. Amanda Rich 00:04:26 Yes. Yes. Lansing, Michigan. Awesome. And so when this go ahead. Speaker 2 00:04:33 No no no. Go ahead. Amanda Rich 00:04:35 So just wanting to continue to develop, you know, the the Knoxville Smokies are the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. So a higher level of ball, a closer affiliate, at least closer to home for maybe in Chicago, for Michigan. and so it was really appealing. And, you know, Randy Boyd and the Boyd Sports Group. They really have such a great reputation and they're such strong, community driven individuals that my passion just seems to align here perfectly. And the three months I've been here, Knoxville has been wonderful. Speaker 2 00:05:08 Yeah, Knoxville is a great place. It caught my attention when you said Lansing, because my mother was actually born in Lansing, Michigan. Oh, wow. And, she and she and her parents and, she was the oldest of three kids. They moved down to East Tennessee when she was, I think around 6 or 7. Speaker 2 00:05:26 But, yeah, she was born in Lansing. Do you like being in the South? Amanda Rich 00:05:30 I do, I mean, the weather is so much better. So that alone I can't complain about that. But, it's been great. The southern hospitality is no joke down here, and everybody's been so welcoming. It's been wonderful. Speaker 2 00:05:46 So last year was the first year of the Smokies returning to downtown Knoxville. from your vantage point with everything you've learned in the last three months, what has it meant for the Smokies to return to downtown Knoxville after being away for so long? Amanda Rich 00:06:02 Yeah, it means everything to us. You know, we feel like we've been now moved to downtown, to the center of all the action where that main hub you pass us, you know, pretty much any direction you come from. So it means a lot to us to kind of be ingrained within the Knoxville community again. And, you know, we've got we've got a long way to go. We're only in year two. So we've got big plans and hopefully, you know, continue to help develop downtown and and create this absolute just entertainment spot where on game day, if you're not there, you're totally missing out. Speaker 2 00:06:37 So it is the second year. how successful would you say was the first year in terms of the move, the Knoxville embracing the Smokies? Was the organization pleased with attendance? Just talk us about that transition and how the year went. Amanda Rich 00:06:57 Yeah, overall the transition went pretty well for us. We were really happy with how the inaugural season went. a lot of expectations I say were exceeded. But, you know, there was a lot of issues that also arose from the inaugural season. And something like parking. Parking was a major issue last year, and we worked throughout the season last year to develop parking, make it better, make it easier for our fans. And parking has only gotten better and easier for this year. So, continuing to develop the things that we realized, you know, didn't go as smooth last year, that's our main focus for this year with the idea that hopefully that fan experience is a little bit smoother and an easier process, therefore making the the games a little bit more enjoyable for our fans that are coming to see us. Speaker 2 00:07:42 A lot of people worry about parking. Can you just talk to us a little bit about the plan for that? What can people expect when they attend to tend to smoke his game. Amanda Rich 00:07:52 Yeah, we have about 9000 parking spots available that are within walking distance or shuttle distance of the stadium. We'll have three lots that are available for purchase. That's going to be the white, blue and orange. These are located on our website as well as visit Knoxville's website. If you look up parking. Plus we'll have the Langley Garage and Summit Hill Garage, where there will be shuttles running to and from the stadium there. So plenty of parking. We have more options in roughly about 9000 spots available for game days. Speaker 2 00:08:22 Now those paid spots are those are those game by game. Can they be purchased game by game or are they only season tickets for parking? Amanda Rich 00:08:31 Yes, they are actually game by game. I think that's probably our biggest difference for this year. Unfortunately, you are no longer able to buy that season pass parking, but they are available game by game. Speaker 2 00:08:45 Yeah, I'll view that as a positive thing for people that want to try it out. They know if they're a little bit worried about the parking, you know, or they have some issues. Don't want to walk a long distance. They can buy for just that game. That seems like a good thing to me. from your perspective, how have fans in our community responded since the move back to the city center? Amanda Rich 00:09:06 Yeah, we've had a pretty overwhelming response. You know, on social media. We have a ton of support in the local community. we've worked with UT and being on campus in the athletic department