Thanks To New Jersey, Fantasy Becomes Reality

March 20, 2013 by

There are wide ranging numbers attributed to the number of dollars spent and people who play fantasy sports in the United States, but rest assured it is in the millions. Football is king, baseball second and then it goes down from there. The major media companies have found a jackpot in monetizing and aggregating fantasy play, and MLB.com has used the fantasy baseball business as one of the key engines in drawing sponsors, creating promotions and moving all sorts of ancillary services.

Bow when you leave the major media brands…ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sports…the business falls off a cliff. There are scores of apps, services, books, seminars that are paid offerings at various dollars, and few do very well. Even more come and go quickly, no matter how innovative the technology. The truth is that the amount of free material,  websites, etc. along with the tribal nature of sports, and fantasy (you try a product and it takes a huge differentiator to get you to switch) makes the secondary fantasy information market very difficult to draw eyeballs and sponsor dollars, let alone consumer dollars that are substantial. If you have a service tied to a media partner that gets you millions of views, you stand a chance even if your offering is mediocre. Without it, no matter how good the product, it’s tough to cut through both the clutter and the big name brands that offer services. After all, if you are a consumer and not playing in a large scale fantasy game with a big financial upside, what’s the need to go invest in better research that may only move the margin for you a point or two?

Well, because of the New Jersey casinos, that may all change. This week the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement published regulations establishing standards for casinos to offer fantasy sports tournaments for money, starting April 22. While visitors to the casinos will be able to risk money on the games, New Jersey will not consider these games gambling, skirting federal law that distinguishes between fantasy sports and sports gambling. The regulations allow casinos to create their own games, or to partner with existing companies that are already providing real-money daily fantasy sports online.

So now if you are a fantasy player of any size, you now have the ability to have real dollars invested and a real upside into success, where the smallest margin good be a bigger payoff. Suddenly an investment in a dollar app or a nine dollar service that gives toy a three to five percent better margin of victory, or gets intangibles like weather or real time updates, becomes even more valuable.

This move to fantasy will be the next in an evolution that will see the US catch up to other parts of the world in regulated, legal online gambling. Services that offer small edges for mobile gambling on soccer in the UK for example, can sell micro payments for bettors to get updates during a game and increase both their wager and chances to win. In a heavy analytic game like baseball or even American football, the possibilities go up exponentially.

The move will also open up the opportunities for large scale analytics and gaming companies to enter the fantasy market as well, which will also raise the stakes for smaller analytic businesses to either grow or get bought out. There will be a gold rush of offerings, but like the gold rush, only the smart, the well-funded, the opportunistic and the ones with the wherewithal and the luck to stick it out will succeed.

It is going to make for interesting times in the sports world as 2013 moves along and States look for more revenue, and gambling sits there. Teams and leagues need more revenue streams, and gambling sits there. Media companies need other resources to tap into, and gambling sits there. Yes it has to be regulated and it has to be controlled, as it is in many parts of the world.

However the first step is now making fantasy a reality business and the Garden State appears to be the first, but never the only one, to make the plunge as we hit spring. The size and value of fantasy sports right now is largely an ambitious estimate. However as the game now changes that estimate, like the dollars spent against fantasy, will become more real than ever before, and many of the biggest gaming players who may have shied away before, will suddenly be in the game. Millions is a term that will measure dollars more than participants as the game of fantasy rises, and the interest grows with the cash.

It will be a whole new ballgame.

Filed Under: ESPN, FIFA, Gaming, MLS, NBA Teams, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Kobe Sets The New Screen…

January 23, 2013 by

The opportunity for athletes, teams and coaches to engage with fans seems to ratchet up with each passing week. What was once doable only by going to a game or an autograph sessions or “sports night,” has elevated from “influencer parties” to chat rooms to text messaging to customized and targeted voice and email to tweet ups to text chats to Facebook engagements to message boards, where fans from around the world can communicate in real time with their willing sports and entertainment figure of choice.

