Holidays present great opportunities for sports organizations to move the needle, and Father’s Day is no exception. I’ve been trying to keep an eye on what advertisements and promotions teams, leagues and brands are offering this year, using a Pinterest board to track them all. Here is what I have discovered so far, and I will add more as I find them.

One consistent theme in sports business is change. Organizations change. Fans evolve. New products are developed. Technology prompts transformation. Competition sparks innovation. And it is important to keep these same topics in mind when managing your career in sports business. They can provide an entry point for those from other industries who dream of finding a career in sports.

I recently read the excellent Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future by Dorie Clark. In it she clearly makes the case for defining and refining your personal brand, identifying professional opportunities, and developing a narrative that tells the story of how your skills and experiences make you an attractive candidate for your next role.

Clark, whose own diverse background includes work in politics, with non-profits, in consulting and academe, makes the case that the path to career success is no longer about finding a great company, biding your time and moving up the corporate ladder. Instead an entrepreneurial mindset is required.

The key to the book’s success is three-fold. First, the suggestions are backed up by actions to execute. For example, instead of simply suggesting you find a Mentor (Chapter 6), Ms. Clark gives specific behavioral ideas for identifying, approaching and developing deep relationships with Mentors.

Second, in each chapter there are several alternative suggestions. This is not the typical one-size-fits all career book. Instead, there are multiple ideas offered on each topic and the reader can decide which suggestion – or combination of suggestions – to implement.

Third, the anecdotes Ms. Clark provides of people who have switched careers, found new jobs, taken on new responsibilities and developed new personal brands are inspiring. But not all had immediate success! In fact the stories of people who tried new ventures and failed are the most compelling. In some cases they returned to their former roles reinvigorated after a “grass-is-always-greener experience”, while others’ new adventures ended up far different than what they set out to accomplish. Both cases provide a great reminder that reinventing yourself requires work and the path to career fulfillment is not linear.

The book also highlights the integration of Social Media in managing your personal brand. The book prompted me to start using Tout as an additional platform for creating video content. Ms. Clark’s recent article on content creation in Forbes featuring Gary Vaynerchuk sheds further light on this evolving trend.

So while the book is not written with a sports industry audience in mind, the lessons offered may prove invaluable in managing your own career in these rapidly changing times.  Insights gained from reading Reinventing You will also help you recognize talented people from diverse backgrounds who can bring great value to your organization.

Three official college bowl game Twitter accounts (plus the Pac-12) got into some friendly social banter on Friday afternoon. I love seeing tweets like this – letting some personality come through with these big brands is the best way to engage fans. You have a little trash talk (“#EightViewBump”), some pop culture (a Game of Thrones reference, which I unfortunately don’t get since I don’t watch the show), and of course some humor (the 2-gallon jug of white-out – someone on the White-Out social media team needs to jump on this!). I especially like the last tweet reply to Christian Bruey of WFTV – “It’s football, not brain surgery. Have fun!” He’s absolutely right!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Bill Peck.

A creative brief is a document that outlines the conversation between an agency or marketing group and the team or client around a strategic marketing and communications effort to accomplish an end goal –more revenue. A creative brief is usually the least you can expect from a creative agency when putting together a communications and marketing plan for a certain team or season. I’ve worked with at least one organization that did this every off-season in preparation for the next season of competition. At that particular organization, there was a complete renovation of marks, logos and brand identity during my tenure in addition to a long term plan of tactics set forth for at least a few years into the future. Building on that and other experiences, an effective creative brief does several things for your brand strategy…here are a few examples:

• It defines who you think your fans are
• It outlines what you do for your fans and customers
• It gives the complete outline of what your team is trying to accomplish, from the 50,000 foot view down to ground level

Essentially a creative brief gets the conversation started about the “5 W’s” – who, what, when, where, why. It incorporates everything from where are we now to where do we want to be and gets a dialogue going between the people who know strategic marketing and communications along with the people who know the game, the team and the fans. In more detail and taken from a class project I did as a graduate student at Seattle University, an effective creative brief asks the following questions:

• Who is our target?
• What do they think, feel or do right now?
• After this touch or this campaign, what do we want them to think, feel or do?
• What is the main thought of this campaign?
• Why should the target care about this?
• What else do we need to know to get started?
• Any thought starters?
• Anything we should avoid?

These questions are the framework from which to build your creative brief, but to be effective, a creative brief is just that, brief. It is a one to two page maximum length document that gives you a starting point from which to work toward final goals.

Here is an example of a creative brief one might put together for a college basketball program:

• Who is our Target?
  • Current students are our first priority because this is an audience that is already involved in campus life and are peers to the athletes on the court.  The student connection must be developed if we are to create a premier college basketball game environment.
  • Seattle University alumni are another critical primary target because these are people who already have a strong connection to our institution, especially senior alumni who were students at a time of great athletic success for SeattleU and remember SU as a perennial contender for the national title.
  • Young alumni are a target audience who likely have disposable income and looking for a way to support their institution.
  • Alumni and people with families who are looking for affordable entertainment options are another target audience of importance.
  • Basketball fans who are looking for affordable tickets to see high-quality, local teams at a highly visible community arena.  SeattleU will work to market every aspect of the team, including the regional opponents as a potential lead to draw fans into the building.
  • High school students and families.  SeattleU prides itself on being a community partner that connects with people on a personal level.  Use these connections to build on the fun aspect of sports and the connections that come from the shared experience of live presence at sporting events.  As an affordable entertainment option, SU encourages high school students and families to be a part of a great game experience that is easy to find.
  • What do they think, feel, or do right now?
    • Many students are currently unaware that Seattle University has a basketball team – we must develop awareness.
    • Of the students who are aware of the team, many of them are not aware of the free benefits available to them, including:
      • Free transportation to/from KeyArena
      • Free admission with SU ID
      • Free $5 concession vouchers for first 50 students
      • Student entertainment on the concourse during pre-game
      • Tons of free giveaways during the season
• In a close-knit campus community, word travels fast; many do not feel a connection with the team or its players
• After this touch or this campaign, what do we want them to think, feel, or do?
  • Personal connection to Seattle University basketball players and deeper connection to University
  • “This is Seattle Basketball.”
  • Engage with team players and coaches and with other fans
  • What is the main thought of this campaign? (or campaign elements)
    • “ON A MISSION”
    • Why should the target care about this?
      • We are at the heart of Seattle and the only collegiate sports team that bears that name.
      • We are downtown and at the heart of the city, both on and off campus.
      • We are a university community that supports SeattleU’s Jesuit mission and vision.  We are about students, alumni, and family.
      • We have a history of outstanding athletics success and seek to build upon that tradition of excellence.
      • We are an entertaining collegiate atmosphere that thrives on the energy and passion of its student body, THE RED ZONE.
      • What else do we need to know to get started?
        • Seattle University marketing brand strategy and licensing protocol.
        • Include traditional media such as TV, radio, and billboards.
          • Use TV games as an avenue to reach a broad audience and emphasize the “have to be here” experience
          • Drive attendance to TV games and emphasize all games on same radio dial
          • Place billboards strategically in areas with high alumni concentrations or near social centers
• Include social media and engage fans in conversation
  • Standard: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, team blog
  • Other: Gowalla, Tumblr, Flickr, etc.
• Promote pricing discounts on group purchases through Groupon or LivingSocial
• Develop a piece of fan gear that can be used in PR stunts, displayed in-game, and used year-round
  • Especially around holiday shopping season
• Develop a fan guide, print and online
  • Include fight song lyrics and audio, cheers, RedZone facts and questions, links to social media and team/University websites, Q&A about the team and coaches, University athletics history and timeline
• Develop personal connections with players through online videos and team blog
• Integrate in-game messaging read by student athletes
• Anything we should avoid?
  • We are not the University of Washington and don’t associate or compare ourselves with them.
  • Focus on the positive and encourage feedback
    • Avoid being a victim plagued by low attendance and lack of student presence

What do we want our fans to do after we start talking to them? This is a great question – begin with the end in mind.

Something else worth noting is that last question – “anything we should avoid?” When working with an outside organization this is an especially important question and one you might not consider until it is too late or until the brief has already been assembled. If you know of something that didn’t work last year or the year before, get that out into the open. If you got zero clicks on a few ads you put online, let your creative team know this. The more you can collaborate and work together, the more likely the final plan of where to begin will succeed.

I hope this post has helped you and I’d love to hear what you think about how your marketing team is doing with their own creative brief. Please leave your comments below. Go Forth!

Bill Peck is a sports business professional whose experience is in both internal and external operations. Bill’s Sports Business Blog can be found at williamtpeckii.com.

Some good friends of mine (Tim Newman, Jason Peck, Charles Harris, and Brendan Wilhide) recently published a textbook titled “Social Media in Sport Marketing” that I highly encourage any interested students and educators to take a look at. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 2: Introduction to Principles of Sport Communication, Marketing, and Social Media:

The New Model of Sport Communication (1990s–Present)

The traditional communication model in which the media had a monopoly and could dictate the what, when, and how of distributing sport began to change when Home Box Office (HBO) began airing boxing matches in the 1970s. This was followed by satellite programming that allowed people to watch games live without waiting for the taped versions of the events to be shown on their local stations (Federal Communications Commission, 2005).

The technologies of home computers, Internet, satellite television, and digital transmissions created two immediate impacts for sport communication: (1) the power of traditional mass media decreased as fans benefited from multiple consumption options, such as live streaming and satellite radio, and (2) the sport audience became empowered as never before to consume sporting events as they desired instead of only as made available by the media (Schultz, Caskey, & Esherick, 2010). In fact, social media has expanded the “coverage” of sport to all the time as people talk about teams, players, and organizations twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Professionals in the field of sport must understand that they always, at all hours of the day, represent the organization they work for and that the personal/professional line cannot easily be separated in the global arena of social media (Favorito, 2011).

Perhaps the most important effect of these technologies, however, has been greater audience empowerment: Individuals use technologies to become actual participants in the sport communication process. Furthermore, fans have started to challenge the mainstream media by creating and distributing content independent from them. Through the use of social media and the Internet, individuals are able to create and comment on content in the world of sport at any time. When a story emerges (or sometimes is even unconfirmed), people post messages on blogs, Twitter, or message boards. These stories quickly gain traction without being published in a mainstream news outlet. Even major news outlets and television shows are now using social media to take polls and gather comments about stories to show on the bottom of the screen to enable greater levels of participation amongst viewers.

As Exhibit 2.1 illustrates, the coverage of a sport story in the modern communication model depends upon the intricate flow between the media and audience. According to sport media professionals at Sports Media Challenge (SMC), the shift has gone from a time when communication / marketing professionals would put out materials based upon what they wanted to discuss or what they felt the public wanted to hear to now, when it is more of “a conversation, where the fans get to say what they want to talk about and get to direct where the marketing focus needs to be” (Garner, Patrick, Barrett, & Lane, 2010).

I am somewhat infatuated with the idea of how data can be shared with the public with the purpose of creating value for fans and teams alike. So when I received the press release below from Angus McNab at Opta, I was really excited. I think this type of partnership has so much potential for all parties involved:

• A strong brand fit for AIG highlighted around innovation
• Excellent integration for Opta around their data and analytical power
• Great value for rugby fans with the end-result being a valuable new app
• Puts more data into the hands of the fans and tapping into the  power of the crowd

I’m not a rugby fan, but I can’t wait to see what the end result it. Looking at Mark Cuban’s request for jersey designs and this innovation challenge, I think we will continue to see sports organizations reach out to the crowd more and more for the next big idea.

Here is a full profile of the campaign, courtesy of the press release from Opta:

The sport of rugby has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down. As participation spreads into non-traditional areas and across demographics, new generations are playing and watching the sport, and emerging rugby nations are dominating the pitch. Rugby is everywhere – but fans can’t be!

Opta is collaborating with AIG, a leading global insurance company, New Zealand Rugby and USA Rugby to launch the AIG Rugby Innovation Challenge, a contest to harness rugby data into the hands of fans via useful, engaging apps. The developers of the winning apps will compete for cash and prizes totaling $85,000 and will have access to Opta’s live international data feeds for two years.

For the first time in rugby’s history, AIG is making Opta’s granular rugby data – including stadium location feeds, team and player performance statistics, match statistics, and a host of other rich data feeds – available to application developers free of charge. Participants will have access to all of the New Zealand All Blacks match fixtures from 2012 via the AIG Opta Rugby Dataset, as well as selected USA Rugby match fixtures, which will be available with every single on-the-ball action categorised, and logged with an x/y coordinate attributed to where it took place on the pitch.

Angus McNab, Opta’s Head of Pro Rugby and Sponsorship, said of the challenge, “Opta is delighted to work with AIG on such a unique, ground-breaking sponsorship activation. This challenge goes beyond supporting a single team or country – it is an opportunity to unify fans in a way that has never been done before, and shows a real commitment to innovation in sport and technology – something we at Opta are very passionate about as well.”

“This is a fantastic opportunity to show how we can really enrich the rugby experience for fans who we know have a real thirst for information on all aspects of the game,” said Nick Brown, General Manager, Public Affairs for New Zealand Rugby. “Opta produces a huge range of fascinating data from every moment of every top game, so we’re confident this competition will unlock many fun and exciting new ways to meet fans’ passion for their favourite game. We also thank AIG for providing another opportunity to help us reach more fans in more places as we work together to grow the game.”

Daniel Glantz, Global Head of Sponsorship, AIG, said, “We hope that with this wealth of information, participants are inspired to present the sport of rugby in new and interactive ways, while also sharing their passion. We’re committed to growing the game, and by bringing an informative, mobile app to fans around the world, we’re getting closer to that goal“.

Powered by ChallengePost (an online portal that hosts development competitions), the AIG Rugby Innovation Challenge officially kicks off on Tuesday, June 18. For more information or for any developers that want to pre-register, visit aigrugby.challengepost.com.

It should come as no surprise that the Champions League Final drove a tremendous amount of social media activity. UEFA put together a great infographic summarizing this digital frenzy, showing metrics for website visitors, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube.

(This infographic originally appeared on Mediabistro’s AllTwitter website)

Back in April of 2009, I wrote a post called “The Washington Natinals?” that came about because the Washington Nationals played a game with a misspelling on their own jerseys. The main idea of the post was, rather than trying to throw blame around or bury the story, I thought there were multiple ways the team could turn a negative into a positive. Well, there were two more stories this week where I think the same principle can and should be applied.

Story 1: “Astros vendor brings snow cones into bathroom stall, gets fired”

So the idea of a vendor bringing their tray of food into a bathroom stall is clearly quite disgusting, and firing the vendor had to happen. But now that the staff issue was addressed, they have to turn back to the fans and replace this story with something positive. To me, the easiest way to do this is to make this weekend “Free Snow Cone Weekend” and give away as many snow cones as they can. Let’s face it, I think it’s fairly safe to assume snow cone sales might dip for a little while, but making it a give away can overcome that negative feeling and becomes a great gesture to their fans.

Story 2: “Screengrab Snafu: The Royals Graphics Department is Just Giving Up”

Take a look at this video board from a Royals game:

Credit: AwfulAnnouncing.com

This “lemon” is more like the “Natinals” story. With the mix-up in both the team logos and the players’ names, you almost have to laugh about this, and that’s exactly what the Royals should do. They need to ask themselves, “OK, so we made a mistake – how can we have fun with this?” What about creating a new between-innings game on the videoboard where fans have to unscramble mixed up player names? Or a bobblehead night where they intentionally change the name of one of their own players? Of course, the player would also need to have a sense of humor for that one to go well. The point is that, rather than looking at this as a mistake that they need to hide, look at it as an opportunity to make your fans laugh and create a positive experience.

In case you haven’t checked out the Event Calendar, we have two sports networking events scheduled for this month!

The Business of Sports – New York Networking Event

• Tuesday, June 11 at Public House NYC
• Open networking from 6:30 to 9:30PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

The Business of Sports – Boston Networking Event

• Wednesday, June 12 at Julep Bar
• Open networking from 6:30 to 9:30PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

These events provide opportunities for sports professionals on all levels to connect with other like-minded individuals and build up their professional network. Our feedback from these events continues to be tremendous, so we will keep seeking out new locations and new ways to help support this community. We hope to see as many of you as we can at one of our events very soon!

Since Pinterest is such an easy way to share lists and other graphical examples, it was only logical to expand my use of it to share sports business content. I’ve been pinning a lot of things lately to try and get my boards filled with useful resources, and I will continue to do so.

Here is a sampling of what I’m doing over there, and if you are a Pinterest user, please give me and my boards a follow!

I will also create boards to track specific trends and campaigns that emerge, like the following:

• Sports Harlem Shake Videos
• Sports Gangnam Style Videos
• Sports Black Friday Offers
• Sports Cyber Monday Offers

Additionally, check out these other great sports business focused Pinterest accounts:

• Sports Geek
• Paciolan
• J.W. Cannon
• Row 27

If you have other ideas on how else I can use Pinterest to deliver sports business content, please let me know!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Erik Gudris.

It did not come as a complete surprise when ESPN and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) made a joint announcement last week that the sports network would be taking over all of the North American broadcast rights to the U.S. Open – one of the four major tournaments that make up the “Grand Slam” of tennis. After enduring declining ratings and having to reschedule airing of an often rain -plagued men’s final from Sunday to Monday for several years now, CBS finally gave up its broadcast rights despite having shown the event since 1968.

But what was a tad surprising about the announcement was the price tag attached to the deal. ESPN will pay the USTA $770 million over an 11-year period starting in 2015 when the CBS contract concludes. According to Sports Business Journal, CBS passed on a chance to renew its broadcast portion of coverage for around $30 million a year. ESPN will pay more than $70 million a year for all U.S. Open rights, including coverage of the lead-up events that are part of the Emirates Airlines U.S. Open Series.

So why did ESPN, who has presented early rounds of the U.S. Open since 2009, pay more for a product that has been going down in ratings, not up? Aside from increased advertising and other revenue opportunities that the network gets by having “first to last ball” coverage, the network believes that through its various platforms that include the flagship channel ESPN, ESPN2 and WatchESPN, its digital streaming service, that ratings will rise in the next few years. ESPN also plans to offer live coverage in some form of all 17 show courts at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows so that tennis fans will have an endless amount of matches to watch as part of ESPN’s planned 130+ hours of coverage, another incentive they hope will attract more viewers.

While ESPN may have the technological means to show coverage from every court at the U.S. Open, what they can’t control is who will actually be playing on those courts. Unlike football, basketball, baseball and other team sports, tennis is solely dependent on the individual stars it creates and having those stars be compelling enough to attract fans, either to purchase tickets to see them live at tournaments or tune in to watch them from whatever electronic device suits them. Of course, team sports has its own breakout stars that command attention week in and week out, but ultimately viewers will cheer on their favorite team, even if the star player is sitting on the bench.

By the year 2026, when ESPN’s new contract with the USTA will expire, the tennis landscape will be very different than it is now. While we are seeing more tennis pros play into their early 30′s these days, unless there are extreme advances in racquet technology and keeping athletes healthy, we are very unlikely to see these same pros compete into their 40s. That means we probably won’t see the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and many more of the current faces of the ATP and WTA tours. (I would add Serena Williams onto this list, but with her current domination of the women’s tour at age 31, she just might keep on playing into her late 30′s like Martina Navratilova did who herself retired from singles play at 37.)

Nobody, not even those at ESPN, knows who the next tennis stars will be in a decade and if those stars will achieve the kind of household recognition that Federer, Nadal, Sharapova, and Williams have earned. While it is true that every generation creates its own champions, these new winners will have their work cut out for them to match the level of interest that the current “Golden Age” of men’s tennis has earned or the compelling narrative of the Williams Sisters and their rise to superstardom.

While that is out of their hands, ESPN and the USTA are probably both hoping for more American players to do well in the future, especially on the men’s side. Over the last several years, several smaller U.S. based events, including long-running tournaments in San Jose and Los Angeles were both sold for a variety of reasons but one of the biggest being the lack of depth in U.S. men’s tennis that resulted in decreasing ticket sales. Things are a tad brighter on the women’s side with 12 Americans currently ranked inside the WTA top 100. While the U.S. Open is a two-week extravaganza that always sells out, it is those fans who can’t travel to New York who will determine whether or they not they feel like tuning into see who is playing, no matter how many ways ESPN offers coverage to them. Having multiple American players not only compete, but also be contenders for the title, will be a big factor in the final ratings of future U.S. Opens.

Even with ESPN’s commitment to carrying more hours of tennis, some have wondered how the network will fit in the U.S. Open into a busy late August to early September schedule that is filled with college football. Others have expressed concern that ratings will dip even more now that those who do not subscribe to cable won’t have access to ESPN’s coverage. ESPN President John Skipper addressed this by saying, “With all the platforms that we have digitally, we have made a commitment that we will put every match during the course of this agreement, will be made available either on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN3. We presented last year a coherent start-to-finish presentation of Wimbledon and the audience went up, it did not go down. So this sort of old canard that there’s something to be lost by going from broadcast to cable I would submit has it wrong. It is just the opposite. Moving to ESPN allows an opportunity to reach more people across more platforms and that’s what we believe will happen.”

Tennis will always be a niche sport in America. But it still has the power to attract a core audience that advertisers, especially for luxury goods, crave to market to. That reality and the plethora of technological advances in how viewers consume content is a small part as to why ESPN made such a big bet on the future of the U.S. Open. The USTA is certainly happy because they now have a long-term partner who will help finance needed renovations at the National Tennis Center and help fund a recent increase in prize money that some say adverted a players’ strike. Will ESPN be as happy with the deal they just made? We probably won’t really know until 2026 rolls around.

Erik Gudris is a tennis writer whose work has appeared in USA Today, Tennis Now and Tennis View Magazine. Follow him on Twitter at @ATNtennis.

Here is an uplifting moment to share for the weekend (courtesy of ProBasketballTalk):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1qRdaA0zqA

Moments like these, even after a loss, are what create indelible memories and lifelong fans. A lot of credit to the Warriors players for staying around after what was surely a heartbreaking loss to show their appreciation for their fans.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Jake Cohen.

When entering the University of Georgia bookstore, #11 jerseys line the walls in celebration of the Dawgs’ 12-2 record and SEC East Championship.  At $60 apiece, these jerseys fly off the racks as the Georgia faithful purchase any type of apparel adorned with their favorite collegiate athletes’ numbers in order to support the student-athletes who dedicate their lives to representing the university.  The NCAA would argue that these jerseys are just as much Connor Norman’s (UGA former walk-on and special teams ace) as they are Aaron Murray’s (All-SEC Quarterback), but common sense dictates otherwise.  Due in large part to the sale of this apparel, ticket sales and TV rights, the University of Georgia Athletic Department brought in revenue of $92,341,067 in the last fiscal year. This is an astonishing number in comparison to the value of an annual athletic scholarship, which USA Today estimates to be around $120,000.  Is this value of a scholarship a fair trade off for the typical student athlete? Absolutely.  Is this a fair trade-off for all student athletes? Absolutely Not.

In the capitalist world that Americans live in, the idea of a free market economy in which citizens should be able to profit from their skills and services is the backbone behind the ideals in which the system lies.  To the average scholarship athlete, $120,000 is more than a sufficient amount of value given the services that they provide to the university.  This does not include the value that the Johnny Manziels, Marcus Lattimores and Aaron Murrays of the world bring to their respective colleges and athletic departments, while being prohibited by the NCAA to benefit from their successes themselves.  According to ESPN’s Michelle Steele, Baylor estimated that the Heisman win was worth $250 million in extra donations, increased ticket sales, licensing fees, sponsorship deals, and an expanded deal with Fox Sports Southwest following Robert Griffin III’s Heisman Trophy Season in 2011.  The contrast in value of these athletes is astonishing and needs to be rectified.

With the difficulty in finding an equitable way to pay collegiate athletes and not ruin the amateur experience that being a student athlete is supposed to bring to these individuals, a different approach is needed to compensate the upper echelon student athletes who stand above the pack.  Despite the revenue provided by most universities’ football and basketball teams, very few athletic departments actually turn a profit.  These athletic departments utilized the funds provided by the football and basketball teams to support the remaining sports on campus that usually operate in the red during a fiscal year.  This would thus make it almost impossible for some athletic departments to come up with the funds to pay each student athlete.  It is for this reason that I believe it is necessary to separate a student athlete’s marketing endeavors from his or her on-field performance.

If these two money making sources are differentiated, each athlete remains on a level playing field by receiving the same athletic scholarship for their participation in their on-field activities, while the top tier athletes would be able to profit from their successes through endorsement deals, apparel royalties and appearance fees.  No money is taken out of the athletic departments’ budgets and student athletes are free to benefit from their hard earned success.  These endorsement deals and appearance fees are somewhat of a compromise, being that no value is taken from the schools, but these athletes would be able to receive compensation for their services.  Each athlete wouldn’t receive the same amount of marketing dollars, but that is the capitalist world that we live in.  Employees at almost any job aren’t equivalent in skill level and thus are compensated differently.  This rationale should be followed when it comes to collegiate athletics for many of the same reasons.  Anyone who tries to preach amateurism and the value of education is kidding themselves when referring to big time college athletics.  All they have to do is refer to the $610 million that ESPN pays out to the NCAA annually to televise the BCS football bowl games.  The business of collegiate athletics is just that, a business and should be treated like one.  Collegiate athletes should not be punished on the notion that representing their school and the value of an education is equitable to the services they provide, because it is not.  Waiting for their professional career is not always an option for collegiate athletes, because for many, that day may never come.

If one thing is certain about the transition from collegiate sports to professional sports, it is that it is unpredictable.  For every success story of Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck who have transitioned flawlessly into the NFL, there is a story about Eric Crouch or Jason White, both of whom won the Heisman Trophy for being the NCAA’s most outstanding football player, but had little more than a cup of coffee with NFL teams.  It is for this reason, that these athletes should be able to profit from their accomplishments while they are at school and while their accomplishments are relevant and at peak value.  For elite collegiate athletes, they could receive more than $100 a signature and hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement deals.  This money could be used to start up a business or provide for their families after their athletic career is complete.  If these off the field endeavors affect their school work or athletic participation, they are only hurting themselves and their own future.  With the right guidance and advice, these students should be able to find the right balance of providing for themselves and their families, while living the life of a dedicated student-athlete at which ever university they choose to attend.

There are definitely athletes who succeed in high school, then live a comfortable life while continuing their success in college and eventually having a prosperous career in professional athletics.  This career path is definitely not the typical route, and there are many factors that can affect these athletes during this time.  The uncertainty and the large discrepancy between the value provided and the value received by some premier student athletes, is the reason that the NCAA’s current policy on student-athletes benefiting from their on-field success and popularity is unfair and needs to be changed.  Under the proposed system, student -athletes would be able to receive the appropriate market compensation in terms of their marketing value, while not affecting the typical student-athlete or the universities that they attend.  These student athletes will no longer be exploited for economic gain, and big time collegiate athletics will finally compensate those who are at the forefront to their respective universities’ athletic successes.

Jake Cohen’s passion for the sports industry has taken him to the Queen City (Charlotte), where he works for Octagon, an industry leader in the sports marketing world.  By ways of Pittsburgh, PA and the University of Georgia, Jake has been able to cultivate his expertise in the area and share his experiences through his writing.

By now, I’m sure most of you have seen the news that Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks are crowdsourcing a new look for their uniforms in 2015-16. You can read his own blog post on this topic over on blogmaverick.com.

I have a few quick thoughts on this initiative that I want to share:

• First and foremost, I am a big fan of crowdsourcing and applaud the idea. I am curious to see if there will also be a public voting process to select finalists that many graphic design crowdsourcing projects use. I know the team would never give up control of any final decisions, nor should they.
• I like how he is very upfront about who will own any and all designs that come from this effort. If a designer doesn’t want to cede control, then they should simply not participate.
• There are many platforms to run this type of initiative, or it could be run internal through a file upload process direct to the team, but they rolled this out with crowdSPRING. I wonder if this led to a sponsorship agreement with the team, as it had to have generated a lot of traffic and designer participation for the site. Could this be a new opportunity for digital sponsorships? There are plenty of things that could be crowdsourced besides jerseys.
• The prize money being offered is disappointing considering the potential impact this could have on merchandise revenue. Clearly they don’t need to offer a lot to get a high volume of participation, but $600 for first place?
• To me, the real potential value in this will come from the volume of submissions, not just the two top designs. The range of creativity that they are tapping into through the power of the crowd could inspire a wide range of ideas for the Mavericks brand, merchandise, in-arena graphics, digital creative and much more.

—–

UPDATE: I was able to get send a couple of questions to Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of crowdSPRING. Here’s what he had to say:

Who is providing the reward and how were the amounts selected?

“Beyond public recognition, Mark Cuban offered a few tickets to Dallas Mavs games if he really liked a design. crowdSPRING offered awards totaling $1,000 for the two best designs. Buyers on crowdSPRING set their own price and because of their experience helping 35,000 entrepreneurs and business owners, crowdSPRING believed this was a good award level. crowdSPRING set multiple awards because multiple awards often attract more and higher quality designers, since there’s a greater likelihood of being picked. The project has been open for only one day, and already more than 120 designs have been submitted.”

How did crowdSPRING get involved and is the site an official team partner?

“When Mark mentioned on his blog that the Mavs were re-designing their uniforms for the 2015-16 season, crowdSPRING reached out, introduced Mark to the site and offered to involve Mavs fans and the global crowdSPRING community of more than 137,000 designers and writers. crowdSPRING has worked with some of the world’s best brands, many of the world’s best agencies, and tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and startups. As a savvy entrepreneur, Mark wanted to see many creative designs and knew crowdSPRING could help. Mark liked the idea of the project on crowdSPRING and said that he would look at the submitted designs. crowdSPRING is not an official team partner but has worked with many official sports organizations and professional athletes.”

Credit: Engadget.com (5/13/13)

Welcome to my inaugural post on thebusinessofsports.com! Russell Scibetti has generously brought me on as a regular contributor – so expect to see my writings (at least) twice a month in this space.

As way of introduction, my full-time “day job” is as a professor of Marketing at Sonoma State University. I also teach in the University of San Francisco’s Masters in Sport Management Program. So, I’ll occasionally post on Student and Job Search related topics, but my most persistent themes for the blog will be Social Media and Big Data.

Consistent with the Social Media motif, two recent developments have piqued my interest. First, Twitter and ESPN have deepened their partnership. Undoubtedly, this is one direction that the dissemination of sports highlights is headed.

The question becomes, how will teams and leagues combat this move? Partnering with existing digital platforms? Further developing their own sites and apps to include more game highlights? Deepening relationships with their current broadcast partners to provide more online content? Let’s keep an eye on this story going forward.

The second news that grabbed me this week is regarding the social scoring company Klout. If you are unfamiliar with Klout and/or social scoring, this article will get you up to speed.

Klout recently announced that its site is going to morph from just a scoring site to a more fully developed social site. The reason I’m intrigued by this news is that I’m interested in how sports teams may be able to incorporate social scoring into existing database management/CRM practices. Klout and its competitiors (Kred and PeerIndex, for example) are at the front end of quantifying consumer social media usage and its resulting influence.

I suspect that teams would love to know which of their fans have the most social clout and determine how to best manage those relationships to drive even more fans to their events. So, monitoring the social scoring scene – and the business models of those firms – will be a recurring theme in this space.

Thanks for reading my first entry in this forum.  I’d like to encourage you to offer any feedback on this post or suggestions for future posts. Looking forward to engaging with you on thebusinessofsports.com.

It’s pretty common to see economic impact studies to show how building a new venue or hosting a large event can lead to an economic windfall for the local municipality. The fundamental concept is that the costs involved are more than offset by the additional money being spent by non-local residents with local businesses. However, until yesterday, I had never seen a report on the supposed economic impact of a scoreboard, but that’s exactly what the Florida Panthers are trying to demonstrate in their efforts to get Broward County to pay upwards of $5 million for a new scoreboard.

Thanks to ProHockeyTalk.com for sharing this story and the link to the spreadsheet itself, courtesy of the The Miami Herald blog. Take a look below, or click on the spreadsheet for a larger view:

Credit: The Miami Herald

Essentially, the team is trying to say that the events listed here would only take place at their arena if they get the new scoreboard, and then shows a rough calculation of what the economic impact for the county would be. I am going to assume/hope there is more math going on behind the scenes in determining these numbers, as the methodology behind an accurate economic impact study is quite detailed. It’s an interesting angle, but I have to believe they’d be able to book some of these events even without a new scoreboard, and they are completely disregarding the potential loss that the team could get in both ticket sales and sponsorship assets if they don’t upgrade it themselves.

I reached out to my friend Brian Connolly of Victus Advisors, who is an expert in this area of research. He said, “Just because a new scoreboard is used during an event doesn’t mean that a) it’s the sole reason that event came to town, and that b) that event is attracting new dollars into the town that wouldn’t have been spent there otherwise. You need to meet both of those criteria to assign economic impact to a scoreboard.”

Ultimately, with the challenges that teams are having getting public money for venues, especially in that market (see the Miami Dolphins), I can’t see this approach working for the Panthers. If anything does happen to their current scoreboard, it will be interesting to see if Michael Yormark follows through with his position that they “just won’t have a scoreboard.”

UPDATE: I guess I was wrong – Broward County approved the measure by a 6-2 vote yesterday. Now I’ll admit that when I originally wrote this post, I thought the team owned the arena, but apparently the County does, so this makes a little more sense. However, I’m still not sure about how the economic impact of a scoreboard can be accurately determined.

It seems like MLB is going back to the “members-only” private time-period concept for their @MLB Twitter account that they executed on last September. And it went so well then that this time around, it became a sponsorable event. Blackberry is the presenting sponsor for this “takeover” and has a fun integration into the campaign’s hashtag, #mlBBtakeover.

I’m not going to do a full write-up again, but you can click here for the recap I did last September on their first private Twitter event.

There are a lot of excellent sports business resources available for free online – in fact, with all of these blogs, websites, digital journals, email newsletters, video streams, Facebook pages, Twitter hashtags, and LinkedIn groups, there is more quality sports business information available now than anyone could have possibly imagined just a few years ago. I feel really honored to be a part of these efforts, and hope that people view this site as an important and relevant industry resource.

In order to contribute to the industry in a meaningful way, I have five important rules that I operate with when publishing all content:

1. My site is about the business of sports, not the games themselves – all content needs to be business-focused.
2. If I don’t believe the content is informative, educational or thought-provoking, I will not publish it.
3. My goal is never to make money – no one can “purchase” a blog post.
4. I am happy to give credit to and promote a 3rd party as long as the focus of the post is to educate and inform, not to sell.
5. I will never sacrifice quality for quantity, even if that means fewer visitors – nothing is more important than my integrity and the reputation of this site.

I feel it is my obligation as someone who works in the sports industry and talks to students and young professionals on a regular basis to maintain a high level of integrity and only provide content that I believe in. If anyone ever feels like there is something shared on this website that does not meet this standard, please let me know. I value the feedback of my readers tremendously.

With that said, I don’t always have a much time to write as I would like, luckily due to very good personal and professional reasons. As such, I am looking for the following:

• Regular Contributors:  I am looking for a few sports business professionals that I can trust and rely on to share at least two posts per month to help keep a steady stream of quality content on the site.
• Guest Writers:  I am always open to running a one-off post for any sports business professional, as long as it meets my criteria for publishing content.
• Virtual Intern(s):  It would be nice to have a current student or two that can assist with social media outreach, research for blog posts and write an occasional post.

Unfortunately, both of these “positions” are completely unpaid. This website essentially generates $0 in revenue, so if your goal is to make money with your writing, this is not the right place for you. However, if you want an outlet to build your brand, connect with the sports business community and give back to the industry through informative content, then please email me at russell@thebusinessofsports.com and let me know how you’d like to contribute. Thanks!

The folks over at Silverpop (a multi-channel marketing services company) registered for clubs’ mailing lists, logged onto multiple social networks and monitored Foursquare check-in data for all 30 MLB teams. Then they crunched the numbers and created this infographic to take a deeper look at MLB fandom on opening day of 2013 (I know I’m a little late sharing this one, but I just discovered it).

It’s not surprising to see the Yankees leading teams in almost every category, but the degree to which they do in some categories is pretty astounding. However, they did not have the biggest opening day when it came to Foursquare check-ins – that honor belongs to the Rockies at Brewers game.

Earlier this week, I conducted an email interview with Andrea Pagnanelli, CEO of LeapSeats (and a former colleague of mine) to learn more about her company.

First off, tell us, what is LeapSeats?

LeapSeats is an in-venue seat upgrade application designed to enhance the in-venue fan experience, while also improving the effectiveness of teams’ ticketing departments. LeapSeats focuses on lead generation, retention touchpoints, and maximizing revenue from all attendees through upgrades and selling new game-day inventory. Spectators simply download the app (or a teams’ app), scan the barcode, choose an upgrade, enter payment, and enjoy new seats.

You have a deep background in ticket sales. What from that experience pointed you to the value that LeapSeats might offer?

Working in ticket sales, you are trained to continuously think of new ways to drive revenue and bring more value to fans. With the landscape of technology in-venue changing, it was the perfect time to develop a product that accomplishes both these goals. We are rethinking the way organizations monetize unused ticket inventory, the way attendees purchase tickets, and the way organizations interact with their fans.

Is there a risk that LeapSeats could cannibalize a team’s own ticket sales efforts?

No. LeapSeats only sells any unsold ticket inventory on game-day.

How does LeapSeats compete with secondary ticket options?

LeapSeats does not compete with secondary ticket options; we are not a ticket marketplace. It is simply a tool for fans to utilize come game-day to get closer to the action and purchase unique experiences.

Can LeapSeats be used for teams that are traditionally sold out?

Yes, LeapSeats goes beyond offering seat upgrades. It can also offer unique and one of a kind experiences. We create new game-day inventory that doesn’t exist – think selling tours of an arena on game-day, pre-game field access, post-game photos, or any asset a group sales department does not move by game-day.

How do you see this space evolving over the next 3-5 years?

With the adaptation of Wi-Fi and DAS infrastructures in-venues, the smartphone is providing us with a new way to interact with our fans. I would anticipate more companies will develop technology and applications to capitalize on this market.

You can connect with Andrea via Twitter at @apagnanelli, on LinkedIn or by email at apagnanelli@rseventures.com.

CableTV.com just released an infographic to show how, in their opinion (and backed by some pretty good statistics) that LeBron James is the most underpaid athlete. Now, to truly say he is the MOST underpaid, we would need to see similar analysis for athletes in other sports, but the numbers here do paint a pretty good picture.

LeBron James Is Underpaid – An infographic by the team at CableTV.com

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Christi Goza. Ticket data to support this article provided by Razorgator.

Did Russell Westbrook’s Knee Injury Impact the Price of Oklahoma City Thunder Playoff Tickets?

Just prior to the start of the NBA Playoffs, Thunder Playoff tickets vs. the Houston Rockets were averaging $300 a seat , with Game 5 (if nec) at Chesapeake Energy Arena averaging $270 and Game 7 (if nec) averaging $459. Thunder ticket prices were fifth most expensive of the sixteen NBA Teams. Many felt the Thunder were destined for an NBA Finals rematch with the Miami Heat.

The morning of Game 2, ticket prices for Game 5 were averaging $297 and Game 7 $492 – both games had increased in price since the start of the Playoffs. It was later that evening in Game 2 Russell Westbrook tore his lateral meniscus. Following the team’s announcement that Westbrook would undergo surgery and would not play for the remainder of the 2013 NBA Playoffs, Oklahoma City Thunder ticket prices for Game 5 and Game 7 dropped 3% and 10% respectively. The cheapest seat in the house for a possible Game 5 (Home Game 3) fell 21%, from $90 to $71. The long term impact of the injury is also telling as potential Conference Semifinals tickets in OKC saw an average of a 6% decrease. Rockets fans had a different outlook as tickets following the Thunder’s announcement of Westbrook’s injury rose 15% for Game 3 in Houston.

In comparison, following Derrick Rose’s torn ACL in Game 1 of the First Round last year – Bulls tickets fell 5% for Game 5, 2% for Game 7 and an average of 11% for the Eastern Conference Semifinals Games in Chicago. And, although the injury didn’t take place during the postseason – when Kobe Bryant went down April 12 with a torn Achilles tendon, Los Angeles Lakers tickets took a similar fall. The Lakers had not secured a playoff spot at the time; however tickets for a potential first round series and semifinals were down 18% and 15% (in that order) following the Black Mamba’s season ending injury.

In last year’s AL Championship Series opener, Derek Jeter broke his left ankle in the 12th inning and would not return for the rest of the postseason. Different from the NBA teams’ tickets, New York Yankees tickets for a possible ALCS Game 6 and 7 at Yankees Stadium following a key player’s injury increased on the secondary market, rising 27% and 37%. Yankees World Series tickets for home games 1, 2, and 3 however, fell 6%, 22%, and 18% respectively.

Losing a star player to injury during the postseason not only hurts the team’s aspirations of winning a title but directly affects the potential revenue a team can earn. The impact is immediate as demand is affected by the fact that players that fans want to see are out of the lineup. Tickets further into the playoffs are also significantly impacted as fans lose confidence that their team will actually advance without one of its stars. Basketball tickets are particularly affected in a star driven league where the best players drive a team’s popularity and play a huge role in the success of their franchise.

Christi Goza is the Community and Social Media Manager at Razorgator and an alumni of the Graduate Program in Sports Management at Long Beach State.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Emily Huddell, SVP of Sales & Service for Turnkey Intelligence.

Last week, sports business executives converged in Brooklyn to attend Sports Business Journal’s Sports Facilities & Franchises Conference and Ticketing Symposium. For the third consecutive year, SBJ held the two events back-to-back, focusing on facility and franchise content during the first half of the event and then honing in on ticketing topics for the remaining sessions.

I attended the ticketing portion of the event, which kicked off with a “state of the industry” panel that set the tone for the next 24 hours. During that session, Legends COO Mike Ondrejko called ticketing “the accumulation of data”. To me, this perfectly sums up the current state of the ticketing space. Thanks to technologies like digital ticketing, mobile, and robust customer tracking via CRM, the sports industry has evolved to a point where data is incredibly easy to obtain. We are not at a loss for data. The key for properties, though, is to figure out how to analyze and interpret that data to better understand and relate to their customers, and ensure that the value of their inventory is being appropriately assessed and maximized.

Admittedly, there are still individuals in sports business who don’t recognize the merits of devoting resources to the implementation, collection and (most importantly) analysis of such data. In the conference’s “Big Data Conversation”, moderated by SBJ’s Abe Madkour, Frank Wheeler (SAP) observed that “non-believers” often don’t understand the potential ROI of data-related spends. However, when data resulting from such efforts can be presented cleanly and simply, obtaining that universal buy-in becomes a much easier process, as data recipients become “addicted” to the information they’re receiving.

Another commonly mentioned topic was the concept of real-time precision marketing, and teams’ desires to establish a true 365-day relationship with their customers. These concepts relate back to both the effective use of consumer data and smart brand management. Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard pointed out the music industry, and Kid Rock in particular, as examples sports business ticket sellers should look to (and learn from) when looking for guidance on how to build fans’ lifetime value. “As we all talk about dynamic pricing and getting that price right, in the back of our heads, we need to think about not how do we extract the most value tonight, but how do we extract the most value over the next month, over the next 25 years,” said Hubbard.

Though technology and data-related themes occupied center stage for the majority of this event, Friday featured a more classic ticket sales discussion. Participants on the lively “Developing Sales Talent” panel, moderated by Bill Sutton, bantered about what they look for when interviewing potential sales candidates (passion, initiative, and the ability to self-start), the importance of “consultative selling”, and the increased role of technology in sales, with Lightning EVP Jamie Spencer identifying a robust CRM system as a crucial tool for reps to use to build strong relationships. All emphasized the importance of ongoing recognition for meeting incremental goals, whether in the form of a WWE-style championship belt, extra time off, or the title of “Sales Captain”.

Other fun facts and takeaways:

• The rapid emergence of digital delivery of tickets, and success of the large-scale digital ticketing distribution implemented at this year’s Final Four.
• The continued threat of the secondary market and how different teams/leagues are fighting back.
• The opportunity for musicians to improve ticketing practices by considering the variable pricing models in place in sports business.
• The quandary of identifying how fans are using their mobile phones “from purchase to event attendance”, and breaking in/adding value to that lifecycle.
• The importance of creating “value markets” in the sports business ticketing space.
• The ability for teams to successfully position dynamic pricing as a selling point to season ticket holders to increase timely renewals by guaranteeing that they’ve receive the lowest-offered price by renewing by a given deadline.

Overall, the Symposium was a fun, power-packed day of networking and education. Thinking about future iterations of this event, it’s likely that the collection and use of data will continue to be the major topic of conversation, especially as each property and team fights to find the key to becoming an everyday presence (and asset) in the lives of its consumers.

At Turnkey, Emily Huddell is responsible for overseeing all sales and service efforts for the company’s primary products, Surveyor and Prospector. She’s a proud graduate of Boston University and the UMass Amherst Sport Management MS Program. 

In direct response to the tragedies in Boston, leaders in the running community have united to help launch Run Now - the hub of information on volunteering, participating and sharing all of the activities that demonstrate the solidarity of the running community.

On the website, a special blue and yellow Run Now tribute wrist band will be sold for $2.00 with 100% of the proceeds going to One Fund Boston.

The evolving Run Now website will be a place to:

• Securely donate funds to One Fund Boston
• Share stories with the running community through social media channels – the site will aggregate stories using the proper hashtags and handles (@_runnow, #RunNow, and facebook.com/RunNowMovement)
• Pledge to volunteer or participate in upcoming races

Run  Now  is also committed to:

• Pledging free race entries (for partner races) to 4,500 Boston Marathon participants diverted prior to the finish
• Raising $1 million for The One Fund Boston by National Running Day on June 5, 2013
• Offering more than 100,000 ‘Run Now – Boston 04.15.2013’ tribute wristbands to runners at upcoming marathons and at specialty running retailers across the country

The Run Now initial launch partners include Competitor Group, U.S. Road Sports & Entertainment Group, Brooks Running Company, MapMyFitness, Transamerica Life Insurance Company, Running Specialty Group and the Independent Running Retailers Association (IRRA).

“As runners ourselves, we share in a community that is resilient, passionate, strong, united and energized, even at a time of such unimaginable tragedy. The overwhelming outcry at the tragedy among runners inspired the industry to form this coalition.,” said Scott Dickey, CEO of CGI. “This week, terrorists attacked runners and in doing so attacked our running community. Run Now shows that our community and the running spirit is stronger than any terrorists’ evil intentions. We are determined to maintain the enduring and celebratory achievement of participating in running events. If there was ever a time to run, Run Now.”

For more information, visit www.runnow.com. 

When it comes to photo sharing, Instagram has definitely become the place for great content, and teams are looking to it more and more as a vehicle to drive their own campaigns and microsites. Here are a few excellent examples!

KnicksNow.com/knickstagram – Team microsite created by MVMT Strategy that gathers all Instagram photos with the hashtag #knickstape and shows them by geography (five boroughs of NY or the rest of the world):

Nike PHOTOiD – Nike created a way for people to use their Instagram photos to design Nike ID shoes that they can share and even purchase.

#RipCityPix Instagram Night – On March 27, the Portland Trailblazers had an Instagram Night where fans’ Instagram photos were shared in the arena, on TV and on the team website, complete with a contest to win free tickets.

#MLBSpringBreak Challenge – Baseball fans could respond to “assignments” with their tagged Instagram photos for the chance to win prizes, with the photos aggregated on their Spring Break Challenge page.

RomaGram – A microsite by AS Roma (Italy) that encourages fans to tag Instagram photos to help construct a photographic archive of the club’s history (according to my Google translation)

Miami Heat #WhiteHotHeatFan – Similar to the Knicks example above, the Heat are running a hashtag-driven microsite around their 2013 playoff run.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger David Simmons.

As the season begins and fans everywhere are buying tickets I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the secondary market for all 30 MLB teams to see what it means for you the fan.

I requested data from SeatGeek showing all 30 teams total inventories listings. From there to get a better idea I used a 2.6 ticket per listing multiplier as SeatGeek recommends using 2.5 tickets per listing and Ticketmaster sells 2.7 tickets per sale. I then took the total tickets available on the secondary market and put them into FSE (Full Season Equivalent) counts to get the average tickets available per game to get better idea of what was on the market compared to last year’s average sales by team.

The goal of all teams is to maximize its season sales while protecting it fans from what can sometimes be a predatory secondary market. “Why buy season tickets?” is question asked throughout the industry and the growth of the secondary market helps fuel the discussion. It’s important to note that naked short selling is now common practice in MLB secondary markets and therefore data might be skewed higher due to this practice and due to double-posting of tickets as well.

Teams face a predicament when it comes to selling to bulk buyers, speculators, and brokers. Depending upon the market, there are two schools of thought. Sell anything and everything you can to boost your season ticket totals which protects you from poor team play but can come back to bite you if the market is flooded leaving a minimal individual primary market. Or team’s can cut off these buyers like the Angels to focus their efforts on the protecting the individual sales by curtailing efforts on the season side to produce a higher yield on week of and day of game sales. Selling season tickets can sometimes just be “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as you are just moving revenue from individual to season due to the growth of the secondary market. This is why pricing your tickets initially and using dynamic pricing is so important to MLB teams.

For the time being, the data presented below is the best overall snapshot we can find on the secondary market. What does the SeatGeek data tell us? The Dodgers, Giants, Tigers, Angels and Yankees are top 5 in volume all with over 600,000 tickets on the secondary market led by the Dodgers with 1,027,676 tickets for the 2013 season.  How high is that? If you add up all tickets on the secondary market in Oakland, Arizona, Houston, San Diego, Cleveland, Miami, Seattle, and Toronto it’s still less than the Dodgers. Worth reminding everybody that the Dodgers have the highest season ticket base in all of MLB at 31,000 per Team President Stan Kasten and the largest stadium of 56,000 so the volume should not come as a surprise. The Dodgers sales team has outsold 17 MLB teams 2012 overall attendance teams in just season tickets this year. They also have the highest percentage of tickets on the secondary market in relation to their overall sales.

Other teams that will be challenged to sell individual tickets besides the Dodgers (31%) this season due to high levels of secondary market activity and season tickets in years to come are Giants (26%), Tigers (26%), and Nationals (25%). It’s important to note the Dodgers and Tigers use variable pricing, but the Nationals and Giants use dynamic pricing to better protect their primary markets. This helps them when prices fluctuate to keep the dollars flowing into the team rather than the secondary market. The teams with the least amount of tickets on secondary in comparison to their overall sales volume are the Cubs (12%), Twins (9%), Phillies (11%), Brewers (9%), and Cardinals(12%). These teams all sell 34,000 tickets plus a game but find that only a handful windup on the secondary market. The Athletics, Diamondbacks, Astros, Padres and Indians have the lowest volume on the secondary market.

So what does this mean to you as a fan? If you live in a market that does not use dynamic pricing and has large quantities of tickets on the secondary market you might be better off buying off the secondary market to save a few bucks. On the other hand buying a season ticket can offer you plenty of amenities you won’t get if you just buy your games off the secondary market including guaranteed postseason tickets and a large discount. To see where your team falls check out the full data below. It’s worth noting that I used 2012 sales AVG for my analysis. Teams like the Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Nationals have had huge strides sales and therefore their secondary market percentages will be overstated until we have 2013 data to benchmark it against. All data is via SeatGeek from March 21, 2013.

I don’t really want to write much about what happened today, so I’ll keep it really short. First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by what happened today. Condolences to those that lost loved ones and a speedy recovery to those that were injured.

It’s really a sad thing that there are people in the world that would want to inflict harm like this on others, and maybe one day, this will change. The unfortunate thing about sporting events is that they can unfortunately present a target to these people, with lots of individuals gathered together in one place on a global stage. This is why security at all sporting events is so important and taken so seriously, from a local minor league game up to the Olympics and World Cup. JW Cannon on Twitter has already brought this up in two tweets:

You don’t know it yet, but your major event experience is about to change DRAMATICALLY from a security standpoint. #sportsbiz

— J.W. Cannon (@cannonjw) April 15, 2013

Always been amazing to me the amount of major events that happen w/ limited incidents like this. But now? Get ready for lockdown. #sportsbiz

— J.W. Cannon (@cannonjw) April 15, 2013

He’s right – in a time where most venues already go to incredible lengths in their security procedures, it’s going to get even stricter and more detailed. So I have messages for two audiences:

1.  To those of you who work in security and facility operations – thank you. I know your job is going to get that much tougher, but these events cannot succeed is a safe manner without all that you do. Take every precaution and tell us what we need to do to keep things safe. We are listening and we need your expertise more than ever.

2.  To fans that attend games – be patient and understanding. Yes, pat downs, metal detector wands and bag checks can slow things down, and if you show up at the last minute, you might not get in on time. But the staff at these venues do what they do to protect everyone. Be calm, wait in line and listen to what they ask of you. And if you remember to think of it, thank them for protecting you.

Again, my thoughts and prayers to those affected by today’s events, and here’s to hoping it’s the last time we see something like this at a sporting event (or any event) ever again.

Back in May of 2010, I wrote a blog post called Opportunity to Sponsor Accomplishments in which I wrote:

After reading about Dallas Braden’s perfect game, which was also the 2nd no-hitter in Major League Baseball this year, I realized that this type of accomplishment could easily be associated with a sponsor in a positive way for the sponsor, the sport and the player involved. Think about it for a moment – we already have presenting/naming sponsors for several major awards, but there are so many great individual accomplishments beyond awards that brands would benefit from associating with. Here are a few quick examples that I thought of:

• Baseball:  No-hitters, hitting for the cycle, triple plays
• Basketball:  Triple-doubles, 40/50 point games
• Hockey:  Hat tricks
• Football:  Kickoff return TDs, 200 yards rushing/receiving, perfect passer rating

Well, it looks like I was about three years ahead of my time because Domino’s just partnered with MLB for the #DomiNoNo. Check out the email that MLB just sent:

This is a great partner promotion between the MLB and Domino’s. It drives value for MLB.tv subscribers, encourages people who were on the fence about MLB.tv to subscribe, associates the Domino’s brand to a high-value accomplishment, highlights a social media campaign around the #dominono hashtag, and it’s all designed in a way where Domino’s should be able to measure a clear ROO and ROI. To me, that’s a “recipe” for a well-executed sponsorship…sorry for the “cheesy” pun, but I’m “hot” today!

Today, the Rutgers men’s basketball program fired their head coach, Mike Rice, after a video was released publicly showing him verbally and physically abusing his players (click here for the full story on ESPN.com). It seems that Tim Pernetti, the Rutgers Athletic Director, knew about the content of this video at least to some extent back in December, and rather than firing him at the time, he suspended him and required him to participate in an anger management program.

Robert Barchi, President of the university, released the following statement today:

“Rutgers University has a long and proud history as one of the nation’s most diverse and welcoming academic institutions. Coach Rice’s abusive language and actions are deeply offensive and egregiously violate the university’s core values.

When video excerpts of basketball practices were reviewed last fall by Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, he immediately notified me and sought the advice of internal and outside counsel. The university hired an independent investigator to look into this matter thoroughly. Based on the external investigator’s findings and recommendations, Tim and I agreed that Coach Rice should be suspended, penalized $75,000 in fines and lost salary, ordered to undergo anger management counseling, and put on notice that his behavior would be closely monitored. Tim Pernetti also made it clear to Coach Rice that there would be zero tolerance for additional infractions. Tim kept me fully apprised and I supported his actions.

Yesterday, I personally reviewed the video evidence, which shows a chronic and pervasive pattern of disturbing behavior. I have now reached the conclusion that Coach Rice cannot continue to serve effectively in a position that demands the highest levels of leadership, responsibility and public accountability. He cannot continue to coach at Rutgers University. Therefore, Tim Pernetti and I have jointly decided to terminate Mike Rice’s employment at Rutgers.”

In addition, Athletic Director Tim Pernetti issued this statement:

“I am responsible for the decision to attempt a rehabilitation of Coach Rice. Dismissal and corrective action were debated in December and I thought it was in the best interest of everyone to rehabilitate, but I was wrong. Moving forward, I will work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community.”

So my questions are:

• How should we view the AD’s original decision not to fire him in December, when he first learned of the coach’s behavior?
• Is the coach really being fired because of his behavior, or just because the public found out about it?

A good friend of mine who works in the industry and knows that I’m a Rutgers alumnus emailed me his opinion:

Didn’t the Rutgers administration learn anything from the Penn State fiasco? I don’t understand why people with 6- and 7-figure incomes and good reputations would fall on a sword for such low-lifes. I know Pernetti has done a lot of good there, but if I’m the president, he’d be fired today. And if I’m the school board, I do an investigation to see if the president knew about this, and if he knew, he’d be gone too. Don’t these people realize that in 2013, you ALWAYS get exposed eventually?

He has a good point. If this is a firable offense now because the public found out, wasn’t he obligated to make the same decision back in December? In the current landscape of college sports with scandals and abuse of power, shouldn’t all administrators have a zero-tolerance policy for situations like this? If he truly felt that Rice deserved an opportunity to “rehabilitate,” then the public’s awareness of the original behavior shouldn’t sway that decision. I guess he never thought the video would be publicly released.

There’s an old saying that before you do or say something, imagine that it ends up on the front page of the New York Times and ask yourself, would you be ok with that. If not, then don’t do or say it. Clearly, the coach’s behavior didn’t pass the front page test, but I think that the AD should have run his own actions or lack thereof through that test back in December and he would have saved himself and the University a lot of headaches.

UPDATE: Tim Pernetti resigned today. My friend had one more opinion to contribute:

I like how Pernetti’s resignation letter referred to “human resources professionals, lawyers and outside counsel.” YOU are the athletic director. You are paid a lot of money to lead. LEAD. L-E-A-D. It’s your job to lead, it’s not about HR professionals or lawyers or outside counsel. You are paid a high salary to be the person the buck stops with. Just. Do. What’s. Right. Why is it so hard?!?!

That’s a great question – it seems to be too hard for a lot of smart people.

Google is always good for some April Fools Day fun – this year, besides their debut of Google Nose (a beta release, of course), they also created a “Treasure” option for Google Maps. Here is what the NYC area looks like in treasure-view:

Whenever something like this happens and word spreads quickly, there is an opportunity to jump in and create a fun promotion. For example, what if a team launched a contest using this new function to create a treasure map where one lucky fan could find a secret package full of tickets and merchandise? On the bottom left, Google even has written:

If your organization has a working relationship with Google, maybe you can become one of their “official” treasure chests, but if not, I’m sure there’s still a way to put together your own treasure hunt with these maps. The moral of the story is, always look for creative ways to take advantage of viral trends.

One of the benefits of running this blog is finding out about new, creative and effective partnerships right when they happen. So moving forward, I will occasionally post a “New Sponsorship Recap” to highlight these deals. Thanks to the brands and properties (and their PR agencies) for always keeping me up to speed!

Bowling and NASCAR bring you the “GoBowling.com 400″

Pocono Raceway and Strike Ten Entertainment, the sponsorship activation arm of the bowling industry, jointly announce today a groundbreaking, multi-faceted partnership deal that brings together two of the nation’s favorite sports brands: NASCAR and GoBowling.com, the official brand of bowling. For the first time ever, the 2013 and 2014 August NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races will be renamed the “GoBowling.com 400” as part of this freshly inked two-year sponsorship.

In addition to the renaming of the GoBowling.com 400, Pocono Raceway and Strike Ten Entertainment will deploy an integrated sponsorship campaign that will extend across multiple platforms including traditional marketing, digital and social media as well as event activations. The program will include the GoBowling.com 400 “Stop Your Thirst & Start The Race” Sweepstakes, which will provide one grand prize winner with an opportunity to be selected as the ‘Honorary Race Starter’ for the GoBowling.com 400 on August 4, 2013 at Pocono Raceway, earning the right to wave the green flag that will officially start the 400-mile race. The contest will kick off May 15, 2013 across approximately 2,100 participating bowling centers nationwide with the winner to receive round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations and VIP tickets to the race.

The partnership program will also include a series of GoBowling.com-themed bowling league promotional contests and in-center marketing elements, as well as other initiatives to be rolled out across the more than 4,000 participating bowling centers. “We are thrilled to welcome GoBowling.com to the Pocono Raceway family,” said Brandon Igdalsky, Pocono Raceway President and CEO. “This partnership literally hits home with me and my family, as bowling is an activity my daughters, wife and I truly enjoy together. Being able to bridge something that peaks interest levels both off and on the track is especially exciting for my family and our entire Raceway staff.”

“Just like the thrill of rolling a perfect strike, the adrenaline rush of watching a NASCAR race at the Pocono Raceway, is an exhilarating experience, both from a sporting perspective and a marketing standpoint,” said Frank DeSocio, President of Strike Ten Entertainment. “We are so proud and excited to forge this historic partnership and bring together two of America’s greatest and most beloved pastimes, bowling and racing.”

Liberty Mutual’s Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments of 2013

Liberty Mutual Insurance today announced the annual search for the most responsible youth sports moments of the year, in partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). Now in its third year, the “Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments” of 2013 seeks to identify and applaud acts of sportsmanship, selflessness, integrity, fairness, and honesty from youth sports fields, rinks, courts, mats and pools around the country. This year, with the help of U.S. Olympic skiing legend and youth sports parent Picabo Street, Liberty Mutual Insurance will name the “Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments” at the close of 2013.

Aligning with the brand’s ongoing commitment to responsibility, Liberty Mutual Insurance recently announced its partnership with the United States Olympic Committee and Team USA as the Official Property and Casualty and Life Insurance Partner of the 2014 and 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams that will compete in Sochi, Russia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Street, best known for her gold medal performance in the super-G at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and silver medal downhill performance in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway, joins Liberty Mutual’s commitment to youth sports as a mother and avid supporter of sportsmanship at all levels.

“As an athlete and now a mother of four young sons, I know first-hand the influence youth sports have in enriching a child with the values of sportsmanship and responsibility,” said Street. “To see U.S. Olympic Team partners like Liberty Mutual Insurance celebrate responsibility on the youth sports level is something I am proud to be a part of, and I urge fans across the country to share their examples of selflessness with us as nominees for 2013’s ‘Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments.’”

Now through November 30, coaches and parents can submit a moment that celebrates the inherent goodness in youth sports at ResponsibleSports.com or by tweeting a nomination using #RSMoments . In addition, throughout 2013, Liberty Mutual Insurance and PCA will scour local headlines across the country and identify additional moments that exemplify sportsmanship within local communities. Each month, three nominees will be highlighted on the Responsible Sports site where fans can tweet their vote for the most responsible “Moment of the Month.”

Thanks to the MBA@UNC program for putting together this great infographic reviewing the business of March Madness. They did a great job covering a variety of topics, including TV ad revenue, mobile consumption, ticket sales and social media. Enjoy!

MBA@UNC

Yesterday I was a guest on episode six of SBN’s new show, Sports Marketing Now, along with Matt McCormack from the Minnesota Swarm. We discussed on-court branding in college athletics, the new partnership between Southwest Airlines and Adams Golf, MLB’s “I Play” marketing campaign featuring younger star players, and Bryce Harper’s ticket sales efforts for the Nationals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2uTBFVANXk

Today’s post is courtesy of Amanda Rykoff and appears on her Amanda’s World blog.

It’s baaaack. For a third season, die-hard baseball fans will gather in New York City to watch every baseball game in a fully-loaded, tricked out apartment as part of the MLB Fan Cave.

Last year, Major League Baseball introduced baseball enthusiasts to nine passionate fans (“Cave Dwellers”) representing seven teams who blogged, tweeted and posted about their experiences at the Fan Cave. After 2,430 regular season games and the postseason, over 100 player and celebrity visits, 21 Cave Concerts and countless online videos, tweets and blog posts, San Francisco superfan Ashley Chavez was crowned the “Ultimate Cave Dweller” at AT&T Park, where her beloved Giants wrapped up their second World Series championship since 2010.

This season, after several months of online applications, voting and in-person tryouts in Arizona during Spring Training, nine baseball buffs (six men, three women) representing nine different teams (Angels, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Indians, Mets, Rangers, Reds, Red Sox and White Sox), will make their homes away from home in the Fan Cave.

Though the details and execution have evolved since MLB introduced the initiative for the 2011 season in the 15,000 square foot space on Fourth Street and Broadway (the former home of Tower Records), the goal of the Fan Cave remains unchanged: mix baseball with music, pop culture, media, interactive technology and art to help generate content and conversation via social media.

“We saw a lot of really talented people. We expect the content creation side to explode,” said Tim Brosnan, MLB’s Executive Vice President, Business, during an open house for the media on Tuesday afternoon. “Someone asked me before, ‘What’s spontaneous about the Cave?’ I said, ‘How about everything?’ It’s supposed to be a place where ideas can turn into executions. We think we have this unbelievable foundation for it this year to send this thing incrementally past where it’s been two years before.”

Many of the features from the 2012 Fan Cave are back in 2013, including the “Dirt Bar” where fans can get authentic dirt from MLB ballparks, skee-ball, shuffleboard, a custom billiards table (with billiard balls representing all 30 MLB teams), the PS3 gaming system and a ten-foot tall orange tube slide (aka the Home Run Slide). New additions to the Cave include a table tennis table, pinball machines, hammocks, a “charging stump,” and a giant orange squid.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s new for 2013 to help take the Fan Cave to the next level.

“Mission Control”

Along the center south wall of the Fan Cave, a 20-foot long “Mission Control” panel will revolutionize the way Cave Dwellers and visitors see the games. While the “Cave Monster” in the middle of the space remains the centerpiece of the viewing experience (15 of the 50+ Sony HDTV screens in the Fan Cave will show all the current games), Mission Control features 30 Android-powered tablet screens and will show every game live on location at every major league ballpark. Powered by MLB.TV, Mission Control allows for live video chats between fans and Fan Cave visitors and will provide tons of data about each park (seating capacity, wind speed and direction and many others). Mission Control also contains a variety of social media metrics, including who is at the ballpark now (via Foursquare), Instagram photos, tweets, Facebook likes and Foursquare tips for each venue.

“This place is one of whimsy and phantasmagorical stuff, but at the end of the day, it’s part of our business,” Brosnan said. “As business people, more and more we’re diving into the analytics and diving into data sets against our customers and what they’re liking and what they’re not liking. Through Mission Control and by it being powered by MLB.com, we’re going to be able to analyze everything that anybody does. We think we’ve come up with a pretty great solution.”

“Cave Art”

One of most striking features of this season’s Fan Cave is the gallery of “Cave Art” on display on the front south wall as soon as visitors set foot in the space. The idea came out of Brosnan’s desire to enhance art’s presence in the Fan Cave as it continues to fine tune its mix of baseball and pop culture.

Kerri Lisa (fans may recognize her from the Bravo reality series, “Gallery Girls”) is the woman responsible for curating the art gallery at the Fan Cave. The current installation features a mix of original and commissioned works by Thierry Guetta, aka Mr. Brainwash (featured in the Banksy documentary, “Exit Through the Gift Shop”). Each exhibition will run for approximately six weeks and will include a rotation of yet to be determined artists.

“If you go blocks from here to the East Village or go to Williamsburg, or Bensonhurst or Red Hook, in those neighborhoods there’s a bubbling art scene,” Brosnan said. “Who’s going? 18-34 year olds. We want them here. So we contacted the ‘Gallery Girls’ folks and Kerri said, ‘I get it, I’m all over it, I’ll put on six shows.’”

“Fan Cave University”

Another new initiative launching next week is “Fan Cave University,” where MLB will invite leaders in non-sports related fields to speak at the Fan Cave. It’s a way to showcase the venue and also broaden the experience for the Cave Dwellers. The first guest lecturer will be Bobak Ferdowski (aka “Mohawk Guy”), the NASA system engineer who became famous during the Mars Curiosity Rover landing.

“I hear my kids talk about BuzzFeed and Politico and they’re into politics,” Brosnan said. “It might not be deep and technical and ideological, but it’s a part of their currency. We say we’re going to do Fan Cave University. We’re going to bring lecturers in and we’re going to talk to them about politics and the social scene.”

“Cave Crashers”

MLB knows that fans want more opportunities to experience the Fan Cave personally and not just via video and social media. MLB also wanted to find ways to engage the individual clubs beyond the player visits and videos throughout the season. MLB will introduce a new promotion to combine those two goals — the “Cave Crasher” contest.

All 30 Major League clubs will run promotions to find a superfan who will come to New York City to “crash” at the MLB Fan Cave for two days while their team is visiting either the Yankees or the Mets. According to Brosnan, the teams are already “wildly excited” about this new idea.

Cave Dweller Travis Miller, 27, a Mets fan from Red Hook, NY, can’t wait to show off his custom ping pong paddles and crush his opposition on the new table tennis table at the Fan Cave. Miller, a Marist College graduate who had been working as a freelance sports writer in Chicago for the past four years, also looks forward to the “Cave Crashers” joining him and the other eight superfans.

“I’m excited about the Cave Crashers,” Miller said. “You’re going to get one from every team and they’re going to come in for a couple of days. It’s going to revitalize us — not that we’re going to need it — but it’s going to bring a new energy and a different perspective every day when teams are in town. You don’t know what they’re bringing to the table so it will be very spontaneous. I’m absolutely excited to see what we can do with it.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnbjtlnMs-Q

Amanda Rykoff is a New York City-based writer, sports fanatic, social media maven, recovering attorney, devoted aunt, proud Penn alum, and TiVo junkie. She has contributed  to espnW.com, ESPN’s online destination for female sports fans and athletes. Follow her on Twitter (@amandarykoff). 

The Business of Sports is officially five years old!

LinkedIn was nice enough to remind me that TheBusinessOfSports.com is officially five years old now. Where has the time gone!? You can click here to see my very first posts from March 2008.

I know I haven’t written as much lately, but for good reason as my professional and personal life have kept me busy in very rewarding ways. I will continue to work hard to find time to write more and hopefully bring on more regular contributors so the site can always stay current with news, opinions and best practices to learn from.

Thank you to everyone out there who supports the blog through visiting the site, subscribing via RSS, reading the email newsletters, attending our networking events and spreading the word to friends and colleagues. Starting this blog has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I can’t wait to see how it grows and evolves over the next five years.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Scott Radecic.

The fan experience is evolving and no one can deny it. Survey after survey shows that fans are less likely to attend a game and more likely to enjoy it from the comfort of their couch, where they can keep their eye on their fantasy football statistics and other games at the same time. Why you ask? There are more NFL, MLB, MLS and NHL fans than ever before with more access points- including television, the internet, smartphones and tablets. To be a fan, you don’t have to have season tickets; you simply have to have internet access. While this accessibility has allowed many sports to reach a record-high popularity, it has also left architects, stadium managers and owners exploring how to entice fans to return to the stadium once again. And they’re finding innovative ways to do it.

Now, architects and teams alike are taking cues from what fans enjoy most about the in-home experience – the unparalleled access to information and the comfort factor – and finding ways to transform their live in-game experience accordingly. In response to the current conditions, a number of stadiums have recently undergone large-scale renovations or simply built new, with the primary focus of these facilities being creating an experience that is intimate, driven by access to technology and other fans and in turn, providing clear value for the ticket price.

One of the best examples is at Sporting Park, home of the MLS’ Sporting Kansas City. The facility has become a benchmark for how to create an experience worth leaving the couch …and they’ve done it quickly and for a reasonable price. When Sporting Park opened in 2011, the team’s average attendance per game more than doubled, they went from being last in new season ticket sales to first in the MLS and went from last in merchandise sales, behind even generic MLS gear, to the top five in the league. Part of the success can be attributed to well-contrived rebranding plan and part of the credit should go to a strategic new stadium that encompasses the best in sports technology and creates an environment that is far and above the experience you would get from your recliner. Fans in Kansas City are suddenly re-energized and Sporting Kansas City has sold out nearly every game in their new facility.

The lessons learned at Sporting Park are ones that carry over to every sport- from Major League Baseball to hockey. Stadiums, in many ways, present teams with the opportunity to re-define their organizations and set a clear path toward long-term sustained growth and success. Coupled with the impact of the power of technological innovation on the long-term success of a facility, it is easy to understand teams’ and cities’ desire to renovate or build. They are aiming to create awe inspiring experiences that set a new standard for the fan experience and re-energize their teams. And at the end of the day, we know the intangible quality of experiencing a game among an energized crowd in a facility that offers the best of the best can keeps fans coming back and revenue coming in.

But what does this entail? This conversation is a constant in the lives of sports architects. How do you create that intangible feeling and what do the coming years have in store for the sports stadiums of the future? Sporting Park is a great example of where things are headed and there are a number of key factors that will impact new builds and renovations over the coming decade, including:

1. Fan Engagement

Fan engagement and the evolving expectations of the modern fan are undoubtedly at the core of the innovations we’ve seen in professional sports. We ask ourselves how can we capture the fans’ attention when they reach the stadium? How can we engage them outside of the game? How can we provide a memorable experience that makes it worthwhile to attend a game? There are a lot of ways to answer this, but it comes down to providing exclusive content, exclusive access and exclusive experiences. Architects are planning for bigger scoreboards and videoboards with clearer pictures. Teams are finding ways to improve the WiFi availability within stadiums so fans can stream content, monitor their fantasy football team and share their experience via social media all without losing track of the game in front of them. In addition, fans are looking to feel like they are part of something more intimate. They want to be able to share that they’ve seen or experienced something no one else has, so teams are adding smaller neighborhoods of seats within the stadium, from loge boxes to club seating, and as time and technology progresses, those fans may have access to athletes and to exclusive locker room, pre-game or sideline coverage.

2. Technology

Beyond just the technology being used, the way a fan actually engages with a game socially is becoming essential to the design and renovation of stadiums. Part of this is allowing for an intricate, extensive WiFi system, but it doesn’t stop there. There has to be serious consideration given to the behaviors of fans and how they’ve evolved. Fans now want to share what they are doing simultaneously and there is no indication that this is slowing down; therefore teams will likely adopt systems like the one at Sporting KC, where they are able to share videos and pictures in real-time that stream on one of the massive video boards in the stadium. In addition, access to apps that allow for concierge style service, instant replays and loyalty programs will be key. Further down the line, augmented reality and technology like Google Glass will allow fans to overlay information and perhaps even feel like they are on the field. In turn, specific spaces may be designed to accommodate this and the access to stats and data that fans don’t get at home will be sure to draw fans to the stadium.

3. Social gathering spaces

By repurposing currently under-utilized areas of the stadium, teams can create unique experiences that rival and exceed what you may get at home. This is done in a variety of ways, but most prominently by creating social gathering spaces, branded environments, various premium seating options and engaging sponsor access points. These social gathering spaces become experiences in themselves functioning as destinations within the destination. This may include a full-service sports bar with clear sightlines and a close proximity to the field or a technology hub, where fans can stop in and check stats, plug in their phones, browse the web and monitor other games all without losing site of the game in front of them.

This, of course, is just the beginning. There are no limitations to what the stadium experience may become over the coming decade. One thing is for sure: finding ways to create high-quality, technologically advanced and unique experiences is a never ending quest for architects and teams. Whether through branded social gathering spaces or the integration of the latest technology, creating destinations that draw people together and provide exclusive access will make the in-stadium experience something worth leaving the house for.

Scott Radecic is a Senior Principal at Populous, a global sports architecture firm, and a former NFL linebacker with the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Kansas City Chiefs. He currently oversees collegiate and NFL projects for the firm, providing strategic planning, budgeting and project management services.

Thanks to Brian Berger for the information on the 1st Annual Sports PR Summit, taking place in New York on May 22!

Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 – 1:00pm – 5:00pm (includes networking reception)
Where:   New York City
Host Venue:  MLB Fan Cave – 692 Broadway – New York, NY – 10012

The half-day Sports PR Summit will allow Sports PR executives from the various pro sports leagues, the collegiate ranks, sports corporations and PR firms the opportunity to come together in one location for panel discussions, strategy development and networking.

Hear dynamic panel discussions and best practices covering topics such as:

• The Risks and Rewards of Social Media Communications - Strategies for the best ways to engage on Social Media and how to avoid pitfalls. Bill Sanders (CMO for BDA Sports) will moderate the panel of experts that will include Matt Bourne (MLB VP of Business PR), Erik Christianson (NCAA Managing Director of External Affairs), Dan Courtemanche (MLS Executive VP of Communications) and Lauren Teague (PGA Tour Social Media Manager).
• Media Roundtable - Roundtable panel discussion featuring reporters talking about how they work with PR people. Discussion will be centered around reporter likes and dislikes, what they look for in story pitches, how they are utilizing social media and how social media has changed their job. Veteran broadcaster & journalist Ric Bucher will moderate the panel of reporters that will include Jon Wertheim (Executive Editor/Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated), Christine Brennan (Columnist for USA Today and broadcaster with NPR and ABC News) and LZ Granderson (Senior Writer for ESPN the Magazine and Columnist for CNN.com).
• Entertainment PR Case Study - Featuring PMK-BNC Chairman and CEO Michael Nyman (clients include Jimmy Kimmel, Amy Poehler and Zooey Deschanel)

For more information or to register, please visit to www.sportsprsummit.eventbrite.com and register with the password sportsprsummit2013.  You can also find the Sports PR Summit on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SportsPRSummit and on Twitter at twitter.com/SportsPRSummit.

We’ve been through “Call Me Maybe” and “Gangnam Style” … next up in the viral video countdown, “Harlem Shake” – enjoy!

Toronto Raptors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2reCxI2Ia2Q

Manchester City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkiPdNw1Q4I

Miami Heat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir2TdfSwH8g

Minnesota Timberwolves (a response to the Miami Heat version it would seem)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVW-ZeMeh5E

Columbus Blue Jackets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM_g2Xuip6s

Phoenix Suns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40J7_uozP8k

University of Maryland Flash Mob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1qoZxWAsk8

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5MdNPyoo9c

UGA Men’s Swim and Dive Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNrSpqUr-E

Jeff Gordon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shJBFyct2XE

Phoenix Coyotes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gso-X1kGqCQ

Florida Gators

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmVwR5UxZzk

Nebraska Men’s Gymnastics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOF1Zgdhn9g

Georgia Football

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dLIiNK3lX0

NBA All-Star 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9SX82qW09U

Oregon Duck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNYFbAZA34

Providence Men’s Basketball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgyRyWwYA34

Dover International Speedway (The Monster Mile)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj3qiQT9GtE

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Joshua Duboff, and was originally published at TheSportsBusinessExchange.com (TSBX).

Sixteen fans have been selected to represent their country/territory in the MLB Fan Cave during the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

The 16 “Cave Dwellers” were announced at a ceremony at the MLB Fan Cave in New York City. The Cave Dwellers were welcomed by MLB Network analysts Bill Ripken and Dan Plesac, ESPN Deportes analyst Candy Maldonado (a favorite for Team Canada and Toronto Blue Jays fan Daryl Andrews), EVP of Business for Major League Baseball Tim Brosnan, and Miss America 2013 and Brooklyn resident Mallory Hytes Hagan.

TSBX has compiled a list of all the Cave Dwellers’ Twitter accounts so fans can follow all the fun throughout the tournament.

As part of the 18-day MLB Fan Cave: World Baseball Classic Edition, the winners will cheer on their nation while watching every game of the WBC live at all hours of the day and night. They will also share their national pride, meet baseball personalities, and chronicle their experiences online through videos, blogs and social media. Australia’s Nic Connell said he has a few chants and props he’s ready to break out when Australia is playing. Nic came out banging thundersticks when he was introduced as Team Australia’s Cave Dweller.

Once a team is eliminated, the Cave Dweller will return to his/her home country within 48 hours.

Ketchum Sports & Entertainment was retained last year by Major League Baseball to help with World Baseball Classic Edition of the MLB Fan Cave. According to Shawn McBride, SVP of Client Service for Ketchum Sports & Entertainment, driving excitement around the WBC and engaging with developing MLB markets are the major goals behind the WBC Edition of the MLB Fan Cave. The 16 Cave Dwellers will be seen as ambassadors in their home markets and will help push the Fan Cave as a social media content engine. It was important to MLB and the WBC that the 16 ambassadors encompass not only established baseball markets but emerging and developing markets as well.

Click the image below to view more pictures from the press conference including a look at the remodeled MLB Fan Cave.

UPDATE: TSBX just published another post to track the “Social Stats for MLB Fan Cave Dwellers” – click here.

I will be on the debut episode of Sports Marketing Now, a new show from SportsBusinessNow.com, along with Craig Pintens from the University of Oregon. The show starts at 4PM EST (3PM CST)  - hope you can join us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njj2cVmLlXg

Inspired by this week’s On Deck Conference (for which I will hopefully have a full recap post next week), here are five recent sports business articles with an extra emphasis on technology:

An app grows in Brooklyn with Cisco’s StadiumVision by Kevin McCall on SportsBusinessNow.com

“With integration into the arena’s app and exclusive video feeds available on mobile devices at live events, Cisco’s StadiumVision could become the standard in new sports facilities. The technology was unveiled at Barclay’s Center two weeks ago and included views from cameras around the home of the Brooklyn Nets built in to the mobile app…”

Mobile Inside Out by Chris Dill on The Migala Report

“We especially want connectivity when we go to sporting events for texting, calling home to check on the babysitter, checking email and looking at scores around the league. If something crazy happens like the lights go out at the event we may even tweet about it. We certainly would have taken pictures at the half time show in New Orleans to send to friends. In fact, when it comes to the sports space the mobile usage is growing so fast that the bandwidth is being out stripped at arenas and stadiums across the country…”

Score Your Dream Job at the Voice of XFINITY Sports by Brian Gainor on PartnershipActivation.com

“XFINITY is looking for the next amazing individual to take over the reigns as the XFINITY Sports Guy / Gal and take fans behind-the-scenes of the biggest stories in sports and social media in 2013. The winner will inherit the @XFINITYSports Twitter handle (with 13,000 followers) and deliver unique access / vantage points to fans from the biggest sporting events nationwide…”

10 Technologies Transforming Sports By Amy Grossman on Discovery.com

“Nowadays, it’s hard to tell the jocks from the geeks. Athletes capitalize on advances from engineering, material science, biomechanics, communication and information technologies to maximize training and performance. And brainiacs develop technologies that are transforming every aspect of sport, including coaching, judging, even the design of sports arenas and spectator experience…”

How the Tech Industry is Transforming #SportsBiz by Dave Neff on ExactTarget.com

“An interesting trend has begun to take shape in the business of sports: savvy professional sports teams are tapping Silicon Valley for their top talent. Speaking as one who made the reverse move – from the team side to working for a software company – I find this shift to be quite fascinating…”

You can also check out the #ondeck13 hashtag on Twitter for some of the content from this week’s event. Have a great weekend!

Earlier this week, the Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) released a comprehensive report on The Corporate Ticket Marketplace (click here to download). In the era where corporations needs to make sure they maximize every dollar spent on corporate hospitality and the challenges that face premium sales staff, the information in this report is extremely valuable. It features:

• A detailed evaluation of the changing marketplace by Bill Dorsey, Chairman of ALSD.
• Analysis of what companies are spending on premium seating, by both industry type and company size, compiled by Ron Contorno of Full House Database Marketing and Dr. Heather Lawrence of Ohio University.
• Insights from interviews with 15 Fortune 100 companies on their use of premium seating, put together by Dr. Peter Titlebaum of University of Dayton and Dr. Heather Lawrence, Dr. Christopher Moberg, & Ms. Christina Ramos of Ohio University.
• Summary reports on the size of the premium seating market from ALSD’s research group.
• Changes in the ownership of premium seating as compiled by Dr. Peter Titlebaum.
• Detailed reports on how companies are using sports tickets, from Spotlight TMS.

Here are a few interesting facts from the report and one of the helpful charts provided by SpotlightTMS:

• There are approximately 30,000 suites and 800,000 clubs seats that comprise the premium seat marketplace in North America.
• In terms of dollar volume, the market has been conservatively estimated to generate $10 billion per year which only accounts for sports, not the concert or entertainment side of the equation.
• For a new building in a major market, premium seating now generates nearly 50% of the total ticketing revenue. Much of this income is not considered part of revenue sharing with the league or its franchises.
• The average ticket owned by a business is used to entertain $107,624 in potential or current revenue.
• Fortune 100 companies’ primary objectives for ticket usage include driving business growth and adding new business, retaining and providing hospitality to current clients to nurture an established relationship, and establishing relationships with teams and properties.

Credit: SpotlightTMS (Provided by ALSD)

Click here to download the full report from the ALSD website.

In addition, ALSD has organized a new event called the Corporate Ticketing Impact Conference (CTIC), taking place on April 16, 2013 at MetLife Stadium. This one-day event is designed to bring together buyers and sellers of premium seating so that corporations can share best practices to drive ROI and teams can gain better insight into their customers’ needs. Visit www.ctic2013.com  for more information.

If you haven’t been following the National Sports Forum content on Twitter this past week (you can find it via the hashtag #NSF2013), Holly Koski from Sports Business Now have been doing some great interviews with conference presenters and attendees. Take a l0ok at some of my favorites below, and for the full list, visit www.nsflive.com or the SBN YouTube channel.

Update: Had to include their last interview with Ron Seaver, founder of the National Sports Forum:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8uU2H5BJ0

Steve Hank – Arizona State University (and my first boss in sports!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0C1ZzoWUfY

Andy Dolich – Dolich Consulting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-QDEN9-QXw

Alex Martins – Orlando Magic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q–Ka4PgOiY

Mike Mahoney – Carolina Panthers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw2JMbXGTSo

Vic Gregovits – Cleveland Indians:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MG4mJKoMbE

Chris Todd – Navigate Marketing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y1_4b9VAvk

Ken Troupe – Phoenix Coyotes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjVr7H–YuQ

UPDATE: #SBNight is Tonight and we are approaching 1500 RSVPs! Follow the action on Twitter via the #sbnight hashtag and you can also check out a live photo gallery of all tweeted pictures at sbnight.crowdcameo.com. If you are attending, please remember to tweet pictures with this hashtag for them to appear in the gallery, or you can email them to sbnight@crowdcameo.com.

We have over 1,000 RSVPs for this week’s networking events! Click on one of the cities to the right for location-specific details and to RSVP! Thank you to all of our local hosts for their amazing work in making this happen. And please consider making a small donation to Team Rubicon - our events are always free, so anything you can donate, even $5, can make an impact. Thank you!

Big thanks to Old Hat Creative for putting this great flyer together!

By now, you’ve probably seen hundreds of tweets, Facebook posts and other stories about the Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax, as originally reported by Deadspin. There have been official statements release by both Te’o and Notre Dame taking the position that Te’o was the victim of this hoax. And of course, there are people insinuating (or even directly accusing) that Te’o was in on the hoax the entire time. To say this is an odd story would quite an understatement!

So, I want to know what the sports business community really thinks. Please answer the poll below, and if you have any particularly strong reasons for your opinion, feel free to share in the comments.

Results: Seems like a majority of people feel that Te’o was in on this hoax to some degree, but it’s not enough of a negative to knock him out of the first round or have a long-term impact on his marketability.

Unruly, a UK-based company specializing in social video campaigns, released a great infographic highlighting the top facts that brands show know when it comes to create Super Bowl advertisements that resonate socially. I originally found this through an article on AdWeek.com (want to give credit!) and thought it had some pretty good insights, particularly on how effective teaser versions have such an impact on social distribution.

You can click here to read more about this research at Unruly’s website, and they also have links to their “Super Bowl Social Video Playbook” and “The Most Shared Super Bowl Ads of All Time” – great additional resources.

I asked the sports business community on Twitter to use the hashtag #sportsbizday1 and tell us about their first day working in sports. The responses were amazing. Enjoy!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Michael Dittelman.

Many who work in the sports industry started out in lower level, or “entry level” roles. As such, those who hold the lower level roles learn what our parents often tried to implore to us: To learn humility, you need be humiliated. For those who have worked at the NBA league offices in certain business units these past many years under the man whose name is emblazoned on the sacred orange ball – David J. Stern – have had ample opportunity to learn humility. And for good reason: David’s obviously incredibly smart, with a strong personality who governs the NBA firmly. His grip on the NBA brand, and his dedicated efforts to protect and nurture it have increased the value of franchises for owners, created entertaining content for fans to consume, and enabled thousands of employees to be a part of the NBA business infrastructure.

Within David’s regime is a culture that speaks to, and often times resembles, David’s work-place personality: There are high standards for employees, with a corporate culture and environment that is hard-driving, steel-strong in its devotion to the goals of the corporate governance at the helm. The residue of this culture often brings challenges that bear out in the “weeding out” of employees with a “weak personality,” who may find it difficult to assimilate to the environment. This is proven by the somewhat high turnover rate within certain units at the league office: Compare the average length of tenure of lower and mid-level employees within Marketing Partnership divisions (aka “sponsorship sellers”) at each of the leagues as proof of this.

Yet, this unwritten and natural progression of “weeding out” is not necessarily a bad thing. And clearly, the successes the NBA has had – on many fronts – are a testament to the culture that starts at the top of the organization, and flows down to all employees.

With the public announcement of David’s impending exit from the league, there’s been talk – and questions – of a change in culture, and a subsequent fear in some camps of doom looming around the corner, once David’s replacement Adam Silver takes office.

Anyone who’s met Adam sees immediately that Adam Silver is not David Stern. Aside from the immediate recognition of a difference in size – as Adam stands as tall as many of the NBA’s players – the personalities and “presence” within the work place of Adam and David differ greatly. Yet, this is not a bad thing… And in no way does this denigrate, nor criticize David Stern: From team owners, ranging from the steady business savvy of Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, to the outspoken tradition-challenging maverick Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, to the combined hard-core avid fan and media personalities akin to Bill Simmons (ESPN’s “Sports Guy,” and author of the tome “The Book of Basketball”) to the casual fan, each surely recognizes the value, the growth and the relevance of the NBA brought forth under David.

But, change is inevitable. The speed of change can vary, but it comes. So, with transition from David to Adam Silver the culture of the NBA will surely change: Adam’s open, warm, receptive and welcoming personality will be the main influence of such a culture change. His approach in the work place, where he’s known to gain consensus among colleagues and constituents, where he entrusts employees with relative autonomy to do their job and excel, may not differ from David. Yet, his Adam’s presence, always welcomed and invited into the room to lend guidance, advice or opinion, is always well received. Adam doesn’t engender fear from junior or mid-level employees within the NBA, as David could be known for (probably somewhat unbeknownst to him at first), simply because of who he is, how he acts, and the strength of his personality. Rather, a multitude of NBA employees look up to Adam, and respect him just as much as they do David. The difference is, they don’t fear Adam.

So where there may be a rise in “noise” reflecting a “The King is Dead” scenario from David’s coming exit, the exit shouldn’t be construed as a negative, nor should there be fear in a lapse in the NBA’s continued growth and successes: Those who have had the opportunity to be in the room with David, to sit next to him in meetings, or to hear him address employees en masse or individually, have no doubt absorbed what they could, and as fast as they could. Given that Adam Silver’s been at David’s side for a number of years, he’s seen the immediate daily, the short term and the long term challenges the league faces, and he’s taken them on directly. Adam’s used guile and smarts all his own, but has certainly culled and garnered skills from his time with David.

Above all, the league will be – and is – in very good hands with Adam Silver. He’ll provide strong direction at the helm, engaging business partners, sponsors, media, team owners, players and fans alike with his own style and comfortable nature. These varied entities, with their own agendas and needs will take heed, as Adam, with his own voice, his own style and his own resolve, having learned humility (hopefully having not been humiliated too recently) will steer the ship, navigating waters that may become choppy ahead of him from time to time, but will surely be calm in his wake. The result will be a shout from all on board the vessel of “Long Live the [New] King.”

A former NBA league office employee, Michael Dittelman has enjoyed a career focused on sports media, with leadership roles in marketing, business development and management with the likes of each Sports Illustrated, USA Today Sports Media, Sporting News, the NBA and the Harlem Globetrotters. Michael can reached via email at MikeDittelman@gmail.com

Prior to this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl (which my Scarlet Knights unfortunately lost), I had the chance to interview Gary Barfield, Executive VP of Russell Brands, LLC. I asked him several questions about how the title sponsorship of this bowl game fits into Russell Athletic’s overall marketing strategy.

How did you decide that a bowl sponsorship was a good strategic decision for Russell Athletic?

Gary: When the opportunity presented itself to us, it was an obvious decision. Given our long history, Russell Athletic has been a part of college football practically since the game began and a premier college football bowl game is a great marketing platform for us.

What was it about this specific bowl game that was most attractive to you?

Gary: The Russell Athletic Bowl will feature two leading college football teams in a packed stadium in front of a national television audience on ESPN and we are excited to add our name to such a premier bowl. Also, Orlando is a great host city and has fantastic people and have been nothing but first-class to us since the beginning.

Is there something about the current business climate that made it the right time for this move?

Gary: We thought it was the right time and opportunity. For us, this event will reinforce, to consumers, athletic directors, coaches and players of all levels, that Russell Athletic performs on the field of play and our quality and performance are second to none.

What metrics or objectives will you measure to help determine if this sponsorship is successful?

Gary: We will obviously be taking everything into account, with an obvious focus on it being the first year and setting benchmarks for future years. Russell Athletic will receive national exposure through television, radio and online media, and will be recognized in broadcast, outdoor and print advertising throughout Central Florida. Russell Athletic will also enjoy a presence on in-stadium signage and at the entire week’s schedule of Russell Athletic Bowl-related events, as well as a significant hospitality program for clients and customers.

How valuable is the hospitality that comes with being a title sponsor, and how will you use it?

Gary: We are taking full advantage of all that the event has to offer and have a multitude of guests, business partners, customers and dealers partaking in the various great activities over the couple days in Orlando.

How does this fit into the overall marketing strategy for Russell Athletic?

Gary: The exposure from the Russell Athletic Bowl will allow the brand to be seen by millions of consumers and provide us the opportunity to put our iconic logo in front of countless athletic directors, coaches and players of all levels. The Russell Athletic Bowl also allows us to further extend our “Together We R” brand campaign in new ways, while reinforcing that Russell Athletic performs on the field of play and our quality and performance are second to none.

Is there extra value for the brand in this type of deal in that Nike and Reebok are not bowl sponsors?

Gary: I can’t speak for the business strategies of our competitors, however as a brand whose heritage is deeply-rooted in college football, it is a natural fit for Russell Athletic to join the Florida Citrus Sports family as title sponsor of this premier bowl game. Additionally and again, sponsorship of the game and the associated media assets allows the Russell Athletic brand to be seen by millions of consumers as well as athletic directors, coaches and players of all levels.

How do the actual bowl participants potentially impact the value of this sponsorship?

Gary: We are extremely excited to have two great programs like Virginia Tech and Rutgers playing in the game. You know going with the tie-in with the ACC and Big East you will be drawing from a great group of teams.

What types of activation do you have planned around the bowl game?

Gary: We have several television spots that will run during the game, and on-site we will be taking full advantage of all the exposure opportunities the event provides. We will also be doing Russell Athletic gear drops via social media, and some other unique and fun activations.

Turkish Airlines saluted Manchester United’s new Premiership season by taking 19 lucky fans from around the world to the city of Manchester. It began with Turkish Airlines launching the “Fans United” contest on their international Facebook page. The goal was to help a few lucky fans experience Manchester United culture in its home, the city of Manchester.

First stop was Old Trafford, where the group was treated to a private, behind-the-scenes tour. This was an experience with stops at the players’ dressing room, the dug-out, and the club’s award-winning museum. On August 24, the winners traveled to Carrington where they got to watch the first-team of Manchester United warm up before tactical training by Sir Alex Ferguson. They also had the privilege to get autographs and talk with famous team members such as Rio Ferdinand and Javier “Chicarito” Hernandez.

The group was treated to lunch at the Old Trafford’s Red Cafe, followed by visits to some of Manchester’s other impressive sights, before being treated to dinner at one of the city’s finest restaurants. But the real highlight of the trip arrived on Saturday, when the group witnessed United’s 3-2 win over Fulham in the first home game of the season from some of the best seats in Old Trafford’s East Stand. It was the perfect way to cap an incredible few days in an experience that one winner described as “a dream come true.”

By the end of this four-month social media campaign, the Fans United application reached out to over 322 million people globally to give 19 lucky Red Devils fans an unforgettable experience. To learn more about this campaign, watch the video below and check out the infographic recap.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Ty0iJnM70

Infographic:

I am VERY excited to announce that on Wednesday, January 23, we will be hosting The Business of Sports Networking Events in multiple cities all across the country!

Just like all of our previous events, there is no charge to attend. However, we are encouraging all attendees to make a donation to Team Rubicon. Team Rubicon unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with medical professionals to rapidly deploy emergency response teams into crisis situations. They were incredibly important in the response to Superstorm Sandy, and we have a goal to raise $1,000 to support their efforts. If each attendee donates just $5, we can easily surpass that amount! Use the link below to make a donation online:

http://fundraise.teamrubiconusa.org/thebusinessofsports

Here is the complete list of networking events on the schedule for January 23. If the details for your city aren’t here yet, please check back as we are finalizing them as soon as possible! In addition, if you are interested in volunteering to help with the registration table for any of our events, please email me at russell@thebusinessofsports.com. Thanks!

U.S. LOCATIONS ON JANUARY 23

Baltimore:
6:00-9:00PM at the Pratt Street Ale House (206 W. Pratt St) - Details and RSVP here!

Boston:
6:30-9:30PM at the Julep Bar (200 High St) - Details and RSVP here!

Charlotte:
6:00-9:00PM at the Queen City Q (225 E. 6th St) - Details and RSVP here!

Chicago:
6:00-9:00PM at the English Bar and Restaurant (444 N. La Salle Blvd) - Details and RSVP here!

Dallas:
6:00-9:00PM at the British Beverage Co (2800 Routh St)- Details and RSVP here!

Detroit:
6:00-9:00PM at the Coaches Corner – Detroit (1465 Centre St)- Details and RSVP here!

Minneapolis:
6:00-9:00PM at the Row 27 Offices (718 North Washington Ave, Suite 402) - Details and RSVP here!

Los Angeles:
6:30-9:30PM at Busby’s West (3110 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica) - Details and RSVP here!

New Orleans:
6:00-9:00PM at Bellocq in The Hotel Modern (936 St. Charles Avenue) - Details and RSVP here!

New York:
6:30-9:30PM at the Galway Hooker Pub (7 E. 36th St) - Details and RSVP here!

Oklahoma City:
6:00-9:00PM at the Skirvin Hotel Red Piano Lounge (1 Park Ave) - Details and RSVP here!

Philadelphia:
6:00-9:00PM at Xfinity Live (The VIP Mezzanine) - Details and RSVP here!

Portland:
6:00-9:00PM at Brix Tavern (1338 N.W. Hoyt St) - Details and RSVP here!

San Francisco:
6:00-9:00PM at Raven Bar (1151 Folsom St) – Details and RSVP here!

Tampa:
6:00-9:00PM at Golfer’s Grail (10019 North Dale Mabry Highway, Suite 100) - Details and RSVP here!

Washington, DC:
6:00-9:00PM at Blackfinn American Saloon (1620 I Street NW) - Details and RSVP here!

INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS ON JANUARY 24

Melbourne, Australia:
January 24 from 6:00-9:00PM at Honey Bar (345 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne) - Details and RSVP here!

Mumbai, India:
January 24 from 7:00-9:00PM at Bonobo (Kenilworth Mall, Phase 2, Off Linking Road) - Details and RSVP here!

London, England:
We will not have our own event in London as part of this, because Dan McLaren from TheUKSportsNetwork.com is hosting a great meetup on January 22. For full details on his UKSN event, please click here.

—

We are working on the details for events in a couple more cities, and each city will get a listing on the Event Calendar page once finalized. Thank you to all of our local event partners! I am really excited that we can pull something like this off in so many cities on the same night!

Yesterday, I received an interesting report by a company called Fizziology that did a deep-dive analysis of social media conversations surrounding the NHL lockout. Here is the quick overview of their report:

“This DMA Analysis looks at the social conversation toward the NHL Lockout over the last week. The analysis looks at the total social conversation and negative sentiment of the top 5 markets in both the US and Canada, to identify the market that is the most social engaged, and most negative toward the ongoing lockout in the NHL.

Fizziology listens to the “big 3” of social media: Twitter, Facebook and blogs. We use broad search terminology to gather all references to a tracked property. Trained analysts then read a statistical sampling of the total conversation to determine what is relevant conversation, grade sentiment (to 95% confidence, using a 2-tiered approach for accuracy) and flag conversation drivers.

The data is quantitative and should be looked at week-over-week. But the insights are qualitative, using the social conversation as a giant focus group to learn about audience reactions and perceptions.”

The report points out some interesting facts:

• Ontario is by far the most socially engaged market in North America when it comes to discussing the lockout.
• Within the U.S., Los Angeles has the most negative sentiment but New York shows the most total discussion, probably due to the presence of three teams in the market.
• Urban areas have more than six times the percentage of total lockout conversation than rural areas.

You can click here to download the PDF or read the full report below:

Since everyone loves lists (cue the Bleacher Report), here’s a list of holiday cards that teams have sent out to their fans this year. Click on the image to see the team’s video/microsite, and then use the comments to let me know what your favorites are!

I will be adding more videos and cards to this list as teams release them, so please keep an eye out for new ones and share links to them in the comments. So far we have the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, New York Jets, San Diego State Aztecs, Houston Rockets, Evansville Otters and the Dallas Mavericks.

Latest Additions: Houston Texans, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals/Wizards, Philadelphia Flyers, Sporting Kansas City, Orlando Magic, Boston Red Sox, a long list of MLB teams, the Atlantic-10 Conference and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

More Additions: Atlanta Falcons, Vancouver Canucks, New England Patriots, Ottawa Senators, New York Mets, Washington Redskins, Golden State Warriors, Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Even MORE Additions: Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Yankees, Miami Dolphins San Francisco 49ers, New Jersey Devils, Dover International Speedway and St. Louis Rams.

They keep on coming: Major League Soccer, Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, New York Rangers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles Kings, Denver Broncos, NFL, Tennessee Titans, Anaheim Ducks, UFC, Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Timberwolves

New York Giants

Carolina Panthers

New York Jets

San Diego State University (Sent via social media)

Houston Rockets (Video, not a card, but had to share it!)

Evansville Otters (Physical card)

Dallas Mavericks (Sleigh Ride via YouTube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE_cX0w9N8k

Houston Texans:

St. Louis Blues and the Scottrade Center:

Washington Capitals (or click here for the Washington Wizards – similar card):

Philadelphia Flyers

Sporting Kansas City (email, social and dedicated microsite)

Orlando Magic

Boston Red Sox

Other MLB Teams – Some of these may be from last year and could be updated at any time.

• Arizona Diamondbacks (2011)
• Atlanta Braves
• Baltimore Orioles (2011)
• Chicago Cubs
• Chicago White Sox
• Cincinnati Reds
• Cleveland Indians (2011)
• Colorado Rockies
• Detroit Tigers
• Houston Astros
• Kansas City Royals
• Miami Marlins
• Minnesota Twins
• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2011)
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• New York Yankees
• Oakland Athletics
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates (Interactive “Holiday Pitch” game)
• San Diego Padres
• San Francisco Giants
• Seattle Mariners
• St. Louis Cardinals (2011)
• Tampa Bay Rays
• Texas Rangers
• Toronto Blue Jays
• Washington Nationals

Interesting to see that MLB teams who made the playoffs last year had cards with more highlights involved and teams that did not fare so well took a more “fun” approach using cartoons, other staff members or flashbacks to historic moments in team history.

Atlantic 10 Conference

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Atlanta Falcons

Vancouver Canucks

New England Patriots (Interactive, Personalized Microsite)

Ottawa Senators

New York Mets

Washington Redskins

Golden State Warriors

Buffalo Sabres

Tampa Bay Lightning

Carolina Hurricanes

Florida Panthers

Pittsburgh Pirates (Interactive Holiday Pitch Game)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Two Versions

New York Yankees

Miami Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers

New Jersey Devils

Dover International Speedway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSytpYrhL78

St. Louis Rams

Major League Soccer

Atlanta Hawks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8RPFwwKkF8

Brooklyn Nets

Arizona Diamondbacks

New York Rangers (no link)

Sacramento Kings (no link)

San Antonio Spurs (web video)

Houston Rockets (their actual card)

Buffalo Bills (personalized at the end)

San Diego Chargers

Los Angeles Kings

Denver Broncos

National Football League

Tennessee Titans

Anaheim Ducks

UFC

Green Bay Packers

On Friday, I had the chance to speak to 150+ college students at the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation’s New York Career Forum, and the last part of my talk was about career advice. Before the presentation started, I asked “What advice would you give college students on building a career in sports marketing. Please reply – will use in my talk this AM” and the response I got was excellent. Here is what everyone had to say!

]]> http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/12/10/building-a-career-in-sports-marketing/feed/ 0 http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/12/10/building-a-career-in-sports-marketing/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thebusinessofsports2/~3/kFe2OQunFwU/ http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/12/03/oakland-raiders-holiday-themed-campaign/#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:30:27 +0000 russell@thebusinessofsports.com (Russell Scibetti) http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/?p=5613 Tweet

I think the Oakland Raiders are one of the best organizations when it comes to driving merchandise sales and making the best use of their customer database. To that note, each year they run a great campaign called the  ”Twelve Days of Holiday Savings.” Their first offer came out today via email, and each subsequent day, they will email out the next offer.

Typically, one of the downsides of this type of campaign is that consumers are left to decide “should I purchase today, or wait to see what tomorrow’s offer is?” The Raiders get past this by making the entire calendar available (see the link at the top of the email). In the past, I believe they’ve also tried revealing only a couple of days in advance but still leaving some anticipation about what the full calendar holds.

I really like this campaign as an overall merchandise sales strategy for the holiday season. Most importantly, the variety and quality of offers is excellent, which will both drive sales and minimize opt-out rates as they communicate each offer to their database.

Yesterday, the big story out of the NBA was the Spurs’ decision to send their four best players home before their game vs. the Miami Heat. I immediately jumped to Twitter to try and get some different thoughts on this decision and David Stern’s subsequent reaction from a sports business perspective. Thanks to everyone for sharing their comments!

Note: I will probably continue to update this post as more feedback comes in.

]]> http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/11/30/the-san-antonio-spurs-vs-david-stern/feed/ 0 http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/11/30/the-san-antonio-spurs-vs-david-stern/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thebusinessofsports2/~3/-8nYPgjxlKU/ http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/11/26/2012-cyber-monday-sales/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:24:00 +0000 russell@thebusinessofsports.com (Russell Scibetti) http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/?p=5578 Tweet

I did my best to track Black Friday, so it seems only logical to do the same for Cyber Monday. Here’s a long list of today’s league and team holiday offers (if you are on the home page, make sure to click the “continue reading” link at the bottom to see them all). Hope this is a helpful resource, and maybe you can get some holiday shopping done too – each image links to the actual offer. You also might notice that there are no NHL offers – in light of the recent game cancellations, it seems like the teams have declined to put out sales offers, probably to avoid negative reactions from upset fans.

NBA Store

New York Yankees (and many other MLB teams via MLBAM):

Philadelphia Eagles

Baltimore Ravens

Orlando Magic

Dallas Cowboys

Arizona Diamondbacks

Pittsburgh Steelers

Memphis Grizzlies

New York Jets

Miami Heat

Oakland Raiders

Columbus Crew

Oklahoma City Thunder

Cleveland Browns

FC Dallas

Atlanta Hawks

Buffalo Bills

Charlotte Bobcats

Milwaukee Bucks

Golden State Warriors

San Antonio Spurs

Cowboys Stadium – NCAA Basketball

Black Friday is the biggest sale day of the year, so it’s not surprising to see most sports teams and organizations jump into the sales madness. Here is a LONG list of Black Friday sales that I’ve been able to find via emails, websites, etc. It’s in no particular order and by no means exhaustive (make sure to click the “continue reading” link at the bottom to see them all), but this should give you ideas of how teams are trying to make the most of Black Friday. Hint: merchandise, merchandise, merchandise!

