From Manhattan to Music City: Krista Darting '00 brings Wildcat spirit to her role with the Nashville Predators
By Ashley Pauls
K-State Alumni Association
Krista Darting ’00 has tried moving away from Nashville several times. However, this
city has always held a piece of her heart, and somehow, it never fails to call her
back home.
Darting's two passions in life are music and sports, and Nashville offers her an opportunity
to pursue both. During her free time, she enjoys taking in the city’s lively music
scene. She also thrives on the high energy of her work environment at Bridgestone
Arena, home of the Nashville Predators.
Darting serves as a senior account manager, corporate partnerships, for the NHL hockey
team, and she’s excited to be a part of the action behind the scenes.
“I love it,” she says of her life in Nashville. “I've built really great friendships,
really great stories and memories here. It's just city living at its best, where it
still has that small town feel. It's grown a lot and changed, but it still keeps that
friendly feel and everybody being wonderful and nice when you're out and about. And
I love that about it.”
Darting grew up in Silver Lake, Kansas, familiar with K-State from a young age. Her
father was a graduate assistant coach with legendary men’s basketball coach Jack Hartman,
and her grandparents lived close to Manhattan. For her, applying to be a student at
K-State was an easy decision.
“I was in Manhattan a lot, at K-State a lot; I lived and breathed purple,” Darting
recalls. “By the time I hit 18, I was like, ‘That's where I'm going.’ When I got there,
like many people say, the first time I was on campus everybody was so friendly and
so willing to answer questions, and I said, ‘Yep, this is it.’ There's not enough
good I can say about K-State. It was such a great place to go to school.”
She studied mass communication during her time at the university, and has since worked
in a variety of communications and marketing related industries, ranging from radio
in Manhattan, to professional sports leagues such as the NBA and MLB.
“I always love the sports environment, how the culture runs,” Darting said. “It is
a lot of hard work and a lot of time, but fun. I enjoy being part of that.”
While Darting has had a lifelong love of athletics, hockey is one of the few sports
she didn’t grow up learning about. When she first arrived in Nashville in 2001, the
Predators team was relatively new to the city.
“Everybody was very much excited to have the team and learn about the team and go
to the games, because obviously in the South, hockey was not a huge thing,” she said.
“So everybody kind of learned it together. And now you see when people come to games,
there is a culture built. We have season ticket holders that have been there since
1998 and they start all the chants; they've created a banner for their section that
hangs on the wall. People are very invested, because they feel like the team is theirs.”
Like dancing to the Wabash at K-State athletics events, Nashville Predators fans have their own special in-game
traditions. One of these is throwing hats on the ice after a hat trick play (i.e.
when one player scores three goals).
“We like to say we throw the best hockey parties,” Darting said. “It's rowdy, it's
loud. We do a lot of entertainment elements within the game. So that makes it fun
for everybody. Lots of families come, it's just a very good time.”
Darting’s current role with the Nashville Predators involves working with corporate
partners and thinking of creative ways to get them involved with the team’s fan base.
“We just did a whole refresh of two separate bar spaces with partners that I had,”
she said. “I just love being from the beginning to the end of a project, and seeing
it come to fruition, and seeing very happy partners and happy fans, and getting that
love between the brand and our brand.”
One of her favorite parts of the job is getting to meet new people and learn their
stories, and develop a sense of camaraderie.
“I'm very extroverted; I love people,” she said. “I work in a department that works
with every single other department in some form or fashion. I love seeing everyone
every day and trying to work with them and get something done. Also all the different
corporate partners I meet, that's fun to make those connections.”
Darting sometimes works 15+ hour days to get ready for a game, but to her it’s always
worth it.
“Just like a couple weeks ago, one of my favorite games I've ever seen happened,”
she said. “They were like three goals behind, and came from behind to win. So the
crowd was electric. It was extremely loud and crazy. And that's what's great about
sports in general. That's where you can compare it to football or basketball in Manhattan.
Everybody knows that feeling when your team wins and it's last minute and it's fun
and everybody's experiencing it together. It's just a very community building thing.”
And even though she now lives about 700 miles from Manhattan, she still manages to
run into other people who love K-State as much as she does.
“I thought everybody at every college connected with each other. I just figured that's
what people did, right? It is not. Other colleges don't do that. We do that. There
have been multiple instances where somebody has seen me in K-State stuff, or I've
seen them, and we start talking. And my other friends will be like, ‘Did you know
them?’ And I was like, ‘No, but I do now.’”