When Rowland Hall alum Parker Bushnell ’12 began collecting sports jerseys as a teenager, he never imagined it would be the start of a successful career, but he’s certainly happy it turned out that way.

As the senior director of retail for Rank + Rally, Parker oversees the creation, distribution, and sales of merchandise for the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. Every decision he makes influences the next generation of fans.

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“In the modern world of sports there’s not a better way to engage with your fan base,” he said. “Tickets are digital now, you can’t take your food home, so merch is how memories are collected and kept.”

Parker oversees the creation, distribution, and sales of merchandise for the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. Every decision he makes influences the next generation of fans.

It isn’t easy creating the perfect merchandise. It isn’t just about slapping a logo on a shirt and putting it up for sale. As a graduate of economics from the University of Utah and a 13-season veteran of sales, Parker has learned that getting fans to buy is part art and part science.

“You have to make items unique so there is an obligation for fans to come purchase at our store or on our website and support the teams,” he said. “At the same time, you have to go over every piece of data to learn everything you can about the sizes that sell and whether people prefer V-necks or crew necks.”

There are also unexpected factors that sometimes come into play—like the purchase of a hockey franchise. In April of 2024, coming off an already busy Jazz season, Parker and his team had just eight days to prepare for the announcement that Utah was getting a professional hockey team. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, there were the added issues—no one knew what the hockey team would be called, what the colors would be, and what logo would be used. They knew one thing, though: there are no sports fans like those in Utah, so they readily embraced it as a challenge.

“I remember sitting down with Chris Barney, Smith Entertainment Group president of revenue and commercial strategy, and saying we need to have merch for this. I don’t care if it’s an NHL shield, we need to commemorate this moment so that people can remember exactly where they were for this announcement,” Parker said. “We worked pretty long nights, but within two or three days we got the product in for the party.”

The breakneck speed for building the retail offerings for the Utah Hockey Club slowed between the initial announcement and the first home game, but not by much. Parker’s team had two weeks to prepare for the draft party, and then only a handful of months to design, order, and stock all the merchandise needed, from shirts and hats to hockey pucks and everything in between. On October 8, 2024, as the club took to the Delta Center ice for the first time, fans showed their appreciation for all the hard work by buying and proudly wearing the new merchandise—symbols of the state's newest fandom, and a way for attendees to hold onto the memories and camaraderie of the historic moment.

“We broke the Delta Center record for sports revenue, and frankly we almost doubled it,” he said. “And the exciting thing is we get to do it all again next year when we change the name again.”

The hours are long, and the challenges are many, but Parker loves what he does—and he’s well suited to it, due partly to skills he gained at Rowland Hall.

The hours are long, and the challenges are many, but Parker loves what he does—and he’s well suited to it, due partly to skills he gained at Rowland Hall more than a decade ago. “The ability to understand the intensity that’s required to be successful is probably the thing I took away the most from Rowland Hall,” he said. “That’s something I use now in every application of life.”

And it’s something he passes on to others now that he is in a senior management position and beginning to mentor people on his team, as well as those who want to get into the sports field but aren’t sure where to start.

“You cannot be picky in the sports world about your entry-level position. You need to get into it and then from there you can define your path,” he said. “You need to make a lasting impression on those you meet so they want to give you opportunities to grow.”

Parker has already made a lasting impression on the world of sports retail and will continue to do so for years to come. And it all started with a love of jerseys.

Alumni

Banner photo: Parker Bushnell ’12, center (in blue suit), and team at the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.