over there. So we feel like we've got a lot of great support. We've got definitely some locals that we've got to convince, our value and what we're bringing to the downtown area. But overall, we feel supported. We feel like the locals enjoy us being here, and we're hoping to just continue to build on that. Speaker 2 00:09:36 It seems like with the University of Tennessee, and it's great to hear that there's a cooperative spirit there. Speaker 2 00:09:43 certainly with the with the you know, Tennessee sports is so big in the area, and with the recent success of Tennessee baseball, certainly the community has seemed to really embrace baseball. Do you feel like there's been a carryover effect between the two organizations? Amanda Rich 00:10:03 Yes, absolutely. We were just talking about this internally a couple of days ago, too, and I think that also emphasizes the importance of the Knoxville Smokies being in Knoxville, because you do have this great collegiate entity in this college sport that different avenues. Right? People are all about the basketball, the football, the baseball. And, for us to be, you know, a professional level, even though we are still a minor league, but that professional level sport in Knoxville. I think, you know, we definitely carry off the backpack from University of Tennessee and those, those sports driven fans and those baseball passionate fans. we're definitely kind of seeing them come to, to at least check us out and see what we're all about. Speaker 2 00:10:45 Absolutely. Amanda, from your perspective. Speaker 2 00:10:49 What feels different about Smokies baseball now? From what? From your understanding of the organization compared to previous seasons? Amanda Rich 00:10:58 Yeah, I think it's really just this, this coming together. You know, we just rebranded and created a new story for this season. That's Smokey's country and hashtag Smokey's country. So we're trying to make it feel like it is. Yes, a baseball team, but something that you can be part of. And everybody knows that they can be part of Smokey's country. And when you come down to that stadium and you're on Jackson Ave or Stadium Way, you're in Smokey's country, and that's kind of Smokey's territory. So really just trying to create ourselves as an identity and give our locals and fans something to relate to that they feel like they're part of. Speaker 2 00:11:37 We're visiting with Amanda Rich. He is director of marketing, social media and community relations for the Knoxville Smokies as the Smokies get reestablished. This is your number two in downtown Knoxville. It's so great to have them back in town. When we come back, I want to talk about the game day experience. Speaker 2 00:11:52 What can you expect at the park for, for people who have been and then also especially for those of you that have not been to the park, what can you expect and what type of a family experience is it? So stay with us as we visit with Amanda Rich, you're listening to More Living with Jim Brogan right here on Newstalk 98 seven Waukee. Jim Brogan 00:12:14 Welcome back to Newstalk 98. Seven's Brogan Financial Studios or Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan. Speaker 2 00:12:29 Welcome back to More Living right here on Newstalk 98.7. Wookey I'm your host, Jim Brogan. We're visiting with Amanda Rich this morning. we're talking about Knoxville Smokies baseball. Great to have them back in the city. This is year number two. Being back the way they've invested in the downtown area is pretty remarkable. let's talk Amanda about Covenant Health Park in the game day experience. How does talk how about how Covenant Health Park, how playing there helped shape the experience for fans? Amanda Rich 00:13:06 New and exciting things. Amanda Rich 00:13:08 Just from food and beverage to different corners and things you can go to from the fast pitch machine. So it really elevates the experience. You could go into the ballpark for a game, not watch a single minute of baseball, and have an absolute blast from everything else that's going around on the concourse and out front. Speaker 2 00:13:29 So talk about when people come in. I mean, talk a little bit about some of the things people notice when they walk into the ballpark, like some things that might surprise some people or just what you would notice. Amanda Rich 00:13:42 Yeah, absolutely. Our main entrance with our big staircase definitely gives you a major league experience when you enter the ballpark. You feel like it's not a minor league ballpark. So I think walking in just the overall energy can kind of surprise fans, because it really does feel like we're a major league ballpark. But then for our theme nights and our promotions, you know, we go all out. So as soon as you enter those gates, if it's Margaritaville night, we have totally taken over the ballpark from head to toe. Amanda Rich 00:14:13 Decorations, food and beverage, the activities, the games. So it's really this overall encompassing night of entertainment and fun based off of our theme nights where when you enter, maybe it doesn't look like a ballpark so much because we have so much going on and so much entertainment and decoration to kind of fit those themes. it's a it's a full ballpark takeover. Speaker 2 00:14:36 So really the atmosphere, there's a lot of time put into that. Thematically, it sounds like. Amanda Rich 00:14:42 Yes, absolutely. We spend postgame there late nights to get ready for the next day, and we're there early to to finish getting ready. But we're really committed to going all out for these team nights and really just bringing that atmosphere. Speaker 2 00:14:56 I know that, you know, baseball is different than basketball and football. And, you know, I was talking with my son in law who is, just an avid sports fan, and he just moved here after marrying my daughter. And, have we, as we've been at we were at a Tennessee baseball game the other day, and it just baseball has a feel to it. Speaker 2 00:15:19 It's it's very family oriented. Do you do a lot of things for young kids? Do you see a lot of things with grandparents and grandkids or big families? Talk about how the family experience is affected at Smokies Ballpark. Amanda Rich 00:15:35 Yes, absolutely. I mean, the families are, you know, our main target audience that we look for as we do tailor a lot of things around. You know, that family friendly kind of kid entertainment. So, our Plaza activities. You know, we've got face painting and caricatures and all those things that you want to do with your family and that the kids want to do. And then when you enter the ballpark, too, we continue those things going on. So we have, our Cub club that is dedicated to our future smokies, and it's free this year, so register your kid for free. You get tickets, you get freebies, you're able to come to a handful of games, and then those games are totally designed around the Cub Club and having those kids in the ballpark. Amanda Rich 00:16:17 So getting those kids on the field pregame and on those in-between inning games and then post-game, every Cub Club game, the kids get to run the bases. So it's all about the kids and making that Cub Club free. This year, we're hoping that that's more accessible for more people and more families downtown. Speaker 2 00:16:35 Now the Smokies introduced the NOx Vegas alternate identity. What inspired that? Amanda Rich 00:16:43 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:16:44 And what does that look like? Amanda Rich 00:16:47 We just debuted the uniforms for the first time this last Thursday, so it was really exciting. And we really, really turned the ballpark into this kind of, high rollers, high stakes kind of vibe. So it's been a ton of fun unveiling this and debuting the identity for for Knoxville. The idea really came from, you know, we were inspired by the nightlife and excitement that Knoxville has and specifically, you know, the Cumberland Avenue stories. So wanting to kind of pay homage to the nightlife and excitement that we have. people have heard of Las Vegas and Knox Vegas. So we really thought that's something that, fans and locals could relate to and, incorporating things like the sun sphere and these iconic Knoxville things into then this Las Vegas themed that's also iconic with the sphere and everything. Amanda Rich 00:17:42 It's been a lot of fun creating the identity but then unveiling it. The merchandise has been flying off the shelves. We had an absolute blast on Thursday and we're excited for more. Thursdays to come is we'll have special themes on some of those not Vegas nights. So Elvis Night is coming up in June, and we're going to have a full Elvis takeover and more giveaways and lots of exciting things to come. Speaker 2 00:18:03 No telling what we'll see that that day on in June. what insights or feedback have you gained from the fans about alternate identities and brand driven experiences overall? Because it certainly seems like that's a huge part of what y'all are doing, not just with the the, the alternate identity, but the brand driven experiences. It sounds like that's just a central part of what you do. Amanda Rich 00:18:25 Yes, and it's definitely a pivotal thing within minor league baseball, creating these food identities. But all the idea behind the the alternate identities is that, you know, hyper localism where where the fans are relating. We want it to be. Amanda Rich 00:18:42 Yes, it's Smokies baseball, but it's Smokies baseball for me, because whether it's the the NOK Vegas identity that you relate to or if it's the Buzz Lightyear One because you're family based and you know your kids love Toy Story. We want to make the Smokies feel like it's made for everyone, and we want everyone to feel like that they have a place or a piece that is for them. So it's so important to really think about these identities intentionally, and what the meaning behind them is and how that ties into the community, because