Darren Rovell, ESPN/ABC, MLB, MLS, NBA teams, NHL, New York Post

Making A Little Idea Big…Action Sports America Finds It’s Niche…

Often times, even at the highest level of sports and entertainment marketing, it is the behind the scenes vendor who often comes up with the piece that gets the brand or the team or the athlete the critical exposure point that vaults the entity more into the mainstream.  Whether it is the giant inflatable that draws traffic or the world’s largest golf ball, the bigger the vision the better, and with that largesse comes the ability to effectively draw and then communicate the message.  Today, CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a great blog piece on one of the guys over the years responsible for a good many of those “big” ideas, Action Sports America’s Doug Verb.  Verb, who has been involved in many of the great little projects in sports in America in the last 30 years, from the launch of Major Indoor Soccer League to Hoop It Up, has refined the craft of the giant jersey as a launch for big brands, and has now become the ”go to” guy for the NBA when teams unveil their new uniforms.  Minnesota, Oklahoma City and this week Orlando will use the giant jersey property to get the new product well placed exposure in market, and in the process will create literally big brand and sponsor exposure as well as a huge collectable and auction item for the team.  It seems like a niche, but in delivering the big picture event, Action Sports America creates literally the vehicle to make the brand larger than life.

Some other good reads…the New York Post has a good review of Liz Robbins’ upcoming book on the New York City Marathon “A Race Like No Other”, which really goes behind the scenes of the world’s largest single day sporting event…the LA Daily News Tom Hoffrath has the video to ESPN’s great piece over the weekend on the late Lyman Bostock, who was killed during the season as he was playing for the Angels and battling for the batting title…the Fort Worth Tribune has an interesting look at the Mavs handling Josh Howard’s issue with the National Anthem…the Ottawa Citizen has a good look at the potential partnership between the CFL and MLS in the city.