The Top News In #Sportsbiz is a collection of articles curated by Sports Networker’s Lead Writer – Mark Burns
Sports Business
Here’s What Happens To Olympic Sports Venues After The Games [Infographic]
Beijing spent inordinate amounts of money on their venues and now they serve as little more than reminders of the past. London spent a lot more than they wanted on theirs and hope these two weeks aren’t the end all be all.
It’s not all bad, though.
Atlanta and Los Angeles still use their stadiums, the latter city spending close to nothing when compared with their Chinese and English counterparts. The fate of venues created for the Olympics differ depending on where you look and whom you ask.
Former Olympians Seize Business Opportunities In London
Greg Louganis had a quick answer for why he is in London this week, participating in chats about the Olympics for a sports-oriented social media website. “They paid me,” he said.The four-time Olympic gold medal winner in diving says he is joking, but there is a ring of truth there. The current Olympics have plenty of former champions around as business opportunities abound, particularly in the media. Louganis might run into former decathlete Bruce Jenner, working for E! Entertainment, or Winter Olympics star Apolo Anton Ohno, who visited with Bob Costas the other day.
NBC alone has 28 former Olympians working for the network. They have won a combined total of 45 medals, 25 of them gold.
Read more: http://bit.ly/QnJh1i
Sports Networking
Twitter Chats: Great Way To Learn From Sports Industry Professionals
The intersection of sports and social media has been an ever increasing way for young career-minded individuals to interact with leading professionals in the industry. Twitter Chats covering sports business, sports media, public relations, and other related topics have become extremely popular across the social media network.
If you don’t already have a Twitter account, now might be the time to create one if you aspire to expand your network as well as your sports knowledge. ESPN’s sports business reporter, Kristi Dosh, does a nice job of elaborating on the importance of participating in weekly Twitter Chats in her blog, SportsBizMiss.com.
Read more: http://bit.ly/Tv0fPx
Sports Sales Combine — Hosted by Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8/17-8/18)
This is your chance to be discovered by the pros! Attendance is a must for anyone interested in beginning a career in sports sales and service/retention!
This innovative sales and service training experience combines real life experience with career development opportunities, making it a truly unique opportunity to showcase your skills to hiring managers.
Combine trainees are engaged in an authentic sales and service training environment working with professional team sales and service leaders. Representatives from the Bucs and other NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams will be scouting the event and conducting on site interviews for hires!
Read more: http://bit.ly/NiSKMh
Sports Marketing
Adidas, Nike Claim Victory In The Battle Of Olympics Marketing Glory
With the London 2012 Summer Olympics nearing its Sunday conclusion, Nike and Adidas took time out Friday to declare victory in the another type of competition: marketing superiority.
The Games, like all major global sporting events, are crucial proving grounds for the brands as they present their products on a world stage with the hope that their athletes emerge victorious.
Read more: http://bit.ly/P6HeQt
Olympics 2012: Ryan Lochte Fielding Multiple Reality Show Offers, Says Agent
First there was the diamond American-flag grill Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte tried to wear on the podium while collecting a gold medal. Then came his admission that he pees in the pool and his mother’s suggestion that the busy 28-year-old only has time for one-night stands.
Despite the sometimes-negative publicity — the blog Jezebel dubbed him “America’s sexiest douchebag” — sports-business experts say Lochte’s antics shouldn’t hurt his ability to cash in on his five London medals. If anything, they might help.
Read more: http://bit.ly/RzEoq0
Sports Sponsorship
Chicago Woman, Terin Izil, Lives Off Olympic Sponsors
Can you live exclusively on Olympic sponsors’ products? Chicago-based copywriter Terin Izil, 28, has proved you can.
She’s been eating, drinking, wearing, bathing in and sleeping on Olympic sponsors’ products since July 20 and will do so through this weekend’s Closing Ceremonies. This is all in an effort to raise money for Camp Promise-West, a camp she co-founded for children with muscular dystrophy. The camp is fully funded by donations and grants.
Read more: http://es.pn/ORwJA8
NBCU Has Sold $200M in Advertising Time For 2014 Winter Olympics
Early social-media brickbats thrown at NBC Universal over its Summer Olympics broadcast aren’t likely to have a radical effect on the company’s plans for covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi.
The Comcast-owned company has quietly sold around $200 million worth of advertising for its 2014 broadcast, said Seth Winter, exec VP, sales and marketing, NBC Sports Group, in an interview.
Read more: http://bit.ly/R3e6Pi
Sports Sales
London Sells Record 2.1 Million Paralympic Tickets
A record 2.1 million tickets have been sold for the London Paralympics, outstripping the previous record set four years ago in Beijing by 300,000, London organizers said on Wednesday.
The success of Britain’s Olympic athletes, who have already notched up their best gold medal tally since 1908, has helped boost sales, with 600,000 Paralympic tickets sold in the past month.
Read more: http://trib.in/Oa2967
No Gold Medal For Olympic Ticket Market
As fans around the world wondered why the best seats to Olympic gymnastics and swimming were empty, frustrated Londoners and competitors’ family members were fuming (politely, no doubt) that they couldn’t attend half-empty “sold out” events. These Olympics provide a disturbing snapshot of what happens when event organizers stack the deck against ordinary fans and try to stop the free market from working.
Like music fans who face “sold out” signs one minute after concert tickets go on sale, sports fans around the globe spent months navigating the byzantine London Olympics ticket lottery.
Read more: http://huff.to/SbXmk1
Sports Social Media
Social Media Driving Most-Watched Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says social media is driving what is turning out to be the most watched Games in history. London 2012 is broadcasting more than 100,000 television hours of 26 sports over 16 days of competition.
There is also more than double that amount of hours of Olympic sport being broadcast online and on mobiles. IOC estimates give the 2012 Olympics a potential global television audience of 4.8 billion people.
Read more: http://bit.ly/MK3of7
3 Examples of Social Media Disasters During 2012 Summer London Olympics
Social media giant Twitter has grown to over 500 million users and an average of 340 million tweets per day (August 2012) and is continuing to grow. Athletes, fans, and team/organization representatives have used the site to connect to one another and build an online relationship.
But as is too often the case in these 2012 London Summer Olympics, athletes are posting “questionable” and often racist rants that have put their careers in hot water. That’s right, it’s not just NFL players tweeting controversial musings that should probably not be put for the world to see.
Read more: http://bit.ly/Oa1voX
Sports Media
Top 10 Zany London Olympics Stories
Media coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London has been thorough and intense. As such, athletes have been scrutinized more than ever. For certain media outlets to stand out from the rest, some stories and issues were more creative than others.
1) Missy Franklin‘s flipper feet: The Fourth-Place Medal blog said it all when American swimmer Missy Franklin claimed her size-13 feet were being talked about by other Olympians. The teenage sensation said her dad called them “built-in flippers.”
Read more: http://yhoo.it/RzEYUx
Five American Stars of the 2012 Summer Olympics
As the London Olympic Games reach the end of a glorious 2 week run atop the world of sports, the United States Olympic Team performed valiantly throughout competition. Here are the top 5 American stars of the 2012 Summer Olympics: Michael Phelps, Abby Wambach, Gabby Douglas, Ashton Eaton, and Missy Franklin.
Michael Phelps: Who else could top this list but the athlete many propose as the greatest Olympian in history? Competing in his 4th and final summer games, the 27 year-old captured 4 golds and 2 silvers in 7 events in the pool. Passing the career mark of 18 total medals, long held by Soviet Union gymnast Larisa Latynina, Phelps now possesses a stunning 22 medals. This includes 18 golds, as he became the most decorated Olympian ever in London.
Read more: http://yhoo.it/N23Xwt
Sports Technology
Holograms May Appear At Future Olympics
Holograms of events could be projected from one stadium to another at the 2024 Olympic Games as the holographic technology continues to develop, according to a new report authored by experts from the IT and sporting industries.
The report, entitled Ascent at London 2012: A vision for sport and technology, is designed to help the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) prepare and benefit from the impact of technology at the 2020 Olympics and future games.
Read more: http://bit.ly/NnWtq9
Are Humans Or Technology Breaking Olympic Records?
When Oscar Pistorius fought successfully to compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games with his two artificial legs, he became the most visible challenge to many people’s Olympian ideal of celebrating human athletic performance without technological tweaks or other enhancements.
Yet the attention focused on Pistorius, whose legs earned him the nickname “Blade Runner,” mostly overlooks technology’s unsung role in helping humans break Olympic records over the past decades.
Read more: http://on.mash.to/RIgNVy
Sports Jobs
Glasgow 2014 Athletes’ Village Will Create 1,500 More Jobs
Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed that the Athletes’ Village for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is set to create around 1,500 further full-time jobs for the next two years.
The Finance Secretary revealed details of the jobs, which range from apprentices to skilled tradespeople, on a special visit to the site of the 35 hectare, £150 million ($235 million/€189 million) site.
Read more: http://bit.ly/S9XIHX
7 Olympic Athletes’ Day Jobs
Throwing a javelin and lifting weights doesn’t pay the bills. The competitors in this year’s Olympics have had to take a variety of jobs, ranging from janitor, to accountant, to monk. Here are what some Olympians do to keep their athletic talents funded:
1) Natasha Perdue, UK: Weightlifting: Garbage collector — When not hefting weights, the 36-year old hoists cans, in her capacity as a garbage collector for the refuse department of the city of Leeds, according to Yahoo Sports.
Read more: http://bit.ly/MLzkQf