we want the community to feel related to these identities. And that way they wear them and promote them and share them out there. Speaker 2 00:19:24 You know, it's great to create those kinds of things. One of the things I think about with minor league baseball, you know, to, you know, of course, it's a Double-A franchise for the Cubs. I mean, players are passing through often, right? I mean, they're they're trying they're moving up. Some are moving down. Speaker 2 00:19:43 They're trying to move up to the big leagues. it creates a little bit of a different dynamic, I think, because, you know, you don't have a group of players that you necessarily are going to follow for the entire year. How does is that a big part of why the branding? Because people, you know, it's not like following your favorite athlete at a major league team or a college team and you follow them through the whole year. Is that accurate? Amanda Rich 00:20:08 Yeah. Yeah, definitely. You know, we say in minor league baseball that it's not our baseball that sells the tickets. And sure, we might have an uptick if a big prospect or somebody is rehabbing for us, but it's really that atmosphere and experience that sells our tickets because our team is kind of ever changing and we we don't know who our roster is going to be kind of on that day to day. So we definitely, you know, put a focus on the experience versus the baseball to to sell those tickets. And then we do get lucky. Amanda Rich 00:20:39 And we have had, you know, Matt Shaw and Pete Armstrong who have come through. And we just had sort of Suzuki here for a few days rehabbing. So we get lucky and we get these guys that will definitely pop and sell some tickets for us, but we don't know how long they'll be here. And sometimes it's short and they develop and they're out of here. So, you know, we started this season with over 50% of a new roster. So it is kind of ever changing. And that is kind of why we do focus on the entertainment and atmosphere of each game. Speaker 2 00:21:10 Yeah. And the themes and the brand identity and all those things. Now in your title there. Amanda, director of Community Relations is part of that. So that's got to be a huge part of your work. Why is that so important to the Knoxville Smokies? Amanda Rich 00:21:24 Yeah, it's super important for us to just be involved and get out in front of the community. Right. So myself and mascots and different street team with giveaways and freebies. Amanda Rich 00:21:37 we'll go out to just various events throughout, downtown Knoxville. We've done some stuff with the Girl Scouts. We've done some five KS in marathons at the ballpark. but it's important to us to just be involved. Get out there. have people in the community see us out at other events outside of the ballpark, and just recognize that we are a staple here, and we're here to support and be part of this community. So it's just really important for us to be out there and be visible and just engage with fans. outside of baseball, in the stadium and certainly throughout the off season when we're not playing baseball, we don't want fans to forget about us. So those community events are super important for just keeping us top of mind and and freshen people's brains while while we're in the off season. Speaker 2 00:22:25 Are there any community initiatives or partnerships that you're especially proud of. Amanda Rich 00:22:32 Gosh, this is this is right up my alley. Here. So I. Speaker 4 00:22:35 Would say, you know, I'm. Amanda Rich 00:22:38 Proud of all of them. Amanda Rich 00:22:39 A lot of our, kind of cancer initiatives, those hit home for me is I'm really proud of them. We've got a new partnership we're developing with, Survivor Fitness, which is an amazing program for, kind of post-treatment, services and to get feeling better. so that's something that we're really excited to kind of launch and be a part of this year. a lot of our, our school initiatives with the, the reading and pushing attendance is super fun. And we've gone into a handful of schools and connected with the students and have read to them and, and different things like that. So those are always great. and then of course, our bigger partners that we just have so much fun with, like Zoo Knoxville and Dick's House of sports, the different community events that we've been able to be a part of through them have just been so much fun. So I'm really just proud of everything and I love being out involved in the community. That's where my passion is. so we're hoping to just keep adding to that calendar, keep filling our community calendar, and just be present at everything and anything we can. Speaker 2 00:23:45 That's Amanda Rich, she's with the Knoxville Smokie. She's the director of marketing, social media, and community relations. We're going to get to our second break. When we come back, we'll talk more about the fan family and an experience there and also the accessibility. We'll also have our dollars and cents segment. What I consider to be the the the most overlooked area in estate planning today. So stay with us. This is more living here on Newstalk 98 seven Waukee. Jim Brogan 00:24:16 Welcome back to Newstalk 98. Seven's Brogan Financial Studios or Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan. Speaker 2 00:24:31 Thanks for tuning in this week. This is Moore living with Jim Brogan, where it's all about living the best years of your life your way. We're here every week. Newstalk 98 seven Waukee. We're with you. 9 to 10 a.m. and again from 3 to 4 p.m.. You can also podcast us. we'll have today shows up usually around Tuesday afternoon, but all of our podcasts are on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Speaker 2 00:24:55 You can also stream all our shows on our website. If you go to Brogan financial.com and click on radio. we're visiting with Amanda Rich with the Knoxville Smokies. It's so great to have them back in downtown Knoxville has really continued in the in the theme of revitalizing Knoxville. I mean, it I guess we're well beyond being revitalized now. We're thriving, growing, creating such great experiences. before we get back to Amanda, however, it is time for dollars and cents. Speaker 5 00:25:24 Want to be sure you are getting the most out of your retirement. For all the years of your retirement. That's the primary goal of Moore living with Jim Brogan and our dollars and Cents segment, where we provide you with an important financial tip that will help positively impact the quality of your life and retirement. And now, here's Jim with this week's dollars and cents tip. Speaker 2 00:25:49 Do you need an estate plan? And today I want to talk about what I consider far and away the most overlooked area in estate planning. But let's start with that question. Speaker 2 00:26:02 Do you need an estate plan? You know, a lot of times, you know, when people hear about estate planning, they think for people with millions and millions of dollars of assets and they think about the estate tax. And the reality is, the estate tax doesn't affect a lot of people anymore because the exemption now is $15 million per spouse in 2026. So a married couple can get a $30 million exemption on any estate tax. And certainly there are, you know, people listening, people in the community that have more than that. But it doesn't affect a lot of people in our community. And so people, you know, often ask, do I really need an estate plan? If you if you own something and you love somebody, you need an estate plan and estate plans take care of you while you're alive. We have our power of attorney documents. And those are for people to make your medical decisions when you cannot. It's for people to pay your bills and administer your affairs when you cannot. Speaker 2 00:27:07 Let those take care of you while you're alive. But then there's what I consider the most overlooked area in estate planning today, and that is how you handle your retirement accounts and understanding beneficiary Nations. You know, when you open up an IRA or a 401, or you go to work at a new employer and you, you know, you know, you sign new paperwork, it asks us to name our beneficiaries. And we typically don't even think about it. We put down our spouse. If we're married, we may put our kids as contingent beneficiaries if we have children, but we don't really give it much of a thought. It's very important in estate planning to realize that the beneficiary designation governs the retirement account asset. Anytime you name a beneficiary, it is the document that will govern who gets what, and it is not the will. And when you name a beneficiary, the will has no legal authority if you have a living beneficiary. And that can create some complications. one of the biggest complications, is the tax ramifications. Speaker 2 00:28:23 you know, people think I don't have a taxable estate. I don't have over $15 million. Well, just about everybody I talk to that comes to my classes and comes and sees me in my office, has money in a retirement account, and and I'm talking about traditional retirement accounts, not a Roth. Well, that money you've never paid the income tax on most, if not all of that money. And if you don't pay the income tax, who's going to pay the income tax? It's going to be your heirs. There's no exemption for this. The estate tax is a completely different item. The income tax that's due on your retirement accounts is going to have to be paid by somebody. And any distributions after the date of death are taxed to the beneficiary. And so it's important to understand that it's also important to understand, you know when we write a will we have a lot of instructions in that we'll we cover a lot of scenarios. What if people don't die in the right order? What if I have a minor child or grandchild that ends up inheriting some assets? What's going to happen to those? You know you cannot. Speaker 2 00:29:34 If you're 13 years old, you cannot inherit