The Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz is a collection of articles curated by Sports Networker’s Online Marketing Coordinator – Steve Richards  

Sports Business

IMG Worldwide Squashes Rumors of Being Up For Sale

“I immediately contacted Jim Gallagher, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at IMG Worldwide.  Gallagher quickly put the rumor to bed.  ”There aren’t ANY conversations going on with Lagardère, or any other company or individual for that matter, regarding a purchase of IMG,” said Gallagher.”

Nationals’ Negotiations With MASN Will Have Huge Impact on Franchise

“Television contracts and the money generated from media rights fees have become a crucial factor in how baseball teams are run. Along with ticket sales, they are a team’s primary form of income, and in recent years the fees across sports have skyrocketed. The Lerners have never had a say on their arrangement with MASN. Until now.”

Sports Networking

Sports Business Career Conference During The NFL Combine

“Participants will gain insight into careers in sports through presentations by successful sports executives, including GM’s, front office executives, Scouts, Sports Agents, player personnel, and well known media currently working in football. This event includes networking, information on breaking into the sports industry and advice on advancing your sports business career. College credit available for attending. ”

5 Tips to Turn Your Personal Profile Into A Professional Place

“Recently, Facebook introduced a few new features that will help someone who wants to use their personal profile for personal branding purposes. If you want to use the world’s most popular social network to promote what you do professionally, here are a few tips to get you started. ”

Sports Marketing

Marketer’s Best Best For Super Bowl? New York Giants vs. New England Patriots

“Game would have drama of rematch, fans who travel and the No. 1 TV market…When it comes Super Bowl participants, the best matchup for marketers doesn’t necessarily involve X’s and O’s, but rather dollars and cents.” NOTE: This article was written Thursday. The rich get richer.

2012 Super Bowl advertisers unveil a brand new, 40-year-old game plan

“Volkswagen will be airing a 60-second spot. So will their sister brand, Audi. Hyundai’s running a :60 just before the kickoff, on the assumption that that’s when they’ll have more of viewers’ undivided attention. (Of course, the fact that they’ll be paying only $200,000 to $4 million just before the game instead of around $6+ million during it may have had something to do with it.)”

Sports Sponsorship

Sports Sponsorship Moves Into The Fast Lane

“The cash it generated from sport sponsorship will soon overtake ticket sales, however brands now need to form commercial relationships and strategic partnerships on the basis of shared objectives rather than awareness.”

Sports Sponsorship Gets Its Own Indaba

“In recognition of the high power of sports sponsorship and marketing, the first fully focused Sports Sponsorship Indaba will take place on Friday, 27 January 2012, at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset, Cape Town. A main topic of discussion will be Government’s plan to ban alcohol marketing that will have an adverse effect on sports sponsorships such as the J&B Met.

Sports Sales

Liverpool’s Performance Didn’t Warrant Price, Adidas CEO Says

“Liverpool, which is also a five-time European champion, has replaced Adidas with a club record, 6-year, 25 million pound ($38.3 million) contract with Warrior Sports, a subsidiary of New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. The accord, Warrior’s first major soccer contract, begins next season and is worth almost double the current agreement with Adidas.”

Tiger Woods is Still Golf’s Biggest Draw

“‘He is a giant of the sport,’ says Giles Morgan, head of sponsorship at HSBC, as record crowds are expected at the National Course for Tiger Woods’ debut in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship…Around 40,000 people attended last year’s tournament, and the organizers are hoping to double that tally this time. While the Woods Effect may have different characteristics to its pre-2009 vintage, it is still a force.”

Sports Social Media

Four Action Sports Channels Hit YouTube

“During the past few months, most of the anticipatory hype has been lavished upon Tony Hawk’s Ride Channel, its producers now tasked with rolling out 22 shows. Teaming up with some of ‘the best people in the skate industry,’ Hawk says the channel will cover the gamut, from trick tips and tour clips to music and art.”

StatSmack Provides Legitimate Breakthrough in Sports Social Media

“StatSheet has launched something simple, and simply ingenious, to the sports social media public. Called StatSmack, and available online, through App Store and Android Market, the service allows sports fans to select their favorite team and an opponent from drop-down boxes, and access statistics that will make their tweets more relevant, edgier, and cutting.”

Sports Media

Lesley Visser Embraces Role As Sports Media Trailblazer

“Visser was the first woman on an NFL beat, the first woman to cover the NFL from the sidelines, the first to cover a World Series, the first woman to cover a Final Four as well as the first woman inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

WSCR Changed The Landscape of Sports – For Better and Worse

“When WSCR first flipped the switch, five years after WFAN launched in New York in 1987, nobody could have anticipated how sports talk radio would transform coverage of the local teams and beyond. Sports talk radio stations, now numbering more than 500 in the country, gave sports fans a voice they never had before, often giving players, coaches and team executives a headache they never had before.”