Pittsburgh Steelers

Oakland Raiders

NBA.com Partner Offer

Arizona State Sun Devils (two offers)

Dallas Cowboys

Phoenix Suns

New York Jets

New Orleans Saints

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Buffalo Sabres

Minnesota Wild

New England Patriots

Pittsburgh Penguins

Score a Holiday Hat Trick on Black Friday, November 23
PensGear Powered by Reebok

To celebrate the season and to get a head start on holiday shopping, PensGear at CONSOL Energy Center and SouthSide Works is offering a special holiday hat trick on Black Friday, November 23.

If you shop between the hours of 8:00 am and 9:00 am, receive 40% off your entire PensGear purchase!*

Shop between the hours of 9:00 am and 10:00 am and receive 30% off your entire PensGear purchase!*

Shop between the hours of 10:00 am and 11:00 am to receive 20% off your entire PensGear purchase!*

Finally, for all those late sleepers…arrive after 11:00 am and still receive 10% off for the remainder of the day!

MLB.com (Most team emails and websites)

Arizona Cardinals

NBA Store

Baltimore Ravens

Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia 76ers

University of Cincinnati Bearcats

New York Yankees

San Diego Chargers

EA Sports – Madden ’13

San Francisco 49ers

Los Angeles Kings

ScoreBig.com

Next Tuesday, November 27 at 1PM ET (10AM PT), I have the opportunity to participate in a National Sports Forum / Paciolan webinar on Social, Data, and Ticketing Best Practices. This industry webinar will give attendees the chance to learn technological best practices to make informed business decisions, engage fans and drive your brand, sales and revenue. We are going to discuss proven techniques in social media, data mining, and ticketing.

By attending this webinar you will learn:

• Social media content, creation and sponsorship activation best practices
• Techniques to append information and profile customer data
• Strategies and methods to improve lead scoring
• Leveraging a data warehouse to build executive reporting across disparate databases

Joining me on the panel are Brian Gainor, Director, Strategy for Freshwire and Founder, PartnershipActivation.com, and Steve Hank, Associate Athletic Director, Revenue Generation for Arizona State University Athletics.

For more information and to register, click here. There is no cost to attend and you can join us online from your desk. Please feel free to pass this on to any friends and colleagues that may be interested in attending.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Cameron O’Toole.

The seventh annual Ivy Sports Symposium was held this past Friday in New York City. Over 300 industry leaders, both established and emerging, as well as over 350 students congregated at Columbia University to discuss industry trends and explore networking opportunities.

David Falk, Founder and CEO of Falk Associates Management Enterprises moderated the opening keynote panel. Falk facilitated thought-provoking discussion among the panelists, which included Bob Bowman, President and CEO of MLB Advanced Media, Simon Cummins, Managing Partner, International Sports Practice, Odgers Berndtson, Peter Luuko, President and CEO of Comcast-Spectacor, and Chairman of Global Spectrum, Peter Moore, CEO of Electronic Arts, and Heidi Ueberroth, President of NBA International. Many topics were considered, but the emergence of technology, and social media in particular, seemed to take a prominent role in the dialogue. Moore quipped, “There are some athletes that shouldn’t be let near a mobile device. 140 characters is just too much for some people.”

Attendees were then free to explore various panels that took place throughout the day. The panels were organized in groups of three or four and the focus of these discussions ran the gamut of trends within the industry. Subjects included: Marketing, social media, entrepreneurialism, emerging sports, collegiate athletics, sports analytics, organizational culture, sports finance, and television. Ample opportunity was given to attendees to explore their various areas of interest, or even to hone in on the multiple aspects of one key segment of the industry.

Highlights from these panels included:

“[With ambush marketing] there is a line between protecting your rights and being overzealous – that hurts the brand.” -Lisa Baird- CMO, USOC

“Sponsors are no longer happy just slapping a logo on a wall or courtside.” –Lon Rosen, Executive VP and CMO, Los Angeles Dodgers

“The biggest challenge isn’t the inappropriate tweets, it’s the authenticity of the tweets associated with brands.” –Bill Sanders, CMO BDA Sports Management

“If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.” –Will Dean, CEO and Founder, Tough Mudder

“Go to Home Depot and buy knee pads, because you’ll constantly be begging for things.” –Adam Kanner, Founder and CEO, ScoreBig, giving advice on start-ups.

“Culture will eat strategy for lunch.” –Derrick Hall, President and CEO, Arizona Diamondbacks

The symposium concluded with a star-studded keynote panel emphasizing the ingredients to building a winning team. Sandy Alderson, GM of the New York Mets, Billy King, GM of the Brooklyn Nets, Nick Sakiewicz, CEO and Operating Partner of the Philadelphia Union, and Rick Spielman, GM of the Minnesota Vikings, comprised the panel. Tyler Tumminia moderated a fascinating discussion that included incredible insight on the experiences this group has had in the industry. Stories of King’s draft-night decisions, and Spielman shedding light onto the Minnesota Vikings draft research were some of the most notable takeaways from the panel. King shared his policy on veering from a draft board while discussing his decision making process during the 1998 NBA Draft. King joked that he wouldn’t ever go against the draft board again after passing on Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce. Spielman delved into the Vikings draft preparations and discussed the personality tests that the organization gives to their draft targets. Interestingly, the Vikings organization breaks down desired personality traits position by position to account for desired behavioral qualities.

The Ivy Sports Symposium is truly an incredible opportunity for anyone interested in working in the sports industry or learning about key industry trends. Numerous windows for networking with panelists or peers were made available throughout the day, and being surrounded by such distinguished industry leaders is invaluable. Be sure to follow the symposium on Twitter at @SportsSymposium for updates about next year’s event.

Cameron O’Toole is a Master of Science student in the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. You can find him on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @cpotoole13.

For those that were not able to attend this year’s Ivy Sports Symposium, you can click here to follow the conference via their LiveStream page or watch the sessions live via the LiveStream feed below. Enjoy!

Mark Cuban recently generated a lot of buzz by threatening to take his team’s social media activities to “Tumblr or to new MySpace” after Facebook imposed a new fee structure. The response is understandable, respectable, but does not recognize that Facebook has just given sponsorship executives a detailed game-plan for generating incremental revenue through social media.

Facebook’s penetration based price structure allows sponsorship executives to present partners with incremental social media executions that answer:

1. How many people do I reach with my investment?
2. What is the level of interaction that I am gaining from my investment?

These answers lead to a rational pricing model for Facebook Sponsorship Executions.

Pricing Model

The fee paid to Facebook would be considered a Production Fee, and an Execution Charge would be charged to sponsors based on a percentage of the Production Fee. The Execution Charge would result in NET revenue for the Mavericks:

Facebook Sponsorship Execution = Production Fee + Execution Charge

To demonstrate the formula, I will use the Dallas Mavericks $3,000 quote from the graphic above and assume an Execution Charge of 75%:

$5,250 = $3,000 + $3,000(.75)*    *The execution charge will vary by property

The Dallas Mavericks would NET $2,250 for the described Facebook Sponsorship Execution. The NET revenue is not an extravagant amount, but an amount that could yield significant revenue over the course of an eight month season. Furthermore, the formula enables us to define that the Facebook Sponsorship Execution has a CPM of $5.17 (CPM = $5,250(1,000)/1,015,000 Fans). This is an extremely competitive CPM and lower than display advertising on most premium sports websites which range from $8 – $12 CPMs. The Facebook Sponsorship Execution’s pricing efficiency is further strengthened by the engagement which these posts generate.

The Rationale behind the Cost of Social Media Engagement

The “Mavs Birthday Club presented by Albertsons” post shown above has 6,990 Likes and 293 Comments. We will ignore any overlap between the groups, and say that a total of 7,283 Fans interacted with the Facebook post.

Albertsons cost per fan interaction is $.72 spent for the Facebook Sponsorship Execution ($5,250/7,283 Interactions), and the click-through-rate is .72% (7,283 Interactions/1,015,000 Impressions). These numbers are extremely effective for and Internet advertising campaign, with the click-through-rate being more than 7x the industry standard.

Having demonstrated the engagement Albertsons has received from their Facebook Sponsorship Execution, we can now look at the financial opportunities for the Dallas Mavericks:

1. Albertsons receives one (1) branded Facebook for every player’s birthday.
2. Albertsons receives 15 posts over the year (These are assumed, I do not know the specifics of the sponsorship).
3. The Dallas Mavericks could charge Albertson’s $78,750 for the social media activation of their sponsorship, and this would NET the Mavericks $33,750.

What It Means

Facebook has quantified the value of different audience penetration levels on its platform. Sponsorship executives had not been able to do this by themselves, and are now able to present rational financial models for Facebook Sponsorship Executions. Presently, Facebook Sponsorship Executions are being sold as Flat Fees or being included as Added Value opportunities. The model described in this article will allow them to maximize their Facebook inventory for financial gains. It is irrelevant if Facebook chooses to change its business model in the future, because we have been provided with a measure that enables us to build rational Facebook Sponsorship Execution costs.

Peter V. Amador is a Digital Sports Professional. The views here are his, and do not necessarily reflect those of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter at @PeterVAmador or email him directly at peter.v.amador@gmail.com. 

BurstMedia recently released a fun infographic providing insights into how devoted vs. casual fans consume digital sports content. While the infographic is a fun summary and does highlight some valuable differences, what I really like is the in-depth PDF report that they released with this. You can click here to download it.

For example, while the percentage of dedicated and casual fans using tablets and smartphone to consume content is increasing, its interesting to see that even among the most passionate fans that 48 to 60% say they hardly even consume sports content that way. And its important to see that while television is considered the primary source for all segments, that sports content websites are consider the “best” source of information for most.

In case you haven’t checked out the Event Calendar, we have another regional sports networking event scheduled!

The Business of Sports – Dallas Networking Event

• Thursday, November 1 at Saint Ann (2501 North Harwood Street, Dallas – Free Valet!)
• Open networking from 6:00 to 8:30PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

Our goal is to create a regular series of sports business networking events in as many major markets as we can. These events provide opportunities for sports professionals on all levels to connect with other like-minded individuals and build up their professional network. Our feedback from these events continues to be tremendous, so we will keep seeking out new locations and new ways to help support this wonderful community. We hope to see as many of you as we can at one of these events very soon!

Special thanks to Brian Connolly, Brandi Bloodworth-Connolly, Jamie Acks and Tom Scovic for all their help in organizing and promoting our Dallas events, and an extra thank you to Victus Advisors for providing the appetizers for this event!

Yesterday, I received a packet of sample event credentials and lanyards in the mail, which prompted my tweet:

#YouKnowYouWorkInSportsWhen… You receive a package of sample credentials in the mail. #sportsbiz twitter.com/rscibetti/stat…

— Russell Scibetti (@rscibetti) October 16, 2012

So, I decided to ask others on Twitter and Facebook who work in the industry to complete the following sentence: “You know you work in sports when ___________”

The responses were pretty funny and quite true, so I think you’ll enjoy them! 

]]> http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/10/17/you-know-you-work-in-sports-when/feed/ 0 http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/10/17/you-know-you-work-in-sports-when/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thebusinessofsports2/~3/KUyZGvU9n6Q/ http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2012/10/08/always-be-communicating-nhl-edition/#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:42:37 +0000 russell@thebusinessofsports.com (Russell Scibetti) http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/?p=5414 Tweet

Back in October of 2011 when the NBA lockout was taking place, I wrote a post titled “Always Be Communicating” which outlined how important it is to communicate with fans at all times. “Even when an organization has to deal with something as stressful and problematic as a work stoppage, teams must continue to communicate to their fans, keeping them abreast of the situation and offering up as much damage control as possible.” At the time, I included some example emails from the Los Angeles Lakers that I thought did an excellent job of this.

Now that the NHL is in the midst of their own lockout, it seemed like the right time to revisit this concept. Below, you will find two different team examples that I thought were particularly good. The first is a series of emails from the Toronto Maple Leafs. I like how they seem to be reaching out to their fans on a weekly basis, being honest yet optimistic with them. Sometimes simple and direct is the best approach (although their most recent email might be a little too short). The second comes from the New Jersey Devils. This one-off email does a good job trying to keep their fans connected to last season’s success and shows appreciation of their support and patience.

Toronto Maple Leafs – September 21

Dear Russell,

On behalf of the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club, we sincerely appreciate your patience as the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey Leagues Players’ Association (NHLPA) negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

On Wednesday, The National Hockey League announced the cancellation of the 2012 preseason schedule through Sept. 30. The cancellation of the schedule was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL. The NHL remains committed to negotiating 24/7 to reach an agreement that is fair to both sides — one that provides for a full season of games for our fans.

While the Maple Leafs efforts in creating a world-class experience for our fans are on hold, our commitment to our community remains as strong as ever. The Maple Leafs organization will continue our charitable outreach efforts and community initiatives as the NHL and NHLPA work through the process of securing a new collective agreement.

As a valued fan and member of Leafs Nation, your loyalty and support is very important to our organization. Your passion for the game is what motivates us. Thank you again for your understanding. We greatly appreciate your support. In the meantime, we will keep you informed and provide information as it becomes available.

Sincerely,

Tom Anselmi
President and C.O.O.
Maple Leaf Sports + Entertainment

Toronto Maple Leafs – September 28

Dear Russell,

On Thursday, The National Hockey League announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2012 preseason schedule. This includes games up to and including October 6th, 2012. The cancellation of the preseason schedule was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL.

During this time, our commitment to the community remains as strong as ever. We will continue our charitable outreach efforts and community initiatives as the NHL and NHLPA work through the process of securing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. As a valued fan and member of Leafs Nation, your loyalty is very important to our organization. Your passion for the game is what motivates us and we greatly appreciate your support.

We will continue to keep you informed as information becomes available and also encourage you to visit mapleleafs.com for updates.

The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club

Toronto Maple Leafs – October 4

Dear Russell,

Today, the National Hockey League announced the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through October 24. The cancellation was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL.

We will continue to keep you informed as information becomes available and also encourage you to visit mapleleafs.com for updates.

Sincerely,

The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club

New Jersey Devils – October 5

A MESSAGE TO OUR LOYAL FANS

As we are sure you are aware, the current collective bargaining negotiations between the NHL and the players have delayed the start of the regular season, with games up through October 24, 2012 having been recently cancelled.

Building off of an incredible run to the Stanley Cup Final, and seeing how the Devils Army has grown from your passionate and unwavering loyalty, we are dedicated to doing everything we can to ensure that you know how important you as a fan base are to this organization. Together, we are confident that we will be able to pick up where we left off, once the play on ice resumes, and continue to build that home ice advantage that was so apparent throughout the playoffs. We are extremely appreciative of the support you continue to show through your emails and calls, and we can’t wait to host you at The Rock once NHL play resumes. Camaraderie amongst Devils fans is unmatched throughout the NHL.

Until then, there is nothing more important to our organization than communicating with each of you and keeping you up-to-date on any and all current events surrounding the upcoming season. It is our promise to you that once a new CBA is agreed upon, as a member of PowerPlay, we will ensure that you are part of an exclusive group that will be able to pick up seats prior to the general public, for games that interest you the most.

Once again, we can’t thank you enough for all of your support and we are open to any and all feedback you may have, as we go through this together. You may call us at 1-800-NJ-DEVIL with any and all questions, concerns, or ideas you would like to share.

Thank You!

UPDATE: Neil Horowitz did a great job aggregating the communications from 15 different NHL teams. Click here to read his Google+ post.

It’s time to bring back the Free Agent of the Week series. Instead of featuring a top job posting, I like to feature a qualified industry professional who is looking for their next opportunity. If you are interested in being a future Free Agent of the Week, you can apply here.

Now it’s time to introduce our next free agent, Brandi Rahill! Let’s learn more about her.

Goal: As I thrive on collaborating with teams to help build out scalable marketing programs which positively impact consumer experiences and business results for a company; my goals are to expand my social business and networking skills to broaden their “profit box” so to speak with new fresh innovative tools of engagement.

Experience:

Social Media/Marketing/Business Development Manager  - 2003-2012

• Develop social media strategies, including objectives, metrics, strategies & tactics, timeline, work streams and team responsibilities
• Responsible for keeping employees updated on evolving technology, trends and tools
• Ongoing visibility with senior management to ensure social media is integrated into the brand
• Develop and lead employee training focused on monitoring & engaging in social media
• Create social media employee policy/guidelines for HR
• Developed business-to-client contact for sales team
• Oversaw presence in social, professional, and community networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogger, LinkedIn Groups, StumbleUpon, Quora, Pinterest other media outlets
• This experience includes work with the following brands and companies: Leverage Agency, Manhattan Sports Business Academy, Site One Services, Nordstrom, and Meritage Homes

Education:

Greatest Accomplishments:

Sell Yourself in 3 Sentences or Less: As one may read, the depth of my experience in marketing, customer care, business development, sales and training others; I offer a company an opportunity to hire a proven professional who needs little or no training, who is comfortable and successful with cold canvassing and can add immediate value to an organization.  I have; excellent project management skills, respectable experience multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment as well as extremely detail oriented and adept at providing immediate follow up / follow through on multiple projects running simultaneously, including a myriad of people in communication/PR realm.

You can connect with Brandi through her LinkedIn page, via Twitter (@brandirahill) or by email at brandirahill@gmail.com. If you have an open opportunity with your organization or know of another company that can benefit from Brandi’s experience, please reach out to her. I want to see this weekly feature really help some great people places into the industry positions they deserve.

• Click here to view previous Free Agents of the Week!
• Become a future Free Agent of the Week!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Kyle Murphy. (Editor’s Note: I did not ask Kyle to write this, but when he sent it to me and asked if I would share it, I couldn’t say no. ~RS)

While at TheBusinessofSports.com networking event in Philadelphia two weeks ago, I took a few minutes near the end of the night to stand alone, with a cold pint of Yuengling in my hand and a “Hello my name is Kyle” name tag, to reflect on the past year and a half. Here I was, standing among dozens of seasoned sports-business professionals who I could now call my peers as well as all of the aspiring professionals, who I was now giving advice to on the subject of getting in the business. In this brief pause from reality, I quickly thought back on the unique journey that eventually brought me into one of my most sought-after industries to work in – the business of sports.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was standing in a similar setting, holding a different brand of beer and mulling over a corporate job offer from a Fortune 50 company that was offering me more than I could have ever imagined coming out of college. In fact, not only was the pay and benefits package extremely generous, but I would be working and living in the good old Midwest – where the cost of living is next to nothing and where I had grown up all these years. With an opportunity on the table like that, why was I attending a networking event in Philadelphia just over a year later?

In May of 2011, I graduated from Butler University with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and a concentration in Marketing. While in school, I was fortunate enough to have many prestigious business internships and learn from top rate professors on my way to securing the ultimate goal – job placement. But despite setting myself up for a job after graduation, the most rewarding moments came while dressed up in blue and white striped overalls charting a bus to an away basketball game or organizing food and incentives for a women’s volleyball game, which is where I got my first taste of sports business.

During my Junior year, the same year Butler men’s basketball made it to the National Championship game in its home-town of Indianapolis, I was elected as the Marketing and Public Relations officer for the Butler University student section, the Dawg Pound. My responsibilities included obtaining corporate sponsorships for funding, planning events and tailgates to increase attendance, and managing social media and website updates. I was hooked.

The next year, I was elected President of the Dawg Pound, the same year Butler men’s basketball made it again, to the National Championship game, this time in Houston. From planning student travel and ticket distribution to managing a fan loyalty program, I couldn’t get enough of it. By filling the rest of my non-class time interning with Butler University Sports Marketing, I was officially submerged in Butler sports – while at the same time becoming an expert t-shirt folder.

Things were all falling into place. I was enjoying my last few months of college, excelling in my role with Butler Athletics, and assuming that I would soon be accepting a lucrative job offer with Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, IL. And then it happened. My fiancé came over after class one day and told me the “good news”: she had just received an offer for her dream job at Johnson & Johnson. The only problem was – it was located in Philadelphia, PA.

After lots of healthy conversations and heated discussion, I decided to take a risk, a huge risk, and turn down a sure-thing at Caterpillar to follow my wife to Philadelphia, where we agreed I could pursue my new passion – sports marketing. In the months leading up to our move, I spent day and night cold-calling, emailing, researching, and attempting to make connections as best as I could – but the truth of the matter was: I knew no one out East; worse – I knew no one in SPORTS out East.

Although I was persistent with my follow-ups and checked in on a monthly basis, nothing seemed to materialize. Unless you count the two missed interview calls that I received upon checking my voicemail following our out-of-the-country honeymoon. Turns out – they had already filled the position. My full-time job became networking and application filing.

One night I lay awake thinking about how I could have been in my second month with Caterpillar, and yet here I was still unemployed trying to follow what started to look like an unachievable dream. Just when I was about to accept a pharmaceutical job offer to help pay the bills, a sports connection was finally made.

It wasn’t a returned phone call or a discussion over a cup of coffee, it wasn’t a replied-to email or at job fair; the connection I made that landed me my first job in sports came from Twitter.

I had randomly reached out to a sports executive on Twitter in order to pick his brain on the industry and business of sports. A few follow-ups later, and I was on the phone with him. A few conversation and an email later, I was given a link to a job he recommended that I apply for (where he would put in a good word). Three interviews later, and I am now beginning my second year with FanOne Digital Marketing – a division of New Era Tickets and Comcast-Spectacor, where I manage digital marketing campaigns for 15+ professional sports teams and entertainment venues.

Who was the sports executive that I connected with more than a year ago on Twitter? None other than Russell Scibetti, owner and operator of TheBusinessofSports.com.

@rscibetti Do you have any advice for a Senior marketing major from Indiana who wants to work in sports on the East Coast next year? Thanks

— Kyle Murphy (@merfe05) December 28, 2010

My story isn’t about giving up on tradition methods of networking (cold-calling, emailing, job fairs, etc.) because all of that is still important and relevant to this day. My story is meant to encourage all of those aspiring sports professionals to utilize ALL channels of communication to follow your passion and make connections.

My dream of working in sports might never have came true if it weren’t for a single tweet that I sent to Russell many months ago – and for that I owe him and social media my career.

You can reach Kyle Murphy via email at Kmurph5@gmail.com or on Twitter at @merfe05.

Yesterday, I asked people working in the industry via the Twitter hashtag #gamedayvet to share some quick tips on how staff can improve the fan experience on gamedays. Just like last week, the response has been excellent. Here are all the great tips that people shared, and I will update this if more tips come in. What #gamedayvet question do you want me to ask next week?

Recently, several colleagues in the sports and entertainment industry have forwarded me an article from The Atlantic Magazine that calls into question the economic impact of sports venue projects. If you haven’t seen it, click here before reading on.

I think the author’s point is well taken that sports facility development projects have risks associated with them, as is the case with any large-scale real estate development project that is ultimately dependent on market factors. However, I strongly disagree with the flawed manner in which the writer approaches the concept of “economic impact”. The author’s approach reflects a common mistake that I see all too frequently in public discussion of economic impact reports.

The problem with the author’s approach is that the concept of economic impact is always relative. I often see news headlines that make statements such as, “The Economic Impact of Project X is Expected to be $2 Billion.” But without context, that is a nonsensical statement. In order to reasonably assess the economic impact of a project over a particular period of time, you need to define exactly what economy you are analyzing. For example, Jobing.com Arena in Glendale exists within any number of commonly defined economic areas, including:

• The Westgate City Center entertainment and retail complex,
• The City of Glendale,
• Maricopa County,
• The Phoenix metropolitan area (Maricopa and Pinal Counties),
• The State of Arizona,
• The United States of America, and
• The North American Free Trade Area (Canada, Mexico, and the United States).

Whether or not economic impact has occurred because of Jobing.com Arena is entirely dependent on which economic area you choose to analyze. This is the point that the author overlooks in The Atlantic article, and this mistake is most clearly seen when the writer incorrectly attempts to pit two arguments against each other. First, the author quotes a Glendale representative who cites the arena as an “economic engine for Glendale”. But then the author responds by saying that economists don’t seem to agree based upon the following quote from a Holy Cross economics professor: “It’s not generating new revenue. This is local spending on a local event.” The problem is that these are not actually opposing arguments. In fact, both the Glendale representative and the economics professor are correct.

The reason for this discrepancy is that the two quotes are referencing different economies. The first quote defines the economy as the City of Glendale. Every time a resident of the City of Phoenix attends a Coyotes game in Glendale, they are spending money from their entertainment budget in the Glendale economy rather than in the City of Phoenix’s economy. If Jobing.com Arena did not exist, that person would spend their entertainment budget elsewhere, either in the City of Phoenix or another City within the greater Phoenix area. From the perspective of the City of Glendale, the money that the Phoenix resident chooses to spend in Glendale on a game night is economic impact for Glendale.

At the same time, the Holy Cross professor is also correct, because his statement is focused on the “local economy” as a whole… i.e. the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. When the City of Glendale attracts entertainment spending away from the City of Phoenix, the gain for Glendale is equal to the loss for the City of Phoenix. So from the perspective of the greater Phoenix area as a whole, the two impacts net out. The City of Glendale is seeing a positive impact, the City of Phoenix is seeing a negative impact, but the net impact on the economy of the greater Phoenix area is zero.

So in the bigger picture, what does this all mean? It means your interpretation of economic impact data can vary widely depending on your particular perspective. If you’re a Glendale resident, you can reasonably see Jobing.com Arena as a venue that attracts economic impact to your City. (That said, whether or not the City’s ROI on the project justifies their initial and ongoing investments is another discussion entirely.) If you’re a Phoenix resident, you can justifiably view the Coyotes’ move from US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix to Jobing.com Arena in Glendale as a loss of entertainment spending to the suburbs. And if you live 2 hours away in Tucson, you’re probably wondering why it even matters, since to you it’s just a spending transfer from one part of the greater Phoenix economy to another.

The next time you see a news item that discusses the economic impact of a development project (sports or otherwise), just remember that your first question should always be, “What economy are we talking about?”

Brian Connolly is the founder of Victus Advisors, an independent consulting firm specializing in market research, financial advisory and economic impact analysis for sports franchises, athletic departments and sports & entertainment venues. You can e-mail him at bconnolly@victusadvisors.com or follow him on Twitter at @BrianHConnolly.

First it was “Call Me Maybe” but now it’s all about “Gangnam Style.” It seems like mascots in particular are having fun with this one, plus some fans are jumping in too. Enjoy, and if I’m missing any good ones, please let me know.

University of Oregon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDpgzn7KuzE

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjPnJFAEsXE

Orlando Magic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMT5fVvCqpQ

Columbus Blue Jackets (thanks @BrianMakas)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QAjvyf4PLs

Wisconsin Badgers (Fan Video: Badger Style)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loeZKUpQcWQ

University of Texas (Fan Video: Burnt Orange Tailgate)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpII9O5aI3A

Colorado Men’s Basketball Team:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Yn7kG_2Ns

Washington Nationals Presidents Race (thanks @SullaMandar):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPHFgZoCAys

NEW: Roy Hibbert and Area 55 Indiana Pacers Fans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c4hY8mQM6Y

NEW: Dallas Mavericks – Whoop ‘Em Mavericks Style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CplqRckrgI

And some college marching bands are getting into the mix:

• Ohio University
• University of Oregon
• UCLA

More Updates:

• This video features a cameo from Shad Khan, Owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars (around the 2:50 mark) – thanks @RobKatz.
• This student video from the University of Maryland includes their mascot (Testudo) and the marching band – thanks @wyatthicks.
• Psy made an appearance at Dodger Stadium, and he even danced!

One of the benefits of running this blog is finding out about new, creative and effective partnerships right when they happen. So moving forward, I will occasionally post a “New Sponsorship Recap” to highlight these deals. Thanks to the brands and properties (and their PR agencies) for always keeping me up to speed!

Best Buy Evolved Viewing Experience

Best Buy launched the Best Buy Evolved Viewing Experience. Making its debut for the Geico 400 in Chicago, the Best Buy Evolved Viewing Experience showcases what you can do when you combine normal technology with some imagination and innovation resulting in an out-of-this-world experience. Optimized for racing, Best Buy partnered with Two Bit Circus to create a fully immersive experience for fans that makes them feel like they are actually part of the race.

Best Buy is launching the Evolved Viewing Experience in Chicago as part of its Roush Fenway Racing sponsorship activation program. It will be on display for fans to experience in a unique Best Buy Sky deck interactive environment that includes gaming kiosks where visitors can engage in Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. There is also an Augmented Reality Station featuring unique display technology that allows visitors to interact with different Best Buy brand logos for a Best Buy gift card give-away. Fans can also snap photos of themselves sitting in the Evolved Viewing Experience which will be texted to them to post to their social networks.

In addition to the Chicago launch, the Best Buy Evolved Viewing Experience will be at track in Charlotte and Homestead during the Chase races this season. Best Buy has been a team sponsor for the past eight years, and the 2013 season will mark the company’s ninth year with the sport.

To begin, the fan hears the sounds of the race as the seat reclines and three HD monitors lower around the viewer, creating an immersive viewing experience, offering three unique perspectives on the race. The fan’s body is the remote and can alternate between camera angles with a simple swipe of the hand. Viewers experience the rumble of a stock car engine under the seat, while special surround-sound speakers make them feel like they are on the track. Bladeless fans under computer control add haptic feedback to the experience, blowing wind through the user’s hair. An ASUS CM 6830 computer outfitted with three graphics cards, powers a detailed simulation racing game used by pro drivers to prepare for actual races. Fans become the driver in the game, using an accelerometer-based steering wheel as the race is projected onto the three separate screens. Fans are also able to switch between the race simulator and the actual race footage.

A series of five Webisodes of the “behind-the-scenes” making of the Evolved Viewing Experience can be found on the Best Buy YouTube channel. Fans can also visit the Evolved Viewing Experience tab on the Best Buy Facebook page.

Russell Athletic and the “Fight Like Dylan Award”

Russell Athletic announced the 2nd annual “Fight Like Dylan Award,” which honors the courageous life of Dylan Rebeor, a terminally ill football player whose last wish was for his team to win the state championship and to receive new equipment for his teammates. To celebrate Dylan’s life extraordinary life, Russell Athletic will donate apparel and equipment via a $50,000 grant to one high school team that has demonstrated determination through sports.

A brief background on Dylan’s story: In 2010 a 16-year-old named Dylan Rebeor from Tennessee was terminally ill with colon cancer. He played football for Columbia Central High School and his wish was for his team to win the state championship, which they hadn’t done in 58 years. The team dedicated their season to Dylan and made it to the state championship game. Hours before kick-off—just before Russell Athletic presented the team with new uniforms to wear before the game—Dylan passed away. The team went on to win title.

To be eligible for the “Fight Like Dylan Award,” teams must post a submission on the Russell Athletic Facebook page explaining how their team overcame a challenge or triumphed in the face of adversity.  Former Indianapolis Colts head coach and current NBC Sports Football analyst Tony Dungy and Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy will serve on the “Fight Like Dylan Award” selection committee, along with Dylan’s mother and Columbia Central High School head coach, Vance Belew.

NHRA and Old World Industries

NHRA announced  they have entered into a multi-year agreement with Old World Industries, LLC, naming Peak Antifreeze, BlueDEFTM Diesel Exhaust Fluid, and HERCULINER official sponsors of NHRA beginning in 2013. As part of the agreement, NHRA will feature Peak Antifreeze,  BlueDEF Diesel Exhaust Fluid and HERCULINER  with “official” status.

This represents Old World Industries’ first official relationship with NHRA.  As part of the official sponsorships, Peak will maintain its long-standing primary sponsorship on the Peak Motor Oil Top Fuel dragster of T.J. Zizzo.   In addition, and during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Auto-Plus, Old World Industries announced the formation of the Peak Performance Race Team which includes Zizzo, as well as NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competitors Duane Shields, Jay Payne, Dan Fletcher and Sherman Adcock, Jr.

The official sponsorships include onsite presence at all NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events, advertising through NHRA’s multimedia outlets, and commercial inventory in the ESPN2/ESPN2HD broadcasts.  These products will be available to race teams to further fuel their race success.  Old World Industries also plans on engaging fans on-site through the use of NHRA’s Nitro Alley.

Earlier today, I asked people working in the industry to share their best tips for working gamedays via the hashtag #gamedayvet. I have to say, the response has been excellent. Here are all the great tips that people shared, grouped into common themes:

I just got this email today from Major League Baseball about their @MLB Twitter account going “members only” for six hours today. Take a look:

What do you think of this? As of around 10AM when I received this email, their account had 2,435,207 followers. I will check back at 11AM and 12PM to see what type of lift they’ve gotten. And of course, I’m going to keep an eye on their account during the “members only” period to see what types of contests and give-aways they end up running. Maybe you should do the same!

11AM Update: 2,438,202 followers (Increase of 2,995) – Also forgot to mention they are using the hashtag #mlbmembersonly for this initiative.

12:20PM Update: 2,440,765 followers (Increase of 5,558) – And here’s the temporary look of their Twitter page. They did actually lock the page, so only followers can receive see their updates at this time.

1:15PM Update: Three giveaway style contests so far based on tweeting specific phrases. Prizes have been 2013 All-Star Game tickets, 2013 opening day tickets and three 2013 MLB.tv subscriptions.

1:50PM Update: The number of followers is still increasing, up to 2,442,734 now, but their account is locked. In theory, any requests to follow the account at this time would need to be approved by hand. That causes two problems here. One is that I feel bad for the intern having to approve each request. But more importantly, this campaign isn’t as exclusive as it sounded at first. I felt that this was positioned not just to drive new followers before the “lockdown” began, but more importantly to give some unique value to their Twitter audience that was already following them. By taking on new followers during this six hour window, it’s really not much different than standard Twitter-based giveaways.

2:40PM Update: Up to 2,443,322 followers, an increase of 8,115 since 10AM this morning. We’ve also had additional giveaways (two $300 gift cards and more opening day tickets), and we’ve confirmed that they are approving new followers by hand throughout the event.

Friday Morning Update: The @MLB account now has 2,443,434 followers, for a total increase of 8,227, which isn’t much more than their count from 2:40PM yesterday, so you can confidently attribute that entire lift to this promotion. Additional giveaway prizes included custom t-shirt jerseys, more $300 MLB Shop gift cards, more 2013 opening day tickets, more 2013 MLB.tv subscriptions, and finally, tickets to the World Series. Once they “unlocked” the account, they also shared a 30% discount code for MLB Shop that expires today at noon.

According to topsy.com, it looks like the #mlbmembersonly hashtag had 4,160 mentions yesterday and the @MLB account itself was mentioned 5,376 times. I don’t know what their expectations were, so its hard to say if this would be considered successful or not, but I give them a lot of credit from trying a different approach. I think next time, it would be fun to see more engaging elements to the contest rather than just driving “copy and paste” tweeting, which I heard from a few people ended up being a bit of an annoyance to see all throughout their Twitter feed yesterday.

I normally don’t promote contests on the blog, but this particular promotion has an interesting sports business twist to it while also benefiting a good cause, so I’m happy to make an exception. Omaze, which is a contest platform offering rare experiences to help raise money for charities, is running a “Dodgers Dream Day” contest where the winner will get to spend some time with team president and part-owner, Stan Kasten.

About the experience:  For anyone who’s dreamt of shadowing Dodgers owner Stan Kasten and meeting the players during batting practice, Omaze is making that dream possible. Anyone can log on to Omaze.com, make a minimum $5 donation to the Inside Out Writers Foundation and be entered to win this once-in-a-generation opportunity to watch the Dodgers play the Rockies in the second to last series of the season.

About Omaze: Omaze offers everyone the opportunity to engage in once-in-a-lifetime experiences with celebrities, athletes and the world’s greatest thinkers with the proceeds benefitting a social cause.  The process works similar to a charity raffle. Anyone can enter to win an Omaze experience of their choice by donating just $5. Once the deadline to enter for the experience passes, they collect all the entries and select the winners through a third party computer generated random selection process. The proceeds are delivered to benefit a specific social cause. The goal of the campaign is clearly quantified and they track the impact over time so you can see how your support has impacted lives.