Sports Business Digest

Yahoo! to be founding partner of 49ers stadium

Emmett Jones — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:08:01 +0000

The San Francisco 49ers have signed a deal with Yahoo! which will make Yahoo! the exclusive online sports content, social networking and photo sharing partner for both the team and the new Levi's Stadium. Financial details of the 10-year agreement were not disclosed. The agreement is set to begin in 2014 and run through the 2023 season.

“The 49ers are thrilled to partner with Yahoo!, a locally-based, global brand that shares our vision for Levi’s® Stadium,” said 49ers Chief Executive Officer Jed York. “Yahoo! is a tremendous example of Silicon Valley innovation at work. Their experience in servicing the fan and wealth of resources will serve integral roles as we strive to present an unparalleled experience to visitors of Levi’s® Stadium.”

Under the agreement, Yahoo! will receive entitlement and branding rights to the Fantasy Football lounge, and its adjacent viewing platforms. The deal will also allow for Yahoo! to integrate itself into the in-stadium fan experience and digital media. Usage of the Yahoo! Flickr platform will also be prevalent throughout the stadium, as fans will be able to upload their photos to the 49ers Flickr gallery for possible usage on the team's in-game scoreboard.

"The San Francisco 49ers aren't just a Sunday habit, they're a daily passion for fans throughout Northern California and across the world," Kathy Savitt, Yahoo! Chief Marketing Officer said. "We're thrilled that two iconic brands have come together around a common goal of providing the most inspiring and entertaining fan experience in all of sports. We couldn't be more excited to be a part of what will be an incredible environment at Levi's® Stadium."

Yahoo! joins numerous other companies, including NRG, as a founding partner of the 49ers new stadium, which opens in 2014. (via Press Release)

Cristiano Ronaldo signs sponsorship deal with Herbalife

Emmett Jones — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 21:23:51 +0000

Cristiano Ronaldo has a new sponsor of his nutrition. The Real Madrid superstar has inked a deal with the global nutrition company Herbalife, with the company becoming his official nutrition sponsor. Under the deal, Herbalife will work with Ronaldo to develop and optimize his personal nutrition program by providing him with various product offerings.

"I believe strongly in the importance of the right nutrition for me as an individual, both on and off the field. I am looking forward to working with Herbalife, as a company that shares my passion and brings such expertise and knowledge in the area of sports nutrition," said Ronaldo.

The five year, multi-million dollar deal includes global publicity rights and marketing initiatives. Herbalife will also work with Ronaldo to develop a Ronaldo-branded set of sports nutrition products.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest football players in the world, and someone who embodies our philosophy of good nutrition being at the core of a healthy, active life, and a key advantage in the competitive world of professional sport. His passion and belief will undoubtedly translate into tremendous opportunities for Herbalife and our independent distributors. We love and share his commitment and enthusiasm for this relationship and are excited about the future together," said Michael O. Johnson, chairman and CEO of Herbalife.

Ronaldo joins more than 100 other Herbalife-sponsored athletes, including a number of football teams around the world, such as LA Galaxy in the U.S.; FC Pumas in Mexico; Brazilian team, Botafogo; Spartak-Moscow in Russia; and the national teams of Belgium and Venezuela. (via Press Release)

Penguins/Flyers outdoor game coming to Penn State?

Emmett Jones — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:15:42 +0000

NHL fans and hockey fans in general continue to remain fans of outdoor hockey, with outdoor games like the NHL's Winter Classic continuing to draw impressive ratings and fan support. The state of Pennsylvania may be looking to take the draw of outdoor hockey one step further, by creating an outdoor battle for the hockey supremacy in the state and that battle may take place at Penn State's heralded Beaver Stadium. More from WJACTV,

Beaver Stadium has been the long time home for Penn State football, but how about watching a hockey game there?

Penn State officials confirm they are seriously considering the idea, whether it is an NHL or Big Ten game. With the new Pegula Ice Arena almost ready to open, there's a lot of hockey excitement in State College. Joe Battista, of Penn State Hockey Operations, says the Pittsburgh Penguins would probably faceoff against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Before we see the Flyers and Penguins "battle for Pennsylvania", a few logistical hurdles need to be cleared, namely the schedule upon which Beaver Stadium is winterized and parking. That being said, if officials show enough interest, which seems likely, we may very well see an outdoor Penguins/Flyers game in the near future. (image via The School Philly)

John Cena to start children’s apparel line with K-Mart

Emmett Jones — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:51:47 +0000

Have a child who is a fan of WWE superstar John Cena? You may want to shop at Kmart this fall. Kmart and the WWE have teamed up to launch an exclusive children's apparel line called Never Give Up by John Cena. It is the first exclusive children's apparel line for both companies. As mentioned, the line will debut this fall in Kmart stores across the nation, as well as being available on Kmart.com and ShopYourWay.com. The line will feature John Cena-branded t-shirts, hoodies, pants, shorts and outerwear. Both Kmart and Cena on the agreement,

"I am excited to announce WWE's relationship with Kmart and bring the Never Give Up by John Cena™ collection to all of our young fans," said Cena. "For the first time ever, young shoppers will be able to go to Kmart and find a new line of apparel that expresses my lifestyle and my never give up attitude." "The Never Give Up by John Cena apparel line is a lifestyle brand that appeals to those who not only like his style, but are drawn to the positive message he offers," said Cheryl Olinger , VP/GMM of Kid's Apparel, Kmart. "Kmart will have the exclusive opportunity to provide merchandise previously available only at WWE events. We believe the line will resonate with many of our current, younger customers while allowing us to reach a segment of John's fan base that may not have shopped at Kmart before."

The WWE, and Cena's, partnership with Kmart adds to Kmart's growing list of exclusive brands including Sofia by Sofia Vergara, Joe Boxer and Route 66. (via Press Release)

Nationals looking to break Spring Training stadium lease

Emmett Jones — Thu, 30 May 2013 20:14:54 +0000

The Washington Nationals are looking to break their Spring Training stadium lease, according to a report by Dave Berman of Florida Today. The Nats have officially asked Brevard County for their approval to break the team's lease to hold spring training games at Space Coast Stadium, in Viera, Florida. While the team's current lease runs until 2017, the team may be looking to move as early as November of next year. The Nats want to make the move so as to be closer to other major league spring training sites, so as to reduce travel time to road games. As a condition of breaking the lease, the Nationals would give control of the practice fields, training complex, and surrounding areas back to the county; which already owns Space Coast Stadium. According to Berman's report, the county would then, in turn, seek to lease the stadium and surrounding complexes to the Class A Brevard County Manatees, another major league team, or something involving some sort of revenue-generating amateur sport. The Nationals may seek to move to Osceola County, as the county commissioners have already scheduled a meeting in June to discuss the building of a new spring training facility.

American Athletic Conference unveils new logo

Emmett Jones — Thu, 30 May 2013 06:29:35 +0000

The newly created American Athletic Conference has officially released its new logo to USA Today's Dan Wolken. The conference, which is sometimes simply referenced as "The American" is a newly created 10-team league that features former teams of the Big East Conference (Rutgers, UConn, South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati and Temple) with the addition of some schools that had formerly found their home in Conference USA (Houston, SMU, Central Florida and Memphis). The American logo, which features a blue "A" with a red star in the middle of the letter, was designed by MadCreek Advertising. Commissioner Mike Aresco said that the conference decided on the logo because of the bold, yet simplistic look it provided,

"It's a bold look," Aresco said. "Obviously this is a media world we live in, and we wanted to make sure we had the kind of mark that would be distinctive and would make an impact when people saw it. We wanted it to be something people would like and remember, but the notion really was to make it as simple as possible but also strong."

The conference also wanted to ensure that the logo was acronym free, so as to avoid confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Prior to the logo's unveiling, the conference showed the logo to each school member and ESPN -- the conference's media rights holder -- before settling on the blue "A".

"It's something we instantly liked, and in showing it to people (on campuses), we wanted to know whether they would like it," Aresco said. "It generated the kind of buy-in you want, and I'm hoping it gets that kind of response (nationally)." "We wanted it to be a little traditional, but very new-looking," said LeslieAnne Wade, managing partner of Wade Media Management and a marketing consultant for the league. "The main focus was really creating something that looks like a sports brand and a sports logo. When you get into the use of the word American, there are a lot of corporate logos, and we didn't want it to look like that. We were looking for really a clean, simple strong symbol." (via USA Today)

In the midst of a new logo and re-branding efforts, the newly formed conference still has much change on the horizon. Louisville and Rutgers are leaving the conference for the ACC and Big Ten, respectively, and East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will be added as new members.

