If there was ever anyone who had the personality that screams “put me on the front of a cereal box”, it was, and is Terrell Owens.  Larger than life, fairly arrogant, a big flashy smile…the product practically makes itself.

The Terrell Owens cereal (aptly named, T.O.’s) comes by way of PLB Sports, the same company that made the Flutie Flakes cereal some years ago.  The cereal technically launches in the Buffalo area at the end of the month, but you can already pre-order the cereal from the PLB website.

Below, see exclusive pictures of the Terrell Owens cereal, which launches July 30th, in Buffalo.

[View with PicLens]

So…lets recap. Reality Show on VH1? check. Dating a Supermodel? check. On the front of a cereal box? check.  Its pretty good to be Terrell Owens right now.  Did I mention that he plays football as well…and is a multi-millionaire?

Vontoo, Inc., leading voice marketing company, announced today the release of their newest product, Vontoo V2 (Voice + Video). This powerful new interactive video offering combines the action of video with the personalization of custom phone messaging. It’s designed for marketers who want to attract, surprise and delight customers – while also collecting a permission-based database of users open to receiving future communications.

“We’ve combined two technologies which, separately, are both good, but together they make for a jaw-dropping experience,” said Kim Graham Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Vontoo. “The unique combination of video and phone is such an unexpected and smart way to engage users and successfully obtain customer opt-ins.”

Vontoo V2 uniquely integrates a video message with a recorded phone call.  Viewers are asked to provide basic contact information – name and phone number (which are kept secure and never shared or sold) – before the video will begin. As the recipient watches the online video, he sees his name appear on screen in a creative way and unexpectedly receives a phone call which appears to be placed by a celebrity personality in the video. In this manner, information is relayed to the recipient in a very entertaining, engaging and personal way.

Beta customer, the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association, implemented this video and voice campaign to much success. The team was looking for a new and exciting way to engage and connect with its season ticket holders in their renewal campaign.

“Vontoo V2 played a very innovative and important role in our recent season ticket holder renewal campaign,” said Warriors President Robert Rowell. “It was the perfect complement to our marketing mix, and the personalized video allowed our fans to interact with Head Coach Don Nelson and guard Stephen Jackson in a fun and unexpected way. The unique technology provided a great personal touch for our fans.”

Equipped to handle thousands of people simultaneously viewing the video and receiving phone calls, Vontoo V2 is a robust new product that flawlessly synchronizes call status with video cues in a high demand, high capacity, dedicated telephony environment. It also provides the most sophisticated web metrics program set-up to measure ROI on a campaign-by-campaign or overall basis.

Interesting campaign by the Warriors and Vontoo.  You enter in your information, see some video that puts you inside the Warrios huddle, and then you receive a “call” from Don Nelson himself.  Just like the press release says, the technology provides a great personal touch to those who are already Warriors season ticket holders, and potential new ticket holders.  And from the Warriors perspective?  Efficient, effortless marketing that is unobtrusive and interactive (cold calls from telemarketers that end in conflict? not any more).

So, maybe this is the future of sports business communication and advertising? Electronic communication (by way of video or maybe phone) that lets the consumer see the advertising at their own leisure?  You still get the same benefits (you get your message across, and a database of users) and they save money and time.

Seems like a good idea.

For those interested in the Warriors promotion, it can be found here: http://www.vontoo.com/video_golden_state

As you may or may not remember, the NBA borrowed $175M for its clubs back in February, and they’ve already announced a decrease in next year’s salary cap,

The league announced late Tuesday that the cap for 2009-10 will be $57.7 million, a 1.6 percent decrease from last season. The cap is generally tied to league-wide revenues, which increased by 2.5 percent in 2008-9. However, the cap decreased based on a formula set by the collective bargaining agreement.

The last time the cap dipped was between the 2001-2 and 2002-3 seasons, dropping to $40.27 million from $42.5 million. It then increased for six consecutive years, growing to an all-time high of $58.68 million last season.

And now, there’s further news that not only was the cap decrease possibly too optimistic, but that less than half of the NBA’s teams are even turning a profit,

Commissioner David Stern said Tuesday that less than half the N.B.A.’s teams turned a profit last season and that some owners had argued that a worst-case decrease in the salary cap of 5 percent might be too optimistic.

The league’s board of governors convened here and will meet again Aug. 4 with the players union in hopes of jump-starting negotiations toward reaching a new collective bargaining agreement. The current one expires in June 2011.

Some observers predict that the next collective bargaining agreement will feature drastic changes and that players will be forced to make concessions because of the economy.

Yikes.  Now, I don’t have all of the inside numbers on the other sports, but lets just look at the scenario.  Less than half the teams are turning a profit…and league wide revenues increased by 2.5% last year…Meaning that there seem to be a bunch of smaller market teams that are essentially dead weight.  I’m no expert, but that sounds like a recipe for contraction.  Sure, everything is okay during an economic boom; so much money is coming in that any short comings of weaker teams are never exposed.  But, what makes the NBA more effected than hockey, for example?  Probably nothing.  The difference is that there’s seemingly an expectation for hockey to be in trouble, based on smaller network TV coverage, residual feelings about the strike, etc.  Personally, when I think about the NBA, I don’t think about a league that has more than 50% of their teams hemorrhaging money.

And therein lies the difference.

New York Times — NBA Salary Cap Shrinks

1. Get the fans borderline excited for 10 games or so, by playing half way decent baseball

2. Trade away all their talent, of which we clearly did not have an overabundance, for younger prospects which usually have little to no chance of panning out (patiently awaiting Freddie Sanchez trade)

3. Throw in the towel and be completely out of the playoff hunt by mid-July (we’re 10 games out, yay!).

It’s good to know that everything is “right” with the Buccos; we’re right on schedule.  Around the league though, something seems to be amiss…and it shows.  Baseball attendance is down almost 6% from this time a season ago, according to Sports Business Daily,

MLB teams are averaging 30,105 fans per game through July 12, down 5.9% compared to the same period a year ago. The Yankees’ home attendance at their new ballpark continues to be the highest in baseball, despite the fact that the team is down 13.8% from its average a year ago due to a reduction in capacity from the old Yankee Stadium. The Phillies have parlayed their World Series championship into a 5.6% jump at the gate, while the team they defeated, the Rays, has seen a 9.4% increase. Leading the league in attendance gains are the Marlins (+20.5%) and the Royals (+17.4%). The Tigers (-21.8%) and Nationals (-21.7%) have seen the biggest drops at the gate.

Skipping over the too obvious and too easy joke about the Nationals drop in attendance, there does seem to be some cause for concern.  A 6% drop in attendance is certainly nothing to laugh at, especially after the increase in attendance seen in the two seasons prior.  So what is the cause for the attendance drop? Maybe fans are turning their back on the game due to the apparently rampant usage of P.E.D.’s in baseball? Or maybe its just “baseball economics”?

The high price of attending games is by far the biggest problem in Major League Baseball, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll of fans released Thursday shows.

A whopping 63 percent said the steep cost was the game’s top trouble — up from 45 percent in a survey right before opening day. Worries over players making too much money or taking steroids lagged behind.

The average ticket price is $26.64, up 5 percent over last season, according to the Team Marketing Report. (via Seattle Times Newspaper)

So, it looks like the consistently increasing ticket prices have finally come back to bite baseball.  Almost a year ago i wrote about misleading baseball revenues, as it seems as though the increased ticket prices raised revenues even though attendance had either dropped in some cases or remained stagnant.  And now, even though baseball has lowered its increase in ticket prices (prices increased 10.8% in 2008), the fact that an increase exists, coupled with a failing economy can account for a large portion of the attendance decline.

That all being said, the interesting thing to watch for will be next season.  Will baseball bank on the economy getting better and raise prices again, knowing that they can pull more people if the increase isn’t too big? Or will they forecast a bearish economy and lower prices in hopes of pulling more fans with cheap tickets and promotions?

Ah, the complexities of the baseball economy.

Sports Business Daily — MLB Attendance down 5.9% at the All-Star Break

In honor of Michael Jordan’s induction into the basketball Hall of Fame later this year (doesn’t it seem like he should have been in a long time ago?), Gatorade will be producing six limited edition bottles marking important moments in Jordan’s career.  More information from Darren Rovell,

The bottles are filled with three new flavors dubbed Championship Blue (berry-cherry), Championship Gold (citrus-orange) and Championship Red (berry blend). They will be available until supplies last at supermarkets, convenience stores and Wal-Mart. Millions of bottles will be hit shelves, but Gatorade officials haven’t offered a specific number on the run.

Jordan signed a 10-year deal with Gatorade in 1991 worth $13.5 million, but Jordan’s image hasn’t appeared on a bottle in the United States since he was on Citrus Cooler, dubbed his favorite, in the early 90s.The folks at Gatorade are constructing a piece of art, made from more than 19,000 Gatorade bottles, that reveals an image of Jordan dunking. The art will reside near an urban basketball court in Chicago’s south loop.

Wow. 10 year deal. $13.5 million dollars. If the 1991 version of Michael Jordan was signing a deal with Gatorade in 2009, any chance that the deal might be worth a few more dollars?  It really speaks to how much the market has changed in 20 years.  Think of all the players under Jordan’s caliber than are getting deals that at the very least are paying them more than $2 million a year…crazy.

Sports Biz w/Darren Rovell — Gatorade makes limited edition Gatorade bottles

The 4.2 rating is down 8.7% from a 4.6/12 for last year’s Rafael Nadal-Federer final, which was delayed by rain and contained an extended fifth set. Outside of last year’s final, Federer-Roddick is the highest-rated men’s final since a 5.0/14 overnight in ‘00 for Pete Sampras’ final Wimbledon championship. The previous two Federer-Roddick Wimbledon finals earned a 2.8/5 overnight in ‘05 and a 3.6/10 in ‘04.

Interesting that ratings were actually down in a match in which Federer made tennis history.  Maybe everyone thought it was a foregone conclusion, and didn’t feel the need to watch?  And what did viewers get to see after Federer clinched the record with his 15th major victory?

Come on Nike…maybe next time you’ll get some big name stars to appear in your commercial?  The interesting thing about the spot is that its merely congratulatory; no attempt to sell merchandise of any kind.  Who throws around money like that in a recession?  Probably the same people that seemingly have no problem continuing to do business, even during a recession.

Sports Business Daily — NBC earns 4.2 overnight for Federer’s record setting victory

The Univ. of North Carolina (UNC) and Nike have signed a new 10-year contract for Nike to be the exclusive supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and accessory products for the school. The deal was signed in late May and is retroactive to July 1, 2008. Nike will provide the athletic department with shoes, uniforms, coaching gear and other equipment. UNC will receive $1M for signing the contract…

…In addition to apparel and equipment, Nike as part of its deal will give UNC $2M to the Chancellor’s Academic Enhancement Fund. UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said that he will direct the funds to faculty support (UNC). In Raleigh, Robbi Pickeral notes the deal is worth $37.7M.

Another day, another deal for the shoe giant that is Nike.  Quite frankly, I’m all for it…as long as Nike doesn’t start giving UNC uniforms similar to the assault on my eyes that is the Oregon Ducks uniforms (but their cutting edge!) then it doesn’t bother me.

Sports Business Daily — Well Heeled: North Carolina signs new 10-year deal with Nike

The Ricoh Women’s British Open has joined the Social Media frenzy with a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Those who become a fan of the Ricoh Women’s British Open Facebook Fan page and follow on Twitter will be able to view exclusive tournament photos, videos, learn tournament information as soon as it’s announced and participate in contests.

The 2009 Ricoh Women’s British Open will be played at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, July 30-August 2.

The first contest will be held on the Ricoh Women’s British Open Facebook page, found at http://www.facebook.com/RicohWomensBritishOpen. Fans will submit captions for a “Caption This Photo” contest and the Ricoh Women’s British Open will choose the most creative caption. The winner will receive a Ricoh R10 digital camera. The contest will begin Friday, July 3 and run through Friday, July 10.

The Ricoh R10 digital camera has multiple features including 7.1x Optical wide-angle zoom and in-camera image editing after the picture is taken. Additional camera details can be seen at http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/r/r10/.

Another example of a company utilizing social media to try and promote their event/sell their wares.  This is actually the typical kind of social media deal (i.e. join/follow me and get the opportunity to win stuff) right now, although I don’t think its necessarily the most effective.  Not that I personally know of a more effective social media strategy (social media being relatively new, I don’t think the optimal strategy has been developed or gone mainstream yet), but this typical strategy is really no different than having people sign up for a mailing list on a website.  Regardless though, it is great to see more companies at least recognizing the potential of social media advertising and beginning to utilize its features.  Obviously, we should expect more press releases/sponsorship deals involving social media and digital rights media in the future.

She’s Connected — RICOH Women’s British Open launches social media sites

Who’s Michael Huyghue?

The commissioner of the very recently created United Football League (UFL).  Is spending the day in Europe.  While there, he got to thinking, and tweeted this message,

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether the National Football League and its 32 teams can enter an exclusive licensing deal with a maker of team jerseys and other gear without violating federal antitrust law.

The court said it will hear an appeal from American Needle Inc., of Buffalo Grove, Ill., that challenges an agreement the NFL struck with Reebok International Ltd. American Needle had been one of many firms that manufactured NFL headgear until the league granted an exclusive contract to Reebok in 2001.

The NFL won the case in the federal appeals court in Chicago. But it also asked the Supreme Court to hear the case in a quest for a more sweeping decision that could put an end to what the league considers costly, frivolous antitrust lawsuits.

The case concerns whether the league is essentially a “single entity” that can act collectively or 32 distinct businesses that must be careful about running afoul of antitrust laws by working too closely together.

In a statement, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league looked forward to explaining why the court should extend, on a national basis, favorable appeals court rulings on how antitrust laws apply “to the unique structure of a sports league.”

American Needle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other than Major League Baseball, which has an antitrust exemption dating to 1922, the other sports leagues have an intense interest in the case. The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League both asked the court to rule in favor of the NFL.

This will be a landmark decision for the future of the NFL, NHL, and NBA.  If the SCOTUS rules in favor of the NFL? Essentially all hell breaks loose.  Right now, although some exemptions to the Sherman Act have been carved out for the NFL (i.e. television broadcasting) the league and their teams are subject to anti-trust law scrutiny.  But if the ruling is in their favor, they could have free reign to determine merchandising and apparel deals, location of teams, or television blackout restrictions, without Sherman Act scrutiny.  Example:  If sports leagues are deemed to be a single entity, then that situation with the NHL and Jim Basillie attempt to relocate the Phoenix Coyotes? It never happens.  The NHL wouldn’t be subject to anti-competition laws; and with no concern about restraining trade in another area, they could ultimately decide the locations of their teams.  Although it seems as if an exemption has already been carved out with the NFL and video games, things like the NFL – Electronic Arts exclusive licensing deal would again be done without any scrutiny from any outside sources.  Simply put, sports leagues would be able to do whatever is they want in terms of who they work with, where they work, and prices…among other things…probably all to the detriment of the sports fan (competition keeps the prices down after all!).

Again, the case has the potential to change the entire sports league landscape…should be very interesting to watch going forward.

AP — Court takes case over licensing of NFL apparel

#1 overall pick Blake Griffin’s 3 year contract  is dwindled by NFL QB Matt Stafford’s 6 year $78M deal.  In fact, Stafford’s $41.7 in guaranteed money is still more money than Blake Griffin would be able to make in his first 5 years in the NBA.  Free limitless negotiation versus pre-set contract limits…

So, what sport has it right?

Honestly, in a weird way, I think both sports have it right…at least, sort of.  Whether or not a pay scale exists in your sport is going to depend largely on the economy of the sport in question.  The NBA has already had to borrow $175M for its clubs, and unlike the NFL they do not have any sort of revenue sharing in place, so away teams would not pull any of the gate revenues (as of right now the teams split merchandise and TV revenue equally) leaving smaller market teams to fend for themselves.  Could the Memphis Grizzlies afford to pay Hasheem Thabeet $10M a year when their total team salary is only $57M? Probably not.  This would lead to a majority of the small market uncompetitive teams folding on themselves.  The current NBA economy; the revenue sharing, the yearly revenue, etc. needs a rookie pay scale, or else the league would crumble.

The NFL is another story.  They aren’t borrowing money for their teams, at least that the public knows about, they have revenue sharing in place to help out smaller market teams and they have yearly revenue approaching $8 billion dollars.  While I don’t agree with the rookie pay scale, the situation was agreed upon by both sides  and the NFL has the economy to support it…at least for the moment.  I still think there will come a time when NFL parity will be borderline impossible due to the fact that bad teams are consistently overpaying for one hit-or-miss rookie that prevents them from signing proven veterans (Hi Detroit Lions!).

But it looks like, for now at least, both systems will continue to remain in play, until a problem arises.  Maybe not the most proactive thinking, but union heads and owners probably have bigger problems during times of economic distress, no?

The contract with Nike, the world’s largest sports shoe and apparel maker, extends its deal through 2013, but the company has an option to renew it through 2017, said USATF Chief Executive Doug Logan. The terms were not disclosed.

Nike has been a team sponsor since 1991 of the national team of the USATF, the governing body for track and field, long distance running and race walking in the United States.

The company outfits all USTF teams in international competitions, including the Olympics.

Logan said the sponsorship deal will establish a fund to help promising athletes in the sport who lack sponsorships by major industry brands.

This is a pretty easy decision.  US Track & Field have no reason to deviate from Nike as far as uniforms and such, and Nike has no reason to not take the extra visibility they’ll receive (especially during the 2012 Olympic Games).  Honestly, this deal has been in place for so long, i don’t think anyone even remembers USATF being with anyone other than Nike.  The one thing I am interested in, which the article did not detail, were the terms of the deal.  Any chance there are some additional digital media terms added to that deal (if they weren’t there previously)? I’d say yes.

Reuters — Nike, USA Track & Field extend sponsorship deal

The PGA of America and Turner Sports have extended their broadcasting and interactive media agreements covering the PGA Championship, PGA Grand Slam of Golf and PGA.com through 2019. The new agreement between the two organizations will also expand to include licensing, with Turner’s Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE) serving as the PGA’s licensing agent in the youth marketplace. In addition, Turner and the PGA will collaborate on a number of new media and consumer marketing initiatives to increase awareness and brand recognition of The PGA of America among key audiences, as well as introduce new, younger audiences to learning, playing and following the game.

CNE, in its new role as licensing agent, will use its strengths to create an extensive consumer product and retail program for the PGA with the youth marketplace through a range of licensing agreements and co-branding partnerships across all product categories. This new product line will increase the PGA’s presence with the next generation of fans and also broaden the PGA’s scope of retail offerings…

The partnership extension also features:

• Turner’s continued oversight and responsibility of advertising sales for PGA.com and new mobile offerings and applications;

• Turner will create actionable media and marketing that extends the PGA of America brand at the regional and local level and builds “conversations” with consumers through media and promotions that enhance PGA Professionals, golf and the Association as contemporary to young families and young adults;

• Development of an enhanced PGA.com community where users will be able to connect with friends, family, other golfers and PGA Professionals to organize a round, schedule a lesson, track their playing statistics and plan their next golf vacation;

• Exploration of a virtual learning experience where users would be able to interact with a PGA Professional online to receive game tips, analysis and feedback.

This move seems to be continuing what should be a running theme amongst everyone as we progress, licensing/new media deals that have expanded to cover digital media (see the University of Georgia).  The one thing that I am curious about is how the PGA works with CNE on the youth initiative side.  Golf normally being so middle-aged and WASP’y…how do they market a non-active sport to kids? Should be interesting.

PGA.com — PGA of America and Turner Sports Extend and Expand Media Agreement

The case for MLB contraction

Apple granted patent for sports sensors…what does the future hold now?

U.S. Open score cards are available for sale…If you’re in to that sort of thing.

Manny Ramirez suspesnion…the best thing to happen to the Dodgers pocketbooks

Never to be out done in terms of spending money on players or apparently cutting edge technology, the New York Yankees TV network, YES, and the Major League Baseball Advanced Media Arm (known as “BAM”) have signed a deal to start live streaming Yankees games locally starting July 8th.  More from Sports Business Daily,

MLBAM, YES Network and Cablevision will begin local in-market streaming of live Yankees games on July 8, marking the operational beginning of a historic agreement that advances beyond several years of fruitless pursuit on the issue. The in-market games, available to Cablevision customers who also receive the company’s Optimum Online Internet service, will be sold for either $49.95 for the rest of the season or $19.95 for a 30-day period. The product will be limited to the Yankees’ defined home broadcasting territory, working in an inverse fashion as the out-of-market packages sold both online and for TV. But with Cablevision TV and Internet service not universally available throughout the Yankees’ territory, the effective reach of the new product at the outset will be less.

Okay, I don’t care about the fact that its taken years to get to this point.  I don’t even care about the fact that apparently only 10 people are going to be able to utilize this service initially, all I care about is that the deal is happening.  Anytime that any barrier effecting a local fans game experience, when they aren’t at the game, is over come…its a big deal.  I still believe that this is the first step towards fans being able to get an experience better than the current fan experience…from their phone.  And on the advertising side, again…BAM already has the ability to do targeted advertising within a particular coverage area, I will expect heavy, increased doses of that type of advertising in the future.

Again…MLB = cutting edge technology. Its crazy.

Sports Business Daily — In-Market Yankees Games to Be Streamed Live in July