that IRA in your name. I mean, it is in your name, but you can't take possession of it. It's gotta be managed for you. and as a court, going to get involved as a judge, going to appoint somebody. There's just all kinds of things that come up because in a beneficiary designation, you've got a small box on a form that you didn't even give a second thought to. whereas with the will you have all this legal language. The problem is it doesn't mean anything if you have a living beneficiary. So coordinating your beneficiary designations along with your will. And if you have a living trust in any trust documents, you have to me is the most overlooked area in estate planning. attorneys, as a rule, they'll do your legal documents. They'll probably give you guidance of how you need to change your beneficiary designations. Many of the attorneys that we work with will actually do your beneficiary designation for you. but many will just give instruction. Speaker 2 00:30:37 And I've met people over the years, many, many people in my office, they come in and their attorney might have given them instruction on what to do, but they didn't execute it. They didn't follow through, maybe didn't really understand what they were supposed to do to make sure that the beneficiary designation coordinates appropriately with their other estate planning documents. So coordinating the beneficiary designations with your legal documents and planning for the potential income tax ramifications on the retirement accounts, in my view, is easily the most overlooked area in estate planning today. Speaker 5 00:31:14 That's our dollars and cents segment for this week. You can find this week's Dollars and Cents segment and others by visiting Brogan Financial. Speaker 2 00:31:26 Check us out online Brogan financial.com. We've got just an abundance of resources. You can click on the resource tab. you can download reports that we've written white papers, guides on things like estate planning. We have a beneficiary checklist on our website that you can download when you see our beneficiary checklist. I think that it'll really raise your eyebrows as to what all is involved in naming beneficiaries, as opposed to just writing a name down on a form. Speaker 2 00:31:57 you can also follow us. We put out a bi weekly newsletter, that can keep you up to date of any content we're producing, on the radio or with special guides, blogs. You can sign up for our blogs. So do check us out on Brogan financial.com. And we want to equip you to make informed and prudent decisions that can impact the quality of your life. Today we're visiting with Amanda Rich and the Knoxville Smokies. It's your number two back in downtown Knoxville. really just a tremendous season one and can such a great impact on the community. let's talk about the the fan experience. How do you make Smokies games enjoyable for families and casual fans and non baseball fans? Amanda Rich 00:32:46 It's a good question. It's definitely, you know, the entertainment. It's the food, the beverage. all the stuff outside of baseball. So we've been adding new food and beverage items to have a returning fans have new items to come check out and try out, but also just keep kind of the classic ballparks, like the burgers and dogs kind of ever changing and fresh. Amanda Rich 00:33:09 so the food and beverage side of things can certainly stay exciting. and then all that entertainment and stuff that we talked about, whether it's a deal on food and beverage for a night or it's an all you can eat ticket that's a little bit cheaper so that you can bring the family in and everybody can eat and enjoy. we just have a lot of different, opportunities and ticket packages offered that really can reach something special out to everyone. Speaker 2 00:33:35 So can you talk a little bit about the food? I mean, we think about burgers and hot dogs, talk about some of the things people not may not be aware. Do you have smokers going, you know, talk. Tell me about the different options. Amanda Rich 00:33:47 Yeah, absolutely. We definitely have smokers go in and we've got a whole barbecue corner. We've got a whole corner dedicated to chicken and fried chicken. So you can try all sorts of grilled and fried chicken sandwiches, wings, things like that. new items for this year. We have a couple of hot dogs, but, we loaded them up to kind of give them some extra little pizzazz, if you will. Amanda Rich 00:34:10 So, there's 3 or 4 different loaded dogs that you can now try. We've got a Philly steak that we're now offering a shredded chicken steak sandwich that's new for this year. so kind of these, unique twists on those ballpark classics. And then we've also brought some new, exciting items like funnel cakes. We have three different variations of funnel cakes, which to me just really pulls in that classic just outdoor, almost fare type vibe. can't go wrong with the funnel cake. Speaker 6 00:34:41 Like the Knox County Fair. Speaker 2 00:34:43 Brings