A new free sports app has just been released in the UK. It’s called PlayUp and combines real-time scoring, free messaging and fan rooms across more than 20,000 live games
The free PlayUp sports app includes real time scoring and statistics for more than 20,000 games, along with the option to create private rooms to discuss the action with friends or join public rooms to interact with fans from around the world – goal by goal, play by play or pitch by pitch.
The sports app is available initially for Apple iPhones, iPads and iPod touch (iOS-based devices), other mobile platforms such as Android/Desktop/Windows 7 will follow in 2012.
Already, the PlayUp sports app has achieved strong interest globally ranking as a top free sports app in the highly competitive US (#14) sports market.
“After all the talk of a broken system and badly needed overhauls in the league, Saturday’s resolution produced one odd result: Fans won’t notice much of a difference.”
“You have to love Mark Cuban, even if you can’t stand the Dallas Mavericks. The man is all about the future, and his instincts are spot on. Okay, so maybe NBA commissioner David Stern isn’t so fond of the oft-fined Mavs’ owner, but if you appreciate business creativity, you must value Cuban.” - A second week in a row with an article about Cuban, but that just speaks to his business genius.
“The night has three honorees: Karen Brodkin, Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Fox Sports Media Group; Susan Rosenbluth, Senior Vice President of AEG Live/Goldenvoice; and Amy Stanton, Founder of Stanton and Company, LLC.”
Professional sports teams around the world are leveraging their brand and resources to better their communities. The social impact of sports philanthropy is growing, but it is still in the relatively early stage of development. Professional sports teams build programs with social impact missions to address a whole host of social issues, from bringing sport to underprivileged populations, empowering young women, teaching healthy lifestyles and encouraging children to stay in school. Today’s professional sports team possesses all the tools for a successful social good program.
Though the driving motivation behind sports philanthropy was originally altruistic, today, professional teams have found that their philanthropic activities add intrinsic value to the organization and benefit the team. Professional sports teams are identifying the powerful impact their brand has on members of their community, and as fan-based organizations, their success relies on building a strong and engaged community. Eli Wolff, Director of the Sport and Development Project at Brown University, notes that from a business standpoint, professional sports teams often find social impact programs lead to more tangible business results and stronger consumer connections.#
Sports teams feature massive brand values. Leveraging that brand value and using its power for social action therefore has great potential for wide social impact.
Social Impact of Philadelphia Eagles
One example of a program that successfully leverages its brand is the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Partnership. The Eagles package their program materials in all things Eagles, from the design of the vehicles to the posters, bookmarks, bookplates and storybook, optimizing their brand in efforts to attract and engage children. For example, branding playgrounds with the Eagles logo makes them attractive spaces to bring the community together. They have also used their brand to promote their Eye Mobile program, encouraging children to get their eyes checked and wear glasses to improve their eyesight. [click to continue…]
This is a guest post by Nancy Zimmer. Nancy writes for TicketLiquidator.com, a site dedicated to helping sports fans find the best Fiesta Bowl tickets and seats to other sporting events that just might provide that opportunity for a perfect proposal.
Proposing to your significant other at a sporting event is something that should be very well thought out and planned in advance. If the move is done without taking certain things into account, it can be anywhere from awkward to completely disastrous. Follow these simple steps on how to plan a marriage proposal at a National sports game to ensure that popping the big question in front of a big crowd goes down swimmingly.
Contact the Public Relations Department
The people who control the scoreboards and public announcements should be privy to your situation in order for it to transpire as smoothly as possible. Get in touch with the public relations department at the stadium in the week leading up to the big day. Having the stadium operations people on your side will give you valuable confidence and can help to make the experience seamless. For a few hundred dollars, the stadium will post your message on the scoreboard, so folks who are worried that they might not be able to go through with the task will have an unflappable wingman.
Get Your Timing Right
Since proposing to your significant other should be done in a positive and upbeat environment, you should pop the question sometime in the first half of the game. To ask a person to be your life partner late into a 30-point shellacking would be awkward and perhaps even a bad omen. The best time to get down on one knee is late in the second quarter, when the crowd will still be full of life and you can use the halftime break to bask in the afterglow of your achievement, provided the answer is yes.
Buy an Aisle Seat
This is essential, as kneeling down and asking what might be the single most important question in your life is very difficult to do in the middle of a crowded row of boisterous fans. Securing an aisle seat should be done even before the ring is purchased. Allow your spouse to sit in the aisle seat, and stand up and walk out onto the stairs when you are ready for action. This allows for plenty of space by creating a small buffer zone between you two and the masses, and creates a clean angle for any stadium cameramen who want to capture the moment to show it on the scoreboard.
Be Confident
This advice extends far beyond asking a person to marry you, but you should be especially sure to harness your swagger when you are going to be proposing to someone in front of as many as 100,000 fans. Go into the experience with a little moxie and confidence, and a new chapter in your life is likely to begin.
Have you ever seen someone propose at a sporting event? Leave your comments below and feel free to share this with your friends on Facebook & Twitter
“Mark Cuban may have purchased the Dallas Mavericks as a frustrated fan. And, considering his passion for the game, he may have a “basketball heart.” But it’s his business acumen—with its emphasis on the steadfastness of his front-office team—that many CEOs can relate to.”
“WE ARE! Losing Money. As the Jerry Sandusky scandal continues to unfold at Penn State University, many people assumed that the Penn State brand — known nationally as pristine and rule abiding — would take a hit. Although probably few guessed that the hit would be this big, this fast.”
“‘Title IX is useful in a lot of ways, but it’s not fully responsible for the revolution in sports. It can’t be the only tool we use to address gender and equality in society,’ says Michael Messner, who teaches at the University of Southern California.”
“The site encompasses the most popular sports in the world, which include soccer, cricket, football, baseball, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, golf, hockey, rugby, field hockey, and others. The site is configured for top level domains, and language translation in the largest global markets from China and Russia to Canada and Brazil.”
The Oregon Ducks have launched their new Sports iPad app. They are one of only a handful of NCAA athletic programs that have their own custom sports iPad app.
The new app, developed in partnership with NeuLion, includes the following features:
News – easy access to up-to-the-minute news
Schedules & Results – keep tabs on the Ducks all season
Rosters – check stats and player profiles
Live Scores & Stats – follow the action anywhere you go
Photos – browse exciting photos
On-Demand Video – watch exclusive highlights and clips
Oregon Ducks Sports iPad App Interview – Ryan Therrell – Director, Internet Management
Sports Networker authors Katrina Galas and Mitzi Ing interviewed Ryan Therrell – Director, Internet Management (University of Oregon) about the new Oregon Ducks sports iPad app. Watch as Ryan walks them through all of the new features. He also takes time to discuss other ways that technology is being used to help improve athlete performance, coaching and fan experience at the University of Oregon.
What do you think of the new Oregon Ducks Sports iPad app? Are there other Sports iPad Apps out there that you think are better?
With the world in a constant state of upheaval these days, sports business is not exempt. Below are the sports business leaders who can bring clarity to the topsy turvy landscape.
When you have read an article called “My 13 Golden Rules of Twitter,” written by someone with more than 143,000 followers, you should tack it on your refrigerator. No wonder Rovell earned Sports Social Media Professional of the Year.
Gainor is up for the business awards circuit this year, and I can see one reason why. He provides his followers with a variety of links, he interacts with them and he promotes. Unfortunately, for followers, Gainor varies between tweeting a lot or a little.
Sam Miller is the founder of SamsDreamBlog.com. A graduate of the University of Illinois, he worked with various teams in sports information and received the Freedom Forum – NCAA Sports Journalism Scholarship for his achievements. At the University of Illinois, Miller regularly wrote feature stories about the football team. He has also served as communications intern for the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate. Prior to that, he worked as a communications intern for USA Basketball and as an associate reporter for MLB.com.
Being a British Basketball fan, Luol Deng is one of my favourite athletes. Recently I had the chance to interview him and it’s safe to say his journey to the NBA has been a remarkable one.
Deng’s journey to the NBA couldn’t have started further from the league. The Great Britain and Chicago Bulls forward was born in Sudan and is the eighth of nine children. At the age of 5 his family moved to Egypt and that’s where he started to play basketball with his brothers. Deng explained, “My older brothers played so they got me involved by teaching me the rules and how to dribble and shoot. We all really picked the sport up quite quickly.”
Luol Deng’s Road To The NBA
His family moved to London in 1994 where he really started to develop as a basketball player under the tutelage of the legendary British coach Jimmy Rogers. As he continued to improve as a basketball player, Deng was offered a scholarship to the Blair Academy in New Jersey and later went on to receive offers from over 100 colleges, choosing to attend Duke.
His coaches have had a big influence on him throughout his career; “I have had some amazing coaches with Jimmy Rogers at Brixton to Coach K at Duke and Coach Montagna from my High School, who have all played a huge part in my playing career. I would say all of these guys have made a huge influence in their own way in different stages of my life.”
However, Deng sees his Dad as his biggest inspiration in life; “My Dad is a huge inspiration to me as he had to make so many sacrifices for us in order to keep us safe. He made a great decision which really paid off for the whole family.”
Deng spent just one year at Duke, entering the NBA draft in 2004, aged just 19. He was drafted 7th overall and this remains the proudest moment of his career. “It was a dream of mine from a young age and was unreal to be there with my family on draft night,” he recalled.
After being drafted by the Phoenix Suns, he was immediately traded to the Chicago Bulls and has gone on to become one of the franchise’s best and most consistent players.
Ash is the co-founder of FundSport.com a grassroots sports community providing sports clubs and athletes from around the world with professional, easy-to-understand advice and articles on all aspects of grassroots sport including sponsorship, fundraising, the Internet, social media, club management, PR and marketing. As well as being passionate about the development of grassroots sport Ash also has a keen involvement in the sports social media industry. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14
I was recently down in Eugene, OR to present to the Sports MBA student as the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center on the value of Sports Networking and Social Media. While there, I had the opportunity to interview Paul Swangard – Managing Director, Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. The University of Oregon has never been about sports or business as usual–from legendary track star Steve Prefontaine to having one of the first environmentally friendly business school facilities in the nation.
Given that enterprising reputation, it’s little wonder that the UO’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center was the country’s first sports business program housed at a college of business (the Lundquist College of Business to be precise). Today, the center is recognized by ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sports Business Journal, and others as the leading think tank and training ground for the sports business industry.
The story behind their great, late founder – Jim Warsaw.
Warsaw Sports MBA Interview
What is your opinion on the value of getting a Sports MBA? Do you think it’s worth the cost? If you like this article, please consider sharing it with your friends on Facebook & Twitter!
Having the opportunity to tell the employer—in your words—who you are and why they should hire you is the perfect opportunity to place yourself head and shoulders above the competition.
However, most people give generic answers they think the employer wants to hear. Instead of canned answers, it’s better to speak from the heart and give thoughtful answers, the kind that lead to job offers.
Chris McKinney is the president of SPORTS LAUNCH™, a career services firm dedicated to helping college students and career-changers launch sports careers. Chris' new book, How to Land Your First Job in Sports: 7 Simple Steps can be found on www.SportsLaunch.net.
A new free sports app has just been released in the UK. It’s called PlayUp and combines real-time scoring, free messaging and fan rooms across more than 20,000 live games
With the world in a constant state of upheaval these days, sports business is not exempt. Below are the sports business leaders who can bring clarity to the topsy turvy landscape.
Being a British Basketball fan, 
I was recently down in Eugene, OR to present to the Sports MBA student as the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center on the value of 
The toughest 
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