ACC schools average nearly $17M payout in 2011-12

Emmett Jones — Wed, 29 May 2013 02:21:28 +0000

Its not a bad time to be a member-school of the Atlantic Coast Conference. From a revenue standpoint, anyway. The ACC's 12 schools brought in $203 million in revenue during the 2011-12 school year, according to ACC tax documents that were recently obtained by the News & Record. That equates to nearly $16.9 million in revenue per school. A 38% jump from 2010-11's $12.3 million dollar revenue payout. Most of the revenue for the conference came from football television deals ($130.5 million), bowl game payouts ($43.8 million) and the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament ($17.7 million). For the sake of comparison, Big Ten teams received an average payout of $23.8 million, SEC teams $20.4 million, Big 12 teams received $12 million and Pac 12 schools received $11.1 million. As a whole, the ACC reported a $303,295 loss for the 2011-12 year, bringing in $223.5 million in revenue against $223.8 million in expenses.

Twitter’s next big thing: Applying for jobs on Twitter?

Emmett Jones — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:22:03 +0000

Twitter may have just revolutionized the way applicants apply for jobs, and more importantly, sports jobs . On Wednesday, Twitter announced their newest innovation: The Lead Generation Card. The purpose of the card is to provide an easy way for users to express an interest in a brand or product. Customers using Twitter are easily able to share their contact information (i.e. an email address) without ever leaving the expanded tweet. Confused? See the example provided by Twitter below: The sports business applications to Twitter's new feature could be limitless. Sports teams could utilize the lead generation cards to create a targeted list of potential, interested season ticket holders, or playoff ticket holders. Companies selling merchandise could send coupon codes or other discounts to customers that click on the lead generation link. Perhaps most interesting though, was the idea of applying for jobs via Twitter. The Next Web shows what very well may have been the first job posting that a candidate could apply for within Twitter itself. Want to apply for a job with your favorite sports team? Just wait for them to tweet about it, and apply. That could be the very near future. Especially if Twitter goes beyond capturing a user's name and email in their account settings, and allows users to connect documents (i.e. a resume) to their accounts. With Twitter's new feature, it just may be time for everyone to take a look at re-writing their Twitter profiles, as that may be the first thing an employer sees...after you've applied to their open position.

LA Sparks team with TWC for local television coverage

Emmett Jones — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:03:41 +0000

After 17 years in existence, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks have found a local television home. Details of the team's deal with the Time Warner Cable SportsNet were released today, with the network agreeing to air 25 live games on both its TWC Sports Net channel and Time Warner Cable Deportes. The telecast season kicks off on May 26th, for the Sparks home opener against the Seattle Storm. TWC will also provide both pre- and post-game Sparks-branded shows and original programming including the "Backstage" series, featuring the Sparks.

“Having the Sparks air on Time Warner Cable SportsNet allows the Sparks a unique opportunity to bring not only the game, but also the stories and personalities to our fans,” said Sparks Executive Vice President and General Manager Penny Toler. “We know Sparks fans are ready for more, and our partnership with Time Warner Cable Sports gives them the access and coverage they deserve.”

The Sparks have remained one of the more popular teams in the league, leading the league in home attendance last year at a little over 10,000 fans a game, roughly 2,500 over the WNBA average. The deal with TWC to locally show every Sparks game also puts the Sparks in rare-air, according to the current WNBA schedule, no other WNBA team has a local television contract. TWC's coverage of the Sparks season begins this Sunday at 5:30 pm PT. (via Press Release)

Wozniacki to unveil new Adidas shoe at French Open

Emmett Jones — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:39:40 +0000

Adidas brand endorser and current #10 ranked WTA player Caroline Wozniacki will be unveiling a new Adidas shoe for next week's French Open. The Adidas by Stella McCartney Barricade Shoe follows the identically named apparel that was launched by Adidas earlier this spring. While Wozniacki will feature the shoe at the French Open, the official unveiling will occur at Wimbledon this June. Other Adidas by Stella McCartney tennis ambassadors (Laura Robson and Maria Kirilenko among others) will also wear the shoes throughout the tournament. The shoes will be available for $125 on the Adidas website and at specialty retailers beginning June 1st. Wozniacki, a long time Adidas ambassador, has been linked to the Adidas by Stella McCartney label since 2009.