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The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 05.27.13 – 06.03.13

Sean Larson — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:00:17 +0000

Sports Business

Members of U.S. Congress Urge Washington Redskins to Change Team Name

Congress sent out letters to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Redskins owner Dan Snyder and the rest of the 31 teams in the league. The letter says that Native Americans take offense to the nickname, as they consider it a racial and derogatory slur. Two of the members of congress behind the effort are the leaders of the Congressional Native American Caucus, Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn.

The letter went on to say that it was a moral responsibility to disavow the usage of racial slurs, saying the nickname was especially harmful to Native American youth as it damaged their self esteem, and diminishes the feeling of community worth among Native American tribes.

Sports Media

Sports Illustrated Expands Sports Media Presence with SI Now

Sports Illustrated, one of the most recognizable brand names in sports is ready to expand its sports media presence. The company, which is part of Time Inc., is adding to its roster of original video with a 30-minute live-streaming talk show every weekday beginning next Monday. The show will air daily at 1 p.m. EST and will be hosted by Maggie Gray, the lead anchor for Sports Illustrated video content, and will include a rotating cast of the magazine’s top writers and newsmakers.

The 1 p.m. EST timeslot was chosen as it is SI’s peak traffic time. The show will also be sponsored by Ford Motor Company. SI developed the concept for the show and brought it to Ford, which agreed to a sponsorship deal that runs through October.

Sports Marketing

A Team Effort: Disaster Relief Across the Sports Industry

Over the last few years, we have witness the tremendous capacity for teams, leagues and outfitters to come together in response to disasters at home and abroad.

Following the 2010 devastation in Haiti, the NBA responded at all levels. The NBA, Players Association, all 30 teams and individual players teamed up to raise more than $3 million in relief aid, and even more awareness through PSAs and social media campaigns. Monetary contributions were augmented with apparent and footwear donations through collaborations with local and national nonprofit organizations such as UNICEF and Samaritan’s Feet, and home court arenas like American Airlines Arena in Miami, hosted in-arena donation drives to engage the community in support for Haiti’s restoration.

Sports Sponsorship

Anheuser-Busch a Sports Sponsorship Heavyweight

St. Louis based Anheuser-Busch, the leading beer brewer in the United States – holding a 47.6 percent share of U.S. beer sales to retailers – was recently named “Sports Sponsor of the Year” at the 2013 Sports Business Awards.The company brews Budweiser and Bud Light, two of the world’s largest-selling beers and is also a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years.

The company can now add another notch to its credibility by taking home this award in the field of sports sponsorship. The award – decided by a panel of industry executives – marked Anheuser-Busch’s first win and second nomination at the Sports Business Awards and was accepted by Blaise D’Sylva, vice president of media, sports and entertainment marketing for Anheuser-Busch.

Sports Jobs

Vancouver Canucks Fire Alain Vigneault After Another Early Playoff Exit

After suffering a first-round defeat for the second consecutive season, Vancouver Canucks’ general manager Mike Gillis announced that he had fired head coach Alain Vigneault and two of his assistants, Rick Bowness and Newell Brown. Vigneault led the Canucks to six Northwest division titles, two Presidents Trophies, and an appearance in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in which the Canucks fell to the Boston Bruins in seven games. Vigneault posted a 313-170-57 while in Vancouver, making him the winningest coach in franchise history.

However, despite his regular season success, Vigneault’s track record in the playoffs was mediocre at best with a 33-32 record. Last season, the Canucks took the best record in the league into the playoffs, but were stunned by Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings who made quick works of the Canucks in just five games. This year, the Canucks were swept by the San Jose Sharks in the opening round of the playoffs. It was the first time in 12 years the Canucks were swept in the playoffs.

Sports Sales

Columbus Blue Jackets See Increase in Season Ticket Sales

After a red-hot finish to the 2013 NHL regular season, the Columbus Blue Jackets have seen an increase in season ticket sales over the past several weeks. According to the team, season ticket sales are up 13 percent from one year ago when the Blue Jackets had one of their worst season’s in franchise history.

Last season, the team sold approximately 7,000 season tickets. This summer, Columbus has already sold over 1,000 season tickets to fans who have upgraded to larger ticket packages, and we haven’t even reached the halfway point of the Stanley Cup Playoffs yet. The spike in ticket sales is promising for a franchise that lost over $80 million from the 2004-2005 lockout through the 2011 season, including a loss of $25 million in a single season. During their final home game of the year, the Blue Jackets drew a crowd of 19,002, and saw over 17,000 fans in the two home games prior to their finale. While they may have missed out on the playoffs, there seems to be a new attitude about hockey in Columbus.

Sports Technology

MLB.TV Lowers Price for Subscription

These days thanks to the technology of streaming sports on a wide variety of platforms, fans can watch their favorite teams, no matter where they are in the country. While that luxury comes with a price tag, as the baseball season progresses on, the technology to allow fans to cheer on their teams has become more affordable. Major League Baseball Advanced Media announced on Friday that the annual subscription cost has been lowered to $99.99 for MLB.TV Premium and $84.99 for basic MLB.TV.

With MLB.TV, fans can watch every game in Major League Baseball on various platforms such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Apple TV. Some features of the service include HD streaming, pausing and rewinding live games and allowing fans to choose which team’s broadcast they want to watch or listen to.

Read more here: http://atmlb.com/16w3SyI

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The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 05.20.13 – 05.27.13

Bryan Mcwilliam — Mon, 27 May 2013 11:00:59 +0000

Sports Business

ESPN Makes Harsh Sports Business Layoffs

ESPN is set to make hundreds of layoffs. ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’ who is owned by Disney will reduce staff as well as avoid hiring for current unfilled positions.

The company would not say how many jobs are being eliminated. ESPN has about 7,000 employees worldwide. They are expected to layoff several hundred employees, somewhere between the 300-400 mark (including unfilled positions) according to a tweet from James Andrew Miller.

This layoff process seems more like an out with the old, in with the new approach, which could be due to ESPN’s rising costs for the broadcasting rights to live sports.

This isn’t a new process for companies owned by Disney. In April, they laid off about 150 people at LucasArts, the video-game making division of Lucasfilm, four months after acquiring the company for $4.06 billion.

Sports Marketing

Charlotte Bobcats Could Change their Name

According to a source familiar to the situation, Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan is changing the name of the franchise to the Hornets. Jordan reportedly has a timetable in mind for the name change, which he will reveal during a press conference scheduled for Tuesday. The name change has yet to be publicly announced.

The Charlotte franchise is accustomed to the Hornets name as it was the name of the city’s basketball franchise before their eventual move to New Orleans.

The name change comes on the heels of the New Orleans Hornets changing their team name to the Pelicans, starting in the 2013-14 season. A reason for Charlotte’s name change could be due to the lack of success that the franchise has experienced as the Bobcats. During the team’s 9-year history, Charlotte has only qualified for the playoffs once.

