The Huddle: Nothing Beats a Team

by Frank Agin | November 30th, 2009 | No Comments »

golf 01 The sights and sounds of summer are arguably the best of the year. Ask most anyone and they will list summer as one of their favorite times of year.

If you ask why, you will get a variety of answers. Some will cite the long, sunny days filled with enjoying time at the beach. Others might mention backyard cook outs with family and friends. Still others will bring into the conversation an occasional round of golf.

The game of golf is unique in that there is something in the game for everyone. You can start playing when you are young and enjoy it until you are in retirement years. As long as you are able walk a few feet and swing your arms, you can play golf (not necessarily well, but you can still play).

Interview with Frank Kleha of the Atlanta Falcons

by Matt Crevin | November 25th, 2009 | No Comments »

Matt Crevin from Voice of the Box, interviews Frank Kleha of the Atlanta Falcons. Frank is a 23 year veteran of the Falcons front office and talks in detail about his role. Plus learn what it takes to land a job in pro football operations. This video is the first of an interview series with sports industry professionals that will be featured on Sports Networker. Let us know what you think.

Where To Find Sports Domain Names

by Tim Evans | November 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

The domain name industry has come a long way in the last 20 years. In the early 1990s, an individual needed to write in and request a domain name and there was a limit of five names. A few years later, Network Solutions came on the scene and you could register a domain name, but had to commit to a two-year registration fee of $70 – it was so primitive back then that they would even allow you to register names and they would send you an invoice for the domain. There was no obligation on the invoice, so if you didn’t pay it, the domain would back into the pool of available names.

Athlete Web Design with Tim Evans

by Lewis Howes | November 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

I am constantly amazed at the lack of presence a number of high level professional athletes have online. Many of the players are missing out on a bigger opportunity to have a great website, and drive fans to their hub, however, a lot of them don’t even own their domain name. I’ll share more reasons on this in a later post.

Athletes, in general, seem to not care about web design, owning their domain name, or branding their image online. Do you agree or disagree on this? Let me know your thoughts on who is doing it right, and who is doing it wrong online. I’ll let you tell me what you think they are missing out in the comments section below. Check out what Tim Evans from Athlete Web Design has to say in this video, and make sure you check out his site to see what he has done for other pro athletes.

Want to learn more? Athlete Web Design works with athletes and sports professionals to build custom designed websites to build and promote an online brand. Check out how they could help you here, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Sports Networker Summit – NYC

by Lewis Howes | November 12th, 2009 | 4 Comments »

The Sports Networker Summit – NYC is being held December 7th at the Roger Smith Hotel.

This exclusive event has limited seating available and will feature some of the brightest minds in the sports industry. (Twitter hashtag for this event is #NYCSports)

Your Hosts:

Lewis Howes is the founder of the Sports Executives Association and SportsNetworker.com which helps him connect sports executives around the world both online and through live events. Lewis is a previous two sport collegiate All-American, and is also the NCAA All-Division Record Holder for the most receiving yards in a single football game (418 yards, currently an unofficial World Record. Read the full bio here.

Amy Martin is the founder of Digital Royalty, a Digital Integration and Social Marketing agency, focused on developing strategies to help corporate brands, professional sports leagues, teams and athletes build, measure and monetize their digital universe. Current clients include Shaquille O’Neal, UFC, White Sox and other sports, athletes, entertainment and corporate brands. Read more about Amy here here.

Featured Guest Speakers:

Tom Jolly is the senior sports editor for the NY Times. He is part of a major news publication that is adjusting to the “difficult market” and to the needs of the readers by developing multiple online and mobile platforms and integrating social media everywhere. Learn more about Tom here.

Ben Sturner is the founder and CEO of Leverage Agency. Sturner has taken his multi-million dollar business from a small start-up in his New York City apartment to a premiere agency that has secured deals for clients including: “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, KFC, Gillette, Progressive Insurance, Southwest Airlines, Reebok, Comcast, Anheuser Busch, Fremantle Media, Mark Burnett Productions and NBC’s Prime Time Celebrity Apprentice, Reveille, Radical Media, as well as other top-tier brands. Read more here.

Michael DiLorenzo is the Director of Social Media Marketing & Strategy for The National Hockey League. After 18 months as its Director of Corporate Communications, DiLorenzo (@umassdilo) was recently named director of social media marketing and strategy for the National Hockey League (@NHL). He is now responsible for activating NHL fans through social media services such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Brian Cuban is an attorney for Mark Cuban Companies and nationally recognized speaker in the areas of social media and hate speech on the internet. He writes extensively on these subjects on his widely read blog, The Cuban Revolution. Brian recently made international headlines when he took on social media giant Facebook with regards to hate speech on their site. He has appeared on Fox News and has been invited to speak at numerous prestigious locations.

Jim Bankoff runs all aspects of SB Nation, the fastest growing online sports network. SB Nation boasts over 220 individually branded, fan-centric web communities, each focused on a specific professional or college team, league or sport. A fifteen year veteran of the online industry, Jim developed and led dozens of the most popular websites on the internet including AOL.com , Mapquest, Moviefone, AOL Music, Netscape and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) as an Executive Vice President at AOL. He initiated and oversaw the drive to open up AOL’s content and services onto the web and was the first executive of a major portal to embrace professional blogging with his acquisition of Weblogs Inc. and development and leadership of sites such as TMZ, Fanhouse, BloggingStocks and Engadget.

Drew Cloud is currently the Vice President of Ticket Sales, Service & Retention for Madison Square Garden Sports, overseeing the efforts for the New York Knicks (NBA), Rangers (NHL) & Liberty (WNBA). Cloud now has now spent 15 plus years in the industry and developed a well-rounded background, featuring roles in the sports marketing world with International Sports Marketing and Major League Baseball Alumni Assoc., marketing partnerships and ticket sales with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (MLB) and Tampa Bay Mutiny (MLS) and most notably sales management and leadership roles with the Phoenix Suns (NBA), Mercury (WNBA) and US Airways Center.

Lou Hernandez is the director of public relations for the Chicago White Sox. In his role, Hernandez is responsible for philanthropic, business and marketing communications for the Major League Baseball organization, along with publicity for player charitable initiatives and off-the-field efforts, and most recently the team’s social media efforts.

The Summit will focus on these main sports and social media topics: