According to Scarborough, the Colts are the #3 NFL team in the U.S. in terms of % of the population that has watched, attended or listened in the past 12 mo. (Green Bay #1 and Pittsburgh #2).

Why is this important for Sports 2.0? It speaks to the fact that geographic market size does not determine the size of a team’s fan base…and hopefully…leads sponsors and media buyers to consider associating with the most popular teams, rather than just buying the biggest media markets.

Indianapolis is the 26th largest DMA, but #3 in top 5 largest fan base (Harris Interactive… and 10.5 million Americans 12+ say the Colts are their favorite team(according to ESPN Sports Poll).

Yes, this has everything to do with winning….Colts have been winning, so they’ve been on national TV a lot, which exposes them to the biggest audience…and more and more people become fans…

And every time we’re on TV in a market - any market - our Website traffic spikes from that market.

Perhaps there’s a 2 (or 3) screen strategic opportunity here?

The NFL owners have spoken and the work of the Indianapolis community over the past 25 years has paid off. The 2012 Super Bowl will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Economic Impact Expected to be in Millions

Moments ago, National Football League owners, meeting in Atlanta, voted to award the 2012 Super Bowl to Indianapolis over competing offers from Houston and the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Ariz. The decision is expected to mean an economic bonanza for the Indianapolis region as well as global media attention. A study released in April from Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research suggests that the Indianapolis region stands to receive a $365 million economic boost from the event.

This economic success comes on the heels of years of hard work by hundreds of people in and around Indy. After falling short last year in its bid for the 2011 game, Indy chose to “double down” on the community theme, involving thousands of volunteers, young and old, online and offline, to secure victory this time around.

For more information, see Indy’s Super Bowl Website.

All the hard work and community involvement paid off…

33 Indiana 8th graders prepare to deliver Indianapolis’ bid for Super Bowl 2012
The photo above was taken from this video, which can be seen at the Indianapolis Super Bowl bid site.

After months of preparation, Indianapolis’ bid to for Super Bowl 2012 was hand delivered recently to the various NFL owners by local students and their chaperones. Sending 8th graders to NFL and team headquarters all around the country was just one way Indinapolis made good on its goal to involve the whole community in its bid to host the 2012 Super Bowl here. Always supportive Colts owner, Jim Irsay, was on hand to encourage the students and help to send them on their way.

Follow this link for more information, and to register.

Here’s all the detail:

Sports Marketing 2.0 VIP Summit – Chicago

“…..Web 2.0 is a transformative force that’s propelling companies across all industries towards a new way of doing business characterized by harnessing collective intelligence, openness, and network effects.” - O’Reilly

What is this Summit all about?

Sports Marketing 2.0 VIP Summit is and educational event designed to help sports marketers learn best practices for the present and future of online sports marketing.

Sports marketing and the good old days

Sports have long been a reliable platform for marketers thanks to the deep emotion sports evoke for fans and athletes alike. For decades now brands large and small have successfully leveraged teams, events, leagues and athletes to gain awareness, consideration and purchase of products and services. And over all these years the sports marketing world has revolved reliably around television and the stadium, or physical location of the sporting event.

Web 2.0 has changed the very nature of the online experience for sports fans, media and sponsors alike. Fans are not just fans anymore. They are also journalists, community members and consumers and some fans have become powerful centers of influence. As new and inexpensive (free) Web applications emerge, marketers will face many new challenges and opportunities as they seek to leverage sport to grow their brands. Turning over control to fans runs counter to traditional marketers, but it could be the biggest opportunity of our lifetimes.

But marketing success in this realm will not come automatically. This summit is designed to help marketers do what fans are already doing: build collective intelligence by cooperating openly and harnessing network effects.

Who is attending?

- Senior level brand marketers and sponsors
- Web Publishers focused on sports content, communication and community
- Sports teams & leagues
- Interactive Agencies involved in sports marketing
- Web applications developers enabling sports initiatives
- Consultants and others working in sports marketing and Web 2.0

How will it work?

This event is designed to be a highly educational and deeply relational conversation. The main focus of the day will be the panel discussions, but there will also ample time for attendees to meet each other and share ideas. In fact, the highlight of the day will be a casual, 3-course dinner which we will enjoy together after the formal presentations are done. There will also be an “open mic” portion of the program to let any attendee who wishes to express his or her insights, opinions and experiences. Before, during and after the event all attendees will be encouraged to share their best practices and case studies through our online community site www.sportsmarketing20.com.

Where? United Center

When? June 12, 2008
1pm to 8pm including dinner

Schedule:

Introductions & agenda: 1:00pm – 1:30
Panel discussions 1:30pm – 5:15pm
Open Microphone– 5:15pm to 6:00pm
Cocktails – 6:00pm to 6:30pm
Dinner – 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Panel Descriptions

Panel I – 1:30pm to 2:15pm

Measurement: What is the unique business opportunity presented by Sports 2.0?

Moderator: Daniel Aronson, IBM Director Marketing Strategy, Media & Entertainment

Let’s get right to the bottom line: this panel is about quantifying the value of online sports properties. Is “sports” just another media buy or is there a sponsorship opportunity online? How is the sports audience different from more general online audiences? We’ll look at issues like: quantity versus quality of audience and exposure versus engagement and try to get to the bottom line – how sponsors evaluate sports properties online.

Panel II – 2:30pm to 3:15pm

Engagement: Which digital content is the most valuable?

Moderator: Brian Biniak, Jacked.com, CEO
Sports fans are highly active online, and they’re not just consuming content, they’re creating it too. This panel will explore some of the ways unique to sports that Web properties are engaging with sports fans in ways that are most meaningful to the fans. We’ll also discuss ways sponsors are building brands and driving sales from this engagement.

Panel III – 3:30pm to 4:15pm

Killer Apps: Which features and functions are the most valuable?

Content doesn’t just sit on Web pages anymore. It moves and it is controlled by the fan. How are fans communicating with each other and how can sponsors and publishers support this conversation and profit from it?

Panel IV 4:30pm to 5:15pm

Social networks: How can social nets help fans, properties and sponsors alike?

Moderator: Pat Coyle, Indianapolis Colts

Being a sports fan is a social experience whether you’re at home, at the stadium or online. This panel will examine various forms of sports fan communities. It will also reveal how sponsors are driving brand value and sales by supporting and engaging with these communities in various markets even beyond sports.

Open Mic on the clock – 5:15pm to 6:00pm
Cocktails – 6:00pm to 6:30pm
Dinner – 6:30pm to 8:00pm

To register: http://sportsmarketingch.eventbrite.com/