Sports Sponsorship

Anheuser-Busch a Sports Sponsorship Heavyweight

The company brews Budweiser and Bud Light, two of the world’s largest-selling beers and is also a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years.

The company can now add another notch to its credibility by taking home this award in the field of sports sponsorship.

The award – decided by a panel of industry executives – marked Anheuser-Busch’s first win and second nomination at the Sports Business Awards and was accepted by Blaise D’Sylva, vice president of media, sports and entertainment marketing for Anheuser-Busch.

Read more here: http://on.wsj.com/122kr3L

Sports Jobs

Vancouver Canucks Fire Alain Vigneault

After suffering a first-round defeat for the second consecutive season, Vancouver Canucks’ general manager Mike Gillis announced on Wednesdaythat he had fired head coach Alain Vigneault and two of his assistants, Rick Bowness and Newell Brown. Vigneault was hired on as the team’s head coach in 2006, and when Gillis stepped in for former general manager Dave Nonis in 2008, he opted to keep Vigneault on as head coach.

Vigneault led the Canucks to six Northwest division titles, two Presidents Trophies, and an appearance in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in which the Canucks fell to the Boston Bruins in seven games. Vigneault posted a 313-170-57 while in Vancouver, making him the winningest coach in franchise history.

Sports Sales

Sacramento Kings Historic Ticket Sales

With the city of Sacramento fighting tooth and nail to keep the NBA’s Kings in their city – stopping a potential move to Seattle – the team has recently witnessed its single-best day of ticket sales since the first day of the franchise’s existence more than 30 years ago.

The franchise doesn’t release ticket sales information, but accoridng to Kings representative Chris Clark calls were coming in every few seconds when new season ticket sales opened Tuesday.

Thousands of Kings fans were expected to rally downtown Sacramento on Thursday to celebrate the team’s future. New managing partner Vivek Ranadive was among seven members of the new ownership group expected to be on-hand, along with former players Mitch Richmond and Chris Webber and current Kings Tyreke Evans and Isaiah Thomas.

Sports Technology

MLB’s At the Ballpark App an Award Winner

MLB Advanced Media has won Best in Sports Technology for its “At The Ballpark” mobile application at the sixth annual Sports Business Awards.

The product tied together ticketing, ballpark amenity wayfinding, seat upgrades, social media, player walk-up music, video highlights and other content in ways unprecedented in the industry.

Unlike MLB.com At Bat, which tells the story of the game, the At The Ballpark is much more experiential.

The app perfectly personalizes the trip or users with mobile check-in, social media, offers, rewards and exclusive content, including always-updated and downloadable player entrance music.

Select ballparks also offer mobile food ordering and seat and experience upgrade components, so the app is customizable to each of the 30 Major League clubs and is increasingly a win-win for clubs and fans.

Read more here: http://atmlb.com/13KoqMI

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The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 05.13.13 – 05.20.13

Sean Larson — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:00:59 +0000

Sports Business

Mayweather Tops Sports Illustrated’s List of 50 Richest Athletes in 2013

For the second consecutive year, welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather topped Sports Illustrated’s annual list of the 50 richest athletes in professional sports. Last year, Mayweather took over the top spot from Tiger Woods, who had held the spot every year since Sports Illustrated began compiling the list in 2004. From just two fights this year and one upcoming fight in September, Mayweather will make at least $90 million in 2013 alone, with the potential to earn up to $128 million.

Rounding out the top five spots respectively is LeBron James ($56.5 million), Drew Brees ($47.8 million), Kobe Bryant ($46.9 million) and Tiger Woods ($40.8 million). Last year, Brees wasn’t even on the list. However, a $37 million signing bonus from his new contract propelled him to the No. 3 spot on the list this year.

Sports Media

ESPN and Twitter to Join Sports Media Forces

ESPN and Twitter have announced a major deal, in which the social media giant will post sports-related highlight videos on their site, moments after the live action unfolds. The deal should generate advertising revenue for both parties.

Highlights will range from NCAA football to qualifying matches for soccer’s World Cup 2014 to the X Games. Users can view highlights via Twitter’s mobile applications and website, and ESPN will sell ads running inside the video clips, sharing all revenue with Twitter.

ESPN and Twitter first teamed on video highlight trials late last year, recruiting Ford Motor Company to sponsor game-changing moments from the network’s college football broadcasts. ESPN said the highlights were viewed more than 7 million times.

Read more here: http://on.wsj.com/YTOBlz

Sports Marketing

Rookies Learning to Market Themselves in NFL

For NFL rookies, the transition from college to the pros can be a difficult one. At the NFL Players Association Rookie Premiere, Philadelphia Eagles’ rookies Matt Barkley and Zach Ertz are learning how to market themselves to potential sponsors. During the 4-day event, rookies will interact with NFL sponsors such as Topps, Panini, Pepsi NEXT, Nike, EA Sports, Fandeavor, FedEx,

The NFL Players Association was formed in 1994 to help players with potential business opportunities. The average career in the NFL lasts just three years, so it is vital for rookies to understand how they can make themselves more marketable to sponsors in order to earn some extra money outside of their salary.

“This is a great opportunity to extend your networking in a sense and maximize your brand,” said Barkley, who spoke will doing a card-signing event for Google+ Hangout. “As much as the NFL is a $10 billion-a-year franchise, as an individual, you’re in your own business as well.

Sports Sponsorship

CSF Gathers the Sponsorship Community in Saskatoon

On May 24–26, the sponsorship and marketing community will gather in Saskatoon for the ninth annual Canadian Sponsorship Forum.

Each year, CSF travels to a new location and partners with one of Canada’s premier sponsorable properties. This year it’s being held in conjunction with the MasterCard Memorial Cup and delegates will get to take in the action for the semi-final and championship games of the tournament. But watching the MasterCard Memorial Cup will be only part of the hockey fun as delegates will also take over the streets of downtown Saskatoon Saturday afternoon May 25th for the inaugural CSF ball hockey tournament!

The closing keynote address will feature Peter Montopoli, General Secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association, retracing the amazing 10-year journey of the Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team program, an “overnight sensation” that was actually 10 years in the making.

Sports Jobs

Atlanta Hawks Could Make History

After being ousted by the Indiana Pacers in round one of the NBA playoffs earlier this month, the Atlanta Hawks decided they needed an upgrade over coach Larry Drew. GM Danny Ferry and the Hawks are targeting coaches with NBA experience such as Stan Van Gundy and Nate McMillan, but they may go outside of the box and make NBA history in doing so.

Rumours are speculating in the basketball world that the Hawks are interested in Ettore Messina, the Italian-born coach of CSKA Moscow. If the Hawks were to ink Messina to a deal, he would become the first European-born head coach in NBA history.

Even though Messina is a longshot, the Hawks are still serious in considering him for the position. Ferry recently scouted CSKA Moscow in London at the Euroleague Final Four and Messina isn’t exactly green to how the NBA operates. He spent the 2011-12 season as a part of Mike Brown’s coaching staff with the Los Angeles Lakers. Messina left the NBA to take a $1 million-plus a year job with CSKA Moscow after Brown’s job was in jeopardy.

