If Pritt Entertainment Group does its job at today’s University of Akron home season-opening football game, fans won’t even know about its behind-the-scenes work.
The company, which also goes by its PEG initials, coordinates music and video for what is called the “in-game experience” at InfoCision Stadium.
The 70-second dramatic introduction video of Coach Terry Bowden and his players to open the game? That took a 16-hour day to shoot and weeks to edit, said Ryan Pritt, who co-founded the 5-year-old company with his younger brother, Jeffrey.
“Our job is to make other people look good,” said Ryan Pritt.
The Pritts have been in charge of in-game production for the Zips football games for four years, one year after InfoCision opened. They also provide graphics for UA basketball games, but UA student crews run the operating boards.
PEG is in charge of the music played in the stadium, videos, statistics and graphics to prompt the crowd to cheer. At football games, PEG produces and directs the video shows, but UA communications students run the video cameras.
The football intro video, which will be played at the start of each of the six home games “is a big project for us,” said Brad Swanson, UA director of marketing and promotion for athletics. “It sets the tone for a game day. A lot of the things they do all have an influence on what people think when they leave the game. A lot of their perception of how much fun the game was or was not is determined by the content they’re putting up on the board and the music we’re playing.”
Swanson concurs that a Zips victory plays a role, too. But he said the music and video are things that can be controlled to help fans be entertained.
Although Ryan Pritt is only 27 and Jeffrey is 22, they are already veterans of the video production industry.
Ryan Pritt has been the in-park voice and host on the scoreboard for the Cleveland Indians for the last six years. He has been public address announcer for the Lake Erie Monsters hockey team for the last six and PA announcer for the Cleveland Gladiators, the arena football team. PEG’s current sports clients include in-game graphics for the Indians, video board animation for the Washington Wizards NBA team and video production for the Youngstown Phantoms junior hockey team.
“There was a time in life when I got to go to games as a fan,” Ryan quipped.
Growing up in Suffield Township, Pritt said he loved sports, but knew at a young age that playing as an athlete was not his future. So he went behind the scenes.
At 16, he became the announcer for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers minor-league baseball team.
“A year after that, the music guy left. I said, ‘I can do that.’ A year after that, they got a new video board” and Pritt taught himself how to make the graphics.
He then became the PA announcer for the former Cleveland Barons hockey team and started doing graphics for the Indians.
Ryan got Jeffrey involved as a junior in high school when he needed help with a game night crew for the former Youngstown SteelHounds hockey team.
Ryan says he’s the “creative, talkative one and [Jeffrey is] the technical one.”
“I taught him everything I knew and within two weeks, he was showing me more,” Ryan said.
The two brothers, who graduated from Field High School, also have UA ties — Ryan graduated in 2008 with a degree in communications and marketing and Jeffrey hopes to graduate in December with a media production degree.
They say it wasn’t on purpose, but they also bought homes next to each other in Akron. Ryan told Jeffrey about the house next to his that came up for sale.
While the company started with roots in sports video marketing, PEG also does corporate work, including branding projects, commercials and marketing, Pritt said. Clients have included General Electric and Phantom Fireworks. PEG does graphics and video production at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, including the Youngtown Phantom games and other events, such as rodeos and monster truck rallies, Pritt said.
In an email, Kelsey Rupert, director of marketing and sales at the Covelli Centre, said: “Pritt Entertainment Group has literally changed the look and feel of our facility’s marketing assets. They took our branding to a whole new level with their innovative and insightful uses of web design, graphic design, and in-house systems. Technically speaking, they have made improvements to our software and can access our in-house system remotely, which is not only cost-effective, but extremely convenient for us as clients. They are truly at the top of their game and their knowledge and troubleshooting skills are endless!”
Pritt declined to share sales numbers, but said the company has tripled its sales in the last year for its best year to date.
Youth is appealing
The Pritts said their age was a factor when they were first starting five years ago, “when we really did look like kids,” said Jeffrey. But Ryan Pritt said, “You reach a level that experience speaks for itself.”
Pritt said in what might be called a “creative industry,” being young is an advantage because “so much is about reaching a certain age group.”
Swanson at UA is the same age as Pritt. Swanson said even he was surprised at the Pritts’ ages when he first met them.
“For them to be so entrenched in the sports community in Northeast Ohio, it’s pretty remarkable to see what they’ve built. I think it speaks to the quality of the work they do,” said Swanson.
The Pritts said it was important to them to find a visible spot in downtown Akron for their offices when they decided this year to move out of their home offices. Their approximately 20 employees mostly work on-site or in their homes, but the Pritts said they still wanted a central place for people to come to work and where clients could visit.
Ryan Pritt said he looked at a lot of different places, including an old horse stable, but had his heart set on downtown Akron. He found the storefront at 363 S. Main St., near Brubaker’s Pub, on accident during a running workout.
Pritt said that might be thought of as unusual within an entertainment district surrounded by shops, bars and students, but it works well.
“Akron 10 years ago is dramatically different than today,” said Pritt. “We feel invested in the community and want to be part of the change.”
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blinfisher and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty