“Columbia Pictures’ Moneyball was nominated for a handful of Academy Awards on Jan. 24. At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, across town from the studio where this box office hit about the Oakland A’s was filmed, an ongoing drama of a different kind is playing out.”
“Even when the deal was finalized and the lockout lifted, the details of revenue sharing were not finalized and unclear. But now they are starting to come into focus. ”
“All indicators are pointing to the growing importance of storytelling in the intertwined social media, PR and advertising worlds. In fact, one could go as far as claiming that storytelling is one of the current buzz words in online and offline marketing as proven by the recent attention it has drawn from sources as varied as Hubspot, Simply Zesty, Fast Company, Social Media Today and many other quality blogs and publications. All predictions are indicating that digital storytelling is on the way up as one of the most proven and valuable tactics and techniques to engage with communities and improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.”
“In the 40th anniversary year of Title IX, the federal law intended to bring equality to men’s and women’s athletics, Peg Brand sees at least one measurement of the remaining disparity.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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. ”
“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. ”
“Leigh Steinberg calls them ‘checkout days,’ when he would drink vodka from morning until night, often straight from the bottle. Divorced and living alone for the first time, he’d drink while sitting on his balcony overlooking Newport Bay or while in bed, sometimes half-conscious.”
“Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider was today named to the Class of 2012 of Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business, an award from the Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal recognizing the architects and builders of sports.”
“CRG Partners lists as its special talents financial advisory work, restructuring and reorganization, and turnaround management — polite descriptions of services needed by companies in distress. The firm’s Web site names a long list of clients, from Kmart to Popeyes Chicken to Sunbeam Products. As of this week, the firm’s client list formally includes the New York Mets.”
“This year’s only labor negotiation will be in the NHL, with the current CBA expiring on Sept. 15. There is way too much at stake for either side to even think about playing chicken, but a work stoppage is still a real possibility. With former MLBPA executive director Don Fehr now leading the NHLPA, owners won’t be able to dictate to the players as they did in the last negotiation.”
It was business for me as usual this week since I celebrated Thanksgiving last month, although I wouldn’t mind a second helping of turkey. Regardless, I want to do a short list of things that I’m thankful for this year as a sports fan.
Vancouver 2010 Olympics: Not only was it the time of my life in my hometown, but there were plenty of great stories there, from strategies to rivalries to upstarts. I also relished the opportunity to learn a lot more about smaller amateur sports.
Youtube: As excited as I am about athletes tweeting me back, there’s no social media tool that’s influenced my sports experience as much as Youtube. I’m now able to see Canucks hockey highlights in full HD anytime I want, mashups of comedic sports ads, and….
Blake Grffin. Yikes. White man jumps high. Way high. Billy Hoyle would approve.
What are you thankful for this thanksgiving in the world of sports? Let me know in the comments below. Now this week’s posts… [click to continue…]
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.
It all started on October 29th during a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks. Minnesota Center Kosta Koufos missed an open jumper. Several players, including the Wolves’ Kevin Love and Wes Johnson, went for the rebound. Love was hacked, sending him to the free throw line. As Love prepared to take his foul shots, Johnson walked towards him, extending his arm for a high five. Love and Johnson failed to connect, whiffing several times, before Love, determined to make contact, followed Johnson to his spot along the hashes and got the job done. Take a look for yourself:
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.
Before you read further, watch Nike’s latest commercial, “Rise,” featuring LeBron James.
The Background
Since most of you already know the story, I’ll make this as quick as I can. Feel free to skip through if you know the background. The last four or five months have been interesting for the King. After seven years in Cleveland and no championship rings, LeBron James decided it was time to leave.
In a prime time ESPN event called The Decision, LeBron announced to the world that he would be “taking [his] talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat. Cavs fans were furious, their hometown hero (LBJ is from Akron, Ohio) was leaving them, having never delivered the championship he promised.
Basketball fans from all over were upset as well, mainly with how LeBron decided to handle the announcement. Even though the money raised during the show was then donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America, most thought it was a pretentious and selfish way to announce his decision. [click to continue…]
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.
Technology helps us do a lot of things; it saves time, saves lives and is now beginning to save the careers of sports executives. With sports being a multi-billion dollar industry, professional teams, and more specifically scouts are looking for anything that can give them the edge over their opponents.
Enter technology.
Traditional scouting methods meant a scout had to be out on the road, staying in hotels and costing teams money. Today, scouts can sit on their couch watch their latest prospect. Even if they can’t watch him or her on live television, they can get a DVD made up of highlights and watch that instead. With technology allowing us to become more mobile than ever, why should teams go out to the world, when the world now comes to them?
In 2006, Major League Baseball’s draft lasted 50 rounds, and had over 1500 players picked. The National Football League’s draft lasts for only seven rounds with 256 picks typically made. With sports executives being put under time constraints more than ever, how can they effectively research all these prospects? [click to continue…]
We’re now starting to see more and more teams getting involved with social media. This is great, but I think it’s time they start to look beyond only utilizing the major platforms (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook) and really start to embrace more emerging and niche platforms (Ustream, Tumblr, Flickr).
Every platform offers something different and therefore appeals to different types of people. Facebook and Twitter are (currently) more popular than others and should demand more time and resources, but surely the fans that use these emerging platforms deserve some love too? And surely there is value in these platforms for teams?
Ash is the co-founder of FundSport.com a grassroots sports community providing sports clubs and athletes from around the world with professional, easy-to-understand advice and articles on all aspects of grassroots sport including sponsorship, fundraising, the Internet, social media, club management, PR and marketing. As well as being passionate about the development of grassroots sport Ash also has a keen involvement in the sports social media industry. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14
In November 2009, I introduced a series of articles I called‘Social Media Report Card,’ where I graded each of the four major sports leagues – NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB – on their social media presence. I made a point of being harsh. In particular, I criticized each of the leagues for only utilizing the major platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) and not adopting some of the emerging platforms (Tumblr, Dailybooth, and Ustream), as well as for not interacting enough with the fans. The series received a lot of positive feedback, so I’ve decided to continue with my ‘Social Media Report Cards,’ this time focusing on individual athletes.
I chose to start with Steve Nash for a few reasons. First, Nash is one of my favorite athletes from any sport right now, which is saying a lot since I am typically a hometown fan (Phillies, Eagles, Sixers). Second, he has always been incredibly entertaining to watch on the court, and has also done some really cool and fun stuff off the court. Third, I think he is one of the most underrated social media users in the sports world. So without further ado, here we go!
Visibility (B+)
Steve Nash might have joined Twitter because of his former teammate, and social media rock star Shaquille O’Neal (@The_Real_Shaq & @The_Real_Nash), but he has fully embraced it and created a really great presence. He has more than 110,000 followers. Nash is also on Facebook, with over 575,000 fans. And to complete the trifecta, he has a YouTube account where he has racked up more than 630,000 total upload views. Before all of these, Nash was challenging fans to competitions (e.g. most free throws in a minute, staring contest) on Baron Davis’ social network, I Beat You. While I haven’t seen him go live on Ustream or snap photos on DailyBooth, Nash has embraced social media across a variety of platforms.
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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We’re now starting to see more and more teams getting involved with social media. This is great, but I think it’s time they start to look beyond only utilizing the major platforms (
In November 2009, I introduced a series of articles I called ‘Social Media Report Card,’ where I graded each of the four major sports leagues – 
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