Sports Sales

Nebraska Basketball Tickets Already Sold Out for 2013-14

This fall, the Nebraska Cornhuskers will be moving into a new basketball arena, and fans are excited. So excited in fact, that the athletic department announced on Friday that the public’s allotment for tickets is already sold out for the 2013-14 season. Pinnacle Bank Arena, which will be located in downtown Lincoln, will hold 15,147 for basketball games, and every seat will be full all season long next year.

Public ticket sales rose from 6,917 to 13,500, a 95-percent increase over the course of one season. This marks the first time in school history that Nebraska will enter a season sold out. During last year’s 15-18 season, Nebraska drew an average crowd of 10,352 at the Devaney Sports Center. The new arena has a price tag of $179 million, and is the centerpiece of the West Haymarket Development project, which will include hotels, restaurants, parking and shopping located just a few blocks from the university campus.

Sports Technology

NFL Sunday Ticket Included in New ‘Madden’

EA Sports announced a special offer with “Madden NFL 25: Anniversary Edition,” that for $99.99, fans will be able to purchase the game and receive a full season subscription of NFL Sunday Ticket, allowing them to watch every game, every week, no matter where they are in the country. Fans who purchase the game and subscription will be able to watch games on their tablet or mobile device thanks to DirecTV.

EA Sports expects this year’s game to sell out quickly, with only 50,000 copies of the anniversary edition per console (XBOX 360, Playstation 3) available for purchase. In addition, the special edition game will include a 17-week subscription of rare cards for those who play Madden Ultimate Team. Between the game, the cards and the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription, fans will be receiving about $400 worth of content for $99.99.

“We wanted to thank our fans by giving them a way to celebrate all season long,” says Anthony Stevenson, the senior director of marketing for EA Sports. “When you think about the value, this is a no brainer.”

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 04.28.13 – 05.06.13

Sean Larson — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:00:48 +0000

Sports Business

Why LeBron James Could Be The Most Underpaid Athlete in Sports

Despite being one of the top 1% income earners in the world, one could make a case that LeBron James could actually be the most underpaid athlete in professional sports. James earns $16 million per season, the 13th biggest salary in the NBA. Which means that there are 12 players making more money than LeBron James. The infographic in this article summarizes James’ value, and what he has meant to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat.

The chart uses a Wages of Wins formula to calculate James’ value. For the 2011-2012 season, the NBA paid players $1.9 billion to produce 990 wins. Each win is worth $1.95 million. James created 15.88 wins according to the formula, which gives him a value of $30.9 million. James’ salary is $16,022,500 per year. Therefore, using this formula, James is underpaid by $14,883, 496.

Sports Media

Kentucky Derby Earns Highest Overnight Ratings Since 2010

NBC’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday earned its highest overnight ratings since 2010. The derby earned a 10.4 overnight rating, stopping two consecutive years of ratings decline. In 2010, the race’s overnight ratings also came in at 10.4

The last time overnight ratings for the Kentucky Derby were higher than 10.4 was in 1992 when they came in at a 10.9. NBC said the ratings were up 16 percent from last year.

The leading markets with the highest ratings for the Kentucky Derby were Louisville, Ft. Myers and Cincinnati.

Sports Marketing

Tim Tebow Struggling With Being Marketable

After a rough season with the New York Jets in which Tim Tebow saw just 77 snaps and no starts, the young quarterback is now struggling with presenting himself as a marketable athlete. Last year, Tebow’s positive Q score, which measures an athlete’s popularity among fans, was at a 22, well above the league average of 16. In just one year, it fell six points down to the league average.

“If you think of it like a stock price, it’s gone down,” says Jim Andrews, senior vice president of content strategy for IEG. “Without having had anywhere near what could be called a good season — a season where he barely got on the field and didn’t do much when he was there — there are negatives from a marketing standpoint.”

Andrew’s advice to Tebow? Find himself a starting job in the NFL, and go from there, because backup quarterbacks are not marketable.

Sports Sponsorship

MLB Partners With YouTube To Deliver Highlights To Fans

Baseball highlights have been a rarity on YouTube for years. But that all is likely to change with the MLB officially joining with a new channel, uploading HD content frequently.

The channel already has 24,000+ subscribers and is seeing rapid growth as the season progresses. MLB has uploaded highlights from every game of the 2013 season as well as fan fare and much more footage.

“Expanding our partnership with YouTube provides another platform for extending the reach of the thousands of hours of archived baseball content in our library and for delivering live baseball games via the Internet to fans in new markets around the world,” said Kenny Gersh, Senior Vice President, Business Development for MLBAM in a statement released to the press.

Check out MLB’s channel on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MLB

Sports Jobs

Nets Fire P.J. Carlesimo

Less than 24 hours after losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals to the Chicago Bulls, the Nets fired interim coach P.J. Carlesimo. A search for a permanent head coach is expected to begin immediately. The Nets have not laid out a timetable for the hiring of a new head coach.

A list of possible candidates include Phil Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Larry Brown, but Nets general manager Billy King said that the list of candidates do not end with those names.

“It was a difficult decision,” King said at the PNY Center. “We talked about it, but looking at the long-term future with this organization, I felt it was best to look elsewhere and try to find the right fit.”

Sports Sales

Canucks Offering Playoff Tickets At Half-Price

Before the Vancouver Canuck’s first home playoff game of the season this week, the team was selling lower bowl tickets for half the normal cost. Seats in the 100-level, normally going for over $300, were available for as little as $130.

“There hasn’t been the same kind of energy behind the club,” said Vancouver sports marketing consultant Tom Mayenknecht. “A lot of fans taking a wait-and-see attitude before paying for tickets,” he added. “I can’t recall a two-for-one type offer in recent years, but I’m not fully surprised by it.”

Local fans in Vancouver have gotten used to playoff hockey, with the team winning the division crown for the past five seasons in a row. Many fans are unwilling to pay such a high price to get in the door as the buzz around Vancouver feels lower than in years past.

Sports Technology

94Fifty Introduces High-Tech Basketballs to Help Measure Player Performance

94Fifty is taking a bit of a different approach to data measurement; it uses the motion of the ball to measure the player performance not the output of the athlete.

The 94Fifty basketballs use a suite of built-in sensors to track a player’s performance. Data from the ball is delivered through Bluetooth to an iOS or Android mobile app to show motion statistics like shot arc, shot speed, backspin, dribble intensity, and many other key performance factors.

The basketball leverages high-tech hardware components from Texas Instruments that can generate over 6,000 pieces of movement data per second. The new basketball is being released in early March through a KickStarter campaign. The company plans to make the product available via online sales only with estimated ship dates in the 3rd quarter of 2013.

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 04.15.13 – 04.22.13

Bryan Mcwilliam — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:00:50 +0000

Sports Business

SequentialT Captures Fan Data for Venues to Maximize Revenue

SequentialT, founded in 2009 by Peter Kraft, Tracy Howe and John Kiely, captures fan data by issuing “FanIDs.”

The program identifies fans at the sporting event by allowing fans to link their ticket to their FanID. The program also captures data on fans who are not attending the game.

Fans attending the game who link their ticket to their FanID are eligible for special benefits such as in-game call outs, upgrades and prizes. Sponsors can also be linked with the program for the potential of even more rewards. Fans can also get physical badges which can be linked to their FanID. Fans can also earn rewards through their FanID by purchasing concessions and merchandise at the venue.

Sports Media

Ebbets Brings Historic Feel to ’42′

Last Friday, the film ’42’ was released in theatres in anticipation of Jackie Robinson Day, which the baseball world celebrated on Monday.

The film is based on the life story of Jackie Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey.

The film has already received rave reviews and one of the highlights from the film is the authenticity of the uniforms worn by the actors.

Sportsnetworker sat down with Jerry Cohen of Ebbets, who produced the uniforms for the film.

Sports Marketing

Marketing at the Concession Stand

More and more teams are using the power of marketing their players and aligning the player’s names with food related items in order to increase sales.

Think of the Roethlis-BURGER as an example of this.

Michael Rudd wrote a great piece earlier this week about marketing at the concession stands and gave readers a look into some of his brilliant ideas.

Coco Crisp, OJ Mayo and Cedric Maxwell all have their names make appearances in the story.

Check out the story and maybe you can come up with some unique marketing gimmicks of your own.

Sports Sponsorship

National Brands Investing In Local Sponsorship in Canada

Large national brands are investing more finances in local Canadian sponsorship every day.

Brands such as Tim Hortons, BMO and Old Dutch understand that reaching out to the community really does pay dividends when it comes to their reputation and it only makes sense from a business standpoint to give back to those who purchase your products when you have the funds to do it.

Programs such as the Tim Hortons Timbits Sports Program, Bank of Montreal Ultimate Fan Appreciation Night and the Old Dutch Junior Blade Program highlight a few options of companies giving back to their communities.

And for people interested in Canadian sports sponsorship, they can visit the Canadian Sponsorship Forum, which is set to take place May 24-26 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Sports Jobs

Females Leading the Front Office

It seems that the prejudices and stereotypes of females working in sports diminish more with every year that passes.

Females are now openly accepted working in every facet of a professional sports team’s front office.

Who is to stop a female from being intricately involved in the operations of her high school football team, serving as a football operations assistant and football manager in college, earning multiple sports internships in front offices, and volunteering her free time with other local sports teams?

There are countless females working as executives in the front office of sports teams across the different professional leagues. They have earned their way into these positions, and in many cases they have had to fight harder because they are female.

A woman is just as qualified as a man to be a General Manager in today’s business-oriented professional sports world. This is especially true considering that women have exactly the same background experience opportunities as men. Gender doesn’t matter for this position anymore, and anyone who thinks otherwise is living in the past.

Sports Sales

Angels and StubHub Battle it Out

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and StubHub are fighting. The two parties are competing in a national debate over whether teams and concert venues can control what fans do with a ticket once they buy it.

What are the two fighting over?

The $4 billion fans spend each year to buy sport and concert tickets from parties other than the original seller, according to the Sports Business Journal.

StubHub, an online ticket marketplace, sold four tickets per day when it launched in 2000. Today, the company sells one ticket every second.

The Angels declined to renew a partnership with StubHub for this season and allied instead with Ticketmaster The Angels charge season-seat holders 5% of the resale purchase price, with the fee split between the team and Ticketmaster. This is not rubbing StubHub the right way.

Sports Technology

NHL ’14 Release Date and Snippets

NHL ’14 is set to be released September 10.

NHL 14 delivers game-changing hits with cutting-edge NHL Collision Physics, built from EA SPORTS FIFA’s revolutionary Player Impact Engine.

Drop the gloves with the all-new Enforcer Engine, powered by the same technology used in the critically acclaimed Fight Night franchise.

Experience a new level of speed and control with the second season of the critically-acclaimed True Performance Skating engine, and dangle defenders with all-new One-Touch Dekes.

In addition, fans can Live the Life of an NHL player in an all-new incarnation of the Be a Pro Career Mode, now featuring on and off-ice elements.

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 04.01.13 – 04.08.13

Bryan Mcwilliam — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:00:23 +0000

Sports Business

Robinson Cano Signs with Jay-Z’s Agency

New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano announced last Tuesday that he fired agent Scott Boras and signed with an agency led by entertainment mogul Jay-Z.

Cano is the first client that Jay-Z’s new agency – Roc Nation Sports – has signed.

The superstar player from the Dominican Republic is interested in not only marketing himself as an athlete, but as an entertainer.

Cano is the face of the Yankees franchise and is quite deserving of the title as his numbers have been off the charts offensively, while maintaining one of the best gloves at his position in the game.

The agency is partnering with the already established Creative Artists Agency.

Sports Media

Around the Clock Sports Media Coverage for Women

A new network JanetTV has launched becoming the first sports channel dedicated to featuring 24-hour coverage of female athletes and their sports, which will range from action sports like surfing, snowboarding, and motocross to many other mainstream sports.

The channel could potentially be a big boost to the awareness of women’s athletics and if it goes well even the playing field when it comes to equal coverage of both men and women’s sports.

Darryl Mobley, CEO of Janet TV, got the inspiration to develop the channel while watching one of his daughters and her friends play high school basketball.

The channel launched on April 1 and will open up a brand new kind of sports media to the world.

Sports Marketing

NCAA March Madness

A recent sports marketing story by Joshua John, who writes the MBA@UNC blog contained a very interesting infographic about the business and marketing of March Madness.

The infographic focuses on a variety of facts about March Madness and the advertising juggernaut it has become, particularly television ad-sales, ticket prices, and the increase of mobile users.

Some of the facts that really jumped out were:

During the first two days of the tournament, employers could pay distracted workers $175 million in wages while they’re preoccupied by the games
69% of consumers used their mobile devices while watching the NCAA Tournament on TV in 2012
Only 30% of all tournament tickets are available to the general public

Sports Sponsorship

Partnership Scoreboard Allows Companies to Analyze Value of Sponsorships

The Partnership Scoreboard allows any sports organization to analyze the value of sponsorships and demonstrate new engagement opportunities for those partners.

The application displays the results from the company’s Corporate Asset Valuation Model to show how corporate partners can generate new revenue and meet sponsorship goals, while allowing organizations to showcase past partnership successes, demographics, inventory, activations elements and staff highlights.

The idea is the brainchild of Adam Grossman, the President of Block Six Analytics, a consulting firm focused on revenue growth in sports organizations.

Sports Social Media

Nike in Hot Water over Tiger Ad

Nike, one of Tiger’s main sponsors and a company that is tightly linked to the golfer and his image recently created a sports social media stir with a new ad featuring Woods.

The ad shows a picture of Woods with the quote “Winning Takes Care of Everything,” attached to it.

The ad – which has been posted on Facebook and Twitter - is supposed to allude to the fact that the golfer has recovered from career stumbles to regain his number one spot, but some say it’s inappropriate because of Woods’ past marital woes.

The phrase is one that Woods uses often with reporters when asked about his or other golfers’ rankings.

The ad has received mixed reactions on Facebook, some congratulating Woods on his new ranking and others commenting that the ad sends the wrong message out in light of Woods’ past problems.

Sports Sales

Chargers Launch New High-Tech Ticketing System

Getting that perfect vatage point from your favourite seat just got easier for fans of the San Diego Chargers.

The team’s website Chargers.com recently launched a “virtual venue” allowing users to see views from various seats.

“Virtual Venue” is an online ticket platform that allows the user to see views from various seats inside the stadium.

Big market sports teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees have this in place.

It’s a 360-degree, 3D-platform that allows customers to compare the view from one seat to another. The virtual venue can get as specific as needed.

Sports Technology

Washington Nationals, Bloomberg Sports announce new analytic technology solution partnership

The Washington Nationals and Bloomberg Sports – the world’s leaders in sports analytic technology – announced a new partnership to design a state of the art player evaluation system for the Nationals Baseball Operations Department.

The partnership is the latest step in analytic technology for Bloomberg Sports, which has been a leader in creating solutions for MLB teams, players and fans for the past four years.

The Nationals new system will combine a number of diverse data sources on all professional players with customized and enhanced technology to assist the evaluation process.

The platform is being created with both laptop and mobile capability, and the two parties will begin implementation and development of the new system immediately.

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 03.25.13 – 04.01.13

Sean Larson — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Sports Business

Justin Verlander Becomes Highest Paid Pitcher In Baseball

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander signed a record $180 million contract on Friday making him the highest paid pitcher in the history of baseball. Just two months ago, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners had signed a seven-year contract worth $175 million, the richest contract for a pitcher at the time. Verlander’s contract includes an option for an eighth year that could push the deal to $202 million.

When Hernandez signed his record deal back in Feburary, many experts believed it would lead to a big pay day for players like Verlander and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Verlander’s new contract includes $140 million in guaranteed money and $28 million per season from 2015-2019. Now, with Verlander off the market, Kershaw becomes the biggest pitcher eligible for free agency after the 2014 season.

Sports Networking

49ers’ New Stadium Will Offer Most Publicly Accessible Wi-Fi In Sports

When fans enter the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium in Santa Clara next season, they will have access to the best public Wi-Fi network in any sports stadium in the country. The network will allow all 68,500 fans to simultaneously connect to the stadium’s wireless network without any limits on uploads or downloads.

The new stadium will be the first one to ever allow all fans in the stadium to connect to a wireless network at once. Limits in spectrum available to Wi-Fi has made this essentially impossible in the past. The plan could allow for special benefits to ticket holders, such as viewing instant replays or exclusive camera angles. If all goes according to plan, smartphones and tablets will run into the limits of their own hardware long before they run into the limits of the Wi-Fi network in the stadium.

Other teams have already begun expanding wireless networks in their stadiums. This past season, the New England Patriots installed a full-stadium Wi-Fi network. However, the network was never used by more than 10,000 fans at one time. At this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, a Wi-Fi network was installed that was designed to allow up to 30,000 fans simultaneous access.

Sports Marketing

Louisville Slugger Unveils New Logo, Harder Bats

Just in time for the start of a new baseball season, Louisville Slugger unveiled their new bat which is stamped with a revamped logo. The bats are made with a firmer wood, making them harder to splinter. The new bats and logo are a strategy from the classic manufacturer to stay relevant in the sporting good supply market.

The new logo is the first change since 1980 when the company dropped the ”Hillerich & Bradsby” name from the oval logo. The new bats are made from a higher graded wood that includes an enhanced surface. The bats are less likely to splinter, therefore increasing the safety of other players on the field. The changes are the first to the bats since 1972, and will make the bats more durable and less likely to break. The changes have been in the works for the last several years while the company did research with corporate partners and players to generate feedback on the new bats and logo.

The new logo keeps the traditional Louisville Slugger oval while adding a new interlocking “LS” above it. Other features include player’s signatures, a model number, a notation to prove the bat is genuine, and the wood from which the bat is made.

Sports Sponsorship

Lowe’s Extends Sponsorship with Jimmie Johnson

Lowe’s has extended its’ full-time sponsorship with NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 team through the 2015 season. The announcement was made on Wednesday by Hendrick Motorsports. Lowe’s also made the announcement to over 1,700 store managers at the company’s annual sales meeting. Lowe’s has sponsored Johnson and his team for the past 12 years.

Johnson is one of NASCAR’s top drivers with five straight Sprint Cup Series championships from 2006-2010. Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, have scored at least one victory in every Sprint Cup Series dating back to 2002. In a sport where drivers change primary sponsors on a regular basis, Johnson has remained loyal to Lowe’s, as the company has been his primary sponsor for his first 400 starts of his career. Jeff Gordon is the only other driver in NASCAR to ever remain with the same primary sponsor for the first 400 starts of a career.

“We caught lightning in a bottle with this combination,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “Jimmie and Chad have been successful, because they always have a plan and do a great job executing. Lowe’s is the same way as a sponsor. The partnership has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to working together for many more years.”

Sports Sales

Red Sox Slash Prices On Concessions To Boost Ticket Sales

The Boston Red Sox’ record sellout streak is in jeopardy, and the team is trying to do everything it can to save it. In an effort to increase ticket sales, the team is slashing the prices on beer and food for the month of April. The deals include $5 for a 12-ounce draft beer (down from $7.50 last season), two Fenway Franks for the price of one, $2 dollar hot chocolates, and free food for kids under 14 during the first three innings. The kids meal includes a Fenway Frank, Goldfish, and a carton of juice, normally priced at $5.

The Red Sox are coming off a 69-93 season, finishing in last place in the American League East for the first time since 1992. Boston’s schedule won’t help ticket sales either. The Red Sox will play 17 home games in the span of 21 days during April, including games against the Royals and Astros that will prove tough to draw fans in. Tickets currently remain for all home games in April, including Opening Day against the Orioles on April 8.

The team recognizes that after a rough year in 2012, paired with so many home games to start the year, slashing the prices on concessions might be the only way to keep the sellout streak alive. The streak currently stands at 793 games, a Major League Baseball record. While the team expects to sellout their home opener on April 8, team president/CEO Larry Lucchino has admited the streak could end as soon as the second home game.

Sports Social Media

San Francisco Giants Using Social Media To Become National Brand

The San Francisco Giants, one of the most successful teams in baseball during recent years, are using social media in order to promote their brand to compete with classic dynasty’s such as the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers.

This year, the Giants are unveiling the first social media cafe in baseball located beyond the centerfield video board at AT&T Park. In the cafe, fans will be able to enjoy Peet’s Coffee alongside an interactive social media board where fans can see their live tweets and Instagram photos from the ballpark. Fans will be able to connect to the stadium’s Wi-Fi to upgrade their seats during the game.

The Giants have become one of the most successful teams in social media as they are ranked near the top in baseball on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+. San Francisco also collaborated with the Twins, Diamondbacks and Major League Baseball to make instant replays available for fans on their mobile devices while at the ballpark.

Sports Technology

Raptors, Maple Leafs Using Latest Technology In Hopes Of Reaching Playoffs

Two Toronto sports teams have begun using the latest sports technology in an effort to boost the teams’ success and return to the postseason. The Raptors are using SportVU, a camera-tracking system that returns data as video files to analyze game film. The technology allows for the team to see when and where a pick-and-roll occurred, if the pick was properly set, and where all 10 players were exactly on the court when the play happened. Raptors coaches helped the analytics team build the system, while the analytics team e-mails the coaches with advanced statistics on upcoming opponents.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs are also using technology to get back to their winning ways. The team recently purchased the ‘Rapid Shot,’ essentially hockey’s version of batting cages. Players can improve their shot by using the machine that automatically feeds them pucks. The machine measures the player’s reaction speed in accepting the pass, as well as the speed and accuracy of their shot.

“It tracks you and your trends, if you’re getting more accurate, which one is your weakest corner to pick, different things like that,” says Maple Leafs defenseman John-Michael Liles. “I think it is a great way to warm you up to get your body and muscles firing . . . You spend a lot of time in the gym and this is a good way to mix it up on your body.”

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 03.18.13 – 03.25.13

Bryan Mcwilliam — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:00:45 +0000

Sports Business

Fox Sports Buys Rights to New ‘Big East’

It was announced earlier this month that the Big East division would become a newly named division and have teams break away from it. For the time-being the media is calling it the old Big East.

The new Big East division will feature the ‘Catholic 7′ schools that broke away from the old Big East earlier this month – Providence, Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall and DePaul – as well as three newly announced members Butler, Creighton and Xavier.

It was recently announced that Fox Sports has officially purchased the rights to coverage of the new Big East. An outstanding sports business move by Fox Sports. The deal is a 12-year agreement and comes one day after ESPN purchased the rights to coverage of the old Big East. The agreement grants Fox Sports rights to all conference-controlled men’s basketball games, select rights to women’s basketball, all Olympic sports and extensive rights for highlights and to produce ancillary programming.

Fox Sports 1 will be the primary outlet for the Big East coverage, broadcasting over 100 hours of Big East games including the Big East tournament. With the agreement, Fox Sports now holds media rights associated with five major college conferences: Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA.

Sports Networking

Duplays Bring Sporty People Together

Davinder Rao a.k.a Derv started DUPLAYS in 2007 to connect people interested in playing recreational sports in Dubai, a great way of developing sports networking in Dubai with the potential for growth outside of the city.

DUPLAYS has grown from 20 friends playing ultimate Frisbee to over 35,000 members playing over 15 sports. DUPLAYS is monetising the sports-based social network web platform to serve the needs of individuals, families, institutions and communities.

The company has sixteen employees and sixty part-time employees that work as referees and administrators and all of the web development is outsourced to Egypt.

DUPLAYS first event had 20 players and made very little financially. They now have 35,000 members and their annual revenue is 20,000 times the first event. The company reinvests all of its profits and it is growing everyday.

Sports Marketing

MMA is the Best Value in Sports Marketing

According to John Fosco of VFD Marketing, MMA is the best value in sports marketing.

VFD Marketing is a full service marketing agency that specializes in driving brand awareness in the sports and entertainment industries. VFD has grown into an industry powerhouse in a very short time, bringing in sponsorships for the UFC’s top talent and bringing companies unrelated to the fight scene in to be a part of the fastest growing sport in the world.

VFD has used clients such as Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida and the Diaz Bothers – Nick and Nate – and a plethora of sponsorship techniques to establish themselves in the top tier of sports marketing companies in the business.

As well as marketing MMA fighters, VFD has also been involved in the music business with bands such as The Foo Fighters and Ben Folds Five and festivals such as the EDM Spring Break Festival.

Sports Sponsorship

Microsoft has Naming Rights to V8 Supercar Events

In what seems like a strange relationship, Microsoft has become the naming rights sponsor of the V8 Supercars event at the Symons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.

The event will run from April 5-7 and will be renamed the Tasmania Microsoft Office 365.

It is the second round of the annual V8 Supercars season and will be the first to adopt the new 60/60 super sprint format, which comprises of two 60-kilometre races separated by a 15-minute break, with no mid-race refuelling.

The financial terms of Microsoft’s title sponsorship were not announced.

Sports Sales

World Baseball Classic Fails to Sell Out

Despite a new World Baseball Classic champion (WBC) in the Dominican Republic – who went undefeated in the tournament – and continued support and participation from nations all across the globe, the WBC failed to sell out its games in San Francisco.

AT&T Park – home of the Giants – housed the semi-finals and finals for the WBC and the attendance numbers were not as high as expected.

Tickets to the games were being sold for as little as $5, but the price decrease still didn’t help get the butts in the seats.

A major factor in low ticket sales was the abscence of Team USA and Team Japan, but with the local fanbase still unfamiliar with the tournament, the numbers were bound to suffer – this past event was the third of its kind. The semi-final game between Puerto Rico and Japan which housed 33,863 fans was the smallest crowd inside AT&T field since September of 2010.

Sports Social Media

March Madness Needs to Work on Sports Social Media

March Madness is one of the biggest tournaments annually in sports. Every season hardcore, casual and once in a wile fans tune in to watch brackets get busted, Cinderella stories develop and game-winning shots sail through the mesh as the best college basketball teams in the country vie for the National championship.

The energy, excitement and enthusiasm of the event is right up there with the playoffs of professional sports such as football, baseball and hockey, yet teams of the March Madness aren’t taking advantage of playing on the big stage when it comes to their social media.

Only 29 of 64 basketball teams in this year’s tourney have both a Facebook and Twitter presence, which is incredibly hard to believe and some of these teams are reputable names such as the Syracuse Orange, Arizona Wildcats, New Mexico Lobos, Kansas St. Wildcats and VCU Rams.

Read more here: http://on.mash.to/YYtT2R

Sports Technology

Collect Baseball Cards…on the Web

Former Major League baseball star Shawn Green is the producer of a new virtual card-collecting game called Dream Nine.

Users collect and trade their favorite baseball stars and try to put together the perfect team

They can take advantage of combos that are triggered when you earn cards that play perfectly together, like starting both the Giants shortstop and Giants second baseman in order to turn quicker double plays (as opposed to the Giants shortstop and Dodgers second baseman, who wouldn’t be on the same page).

The game is live on Facebook and created by Konami.

Konami is introducing a slew of game play enhancements that should hit online by June 1, including new cards, improved scouting, and microgames that will bring a fastest-finger competition to the art of picking off baserunners.

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 03.11.13 – 03.18.13

Sean Larson — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:00:11 +0000

Sports Business

March Madness Becoming One of the Most Valuable Sports for Advertisers

Most fans think of sports advertising, they think of the Super Bowl. But now, college basketball is proving to be one of the most valuable sports for advertisers. In the last 10 years, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, more commonly known as March Madness, has generated over $5.9 billion in TV ad revenue.

Last season, the tournament generated over $1 billion for the first time ever, making it the most lucrative postseason event in all of sports when it comes to advertising. The 2012 NCAA Men’s Championship overtook the NFL Playoffs, including the Super Bowl, at the top of the list.

A report released from Kantar Media shows that companies are willing to pay over $1.5 million for a 30-second spot during the Championship game, compared to $450,000 for a spot the NBA Finals and $460,000 for MLB’s World Series. It is expected that this year’s Championship will set a new record.

Sports Marketing

Fans Disagree With NBA’s “Noche Latina” Jerseys

In an effort to connect with its Latino fan base, the NBA has been using special jerseys as part of its “Noche Latina” promotion. The jerseys read as-is, but with “Los” added at the beginning, such as “Los Lakers” or “Los Bulls.”

Some bloggers have said it would be better for the NBA to translate names, such as “Los Torros” rather than “Los Bulls.” The NBA disagrees however, saying that it got a much more positive response to the current translation from market research.

Felipe Korzenny, director and founder of the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing at Florida State, said Latinos do not see the team names as words, but rather as proper names and brand names that have equity. For example, they don’t translate Coca-Cola or Clorox into Spanish.

Sports Networking

Soccer Player Provides Free Tickets to Fan Who Couldn’t Afford Them

Sometimes athletes can find themselves in hot water on social networking sites. Other times, they can serve a good purpose. This was the case for Ipswich Town’s Tyrone Mings.

A fan wished the young soccer player good luck in an upcoming match, noting he couldn’t afford to attend the game. Mings asked if the fan could get to the stadium. When the fan said he could, Mings replied saying that there were two tickets waiting for the fan at the box office, adding that he shouldn’t miss a game because he couldn’t afford tickets.

The gesture was met with praise for the 19-year-old soccer player. Mings just recently turned pro in December after working as a mortgage broker while playing non-league soccer.

Sports Sponsorship

Chase Signs Major Deal With Tampa Bay Lightning

Chase, a North American commercial banking business signed a multi-year agreement with the Tampa Bay Times Forum and its resident teams, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm.

The deal, which goes into effect immediately, makes Chase the official bank, credit card, financial services partner, ATM provider and community partner of the teams and the arena. In return, Chase will offer fans who are customers discounts on team merchandise, in-arena experiences through a rewards system, as well as hosting meet-and-greets with players at local branches.

Chase will benefit by having signage both on-ice and along the boards as well as naming rights to the Chase Club, the arena’s most exclusive seating area.

Sports Ticket Sales

49ers Have Sold Over $400 Million in Tickets to New Stadium

The San Francisco 49ers still have one full season left before moving to Santa Clara, but that hasn’t stopped the team from looking towards the future. According to a report, the 49ers have sold over $400 million in tickets to their new stadium in Santa Clara, set to open in 2014.

Coming off the team’s Super Bowl run last season, the 49ers have sold 75 percent of the seats in the stadium, including selling out the most expensive seats in the house. Those seats include those in the suite tower, where luxury boxes cost up to $500,000 a game.

On Friday, the 49ers’ sales team transferred the money from the ticket sales to the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, the public agency that is in charge with paying back the $850 million loan to build the stadium.

Sports Social Media

ESPN Suspends Bill Simmons from Twitter

Bill Simmons was suspended from Twitter for three days by ESPN after sending out tweets that were critical of ESPN’s First Take.

It’s amazing to me that people get so worked up about First Take. Who cares? Just don’t watch it. There are like 800 TV channels.

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 8, 2013

An ESPN spokesperson said Simmons was unavailable to comment on the situation. The tweet was in clear violation of the company’s Twitter policies, which requires its employees at all times to exercise discretion, thoughtfulness and respect for colleagues, business associates and fans.

Simmons was also suspended from Twitter in 2009 after criticizing a Boston radio affiliate. Simmons returned to twitter promoting his Friday column.

Sports Media

NBC Sports Group Kicks Off Formula One Partnership

NBC Sports group kicked off over 200 hours of motorsports coverage this weekend, starting with the Formula One season opener. The media group snagged coverage away from Fox Sports Media Group, which had aired the sport on the Speed Channel for the previous 17 years.

Last season, IndyCar drivers as well as former CEO Randy Bernard were critical of NBC Sports Network last season. They were upset over ratings, promotions and marketing, believing that the network wasn’t doing enough to promote the series or attract viewers to telecasts of the races.

“I think they have since learned that it’s going to be a huge complement to the IndyCar family,” he said. “So for people to know exactly where the destination is to go for Formula 1 and IndyCar is very convenient, and they’re both going to complement each other. There’s going to be quite a nice crossover.”

Sports Jobs

Italian Soccer Club Now Has More Coaching Changes Than Wins

Palermo manager Gian Piero Gasperini has recinded his contract with the club following a 2-1 loss at home to rival Siena on Sunday. The move marks the possible return of Giuseppe Sannino as manager. Sannino was replaced by Gasperini in September.

At the beginning of February, the club hired Alberto Malesani before Gasperini returned two weeks ago. Gasperini’s latest stint with the team lasted just two matches. In addition to the loss to Siena, Palermo also had a 0-0 draw against Torino.

In the past 25 years, Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini has made about 35 firings and has had 43 different managers. The move marks the 13th coaching change in Serie A this season.

Sports Technology

Rams Pump Cotton-Candy Smell Into Stadium

The St. Louis Rams have partnered with a company called ScentAir to improve game day experience for its fans. The company, which has been around for the past twenty years, has over 2,000 scents. The Rams sampled over 50 different scents, including popcorn, waffle cones and sugar cookies, the team settled on cotton candy as the winning scent.

“One of the first things we wanted to do here was to look at all the ways we can improve the game-day experience for families,” says Brian Killingsworth, vice president of marketing and brand strategy for the Rams. “We wanted to create a positive first impression for fans when they first walk into the stadium and we trigger their senses.”

The scent is pumped through the HVAC systems at the two main entrances to the Edward Jones Dome. To no surprise, cotton candy sales went up in the first year.

The Top News In #Sportsbiz – 02.25.13 – 03.04.13

Sean Larson — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:00:43 +0000

Sports Business

Adidas Unveils Wild Designs on New College Basketball Uniforms

Adidas shook up the college basketball world on Thursday, unveiling new eye-catching uniforms that will be worn by six teams in postseason play.