back a lot of memories. I have to say, I'm awfully partial to smoke and meat. anybody listen to me for a very long nose? I love to smoke and cook and grill and do all that stuff, so it's great to go somewhere that has great pulled barbecue and brisket. I imagine y'all have brisket. I mean, they've got great brisket at Tennessee basketball games. You all got brisket too. Amanda Rich 00:35:04 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Speaker 2 00:35:06 And what makes minor league baseball such a unique and accessible experience compared to other options. Amanda Rich 00:35:13 Yeah, I think it's just the the inclusivity of everything. Whether you're in that front row seat, you know, down by the dugout and feel like you're part of the game and you're close with the players, you can almost talk to the team or you're just on the concourse. You've got a home. And we, you know, we've been crowned America's friendliest ballpark. And you feel that when you enter the gates, our staff is great. We're welcoming. They're helpful. They're guiding you to where you want to go. If you can't find something, we're helping you out. So it's really just an all inclusive environment where your presence when you enter the ballpark is is felt. It's seen where, you know, you maybe go into a major league ballpark. And I'd say 90% of the staff don't even know that you're there. But 90% of our staff are going to have a touchpoint with you. And it's just really, you know, that theme of inclusivity. Once you enter those gates. Speaker 2 00:36:05 For someone who hasn't been to a game yet, Amanda, what would you say to encourage them to come out? Amanda Rich 00:36:12 Oh my gosh, you must see. Amanda Rich 00:36:14 You must try. You have to do it. There's. There's really no excuse. Especially with the weather being so perfect. It's perfect baseball weather. It's so much fun. like I've been saying all morning, we've got something for everyone, so there really is no excuse to come and check us out. Especially if you haven't been before. I promise you'll come once you're going to want to come again. Speaker 2 00:36:34 Where can listeners go to learn more? They can see the schedule or plan their next Smokies game. Amanda Rich 00:36:40 Yeah. If you head the Smokies baseball.com, you can get all information. Theme nights, promotions, gates and game times, parking information and also stay up to date on our social media channels. We'll post all game updates there in terms of weather, special ticket packages and things like that. So social media and smokies baseball.com to get all your information. Speaker 2 00:37:01 Finally, Amanda, as the season continues, what are you most excited for fans to experience in 2026? Amanda Rich 00:37:08 Well, that's a good question. I'm really excited for some of our theme nights and promotions to get started. Amanda Rich 00:37:14 We have a good handful of returning fan favorites like the All You Can Eat Wednesday, The Thirsty Thursday, and our Summer fireworks series. But we also have some new and exciting theme nights and promotions that I'm really excited to roll out. We just debuted the NOx Vegas identity, so that's going to be super fun. We've got Margaritaville coming up, but then we've got some new ones like dancing with the Smokies, special guests, Elaine Hendrix, Country Night, which is going to be super fun and just a lot of stuff to come throughout the summer. Halfway to Halloween. Christmas in July. Big theme nights that are going to be just a ton of fun. Speaker 2 00:37:53 Well, Amanda, thank you so much for taking time. Again, it's Knoxville smokies.com, is that correct? Amanda Rich 00:37:59 Yes. Speaker 2 00:38:00 Knoxville smokies.com. Check it out. We really want to embrace the Smokies. I know that y'all are doing great things in the community. What a great thing to be able to experience in downtown Knoxville. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to share with us this morning. Amanda Rich 00:38:14 Yes. Thank you. We appreciate it. Speaker 2 00:38:17 That's Amanda Rich. He is director of marketing, social media and community relations for the Knoxville Smokies. Check him out online at Knoxville smokies.com. When we come back, I want to talk about how to keep The Magnificent Seven from endangering your portfolio. Stay tuned. This is more living with Jim Brogan here on Newstalk 98 seven. Jim Brogan 00:38:40 Welcome back to Newstalk 98, Seven's Brogan Financial Studios, where Jim Brogan is coming to you live with important news and advice to help you achieve your dream retirement. Get ready to learn and live. Here's your host, Jim Brogan. Speaker 2 00:38:57 This is more living. Thanks for tuning in. This week I'm Jim Brogan, and in closing, I want to ask you, are you do you have a strategy to keep the Magnificent Seven from endangering your portfolio? You know, for more. For for really well over a decade, it seemed almost difficult not to make money in the stock market. We had the you know, we