This week’s top news in #SportsBiz includes Andrew Luck and his not-so-typical endorsement deal with Klipsch. Other news includes Rivalry Week seeing a major increase in ticket prices, FIFA and Brazil experiencing a tragedy and a setback, apron advertising in the NBA, and Walmart advertising with Thanksgiving day football. Get your #SportsBiz fix below.
Sports Business
Andrew Luck atypical endorser of Klipsch
Often times, we see top athletes signing endorsement deals to promote Subway’s sandwiches or Nike’s golf clubs. Endorsements typically see athletes promote the product and collect a check, but some going a little more in-depth than others. Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck takes his endorsement more seriously.
In an interview with Forbes, Luck explained how he was in the weight room and noticed how great the music sounded at the time. After looking up and seeing the speakers said “Klipsch”, he decided to look into the matter.
Klipsch is an official partner of the Colts. With Luck having a passion for design and technology, pursuing the company was ideal. With a degree in Architecture from Stanford, the fit seemed perfect.
Andrew Luck signed the deal, part of which included the opportunity to work with some of Klipsch’s product and design people. The partnership will see Luck and Klipsch design a pair of headphones with Andrew’s name on them.
Take a look at an interview with Andrew Luck below and read the full story here.
Photo credit – youtube.com
Sports Ticket Sales
Rivalry week in college football drives high ticket prices
If you follow college football, you certainly know that the Auburn and Alabama matchup is quite the rivalry. Otherwise known as the “Iron Bowl”, this clash between (1) Alabama and (4) Auburn is at the top of the list when it came to this week’s college football ticket prices; and it’s safe to say the ending lived up to the hype.
The average price of a ticket to attend the Iron Bowl was $522. To put this price in perspective, $522 is 241 percent above the average cost of an Auburn home game this year. While not as drastic, the 104 percent increase over the average Alabama ticket is still notable.
Behind the Iron Bowl, the football game between Clemson and South Carolina garnered some high prices as well. $261 will get you a seat to this matchup, which is 118 percent above South Carolina’s typical home game ticket price. This price is also 21 percent above the average for a Clemson game.
What is equally as interesting, is the fact that hotel rates for this game have skyrocketed. A 3.5 star hotel in the Columbia area will cost fans $289. A hotel room on a typical weekend only costs $149.
While there are plenty of other great rivalries in college football this weekend, these two games are showing the highest dollar amount above average ticket prices. Considering the prices already slated for games like the Rose Bowl ($774) and the BCS Championship game ($1994), the power of college sports is clearly evident.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – jclyde.com
Sports Business
Another setback and tragedy plagues FIFA and Brazil
As if Brazil wasn’t having enough issues in its preparation for the 2014 World Cup, things appear to be getting worse as deadlines are trying to be met. After an accident that includes three lost lives and a damaged World Cup stadium, work has properly been halted on the project.
Corinthians Arena has a rough deadline of December, which many believe has been rushing workers to complete the project in time. In the latest development, a crane that was lifting a piece of the stadium’s roof toppled over, tragically taking three lives.
Rain is believed to have softened the soil underneath the mega-crane. Work has now been halted, at least until Monday. But some are saying that the accident could halt construction for a couple months, partially due to the damage done to the completed portion of the stadium. FIFA said in a statement sent to The Associated Press:
“It is too premature to make any detailed assessment on the situation of the Corinthians Arena as we are still awaiting the technical report to be able to evaluate the scale of the damage. We will be able to provide an update earliest next week following the FIFA Organizing Committee of the FIFA World Cup.”
Corinthians Arena is set to play host to the World Cup opener. This incident now has FIFA officials worried, especially since there is no backup plan for the World Cup Tournament. Street riots, stadium delays, and labor struggles have continually plagued Brazil, furthering the worry that the country will not be ready to host the Tournament.
It has been said that Brazil has taken on too much between hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. With the World Cup as a “pre-assessment” of how the Olympics may carry out, things aren’t looking as good as they should.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – news.yahoo.com
Sports Sponsorship
Apron signage helps Heat earn more in sponsorship revenue
In an announcement over the summer, the NBA ok’d a movement that allows teams to sell advertising space on the “apron” of each court. This space consists of the out-of-bounds area on the sideline between the baselines and the coaches’ box where teams typically advertise their website or Twitter handles.
With this announcement, it was also explained that the advertising had to be a decal. The reason for this is because this apron advertising is only allowed to be displayed during locally televised games. This idea is considered one of the better ones, when compared to placing advertising on team jerseys. Although, the latter would certainly bring in more revenue, the talks on such advertising is said to have stalled.
Either way, the Miami Heat are now the third NBA team to take advantage of apron advertising. The team’s new sponsorship with Samsung has allowed for the apron to be utilized effectively. Heat CRO John Vidalin, explained the deal:
“It’s an integrated sponsorship with a good mix of assets. It has a combination of assets including the apron, some LED signage, promotions, playoff options, and social media activations.”
The Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors are the other two teams that the Heat join in apron advertising. It’s important to note that Samsung is making a huge push into the NBA, with league-wide sponsorship and this newest deal with Lebron James and Company.
You can read more here and here.
Sports Marketing
NFL a prime place to advertise Walmart’s Black Friday deals
On Thanksgiving day, family and friends gather to feast on large amounts of food and typically sit down to watch NFL football. This makes football and idea place for a mega-company like Walmart to advertise, especially considering its goal of doubling beer sales in the next three years.
Walmart U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Quinn exclaimed:
“We’re doing more with the NFL around Black Friday than we’ve ever done. I don’t know why we didn’t figure it out sooner.”
Walmart comes along with 1.5 million associates. Quinn said, “it blows things out to a whole different world of impact.” And while Walmart is not an official sponsor of the NFL, they have suppliers that are. That includes Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble Co. and Campbell Soup Company. Some of those sponsors, too, have stepped up NFL efforts this year.
All of this new NFL advertising for Walmart comes in lieu of highlighting Black Friday specials. “Football, family and beer, that’s what I am talking about,” Mr. Mac Naughton said in a presentation, after showing a reel of NFL highlights.
For Walmart, there really isn’t an easier place to find a target market than Thanksgiving day football.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – prwatch.org
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