Sports Technology

A Fantasy App Store? CBS Sports To Launch “First Open Platform” For Fantasy Sports

“Depending on your familiarity, it might come as a surprise that fantasy sports is a huge business. In fact, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association via Ad Week, its total market impact is upwards of $2 billion, with direct revenues spent on fantasy sports products and services at over $800 million…Yes, fantasy sports are much beloved not only by regular ole sports fans, but by data and numbers geeks, who eagerly ply sports with every known statistical algorithm or formula to get the best teams.”

Nike FuelBand Motivates People to Make It Count

“Nike has introduced its FuelBand, a wristband that measures a user’s daily physical activity by acting as a calorie-counter, clock or a pedometer. It’s designed for anyone who wants to be more active and measures movement to motivate people.”

Sports Jobs

UT Students to Gain Work Experience At Super Bowl XLVI

“A group of University of Tennessee, Knoxville, students and one faculty member will help prepare special events and conduct other behind-the-scenes work at this year’s NFL Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, Indiana.”

McGarry: An Intern Is Born

“Not that it’s some stunning upset that life has more twists than a ballpark pretzel. But raise your hand if you’ve ever heard this one: One week you are home eating Thanksgiving dinner with the family. The next you are tossing footballs with Carson Palmer as part of your job. Meet John McGarry.”

Sports Events

Olympics to create ‘record’ wireless spectrum demand

“The London Olympic and Paralympic Games are likely to require up to 20,000 separate wireless frequency assignments, according to the communications regulator Ofcom.”

The Zone Defense Has Found Its Place In The NBA

“During the Western Conference finals two seasons ago, then-Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson derided, in his unique way, the Phoenix Suns’ use of the zone defense. Suns coach Alvin Gentry played along. ‘If we have to play our girlie zone, as somebody said, we’ll play our girlie zone,” he said. “We’re going to do whatever we have to do to win.’”

Is there anything we missed this week in the world of sports business? Let us know your thoughts about the Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz in the comments below and please feel free to share this article with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

About Lewis Howes

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The Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz is a collection of articles curated by Sports Networker’s Online Marketing Coordinator – Steve Richards

Sports Business

You Say Potato, Idaho Says Cha-Ching 

“Companies that sponsor these games are hoping you’ll be thinking about them when you turn on the TV or walk into the stadium. From pizza and fried chicken to auto parts and insurance, 35 companies jumped in to have their name plastered on this year’s bowl games. But what’s really in it for these businesses, who are shelling out hundreds of thousands of sponsorship dollars?”

Tim Tebow Joining LeBron and Tiger as Stars Moving the Sports Needle

“Clearly, the Broncos quarterback is moving the sports needle nationally. But by how much, and who else is doing likewise? To get an answer we sought advice from a number of sources, including those in sports marketing, television and research.”

Sports Networking

A Sports Pioneer for Women

“Jean Price is being remembered as a torchbearer for women in sports, someone who was living an active lifestyle decades before it became vogue.”

How Your Personal Brand Will Get You Hired 

“As Dan Schwabel has said before, ‘If a resume was the deciding factor in recruitment, there would never be a need for interviews.’ Here are some reasons how your personal brand can get you hired.”

Sports Marketing

EA Sports Creating Real-World Experiences

“EA Sports is no longer tethered to the virtual world. The brand, known for its celebrity-driven sports games like Madden and the Tiger Woods golf titles, is branching out into airports and cruise ships.”

Republican Rob Cornilles’ sports marketing company looms large in his race for Congress

“Tualatin businessman Rob Cornilles is putting his unusual career in sports marketing to a new purpose: selling himself to voters as the Republican candidate in Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. ”

Sports Sponsorship

GAC Dunks Logistics Deal with Houston Rockets

“The deal marks GAC’s first foray into basketball and its first sports sponsorship in the United States. Internationally, GAC is already a sponsor and supplier of logistics for sports like football, sailing, golf and motor racing.”

Playing in the Big Leagues

“Sports team and event sponsorship has become ubiquitous in the world of big corporate marketing, but until now has remained a closed shop to smaller companies. However, with the great power of sport to unite and excite people, it’s natural that businesses of all sizes would want a piece of the action for their brand marketing strategy. Enter VirtualSponsorship.com.”

Sports Ticket Sales

Ticket Sales are Slow for Virginia Tech’s Sugar Bowl Trip

“It hasn’t been easy for Virginia Tech to sell its allotment of 17,500 tickets for the Sugar Bowl. After nearly two weeks of sales, the school is nearing the 10,000 mark, with a final estimate only slightly higher.”

Business is Heating Up for 2012 PGA Championship

“The Aug. 6-12 event is projected to draw 210,000 spectators during its seven-day run. More than 50,000 of those will come from out-of-town, filling up hotels and restaurants across metro Charleston and stimulating the local economy at a time of year when the sultry temperatures tend to keep visitors off the streets and at the beach in the nation’s No. 1 tourist destination.”

Sports Social Media

Learning From the Sports Industry Can Help You Win on Twitter

“Twitter has done wonders for the world of sports in quite a few ways. It may seem like the world of sports is completely separate from Twitter strategies for businesses, but when you break it down, it turns out that the smart use of Twitter for sports is based on the same principals as the smart use of Twitter for businesses.”

Canadian Players Develop Own Social Media Policy

“Don Hay admits he’s not exactly a Twitter aficionado. In fact, the coach of the Canadian world junior hockey team doesn’t tweet, period. Texts, yes. Tweets, no. Still, social media plays a part in today’s hockey world, and Hay has some definite opinions on how the 22 Canadian players should conduct themselves over the next two weeks in the Twitterverse.”

Sports Media

Broadcasting Wins Big with NFL Deals

“The contract renewals of NBC, CBS and Fox preserve for another nine years the mutually prosperous relationship between pro football and TV broadcasting. The extensions send a wonderful message about broadcasting and the network-affiliate partnership at the heart of it. They say that broadcasting is here to stay and will continue to be the dominant television medium. And it’s all thanks to retransmission consent. Let’s hope the FCC doesn’t mess that up.”

Dana White Named Broadcasting & Cable Magazine 2011′s Top Sports TV Executive

“White has had quite a year, helping orchestrate the UFC’s seven-year deal with Fox which will see the MMA organization run four events on “big” Fox with secondary programming featuring live events and compilation programs spilling over to FX, Fuel TV and other Fox family outlets.”

Sports Technology

Microsoft and Nokia Pay Perform for A Mobile Soccer App

“Illustrating how rival platforms are keen to attract quality apps from iOS to their stores, Nokia and Microsoft are funding online sports broadcasting powerhouse Perform Group to build an app for their Windows Phone 7 and Symbian handsets. Perform is building an app in-house for Goal.com, the soccer website it acquired earlier this year, which already has iPhone andAndroid apps, built by Handmark.”

What is the Future for Sports Technology?

“In accordance with the constant natural selection of continual progress, old technologies will first have to adapt, and then gradually fade out to make way for new and better ones, as digital really is the future. As a way of connecting to favorite radio and video transmissions via your smartphone, laptop or desktop computer, many a web development company is producing useful website widgets.”

Sports Jobs

The Value of an MBA In the Sports Industry

“How valuable do sports industry professionals consider their MBA qualification to be in the sports industry?”

Tuiasosopo Steps Into New Role with Bruins

“Things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to for former University of Washington star Marques Tuiasosopo when he decided to come to UCLA.”

Sports Events

5 Bold Predictions for Christmas Day Games (VIDEO)

“This Christmas Day, basketball fans will receive the best gift ever in the form of five NBA games that signal the start of the lockout-shortened season.  The five matchups feature a new-look team, an NBA Finals rematch along with a rivalry game and two other great contests.”

Stanley Cup Riot: Precedence Points to Prison

“In court cases precedent is always important. Meaning if someone has previously received a certain sentence for a crime, then another person who commits the same crime under similar circumstances will get the same sentence. The 2011 Stanley Cup riot was nothing new to this fine city, as exactly the same thing happened in 1994. So what happened to those charged after the 1994 riot?”

Is there anything we missed this week in the world of sports business? Let us know your thoughts about the Sportsbiz Weekly Buzz in the comments below and please feel free to share this article with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

About Lewis Howes

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A savvy athlete can today command huge endorsement and sponsorship deals.

A recent article on the BBC spoke of the endorsement riches awaiting British tennis star Andy Murray, despite his recent loss in the Australian Grand Slam final – his third unsuccessful attempt to win a major. In the Sports Illustrated feature on the 50 highest earning American athletes of 2010, it was revealed that golfer Phil Mickelson pocketed $52million in endorsements. Tiger Woods earned more, but I’ll come to him later.

Sports athletes and celebrities draw huge attention from corporate sponsors and media as they appeal to many demographics. An athlete endorsing a product can transform a brand (of course, it can also backfire and create an undesired outcome).

Initially the endorsement creates exposure for the brand. From that starting point, it can then achieve an array of positive brand impact factors – from association to recognition, consideration, favorability, loyalty and ultimately to increased sales of a product. It is thought that consumers purchase athlete endorsed products based on a bundle of perceived benefits and these can include knowledge of the sport, entertainment, nostalgia, affiliation and other benefits personal to the buyer.

So, if that is the logic of endorsements, who would you choose to endorse your product? What attributes do brands look for in an athlete?

In a successful product endorsement, the athlete does so much more than sell the product. The athlete actually becomes a ‘human brand’ in his or her own right. The key attributes can be broken down into two groupings – those you see on the field and those off of it – and these two groupings have to be wrapped in consistency and authenticity. Derek Jeter’s endorsement of Gillette Fusion, for instance, must appear genuine and authentic. If not, then Jeter won’t persuade you to buy the razors. The perceived benefits will not be there.

On-field attributes

1. Performance quality
2. Winning record
3. Skill
4. Style
5. Potential

These attributes speak for themselves. Brands want their endorsers to be successful, to be skillful and to play the game in style.  This explains why champion basketball player Michael Jordan’s association with Nike was so successful. Linking with the very best in the game proved to be a successful strategy for Nike. Jordan became arguably the most recognized athlete on the planet and Nike became the stand alone leader in sports shoe sales.

You also need to look at potential. Tennis champion Maria Sharapova signed endorsements with Nike and Prince rackets at the ages of 11 and 14, respectively. At the age of just 17 she won her first major and later became world number one. She quickly gave positive returns to those brands that supported her at a young age.

For me, another case of a brand spotting massive potential while understanding the importance of performance quality, style and skill is the recent contract signed between Adidas and New Zealand rugby player Sonny Bill Williams. Williams is a relatively new convert to the game of rugby union. He has only been in union two years after defecting from rugby league amid much controversy in 2008. Since then, he has only played 4 times for the All Blacks – the legendary New Zealand national team. With a huge year looming for the game, in which New Zealand will host the World Cup, the talented Williams is expected to be a sensation. Adidas have realized this and have added him to a group of global athletes including David Beckham and Lionel Messi, from soccer, and Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose, from the NBA.

Off-field attributes

1. Personality
2. Physical attractiveness
3. Uniqueness or unique personal background
4. Role model
5. Relationship with fans

Brands should look for athletes who possess most of the off-field attributes above. Even when one of these attributes is clearly not achieved, possessing the on-field attributes and the other off-field ones may just be enough.  Athletes can sometimes appear bullet proof.  For instance, Nike stood by Tiger Woods, no longer a role model, even after his much publicized extra-marital affairs. Despite losing about $22 million in endorsements, from lost deals with AT&T, Gatorade and Accenture, Woods is still the biggest earner in terms of product endorsements in world sport. Woods now earns $70 million in endorsements, according to Sports Illustrated.

David Beckham is a classic case of an athlete having a personality, the looks and a relationship with fans that strongly appeals to brands and products. Beckham, 35, no longer plays in the strongest leagues in soccer. So, you could argue that his on-field attributes are not as high as they once were. However, Beckham still earns $43.7 million a year and much of that income is derived from product endorsements.

A good example of an endorser leveraging physical attractiveness is tennis star Anna Kournikova, who could be regarded as a highly successful sports loser. Despite never winning a WTA singles tournament, the tennis player earned a reported $10 million a year back in 2002 and her sponsors included Lycos, Omega watches, Berlei lingerie, Adidas and Yonex.  In a press article in July 2002, David Schwab, a spokesman from her agency, Octagon, commented:

“She’s a great tennis player, has a great look, and has global appeal. Those are the combination of characteristics companies look for when they partner with athletes”.

The first part of his statement is debatable (particularly in hindsight), but you can’t argue with the remainder.

Talking of tennis brings me back to Andy Murray. The British tennis star will create something unique should he one day win a major. He’ll become the first male British Grand Slam tennis winner in living memory (the first since Fred Perry back in 1936) and – what is more – he’ll be a winner in a truly global sport. Already scoring well on the other attributes above, Murray will finally tick the boxes of ‘winning record’ and ‘performance quality’ and will become hot property. His agent – Simon Fuller, who created the Idol music franchise, and who has also represented Beckham – will then have a genuine opportunity to turn Murray into a global ‘human brand’.

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About Chris Conway

Chris is a strategic programs analyst at the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) focusing on, amongst other things, sponsorship research, analytics and acquisition. He holds a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Business (AGSM). Chris took part in the school’s exchange program by completing a semester at Stern business school, NYU where he studied sports marketing and sports economics. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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2010 was a big year in the world of sports and social media, as leagues, teams, individual athletes, and sports fans alike began to truly understand and harness the power of social platforms. For me, 2010 was the year when social media went mainstream in the world of sports. There were many highlights, too many to name. But when I thought back on this year, these five moments stood out (in chronological order):

Pepsi Decides Against Ads in Superbowl 44

Earlier this year, Pepsi decided against running ads in the Super Bowl, instead putting the $20 million towards social media, specifically the Pepsi Refresh Project. It was the first time in 23 years Pepsi did not have an ad featured in the year’s biggest game. They were not alone, as other major brands such as FedEx opted out as well. This year, Pepsi and other advertisers are flocking back to take part in SBXLV, despite the $3M cost for a 30-second spot. So, while the big game might still be too hard to pass for major advertisers, last year is a sign that it might not be that way for long.