did had the volatile year in 2022 one of the most volatile markets in years. Speaker 2 00:39:26 but really through last year, markets with the exception of a correction in, in in actually barely a bear market in 2022, really the stock market has just continued to go up. One major player that are driving the market swings in recent years is The Magnificent Seven. Now what is the Magnificent Seven? It's it's the list of seven mega cap technology stocks composed of companies with market capitalization higher than $200 billion with a B. Now, who are they? They're Microsoft. Amazon, Meta or Facebook, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet or Google and Tesla. You know, these companies are involved in technologies that are making headlines around the globe, such as AI, web services, quantum computing. Now, their success over the last 5 to 7 years has really created a new problem for investors. A common investment advice is to buy the index. So rather than choosing individual stocks, you buy into a fund that owns stocks in a given index, such as the S\&P 500. And the practice is often seen as safer than directly investing in specific stocks because it avoids unsystematic risk. Speaker 2 00:40:53 Meaning systematic risk is, you know, the entire market goes down or goes up. You know, a rising tide rises all boats if you're diversified and if you you know but unsystematic risk you buy stock in company X which then experiences a major setback such as a scandal or a significant falloff in business, its stock value will likely decline. And if the company can't recover, you could lose most, if not all, of your investment. Buying an index means you're investing supposedly in multiple stock simultaneously. So even if company X is one of those companies, the other companies that didn't run into trouble are less likely to decline in value, meaning your overall investment may still be more sound. But that's changed a bit because The Magnificent Seven are so large. Rather than simply being part of the S\&P 500, they're driving the index because it is a weighted average index, and the larger the stock, the more it impacts the movement of the index. Now that's great when things are going well like they have the last 5 or 6 years. Speaker 2 00:42:05 Those who buy the index are buoyed by the success of The Magnificent Seven. Now, I mean, in 2024 alone, Nvidia single handedly that one stock drove more than 20% of the S\&P 500 growth. So it's great when they're doing well. But what about when they're not? The flip side is that the entire index frequently suffers when one or more of these seven stocks are not doing well. So is it as diversified as it looks when the mega cap stocks are having a good run, a truly, properly diversified portfolio may underperform the indexes because they aren't as driven by the Magnificent Seven. And the S\&P is not as diversified as it used to be. So as investors, that can be tough to watch. It seems as if easy profits are passing you by. But it's important to remember that markets can be cyclical and over time the market on average has always risen. But in, you know, in between their growth periods, there are times when investments decline in value. And so if you know if there was a bubble or if we are on a bubble in in AI stocks and technology, which I'm not saying we are, you know what we'll do better in the last in the next five years. Speaker 2 00:43:27 Will you do better if you're just in the S\&P 500 and being driven by these mega caps, are you better off to be more diversified and have more blue chip stocks and things like that? We don't know the answer. We do know that if you stay in just the S\&P 500, you could be facing more downside risk exposure than you may think. So evaluating your true exposure to a handful of stocks is a very, very important thing. Don't get me wrong I think you need to have an exposure to The Magnificent Seven, but you also need to be careful that you're diversified and don't have too much exposure. Too much of a good thing can certainly end up costing you. We don't know what the future holds. We've got to evaluate and manage risk versus reward. Thank you for tuning in this week. This is more living with Jim where it's all about living the best years of your life your way. Check us out [email protected]. Many thanks to Wayne for engineering the show and to Mary Caroline for helping produce the show. Speaker 2 00:44:32 Have a wonderful and blessed weekend! Speaker 7 00:44:34 The views expressed by Jim Brogan and his guests are not that of Cumulus Media. Any discussion of financial, legal, and tax planning strategies is not intended to be individualized advice and is general in nature. Always consult with your advisor for advice specific to your needs. This program's content does not represent a recommendation of any particular security strategy or investment by Jim Brogan or Brogan Financial, Incorporated. Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze