Sports Raises Its Platform For Social Change Again…

May 6, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 3 Comments 

Perhaps more than any other consistent platform, sports over the years has been a very effective voice for social change.  Whether it was Jackie Robinson and integration, Billie Jean King and equality, sports has created a consistent call to action for hot button issues of the day. Sometimes the call to action comes and goes, sometimes the engagement by athletes with fans grows and becomes a much larger call to action than was originally anticipated.

Tennis Continues To Have An Empty Cup…While WTT Scores Locally.

July 14, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Coming off of an epic Wimbledon for the second year in a row, it would seem that tennis, with all its global promotional arms, the power of the USTA and the other three Grand Slams, and some strong personalities would be poised to make a strong followup showing leading into the US Open Series. After all, this past week had the best team-based tennis event in the world…one that showed that the sport could be played not just as individuals or even as doubles partners, but in an event that fans could understand and experience and that each match would count for toward a season long finale, just like other sports. Yes that team format did deliver with some fun matches, a great digital play, a good experience on site for all and even some amazing press coverage. The only problem for the sport is the team format that got the exposure last week was Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss long-running World Team Tennis entry, as opposed to the often-maligned and much forgotten Davis Cup brand. Here’s a look at both in the week that was. Once again Davis Cup, arguably one of the best on site experiences in sport, got lost again in the scheduling shuffle. The week fell after Wimbledon and at the same time as the women’s US Open, the NASCAR Chicagoland Sprint Cup Series, the run-up to the baseball All-Star game, UFC 100 and even the World Series of Poker. Add in that top American Andy Roddick couldn’t play because of injury and the limitations on travel budgets for most mainstream media, and the Davis Cup as a brand was lost in the shuffle on almost all points. Making things worse is the continued confusing schedule and the lack of any major brand activation in the early rounds and one of the best events in all of sport virtually disappeared. Now juxtapose that with WTT, which grabbed some great coverage in USA Today and the Washington Post (their Washington franchise was home last weekend), tied in charity events with some name players, and found enough squeaky wheels (Murphy Jensen) to effectively use social media to also drive some interest. Given a brands’ ROI, those aligned with WTT easily got more short term and lower cost exposure than those associated with the higher profile Davis Cup event for the week. Can Davis Cup ever go through a brand restoration? Tough to do unless the oft-talked about format change happens. If not, one of the legendary team sports could continue to fall behind a slightly slicker and more efficient cousin run by a legend who know how to make the game fun for new generations.

The Need For Spectacle To Draw Attention…CFL and UFL…

July 6, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As we inch closer to NFL Training Camp, two interesting notes popped up again in the football world over the weekend, both showing what it will take for the casual fan to take notice of football outside of college or the NFL. The first was up north in the CFL, which incidentally has done a good job of rebranding itself and working with, not against the NFL in many ways. This past week, Toronto receiver Arland Bruce took the Ocho Cinco route by doing a “touchdown tribute” to Michael Jackson, complete with acting dead after a score. The move earned him not just the wrath of the league and probably his teammates, but got Bruce some great exposure on newsshows, blogs and YouTube during a week where football was nowhere near top of mind, and could draw those casual fans to watch some CFL over the next few weeks to see what antics are next for the “perfomance artist” turned wide receiver. The second move was the UFL saying again that if Michael Vick is available and free of legal trouble they would take him for their Orlando franchise. Again the piece drew the eyeballs of the media and the casual fan to the soon to be starting league at a time when people are still not thinking football, and got the league more exposure as they move toward their next steps. Any downside to entertaining Vick? For the UFL none at all. It will bring spectacle both positive and negative should it happen, and will give their efforts more relevancy for TV and fans than they would have without him. Placed in a slow media week it was a very good move, whether or not it pans out. While one was planned (UFL) and one was not (CFL) both drew attention through spectacle and got both leagues added attention that they need for casual interest. Will be interesting to see next moves on both.

US Open Plays The Green Card Very Well

August 28, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Almost every sports organization in the United States is playing the “going green” campaign to show community awareness, but this week the USTA has taken advantage of the world’s largest stage for the sport…the US Open…to launch an immense series of iniatives within the organization and on the grounds of the world’s largest sporting event.  The results of the plan…everything from “green” t-shirts designed by Billie Jean King and Heidi Klum to free MetroCards for asking conservation questions to a big effort to recycle trash and use alternative fuels, was summed up in a press conference Wednesday and got the event coverage away from the (blue) courts, ranging from AP and USA Today to the Daily News, Newsday and  a host of enivironmental blogs which normally would not be covering the event.  Well thought out, well pitched, great tie-ins with business partners, a grand slam of a plan.