Bonus: “How Social Media is Changing the Super Bowl”

2010 Olympics

The Olympics games in Vancouver this year were deemed by many to be the first “social” Olympics. In ’08, when the Summer games were being held in Beijing, social media was not nearly the monster it was as of earlier this year. Medal-winning athletes like Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn actively used social platforms over the course of the Olympics, and the games even had their own Facebook Page (now with 2+ million likes). The chatter on channels like Facebook and Twitter (along with hashtag #van2010) was insane because of the global magnitude of the event. I can’t wait for the 2012 Summer games in London!

The World Cup

This year’s second biggest Twitter trend? FIFA World Cup, and deservingly so. While it might not be too popular in the United States, soccer is the world’s biggest sport. Just a few impressive numbers and stats from the World Cup… The Vuvuzela app was the #1 downloaded app in the iTunes store in June. Coca Cola’s sponsored #WC2010 hashtag received 86 million impressions in 24 hours. While the official video appears to have been taken down, Nike’s “Write The Future” commercial (a must-watch) saw 19+ million views on Youtube. The world was watching soccer during June and July and using social media as an avenue to talk about their experiences.

LeBron James, “The Decision,” & “What Should I Do”

We all know about LeBron James and his decision to go to the Miami Heat. We all know about the prime time ESPN event he put on, and about the backlash he incurred. We all know about his “What Should I Do” video and some of the rebuttals he received for it. LeBron James was the top sports trend on Twitter this year, and for all the wrong reasons. While LBJ is still one of sports’ most well-known and loved athletes, he also happens to be one of sports’ biggest villains. His “What Should I Do” video has over 4.5 million views on Youtube. The highest rated comment?

“[explicit] YOU LEBRON YOU NO RINGED KING………CELTICS!!!!!!! 2010-2011 CHAMPS.“

It was quite the year for LBJ. And social media has allowed sports fans to tell the King just what they think about him.

Two of the World’s Biggest Athletes Join Twitter

On July 6th of this year, LeBron James sent his first tweet. Four months later, Tiger Woods sent his. Neither has done an extraordinary job with Twitter to this point, but the simple fact that they joined the platform was significant enough to make the cut. When two of the world’s biggest and most recognizable athletes join the world’s second most popular social network, it’s newsworthy.

In the four hours after LBJ joined Twitter, he’d already gained 25,000 followers. Now he has 1.14 million, while Tiger has a modest 361,000 followers. In the end, there’s not much to say, other than that two of the biggest athletes in the world decided to activate their social media presence, and that means a lot.

Thinking back on 2010, would your list be the same? Is there anything I missed that deserves to be in the top five? 2010 was full of many great moments in the world of sports and social media. Let’s talk about it below!

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About Sam Taggart

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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In 2010, we’ve seen professional athletes come a long way in social media, and perhaps there’s no better platform as evidence of this than Twitter. The amount of engagement in the last year going on in the space has been phenomenal but after doing polls on the top sports professionals and top sports resources of 2010, we were curious to see who you thought the top athlete on twitter was. For more information how each athlete has ‘won’ using Twitter, read below the fold. Voting will end on next Monday and we’ll announce all the winners shortly after!

Steve Nash @SteveNash

Not only does Nash engage with fans through videos, parodies, and behind the scenes content, but he also deserves praise for assisting teammates like Grant Hill and Jared Dudley for getting on Twitter. As a whole, his Phoenix Suns are one of these most active teams on Twitter, period.

Shaquille O’Neal @THE_REAL_SHAQ

You could say he’s the Godfather of all athletes on social media – the first big name in sports to engage users with Twitter. Some even say he alluded to the overall success of Twitter. He has since cooled off, but his antics and engagement are still as fun as ever.

Robbie Rogers @RobbieRogers

Although soccer is hardly a grassroots sport, it’s not as popular in America as it ought to be. However, Robbie Rogers has quietly built a strong fan base for himself as a member of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew through a healthy dose of engagement, and using creative ways to give out swag.

Chad Ochocinco @ogochocinco

He’s quirky, eccentric, and often gets suspended from Twitter. But he’s real, and fans love him for that.

Paul Bissonnette @BizNasty2point0

The resident no-name athlete turned Twitter superstar. He is probably the least known on this list of athletes, and yet I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win at all. His personality, charisma, and ability to make light of serious situations while remaining genuine is second to none. He routinely pokes fun of his own playing time (not a lot), and talks a lot about the homeless. How could you not vote for this zinger?

Kevin Durant @KDthunderup

When KD’s not on the court practicing, he spends a lot of time engaging with his fan base, hosting Q&A sessions on Twitter, and showing exclusive content creatively through his ‘neighbor‘.

Nate Robinson @Nate_Robinson

Boy, can you tell that basketball players are dominating social media right now? Nate is another one of those mid-tier players who has elevated their brand using social media tools. However, he is also a hustler, as I’ve personally seen him tweeting at obscene hours of the day.

Tiger Woods @TigerWoods

In a desperation move to save what’s left of his public figure, Tiger turned to Twitter, and so far the response has been positive. Will it be enough?

Kerry Rhodes @KERRYRHODES

Like Shaq, Kerry was a pioneer of sorts on Twitter. Partly of his success on the space, practically the whole New York Jets (his former team) roster is now on Twitter. Not too shabby.

Larry Fitzgerald @LarryFitzgerald

Larry is an example of a guy who ‘gets it’. He engages with his fans, and talks sports with them. It isn’t always about him, or even football, but he’s a true listener and his 600,000 fans love him for it.

LeBron James @KingJames

We’ve talked about the possibilities for LeBron if he embraced social media for a long time, and it appears he has finally done so. It’s not without controversy, but when you’ve got a reach that big, every step you take is analyzed. However, when the chalk clears, LeBron may still end up gaining more on the social media space than anyone else here.

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Image by Keithallison

About Sam Chan

Sam is the community manager of Sports Networker and the Sports Executive Association. He is passionate in all things sports, mobile, and social media. His dream is for the Vancouver Canucks to win a Stanley Cup in his lifetime, although so far, its looking kind of bleak. In the past, he worked with BlackBerry and helped relaunch their Business-to-Business network. With his experience there, he can probably help you change your ringtone, maybe. When he finds time (never), he also writes infrequently at his personal blog. If you would like to talk sports, write a guest post for us, or argue about why iPhone > BlackBerry, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook or email.

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Through out this whole week, we’ve had ongoing discussions about the pros and cons of professional athletes using social media to build their brands and engage with fans. Twitter, specifically has been a hot topic due to Tiger Woods making a re-entrance to the space.

Since this is the internet, it’s expected that the general consensus supports the notion of athletes using Twitter and other social media tools, but the truth of the matter is Twitter has also gotten some athletes into some hot water, ie. Brandon Jennings, Michael Beasley, Charlie Villanueva…(or maybe the bad combination is Twitter and basketball players). Although the future definitely looks to ‘more’, is there a way to balance that authenticity? 

Monday:

How Exclusivity Can Be Big for Athletes in Social Media (Part 1)

Honestly, right now, Path is not a big deal. It’s another photo social network that wants you to share your surroundings and as of today, only iPhone users can use it (hence none of my friends have it). However, what it represents is interesting. In a world that screams for ‘no limits’, Path limits everything. You can only take pictures on the spot. You’re only allowed to have 50 friends. You aren’t allowed to share to Twitter or Facebook.

But for those who wish to maintain an intimate lifestyle (cough – athletes), the exclusive methodology could be gold. I could see Levar Fisher using it to show his kids all the cool places he travels to for work. Screw 50 friends, he only has 2 kids and a lovely wife. Limits. Interesting.

Read the full post

Tuesday:

The Future of Sports Social Media

The future of sports social media is more. More content, more engagement, more mobile, more networks.

Read the full post.

Wednesday:

Taking Control of Your Content

Kevin Love is a guy who could be doing a lot more on social media. He has the confidence and the funny persona. Also, he’s a decent basketball player. He is probably my favorite candidate to replace Shaq when he finally exits pro basketball to make Kazaam: the Sequel.

Read the full post.

Thursday:

Marketing Resources for Pro Athletes

Even though the joke around social media guru’s is that consulting consists of navigating clients to the sign up page on Twitter.com, there’s a lot more to it and Michelle makes a list of some of the best in the game for pro athletes.

Read the full post.

Friday:

How Twitter Impacts Tiger Woods’ Brand

Tiger’s transgressions were big, and showing up on Twitter just won’t save him. He’s going to need to do a lot more than that starting by winning again. Winning solves all problems. Just ask Michael Vick, or should I say ‘the best player in the league’.

Read the full post.

The Links:

Steve Young a ‘slower’ Michael Vick

Every sports PR specialist should be studying what Michael Vick has done. He has gone from public enemy number 1 to number 1 player in the country. I heard it had something to playing good football.

Greg Oden Undergoes Successful Microfracture Surgery

What a career. At this point, I don’t even know what to say anymore, other than deja vu. Oh, and Sam Bowie.

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Image by Keith Allison

About Sam Chan

Sam is the community manager of Sports Networker and the Sports Executive Association. He is passionate in all things sports, mobile, and social media. His dream is for the Vancouver Canucks to win a Stanley Cup in his lifetime, although so far, its looking kind of bleak. In the past, he worked with BlackBerry and helped relaunch their Business-to-Business network. With his experience there, he can probably help you change your ringtone, maybe. When he finds time (never), he also writes infrequently at his personal blog. If you would like to talk sports, write a guest post for us, or argue about why iPhone > BlackBerry, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook or email.