UCLA, Louisville, Baylor, Kansas, Notre Dame and Cincinnati will wear brightly colored jerseys and shorts with a camouflage pattern.

The designs for UCLA, Baylor and Louisville include sleeves that are similar to the ones worn by the Golden State Warriors on February 22. The Warriors’ jerseys were the first time sleeves had been a part of a team’s uniform in NBA history.

The reaction around social media was mostly negative, as it appears as if Adidas’ attempt to make some noise in college basketball had backfired. While alternate uniforms have become “big business,” in sports, these latest designs do not seem popular among fans.

Sports Networking

Social Bowling App Set to Debut at Reno Event

A social app created by Sports Challenge Network will make its debut at two major bowling tournaments; the 2013 U.S. Bowling Congress (USBC) Open Championships and the 2013 Women’s Open Championships. The app will allow users to track games by each frame and stay up-to-date with tournament scores, statistics and standings.

The main feature however is a feature where users will be able to virtually compete against each other. The game, called the “90 Frame X Game,” allows bowlers who get strikes in designated frames during a series of tournaments to earn points. Those points can be used to win cash prizes.

“Xbowling allows any bowler to connect from anywhere in the world and bowl together in real-time through their mobile devices,” said Tim Minard, Sports Challenge Network CEO. “It actually breaks through the space and time limitations of having to be in the same location to play.”

Read more here: http://on.rgj.com/Wq0Ze2

Sports Marketing

NASCAR Completes Hispanic Marketing Effort

Friday marked a historic night for NASCAR, as the Mexico Toyota Series made its first appearance in the United States at the Phoenix International Speedway. The event completed a full circle for NASCAR that began in 2005 when the NASCAR Nationwide Series made its first appearance in Mexico.

The race featured some of the top drivers from Mexico in a 75-lap race broken into two separate segments of 50 and 25 laps, something that American stock car racing fans aren’t used to seeing. NASCAR events in the United States are held in a single segment with no breaks.

Stock car racing in Mexico had started mainly on road courses. Today, all the races run in Mexico are held on oval courses, with the exception of one road course. The NTMSx is the most popular form of motorsports in Mexico.

Sports Sponsorship

StubHub to Replace Home Depot as Carson Sports Venue Sponsor

Beginning in June, the Home Depot Center will become StubHub Center. The 125-acre sports complex in Carson, Calif. is a multi-use sports venue currently home to two MLS teams, and is owned by the entertainment company AEG.

The details of the new sponsorship, including duration and financial numbers, were not revealed. Home Depot paid $70 million for its 10-year sponsorship of the sports complex.

For StubHub, an online ticket marketplace formed in 2000, the sponsorship marks the first time the company’s name will be used on a public venue. The move is a strategic one by StubHub in order to build relationships with teams playing in one of the most popular sports in the world. The company has been aggressively looking at soccer in order to expand internationally.

Sports Sales

Purdue Football Coach Blames Firing on Ticket Sales

Purdue football head coach Danny Hope, who was fired by the team in January, blames his firing on poor ticket sales. Hope, who led the Boilermakers to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, was fired the day after an embarrassing 58-14 loss to Oklahoma State. Last week, Hope spoke out about the firing for the first time publicly.

“It came down to ticket sales,” Hope told WLFI, a television station in West Lafayette, Ind. “But ticket sales have been dropping here since 2000. It’s not all about what happens just behind the whistle. You have to have some accountability behind the necktie as well.”

Hope would go on to say that he was very angry about the decision to fire him, and believed it wasn’t handled in the proper manner. He called the decision unprofessional, and said he didn’t need to elaborate on that. In Hope’s four seasons at Purdue, the Boilermakers went 22-27. In 2012, the Boilermakers had to beat Iowa, Illinois and Indiana just to become bowl eligible. Those opponents posted a combined 10-26 record in 2012.

Sports Social Media

Lakers are Most Followed Team on Twitter, Arizona Cardinals Least Followed

In a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, North American professional sports teams were ranked based on Twitter followers. The Los Angeles
Lakers have the most followers in all of the four major sports (2.8 million), while the Arizona Cardinals have the least with 44,245 followers.

The Phoenix area has struggled in social media, with the Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Coyotes rank in the bottom three in their leagues when it comes to number of followers. The Suns meanwhile, rank 16th in the NBA with 161,000 followers.

At the top of the list in each sport with the most followers is the New York Yankees (MLB, 822,000), the Lakers, the New England Patriots (NFL, 556,000), and the Montreal Canadians (NHL, 369,000).

Read more here: http://on.wsj.com/YIN9Of

Sports Media

NESN Will Share Broadcasts With Other Regional Networks

The Boston Red Sox are using spring training to test out a new experiment in the broadcast booth. Red Sox announcer Don Orsillo and Pittsburgh Pirates announcer Tim Neverett will rotate on the call every few innings. Analysts Jerry Remy and Bob Walk, a former Pirates pitcher, will share the booth for all nine innings.

The Red Sox tried this new experiment on Friday, the first of five times this spring that NESN will partner with a regional network. The Red Sox will partner with the Pirates and Root Sports again on March 23, as well as three times (March 8, 15, and 28) with the Minnesota Twins.

NESN spokesman Gary Roy said the reason for the split broadcast is to try to avoid the occasional monotony that comes with spring training. Roy said that having two analysts in the booth can offer insight on some of the players from the opposing team.

Read more here: http://b.globe.com/Y88sZF

Sports Jobs

Florida State Hires Time Brewster as Tight Ends Coach

The Florida State Seminoles completed filling out their 2013 coaching staff last week, hiring former Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster as tight ends coach. Brewster served as Minnesota’s head coach from 2007-10 before serving as the wide receivers coach for Mississippi State last season.

During Brewster’s time at Minnesota, the Gophers made back-to-back appearances in the Insight Bowl. Brewster spent 18 seasons coaching tight ends in both the NFL and college football. The Seminoles lost seven coaches this offseason, most recently losing tight ends coach Billy Napier to Alabama. Just two months ago, Napier had been hired to the Seminoles’ staff.

Read more here: http://cbsprt.co/102hVsm

Sports Technology

Fourth Goal-Line Technology Approved by FIFA

On Friday, FIFA approved and granted a license for a fourth goal-line technology. The new technology is called GoalControl 4D. The German-produced technology uses 14-high speed cameras placed around the field and directed at both goals to determine whether the ball crossed into the net or not.

“When the ball has completely crossed the line, the central analysis unit sends an encrypted signal to the referee’s watch in less than a second,” said FIFA in a statement.” GoalControl 4D can be used with both standard goalposts and balls.”

Last year, FIFA approved the use of goal-line technology after controversial calls where teams were disallowed legitimate goals because the referees did not believe the ball had crossed the goal-line. UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has yet to approve the use of goal-line technology.

All four systems will be used at this year’s Confederations Cup, as well as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Goal-line technology was introduced during last year’s World Club Cup in Japan. It marked the first time goal-line technology had been used in a professional match.