It’s safe to say ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ has become a national holiday. As soon as the Christmas decorations are packed away and New Year’s resolutions broken, it’s time for January’s bright spot: the Super Bowl party.
Sports marketers, however, began planning for this year’s Super Bowl as soon as the Guy Lombardi trophy was awarded to last year’s winner. Super Bowl Sunday is a sports marketer’s dream, an excellent example of the symbiotic relationship between professional sports and marketing. [click to continue…]
Really LeBron?
I just shook my head and mentally shook LeBron James by the collar when I read his tweet directed at critics, yesterday: “Don’t think for one min(ute) that I haven’t been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!”
(For the record, I wouldn’t lay a hand on a man three-times my size, especially if I was coaching him.)
Ok, so I guess I won’t be invited to his South Beach Christmas Bash. Oh, well….
Missed drinks donning umbrellas with The Decided aside, James is still a young player in the NBA. He has no championship rings and he still has lots of endorsements to sign before he comes close to Michael Jordan, the star basketball player he has been most compared. James’ endorsements may even trail Tiger Woods’. [click to continue…]
Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.
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According to Wikipedia, “The Rooney Rule, established in 2003, requires National Football league teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operations opportunities. The rule is named for Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the chairman of the league’s diversity committee, and indirectly the Rooney family in general, due to the Steelers’ long history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership roles. It is often cited as an example of affirmative action.”
Those are the facts in a nutshell. The opinions and results, however, are steeped in controversy and conjecture. Any potential NFL coach is groomed and prepared with years of hands-on training and development, progressing from a supporting role to head coach. Coaches are chosen based on character, commitment, work ethic, leadership and motivational skills, and of course the ability to create winning football teams. [click to continue…]
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
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If you don’t know about Stephen Strasburg, let me introduce you. Strasburg is a starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals. He was the number one pick in the MLB Draft last year and made his major league debut earlier this week: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned runs… and 14 strikeouts! Quite the impressive entry into Major League Baseball. Strasburg is a budding superstar. He’s been talked about for the last several years in baseball’s inner circles. His fastball approaches 100 miles-per-hour and moves dramatically. His curveball is about twenty miles per hour slower than his fastball and has been known to defy gravity. Strasburg is the real deal.
Strasburg & Social Media
I see a great opportunity for Strasburg to really change the game for Major League Baseball when it comes to social media. None of the league’s superstars have truly embraced Facebook or Twitter (the league’s best social media user is Nick Swisher, but hard to call him a superstar). Other leagues have big-time players using social media, but the MLB does not.
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Sam is a Creative Strategist for VaynerMedia, a social media agency based in New York City. Sam previously worked as an Account Executive for the New York Jets as well as the New Jersey Nets and spent time working with former NBA player Jalen Rose as well as NFL safety Kerry Rhodes. He now focuses on creative strategy across VaynerMedia's portfolio. You can follow Sam at http://twitter.com/gosam & visit VaynerMedia at http://www.vaynermedia.com.
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Legends Hospitality Management
The name definitely encapsulates the partners’ reputations in their given leagues and by no stretch the status of their owners as well. By the fall of 2008 the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs had formed a food and retail company in Legends Hospitality Management LLC. George Steinbrenner’s Yankees and Jerry Jones’ Cowboys will each own 34%, with the rest being owned by Goldman Sachs and CIC Partners LP. Goldman Sachs and CIC will provide financing for the company.
The move was a change for both teams as Centerplate Inc. operated the Yanks Park for 40 years and the Cowboys had operated their concessions at Texas Stadium for the past 20 years. Their entry into the industry was well timed. With the Yankees unveiling their $1.3 billion coliseum and the Cowboys unveiling their $1.1 billion dollar playground in 2009, pair with the fact Legends identified a dozen professional sports venues with food service contracts expiring in 2009. Former Pizza Hut President and managing partner at CIC Mike Rawlings was named the CEO.
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Tyler Johnson is an innovative thinker inspired by the likes of Bill Veeck, Jon Spoelstra, Pat Williams & Brooks Boyer. Currently working for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment as a Group Sales Account Executive for the Denver Nuggets. Prior he worked as the New Business Development Executive with the Chicago White Sox. Tyler has also worked directly with the inventor and creator of Arena football and also for Mike Ditka’s former Chicago AFL franchise. As a former collegiate athlete and business sensed individual Tyler ventured to combine his passions to get into the business side of sports.
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In reading Gail Sideman’s recent article about March Madness being the NCAA‘s best PR campagin, I began to think of the other PR benefits provided by this tournament. I grew accustomed to watching the Iowa Hawkeyes. Guys like Ricky Davis, Acie Earl, Reggie Evans, Russ Millard and BJ Armstrong (who I met again as he represented Derrick Rose and accompanied him to throw out the first pitch at a White Sox game the next day after being selected #1). Later I began playing football for the Panthers of Northern Iowa, it was guys like Matt Schniederman, Ben Jacobsen (the player) and returning alum coach Greg McDermott that brought the rise of Panther basketball. Ben Jacobsen brought it again to new heights.
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Tyler Johnson is an innovative thinker inspired by the likes of Bill Veeck, Jon Spoelstra, Pat Williams & Brooks Boyer. Currently working for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment as a Group Sales Account Executive for the Denver Nuggets. Prior he worked as the New Business Development Executive with the Chicago White Sox. Tyler has also worked directly with the inventor and creator of Arena football and also for Mike Ditka’s former Chicago AFL franchise. As a former collegiate athlete and business sensed individual Tyler ventured to combine his passions to get into the business side of sports.
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Q: Can Minor League Teams Build Social Media Followings?
Recently, Sports Networker reader Todd E. Jones wrote in with a great question. He asked, “Do you think it is possible to use social media to build or grow a fan base for a minor league sports team? A few hundred or even a couple thousand fans on Facebook is good, but if a team needs several thousands, is it possible?” Todd brings up a good point. We talk a lot about how established sports organizations (leagues and teams) and players, with large and passionate fan bases, can utilize and capitalize on social media. But what about teams and players in the minor leagues?
Current Success in Minor League Baseball
According to an article by Josh Leventhal on BaseballAmerica.com, “social media have become the perfomance-enhancers of teams’ marketing campaigns, except instead of being frowned upon, social networking is becoming accepted as the best and fastest way to get a message to your fans.” Leventhal continues, “Direct mailing campaigns are being replaced by Facebook and Twitter pages, where fans can actually interact with the team. Streaming video gives fans more access than a basic Website or message board ever did.”
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Sam is a Creative Strategist for VaynerMedia, a social media agency based in New York City. Sam previously worked as an Account Executive for the New York Jets as well as the New Jersey Nets and spent time working with former NBA player Jalen Rose as well as NFL safety Kerry Rhodes. He now focuses on creative strategy across VaynerMedia's portfolio. You can follow Sam at http://twitter.com/gosam & visit VaynerMedia at http://www.vaynermedia.com.
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I’m banging my hands against my head as one of my favorite NCAA basketball teams turns the ball over …again.
The Big Dance, March Madness, the NCAA Tournament … it’s begun in a big way!
There’s not a neater publicity package that exists than the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. CBS Sports, the event’s current television partner, revs up its coverage with an exclusive unveiling of 65 teams and follows it with three weekends of some of the best the sport has to offer.
The Dan Patrick Show conducted a poll and more than half who responded said that they’d rather attend an NCAA Basketball Tournament than a Super Bowl. A couple of callers said they’d attend just the first weekend of the hoops if given the chance between it and the Super Bowl or World Series.
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Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.
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