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Welcome to the second week of the Overtime Post, where we take a light and sarcastic look at the week’s posts and other sports and business news around the world.

Other than my Vancouver Canucks who have won six in a row (and I suppose I have to give the San Fransciso Giants a little bit of props for winning the World Series), it’s been a week filled with losers and I can’t decide who was the biggest loser this week: Kevin Garnett, Charlie Villanueva, Randy Moss, Brad Childress, the Texas Rangers team, or the San Francisco rioters. Your guess is as good as mine.

Onto this week’s posts:

Monday:

David Barton-Ginger on All Blacks Rugby and Social Media

I admit that I’m not too familiar with the sport of rugby but I know two things: 1. it is an extremely physical sport and only people who have a little bit of crazy play it, and 2. rugby fans are ridiculously passionate about rugby so its of no surprise to me that the All Blacks are one of the most recognizable sports brands on the planet. By the way, if anyone wants to start a #LewisHowesDoingtheHaka hashtag, I’m all for it.

Read the full post.

Tuesday:

Playing Within Facebook’s Rules

Most social media guru’s preach the importance of engagement through Twitter and Facebook, but I wonder how many take time to really look at the nitty gritty? While Facebook is a fantastic social tool, there are also plenty of rules to play by. The best players in every sport know the rules of their game inside and out, and Joseph shows you how to use Facebook’s rules to your advantage.

Read the full post.

Wednesday:

Demise of the Dallas Cowboys

As a fan of a team who has never won any championships, I can’t feel too sorry for Michelle, but I definitely know how it feels to know when your team sucks. Oops, ‘suck’ is a bit harsh eh? Well, I take it back if they actually do one of the things on Michelle’s list (I like option c).

Read the full post.

Thursday:

Playing Golf Without A Membership

Golf at a pro course, network with golf enthusiasts. have great food, and then go home and tell the wifey that you were out doing charity work? And I’m NOT lying?  Sounds like a plan to me.

Read the full post.

Friday:

Connect with Tribes Instead of Crowds

The core difference a tribe and a crowd is a sense of purpose. Tribes feel empowered, while crowds all wonder what the guy next to them is doing there. Learning how to connect with a tribe is crucial to any sports organization’s success. We at Sports Networker are proud members of The Third Tribe (Disclosure, Affiliate Link) and if you’re interested in learning more about how to reach out to tribes, that’s a good choice that we personally recommend. Oh, and although not completely related, this post reminded me of these crazy people:

Read the full post.

The Links:

Rioting Occurs After Giants Win World Series

Of course they had to tweet about it, Silicone Valley wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kevin Garnett Calls Charlie Villanueva a ‘Cancer Patient’. Upset CV Tweets About It

In other news around the 5th grade lunch room, little Johnny Wilkenson stole poor Sarah Walker’s lunch. Also, name calling is bad.

Tiger Woods is No Longer the World’s Best Golfer

Lee Westwood has overtaken the now infamous golfer. Tiger was previously number one in the world for 281 straight weeks. If you googled to see who Lee Westwood was, please raise your hands.

Nuns Sell Rare Honus Wagner Baseball Card for $200K

Too many jokes, cant. stop. to. writ

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About Sam Chan

Sam is the community manager of Sports Networker and the Sports Executive Association. He is passionate in all things sports, mobile, and social media. His dream is for the Vancouver Canucks to win a Stanley Cup in his lifetime, although so far, its looking kind of bleak. In the past, he worked with BlackBerry and helped relaunch their Business-to-Business network. With his experience there, he can probably help you change your ringtone, maybe. When he finds time (never), he also writes infrequently at his personal blog. If you would like to talk sports, write a guest post for us, or argue about why iPhone > BlackBerry, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook or email.

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Nothing is sure in this world except death, taxes and text messages that will come back to bite you in places that will hurt.

Right now, future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre, is smarting from even the suggestion that he texted a former game-day reporter for the New York Jets (there is no verification of these stories and the investigation by the NFL is in its infancy). This news evolves as golfer Tiger Woods continues to reel from released text messages, voice mails and his eventual admission to infidelity that cost him millions of dollars in endorsements and his marriage during the past year.

My guess is that phone companies are vetting each future endorsement prospect like never before.

There is a lesson here for everyone, however: everything we record in type or voice and transmit via Internet, phone or cable, is forever traceable and transferrable. The messages are also resilient to destruction. They are the movie ticket stubs that we keep for years as mementos or prom dress that hangs in a closet decades after your big night. The big difference is that texts, emails and voice messages tell stories. There’s little to guess about what’s being communicated because it’s out there for people to read and hear if that once-special someone chooses to share what you may have assumed to be forever private.