The most recent flavor of the month is of course, twitter, where fans can follow and interact with their engaged athlete in short bursts. Into the twitter mix in a big way the last few weeks was the LA Lakers Kobe Bryant, who went from silent to carefully engaged in the platform I a matter of days. This week Bryant took his engagement one innovative step further, offering to watch and then tweet in real time his thoughts and responses to the replay of his 81 point game on NBA TV.  The response to Bryant’s outreach was very strong, and it got the NBA some tremendous buzz while opening up a whole world of engagement possibilities on twitter for any athlete or performer looking back on a memorable event. President Obama reliving his thoughts at the inauguration? Why not. Lady Gaga reviewing an HBO special with her fans to tell her thoughts about the process? Why not. The events are taped, the thoughts can be poignant and the fan would enjoy the give and take.

While the twitter engagement is nice, it really only scratches the surface of what may be coming to take this type of interaction to another level. For example. Google has had some success with Google hangouts for over a year…a way for anyone to engage via streaming video in real time with friends or bold face names. It has the power of one of the greatest promotional platforms behind it, and can pull in big numbers of people from around the world to talk to whoever the subject is.

So why not take Bryant’s interaction on twitter and overlay the live video component to it with an engagement tool like Google hangouts for a taped event. It could even be housed through the NBA’s home site on NBA.com, or even on multiple sites to help drive traffic. Better yet, how about taking a live game and dropping former stars or coaches into the hangout to give fans an insider’s view as to what is going on in a game. Both instances bring a sponsorable, unique real-time overlay to an event and create additional value that a fan cannot get with a primary screen.

Would it work for every game? No. Sometimes without the right “star” the chats can become silly and mundane and a distraction to what the consumer is watching. You don’t want someone to miss something going on in a game because they were focused on a mobile device or a laptop. Yu want to add to the experience, whether it is a live event or a memorable night being replayed. It also lends well to some events where there are natural breaks n the game like soccer, baseball, cricket and even football more than the fast paced environment of hockey for example.

Sure the idea of the second screen has been tried for years to some extent. However the speed of technology and live video today has made the opportunity for broader engagement more possible and less obtrusive than ever before without detracting from the overall experience.

Bryant’s massive tweet experiment this week showed the value of stars with that platform, now it’s time to make video the next part of such an engagement…cleanly, effectively and globally. It certainly isn’t live tweeting or micro cameras with reactions as the game is going on, but with the right experts involved…retired players, injured players, former coaches…the ability to keep growing the fan experience will continue to rise.

Nice score this week by Kobe and his team, let’s see what comes with the next shot.

Filed Under: College Basketball, NBA Teams, WNBA Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The 2013 Question…Worth The Gamble?

December 30, 2012 by

There is a battle going on in the State of New Jersey that, if played out in favor of the state, will open up and endless trough of marketing and spending dollars for professional sports going forward, one that could help keep costs down for tickets, ease burden on stadium improvements and in many ways enhance the fan experience. It is sports wagering, especially in the digital space, and like other taboo subjects before it…lottery advertising, events at casinos, advertising for hard liquor, even brands on uniforms…would be a huge boost for clubs and those selling media as they seek to find alternative places for cash other than the traditional means.

Now this is different than all the other topics mentioned above…the biggest reason being Federal Law in the US currently prohibits sports gambling outside of the State of Nevada, and no professional organization is going to buck the Federal Government to challenge or push along sports wagering in the States. The leagues and the NCAA, as has been widely documented, are actually doing all they can to battle New Jersey’s challenge to sports gambling. However if New Jersey does win, and other States follow, the revenue that can be had from LEGAL and Federally regulated wagering can probably dwarf most of the marketing revenue currently brought in by teams and leagues. Why is New Jersey challenging the Federal law? Simple. The State needs the income that a sports book can bring to casinos in places like Atlantic City, or to racetracks that offer various forms of legal wagering. The percentage of tax that could come from legal wagering in the United States, it is said, would go to fund an infrastructure that has been suffering with a down economy and made worse by the dollars lost with problems like Hurricane Sandy. They argue that their casinos and racetracks can operate within the law and be both profitable and innovative with sports gambling, just as their partners  in Nevada have been for years.  It’s not “The Sopranos,” it’s smart, legal and forward-thinking business.

Proponents of legal wagering point to the millions brought in across the world by legal gambling, many times without incident. Premier League teams could betting organizations as their biggest brand supporters, with the revenue share that goes on being some of the largest cash streams coming to clubs. The advances in mobile technology, it is argued, will make fan engagement at games that much stronger as well. with fans being able to legally bet on any number of analytic permutations that can occur in the course of a sporting event. A more engaged fan means more dollars spent on traditional revenue streams like food, and all that helps grow the pie for clubs. The other argument that is made is that whether leagues admit it or not, the gambling transactions are taking place illegally now, and those dollars, and the innovation that could come from a formal gambling play, are being left on the table by leagues and teams.

Now the other side is the spectre of fixing games, scandal and shady dealings that could arise from introducing legal sports gambling into America. The argument by the pro-legal gambling side is that those arguments were made with many other innovations that could bring down sport, and once they were introduced, no one suffered and public opinion was accepting and encouraging.

So where will this all go? New Jersey will continue to force the issue and bring about change, while the leagues and the Federal Government will continue to fight against for the short term. The issues on the horizon…will the NFL condone a legal bet when the Jacksonville Jaguars play in London each year…will soccer clubs playing friendlies in the US be allowed to engage with legal betting organizations in sponsorship when they tour the States…how can the NCAA allow college teams to play IN casinos and take appearance fees when they say that the supporting infrastructure is against the rules…will all be used as fodder for and against as the issue grows in the coming months.

The precedent for legalized gambling abroad is already established. Clubs in the US need to grow revenue streams and for sure there is no way the leagues will go against Federal Law with an issue as touchy as legalized gambling. Either way this goes, it will certainly be one of the bigger issues to watch in 2013 from a sports business perspective.

Filed Under: Crisis Management, FIFA, Gaming, NBA Teams, NHL Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Lin and Dickey Use New York As A Rare Springboard…

December 24, 2012 by

Usually the New York athlete story ends ugly. Successful star comes to Gotham and ends his career in tatters, or leaves to find glory elsewhere. Rarely do you find someone like the New York Rangers Mark Messier, who came to Gotham to fulfill the dream of fans that had been harbored for over 50 years, and find the way to win and leave with his dignity and reputation still in tact.

This year however we had a rare incident…an athlete  who captured the brighest lights of the media and then…left after opportunities to stay…times two. Jeremy Lin and RA Dickey in 2012 were the rarest of rare. They came from nowhere almost and ascended to the highest of athletic heights on the biggest of stages, only to leave before their branding cash in was complete, Lin to Houston and now Dickey to another country, Toronto. Unfulfilled potential? Nah. For both these athletes even outside of New York, the best is probably still to come.

How could that possibly be? After all they seemed to have shunned New York to try and continue their success away from the watchful eye of Madison Avenue. Well Dickey and Lin are a rare breed. They found success, sudden success for the most part and proved they could compete in front of the eat em alive fans and media of New York and they both did it with an air of dignity and humility. They absorbed early success and continued to do well without losing their heads or sacrificing their image. They also had a unique pedigree which gave them great potential away from New York…Dickey as a journeyman turned author before his breakthrough year, a man who had tremendous respect from his peers before getting the huge 20 win Cy Young season in 2012, Lin a Harvard educated, multicultural success away from the court before he took the stage with the New York Knicks and emerged last winter. They came from almost off the radar to capture the hearts and minds of both the fan and the business community, and that success played out not just locally, but nationally.

So now thy move on, Lin drawing continued interest from global brands as he evolves his game in Houston, alongside star James Harden and in front of the fastest-growing Asian community in the United States, Dickey now north of the border in a multicultural, cosmopolitan city that is bereft of its beloved NHL and is searching for winning baseball. Neither city is second tier when it comes to business opportunities locally either, and the stories of both should continue to bode well for financial success off the field.

More importantly, both left New York and its bright lights as feel-good heroes, ones who could return for a visit through an ad campaign or social media or even community efforts.  They gave even the casual fan nothing but the best, and that best should continue to resonate into the future. It sure is an anomaly to have such an athlete arrive and eave New York once in a decade. To have it happen twice in a year, and to have those athletes not skip a beat from a business perspective is even rarer still. Lots of lessons to be learned from these two rare finds, both of whom left New York on top, and will continue to rise in markets that are more than happy to h1280-jeremy-linave them.

 

Filed Under: College Baseball, College Basketball, ESPN, NBA Teams Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Can Athletics Inspire Not Just Social But Political Change?

December 19, 2012 by

12-16-victor-cruz-shoes-4_3_r560The horrific incident in Newtown, Connecticut Friday night has had an effect on people that comes close to, if not surpasses, the feelings around the incidents of 9/11. Then the feeling was more toward revenge and nationalism as well as healing. This tragedy, because of its randomness and its targets being innocent children, seems to have shaken consciousness not just in America but around the world, to its core.  The response, similar to the shooting of innocent children in Dunblaine, Scotland several years ago, has been personal passionate and widespread, and it ill continue as the young innocents and those adults lost are laid to rest for the remainder of the week and into the holidays.

The global response from the athletic community has also been impressive, from the Queens Park Rangers donning arm bands to Providence College re-doing their uniforms as a sign of support to all the efforts in social media by NFL and NBA players this past week. The New York Giants Victor Cruz showed his humanity by traveling to the town to visit with a family whose son adored him. Coaches have worked thoughts into their media appearances and others have made efforts to support those affected by contributing to scholarship funds. The emotional outpouring of support, as well as the financial, will not mend the lives and hearts completely, but it certainly will be appreciated not just now buy in the dark days ahead for those families and a town whose emotional landscape has forever changed.

So while that all that support has been very personal and much needed, can athletics now provide a platform to help invoke change in areas like gun control and mental health. Syracuse University head men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim took a bold step this week by speaking out for a change in the legal policies with regard to guns in American society this past week, when he had a national platform around his 900th career win. n the next month, many high level athletes and coaches will have a very unique place to help change public policy on the gun issue by using their traditional and social media platforms to implore millions of others not just to grieve but to act and continue to push for change. Can Notre Dame and Alabama find a way to ask for change around their national championship? Can the NBA teams or athletes on Christmas Day  find a way to get a message out to have people push politicians in an anti-gun campaign? The NFL did an impressive job in pushing messages of healing this week, will it go further?

Now for sure this political issue will not be tackled directly by leagues because of the political sensitivities. You will not see PSA’s with athletes asking for reform of gun laws on ESPN. The NRA, and its supporters both in the corporate world and the political world, are very very strong. However athletes and their ability to reach millions have helped social change in many ways in recent years. From world hunger to sexual abuse to anti-drug messages to anti-bullying campaigns, the influence of athletes around the world as role models has had a profound effect on human events. Coaches have banded together to raise millions for cancer research. Can this cause turn from support of a Connecticut community to one that puts real pressure on officials to change laws and a culture that has accepted the use of guns as instruments of violence for which the Second Amendment was not intended?

As time passes people will go back to their lives and their activities, pausing from time to find to reflect and remember last week’s horrific events. Lobbyists count on that passing of time and the influx of other issues to help people forget about the push for change, which does not take days, it can takes months, if not years.  While politicians and advocacy groups will continue their push, there is no industry that has the constant  stage like athletics, and perhaps no group can keep the push going, subtly and overtly, as coaches and players when they get their chance to speak. Maybe it is orchastrated, like the Miami Heat’s message last weekend standing with their own children, or maybe it is spontaneous like Boeheim’s comments in a press conference.

For sure there will be some who will not think that any political stance has no place in athletics, and there will be others who will feel that guns of any kind do have their place in society. There is always room for debate. However athletes have seen room to be more socially conscious than ever before, whether it is supporting local causes or ones like the Arab Spring. Now they have a chance to invoke change against a powerful lobby to use their influence and their passion that has been expressed this week to push for legal change. Will they do it? Will they care enough about the cause or will it fall back into the mix of other issues that may be closer or easier or more directly relevant to their everyday lives?

Right now the hurting is still very public and the issue is still very top of mind. Athletics through the media have a chance to keep it there until change is invoked in the legal system.  Whether they do or not will be worth watching in the coming months. It will be interesting to follow to see if the power of highly visible and visibly  shaken athletes can move the needle on what is now and again very much a national, if not international hot button.

 

Filed Under: College Basketball, College Football, ESPN, MLS, NBA Teams, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

From the UK to Phoenix The Message Is Clear…Come Try Us and Let Us Know Our Value

December 3, 2012 by

The Brentford Football Club has been around since 1889 and now plays in League One.  Most of their history they have labored for their loyal supporters in the second or third division. They play on a pitch scheduled for renovation after years of struggling. However given the economy, Brentford recently announced a plan for one match to give fans who are struggling and who have supported them over the years a chance to see the club, for what they can afford.

The  ‘Pay What You Can’ ticket pricing plan will take place on December 22 when the club hosts Stevenage.  The Bees are inviting fans to pay as much or as little as they can afford for a match ticket (with a minimum price of £1) and for every ticket sold for over £5, half of the money will be donated to the Sport Relief charity.

The promotion only covers advanced match tickets so fans will have to order them early, though it is open to adult, senior, student and junior for every seat at  Griffin Park.  It is a nice gesture for a club that is trying to find new ways to engage and bring casual fans out to enjoy the club as a pre-Christmas treat. Now the game is not a sellout by any means, so the club has the ability to be creative with tickets. So is there a risk? Very little. They are not giving seats away, each has a dollar value.  It is an interesting promo for a match that needed a boost for supporters that probably needed one too. Nice touch Brentford.

On this side of the pond, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns are trying their own unique plan for one game. The team, mired around .500 and looking to re-engage a fan base with lots of opportunities to spend disposable income, will give fans a chance to get a no questions asked refund for their December 6 game against the Dallas Mavericks.  Pretty simple. Buy a ticket in advance. Come to the game. You don’t have a good time go through the instructed process you get the dollars spent back.

Is it a risk? The Suns are always entertaining on and off the floor. They are playing another team that night that scores and people enjoy watching. It’s not the Washington Wizards. The ticketholder can’t just get the cash, he has to redeem the stub to the Suns, which requires another step in the process. So what does it do? Like Brentford, it created buzz and sends a message to fans, especially casual fans, that the team believes in its supporters and its brand. Come and try us, you don’t like it, it’s on us.

Again a team with tickets to move can take the risk. You would not see the Knicks trying a ploy because they don’t  need the exposure and have the fan base that will show win or lose. The Suns are sending a message that they are quality entertainment and worth the investment. Will be interesting to see if the investment pays off not just in tickets not returned, but in sales for other games going forward, by fans who like the idea and want to give the team another look.

Tis the season of giving, both in the UK and the States.

Filed Under: Darren Rovell, ESPN, FIFA, NBA Teams Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Rocketing Up The Brand

November 7, 2012 by

Some men are great, others have greatness thrust upon them. Or if you are Houston Rockets General Manager  Daryl Morey you are able to afford projected greatness. Lucky or shrewd or a combination of both, the Houston braintrust found themselves with not just one, but two marketing opportunities and potential stars they might not have ever predicted in Jeremy Lin and James Harden, and now have been thrust from also-rans to must-sees in the talent-laden world of the NBA’s Western Conference. They appeal to a racially diverse audience, they are of a physical size that most fans can relate to, they are amazingly fan and brand friendly and they have the potential of long-time stardom (albeit at a high price salarywise) that those pitching the Rockets brand will love.

Already the marketing machine has gone into overdrive, with beard promotions and billboards for Harden to augment the Linsanity that has already arrived in Houston. While Lin can play both to the mainstream and to the fast-growing Asian population in the city, Harden can pull in a minority community, and together they unite a basketball fan base that loves hard play and strong fundamentals, and pulls in a casual fan who will want to come to see what all the hype is about.

Now Houston at its best was a very good basketball town enveloped in football. Yao Ming helped bring the casual fans back for a while, but since his injury plagued career was cut short, the team has looked for a way to fill distressed seats without a huge amount of star power. In Lin they found one punch, albeit one whose jury is still out. In harden they delivered an Olympian and a potential All-Star who helped ignite a similar fan base in Oklahoma City. He brings a pedigree and the ability to take some of the pressure off the Lin marketing machine, and even provides some much-needed brand insurance should Lin’s star not shine as bright on the court as it will off the court. Smart promotions can now be spread amongst several players not just Lin, and the Rockets sales team can now have a reason to go back hard after subscribers who may have been on the fence, but now can have another reason to get on board with the team. They are also doing this brand building in a market where there will be scrutiny, but not the immense media pressure that can be delivered in New York or Los Angeles. It is a market where the pair and their teammates will probably given a little slack to develop, and that slack will also be invaluable to a brand on the rebound like the Rockets are.

Most importantly, the moves by Morey sent a clear message to fans and brands that ownership is willing to roll the dice for a winner, even as tough as the Western Conference is. yes some fans will show up to see the visiting stars, but now the team has two marketable names to call their own every night, and that combo means that Houston could be one of the surprise stories in the NBA not just from a results, but from a market draw this season. Harden and Lin will help re-ignite the core fans and bring in some new faces, which in a diverse city like Houston, where basketball is not always top of mind in the winter, is essential for the Rockets to be a success. Lucky and good is still the best combo, similar to what Harden and Lin can mean for hoops in Texas.

 

Filed Under: ESPN, ESPN/ABC, NBA Teams Tagged With: , , , , ,

Winning The Marathon, Scoring In Brooklyn

November 4, 2012 by

As we head toward Election Day, few quick items from the weekend.

The Nets Build A Public Trust: Make no mistake about it, the Brooklyn Nets are a business. They are there to sell tickets and sponsorships first and foremost and make the Barclays Center a winner on the ledger sheet. They are not a charity. However the steps the team has taken to become as big a part of the community and to be innovators has been impressive. Their delayed opening night brought back a host of famous Brooklyn faces, like former Dodgers, which will help them get credibility and buzz with a community that may not love hoops, but loves their borough.  yes they had Jay-Z and Beyonce, but to fill the seats on Tuesday nights in February the team needs to be a gathering place for the community, a sense of civic pride. They need to do all the little things that will give people with limited discretionary dollars  reason to spend them on basketball when they may not yet love the team. Those little things included a well detailed email on Friday with every possible travel option  to the arena for Saturday nights game, and a detailed description of all the goings on. Contrast that with the Knicks, who opened Friday, and sent out a reminder that the game was being played. Not much detail on subway lines, buses or other facts, just a reminder…we are opening, we are sold out come follow us. That works for the Knicks, an established brand sitting atop Penn Station. It won’t work for the Nets yet.

Another great example of innovative thinking unveiled Saturday was their own Brooklyn Super Hero, “The Brooklyn Knight.” The launch came complete with a Marvel  partnership and design and a comic book to go along with the costumed character. A great brand extension for the team in a borough which loves education. The Knight can help again extend a brand into the community with a product, and a series of products, the Knicks do not have. It wasn’t hoaky, it was smart, and is the latest way the Nets are really trying to make themselves a commodity Brooklyn can be proud of vs. a team that plays there.

Not every night will have Jay Z and Beyonce sitting courtside, but cultivating a diverse list of faces from all walks of life with ties to the borough are great. Again if the team doesn’t win some of this may be for naught, but by doing all the little things, the team is finding ways to make sure that when the quiet days come, they are still in the conversation.

