Can Selling Hope or Hype Keep The Big Apple’s Winter Franchises Bright?

April 12, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

It’s another dark spring in New York.  Save for the Devils, there is no postseason at Madison Square Garden, the Izod Center or Nassau Coliseum, so the attentions and the dollars of the casual sports fan can shift fully to baseball, and maybe a bit to soccer as spring fully arrives.  Now the lack of postseason for the Knicks, Nets and Islanders, and now again for the Rangers, is always a cause for concern.  However as Don Nelson, now the winningest coach in NBA history, said once, you sell two things in pro sports…winning or hope…and for another year, the world’s largest media market will look to again sell hope…and a good amount of hype.  Will it work again?

The Immediate Hope Of A Good Draft…And How It’s Used…

June 27, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With the NHL and NBA Drafts happening withing 24 hours of each other, it was interesting to see all the subtleties and action that athletes and their agents, along with eams, quickly pulled together. A nice composite of the goings on before, during and then right after the draft was put together by Goodwin Sports Management in their Rookie Chronicles segments, which followed their three guys…Terence Williams, Patty Mills and DeMar DeRozan…as they got ready and then had their names called on Thursday night. The best thing was the unique perspectives from each athlete and how they got ready and then went through what really was a life changing experience that few can appreciate. The immediate Twitter reaction, and their response to questions, also showed the impact active players can make for a brand with fans in a 24/7 news cycle. The Knicks also offered up their picks and coach Mike D’Antoni for a chat with season subs, also a nice touch for a fan base that craves access and is being given a chance to connect for the top dollar the team demands. On the NHL side, the draft in Montreal took on a multilingual feel, with a number of teams, from Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo to Chicago’s Scotty Bowman speaking in French to the Canadian crowd as they made the picks for their teams, a nice touch to give the teams a bit more diversity and personality on draft day. However the best play probably came from the Islanders, who on one of the few sunny getaway days in June, managed to amass 10,000 fans at Nassau Coliseum for a draft party as they took the league’s number one pick and immediately built goodwill for a long-suffering and oft-ignored fan base. They not only made the popular choice in John Tavares, they had him messaged correctly and gave the fans all that they wanted to hear and experience in the draft…hope for the future. Well played out on the Island, across both leagues and into the digital space.