For athletes, texting seems to be this century’s version of drunk dialing. Remember when you had one too many after a college party, went home and picked up the phone and called your ex? In more cases than not, that call was far from your best move of the weekend.

Today, those little-thought actions are commonplace among all ages. Nielson Co. recently revealed that the average 13-to-17-year-old sends and receives 3,339 texts per month. Further analyzed by the The Wall Street Journal, adults are catching up. Those in the 45-54-year-old age range shared and read 323 texts per month in the second quarter of 2010.  The driving force, of course, is the mobile phone. It’s quick, and you don’t actually have to talk to the recipient. It’s changed the ways we communicate and in recent years, it’s not voice-to-voice.

Athletes, like during many other situations in which they find themselves at risk of looking bad in public and their own living rooms, should adhere to my public relations-based piece of advice: DON’T DO IT! Resist the temptation to send a suggestive message to that day’s crush. Know that any release of that, especially if it’s graphic, will come back to crush you.  It will hurt your sports career, damage your marketability and may break up your home.

For whatever reason, the public loves to see a successful person fall from grace and crawl his way up again. None of these messages can ever be considered private, ever…even years later, and are fodder for that warped voyeurism.

If an athlete is single and wants to connect with a potential love interest, do it the old fashioned way. No one ever lost an endorsement deal for discretely romantically courting the person of his or her dreams.

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About Gail Sideman

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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A couple of weeks ago I was faced with a challenge unlike anything I’d experienced in the last few years while attending the Professional Golf Association’s premier event – the PGA Championship — at the beautiful Whistling Straights golf course in Kohler, Wis. I went to the tourney as a fan, not as a member of the media, which limited my communication throughout the day.

According to PGA rules, I was not allowed to bring a phone or mobile device of any kind (which in my case, are one in the same) into the venue.  I could deal with having to silence my phone, but to be removed from social media and email was trying for someone who depends on those tools to run and monitor a publicity business.

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About Gail Sideman

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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The Nike ad. Just say those three words this week to a sports fan and it’s pretty much understood they’re talking about the Tiger Woods ad for the shoe and apparel company that debuted on SportsCenter and GolfChannel.

The social mediasphere immediately began to weigh in on its value or misplacement. By Thursday, I believe that at least 50% of my Twitter stream, sports and non-sports people alike mentioned something about the ad. That’s a boatload of tweets on one subject, and something I don’t think I’ve ever seen.

Naturally, I viewed it in a public relations sense. In a week that Woods returns to the professional golf tour after an early morning auto mishap in November sent his career to the curb for five months, I wasn’t excited about the ad.

At first glance, the Nike commercial, which is scheduled to air prior to The Master’s, is gripping. Woods stares straight ahead in black-and-white during which his late father’s voice basically asks about his thinking and if he’s learned anything. Knowing the gist of Woods’ relationship with his father, it grabs a viewer’s heart, even though we know Earl Woods’ words were spoken in another time and place. Emotion. That, of course, is what Nike wants.

That said, I think it was too soon for Nike to try to sell a self-proclaimed, humbled Woods. I realize and respect that the company has stood by its mega-million dollar investment, but since Woods only two days prior actually exchanged words with the press and the public, his sincerity has yet to be proven.

I reiterate from other posts that I don’t think Woods owes the world intimate details about his marriage or affairs. It’s more than obvious, however, that in light of sponsors’  reactions and his effect on professional golf’s image, his is still the sport’s most captivating. With that comes a responsibility to act like a trusted voice of a business. Woods is making a public effort, but he’s not there, yet. With the Nike ad, he takes an about-face on what he’s maintained to be private – his father and family – and pokes holes in his own messages. He essentially tells the media and public that much remains private except when it relates to selling something.

It goes against one of the top rules in public relations: be consistent.

According to CNBC sports business reporter, Darren Rovell, the ad will likely be viewed more than one million times in 24 hours. Nike, which enjoys cutting-edge messages, is undoubtedly thrilled. The commercial is provoking discussion like few other paid spots, and I admire it for its creativity.

From a PR standpoint, however, I think the Nike ad returns a viewers’ mindset to the salaciousness of a topic that I believe the Woods camp would rather silence, especially during the week of a major. The ad prompts discussion that may have otherwise been somewhat muted. Without the it, people would be talking more about Woods’ golf, which I think is more appropriate for a man who wants to turn the page in the court of public and professional opinion. Nike could have showed its support in other ways. This only brings about heated discussion hours before Woods attempts to turn the page on his career.

So, that’s my take as a PR agent. Do you think the Nike ad helps, hurts or doesn’t have any affect on the way people view Tiger Woods as he returns to golf after one of the most closely covered sports stories in history?

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About Gail Sideman

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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