Don’t Shoot The Runners: While there was a ton of controversy around the ING New York City Marathon which is going to continue on for some time, the bottom line and the long-lasting positive that could come out of the race is all the volunteering and dollars that have been raised not just for Hurricane Sandy but for thousands of other charities. At this point a debate over a “damage” brand or leadership is moot. What is important is that thousands who were to run took to the streets on Sunday to do community service and aid the victims of the hurricane, and millions have been donated by the Road Runners, sponsors and the Rudin family for the cause. For the next month it does not matter how the decision was reached, what matters most is that the dollars that were raised and will continue to be raised go to places that need the help, and that those who WERE giving to hundreds of charities follow through eventhough the runners supporting causes could not complete the race. The history of the Marathon, and its future are very valuable to the City and to those who participate and it should not be lost on the issues that arose this week. Hopefully at the end of the day the real winners are the people who spoke out and the millions helped by the donations and support, many of whom could or would never run the race. That is what Fred Lebow started and that is what has made the race so amazing over the years. It has never been about the man and woman who finished first and it should never be about a CEO or a board, it has been about the human spirit.

 

Filed Under: ESPN, NBA Teams, Olympics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Nets Have The Sizzle, Will The Steak Follow?

September 3, 2012 by

Last week the Brooklyn Nets started their countdown clock to the long-discussed opening of Americas newest showplace, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Not a day goes by without another announcement of a concert, high school hoops extravaganza, new billboard going up, community visit, concert or “innovation” as the organization continues to scream “Look at Me” to anyone who will listen or not.

The team has re-made itself on the court under GM Billy King, re-signing Deron Williams and adding Joe Johnson while adding a host of other new faces to go along with the new look and their new arena. Every week there is a new boast of a sponsor or a ticket milestone, along with more than a few rumblings of other major attractions like an NHL game or the Women’s Final Four in the offing soon or down the line. Promote, promote, promote and never miss a moment to remind someone that a new building will be coming into vogue in at least part of the world’s largest media market, in its most populous borough.

There is probably no organization on the planet which has tried as hard to find ways to place itself in the media than the Nets and the Barclays Center in the past 18 months. From the added exposure coming from Kris Humphries’ ill-fated and short lived Karadashian experience, to the constant push of brand partners and the man who is pulling the pieces together from a sales side (Bret Yormark), everyone has at least a casual knowledge of where the Nets will be.  Every day there is a reason to at least be intrigues by the goings-on in Brooklyn, whether you like NBA basketball or not.

Now of course all of this is not going on in a vacuum. Just across the river Madison Square Garden is undergoing their second summer of renovation, occasionally parachuting in with updates for the media on what a renovated MSG will look like like. Following their Olympic performance, stars like Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler have made their way back to Gotham to grab their own headlines with teammate Amar’e Stoudamire taking in the US Open or attending Fashion Week, and if the NHL does start on time, the Rangers have made themselves more media friendly with their marketing of Henrik Lundquist and company. There is also the Nets recent home, the Prudential Center, which still remains the most accessible arena in the area thus far, with a team (the Devils) that has done a great job of engaging in the social space.  So the Nets and the Barclays Center have take the aggressive approach to position themselves and their partners as the “must see” venue of the fall, each and every day in the marketplace.

Now will it work?  First of all the market is big enough to adequately support the venues full time. The amount of shows and events coming through such a wide media market with amazing public transportation hubs can keep the event calendar flowing. The rebirth of New York as a tourist destination has also helped fill the distressed inventory of MSG in recent years, and that draw to a borough not far away should also help the Barclays. Will the team play well enough to have fans show up night in and night out for games against subpar opponents?  Will the arena be a technological innovation along the lines of Kansas City’s Livestrong Park, which has emerged as the most tech-savvy of all new facilities to date? Will die-hard Knicks fans who have to traverse Penn Station on their daily commutes be drawn consistently to an aggressive  vibe in Brooklyn? What happens when the sizzle comes off the new arena in a years time? Old habits are tough to break, and that’s when the real selling will come in…on the rainy days when there are few “firsts” left in the Nets bag of tricks. As much as the Jets have sold hype, the bottom line is their Stadium co-tenants, the Giants, have found smart and innovative ways to engage their fans AND win, which in a market like New York, is what you need.

There is no doubt the Nets and their PR and Marketing teams have created sizzle. Now they have to serve the steak as well. Great first step, one worth watching for what the next one will be.

Filed Under: College Baseball, Minor League Hockey, NBA Teams, NHL Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good Moves: Rose Coming Back, Bronze Snoopy, High Tech Sponsors

August 17, 2012 by

Time for a little best practices roundup…three good ones from this week…

ROSE ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL: Most times an athlete’s rehab is behind a wall of secrecy and HIP-AA regulations. We seldom see the work he or she outs in as we concentrate on those who have replaced even the brightest of stars for whatever that period of time is. However that is not the case with Derrick Rose, who adidas brought back to the limelight this week by releasing the first in a series of powerful vidoes chronicling the Chicago Bulls return from his ACL tear that will end with his return to the lineup at some point this fall.

It is a smart move by adidas, who has invested heavily in the superstar and can’t afford to let him drift away for long periods of time. It is also good for the NBA to keep such a megastar in some kind of eye of the public as he makes his way back, and it probably is therapeutic for Rose as he goes through the tedium of rehab. Now these are not open-ended looks…they  are carefully crafted, well-orchestrated dramatic vignettes that only put Rose in a well approved light. If he has setbacks, they can still be factored into the story. When he eventually hits the court, adidas will be there, and it will all culminate with his eventual return to the court.

Some may say that the videos are a distraction to the process, that they are exploiting the time he outs in during a long road back. However in a time when fans clamor for access, adidas and Rose found a way to let people in, maybe be a little inspired, and help both him and his brand in sending reminders that the star may be away, but he will return.

Well done, surprising promotion.

 SNOOPY GOES GRIDIRON: Met Life has spent a huge amount of money at the stadium shared by the Jets and the Giants in New Jersey, so it should come as no surprise that brand extensions should go way beyond signage. The latest was revealed in Manhattan on Thursday, a giant bronze statue of Snoopy that will be installed outside the stadium, so fans can high five and pose around the Met Life mascot as they come in and out of the new stadium, starting this weekend when the Jets meet the Giants in their annual preseason game, which has been christened the Met Life Bowl.

While most preseason football is pretty much a snore, give Met Life a little credit for trying to liven up a game which may not mean much even to the local fans who are just hoping their teams stay healthy and engaged over the next few weeks. The third preseason game of the summer is usually when teams let their prime guys go for a longer stretch, and with this being game two, Eli, Sanchez and their teammates on both sides will probably make quick exits.

However the statue installation is a nice slightly subtle reminder to all coming in each week which brand rules the roost…or the doghouse…in the swamp. Nice little brand extension idea for one of America’s largest sports sponsors.

 NINERS GO UNCONVENTIONAL, BLAZE BRAND TRAIL: The Silicon Valley is all about tech innovation, so maybe it should come as no surprise that the San Francisco 49ers latest Founding Partner is not a beverage or a Telco brand but a data storage provider. n Violin Memory entered into a  long-term partnership as the 49ers official and exclusive data storage provider for the 68,500 seat stadium that will open for the 2014 NFL season, as well as for the remainder at Candlestick Park.

Violin’s products and expertise will provide key building blocks in the technology infrastructure of the stadium, and in turn, the company will have exclusive branding in the suite tower, a signature feature of the new stadium.  The message that a partnership like this sends to the industry is that the 49ers are committed to having the most technologically savvy stadium for an audience that will thrive on up to the second brand engagement. For Violin Memory it is a step out into the consumer marketplace, announcing to their competitors a growing engagement not just with businesses but with fans. Maybe it seems a bit unconventional, but when one looks to the stadia of the future, such as Livestrong Park in Kansas City, fang engagement with everything from hand held devices to interactive data centers in the stadium are going to be just as important as wide concourses and a wide variety of food and beverage are today. An interesting trend to follow for the arenas coming online soon.

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