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: , , , , , , ,

Controlling The Assets…

February 1, 2013 by

With every passing week the stakes for team ownership continue to rise. The casual dollar of the fan gets tighter, costs rise for everything from labor to player development, social media drives more and more interest but also more and more expectations and brands want to see more and more of an ROI for the dollars they spend. While in most major team sports in North America revenue sharing has helped even some of the playing fields between big and small markets, the quest for added dollars at the local level continues to be very very high. At some point the ticket price will hit somewhat of a ceiling, and while the value of live sports is unlike anything else in entertainment, the price on that value still fluctuates. It is true that team sale prices for the most part rise every year, but what to do to generate dollars once you own the team leaves many members of senior leadership scratching their heads from time to time.

One key area that is being revisited is overall rights control. The ability to control your digital and broadcast rights have skyrocketed, and the idea of starting ones own network, once thought to be out of the question, is now still the way to go for many teams, especially in major markets. Six regional sports networks in Los Angeles you say? If you have the content and can provide live programming and fill around with low cost shoulder programming, then bring it on. Not the easiest route, but a sure way to at least control your own destiny.  Just ask the LA Dodgers.

Anther trend in recent years is to take some of your brightest most entreprenurial business minds, with some funding, and form a joint venture outside of the core team to develop new ventures to bring added value back to the ownership group. Finding other sports properties to purchase, developing real estate, making sure that ancillary events are filling a venue and then selling against those ventures requires time and fulltime effort, something that is hard to do when senior staff are concerned with the primary goals of a team…selling game sponsorships and filling seats. In the past those type of ventures were farmed off to consulting companies to concentrate on, and the ownership group took a cut but did not have full control of the venture.

In recent years however, ownership groups have seen a different tact work, especially in major markets, and are using that tact to keep control over all the ancillary and new business away from team day to day functions. It is becoming more financially viable to control all the intellectual capital and the ventures than to partner with an outside group and share. Some of the more bold strokes have been funded ventures like Fenway Sports Group in Boston or Silver Chalice in Chicago, which look at new ventures to bring into the fold of existing well run sports organizations like the Boston Red Sox or Chicago White Sox. yet others are joint ventures like Legends Hospitality, formed between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees to not just manage food services for the two premier brands, but to go and partner with other venues and properties to build additional revenue streams. RSE Ventures is another, created by Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross not just to help his NFL team, but to work on new and emerging ventures that expand the holdings of Ross into other areas. The latest was announced this week, with longtime sports executive Wally Hayward leaving the Chicago Cubs to form W Partners, co-founded by Cubs owner  Tom Ricketts to concentrate on ventures in and around Wrigley  Field but also in other areas of business like the teams’ new training facility in Arizona. Whereas in years past Hayward or a Cubs executive would oversee that work with an outside consulting firm, all that work now falls under the owner directly, outside of the day to day responsibilities of the club but within arms reach. It is convergence of opportunity and control of new revenue streams at a time where every dollar counts to be competitive. TV rights come up every few years, but ancillary dollars with a quality and iconic brand never seem to go away.

Now for sure there are pratfalls. Teams in the past have tried to combine ventures in sports and entertainment and have failed because of a lack of understanding of different cultures. Other owners have been too bullish and have gone the all-out takeover  of teams without fully understanding the challenges in a different country. You can’t always impose a new culture on a successful brand. This is also not the same as an ownership group with multiple teams in multiple areas, like Comcast Spectacor or Altitude in Denver or AEG. They own several teams that operate under a shared umbrella, and that is their core business. These new offshoots look to new business really outside the main scope of work. Some of it is unconventional, some is entreprenurial some will take years to develop and some may be try and fail, but all the efforts go to identifying new and sometimes revolutionary revenue streams that were not thought of before. It is not for everyone, even at the highest level, but it is intriguing.

Will this be a trend that continues? There are still well qualified consulting and sales groups out there globally doing outstanding work with many ownership groups as partners, so there is a great deal of work to go around. However for some owners with this new vision, it seems that the drive to identify and control what could always be farmed out is an interesting challenge, and one which certainly bears continued watching in places like Chicago and other markets around the world.

 

Filed Under: MLB, MLS, NHL, PGA Tour, Tennis 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: , , , , , , ,

Shoeless in New Orleans, Restoring With Blue Claws, and Winning In Seattle

January 21, 2013 by

A look at a few stories to start the week…

Seattle’s NBA Return Is Good News…For Many Outside Of Sacramento: While Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson put up a great fight, in the end the lack of funds for a new arena means the Maloof’s sale to move the franchise to Seattle…a city which lost its Sonics because of…a new arena…will go through. The new arena for the future to be built in Seattle is great news for an innovative and thriving sports city and will also help re-energize the basketball culture in the Pacific Northwest. Not that the Sonics of Howard Schultz and before him Barry Ackerley  were not quality organizations, but this version of the Sonics can really pick up some best in show ideas from the MLS Sounders, as great a startup franchise as there has been in North America in sports in the last 20 years, and the Seahawks, who have also re-energized their passionate fan base. The failures of the past should be turned when the Sonics go to the Key City again.

Some other winners in Seattle’s move? Probably the NHL. Hockey continues to grow in the Pacific Northwest at the grassroots level, and a struggling franchise in the NHL means that the city is now ready for the professional side with a new arena. A team there will help Vancouver also up the value of the sport south of the Canadian border and give the Canucks another potential rival to the south. Also the move will help the ever-innovative Golden State Warriors, always looking to expand their brand. While Kings fans won’t migrate right away, the trip to the Bay Area from San Fran isn’t that far, and a TV market now can be the Warriors to call their own in the state capitol.

All that positive still doesn’t alleviate years of frustration from Kings ownership or the grassroots groups that tried to keep the team, but it is an example of the value of viable brick and mortar facilities in the downtown heart of a community, a great selling point now when in years past the move was to the expanses of the suburbs.

Panthers Charity “Feet:” Steve Smith is the Carolina Panthers  five-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All-Pro selection, as well as being their all-time leader in yards gained. However at next week’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, Smith will be collecting shoes, not trying to fake defensive backs out of theirs.  “Kick Off Your Shoes,” one of Smith’s targeted charity efforts, will be a hosting celebrity shoe auction called the “Barefoot Auction”. Money raised at the event will be used to coordinate and produce each shoe distribution that Smith puts on, each costing nearly $10,000. Before each Panthers away game, Smith hosts a shoes distribution donating up to 1,000 shoes and socks with the goal of providing a profound level of hope that will be shared through each new pair of shoes.

Samaritan’s Feet is the humanitarian relief charity that washes the feet of the homeless and families in need and provides them with new socks and shoes so that they can reclaim their dignity and respect and live without infection and many other diseases caused by not wearing shoes. To date Samaritan’s Feet has donated more than 3 million pairs of shoes with the hope to help remedy the nearly 300 million children who wake up every morning without shoes.

While much of the goings-on in The Big Easy next week will be about fun and the games, Smith found a nice niche to do some charity work for a great cause that may not get huge play because of the mid-sized market that he plays in. However it’s a more than worthwhile effort for a guy who has always played and acted as a star both on and off the gridiron.

Blue Claws Innovate For Relief: The Lakewood (NJ) Blue Claws, the A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, have always been a model minor league baseball franchise. In tough economic times, the Blue Claws have found ways to stay relevant as much more than a ball club to their community, from food giveaways to programs year-round that address the needs of people who may never come to see a game.

So in the post- Hurricane Sandy cleanup the Blue Claws came up with not just a one-time fundraiser, but a long term one: Restore the Shore.

Companies, or individuals, order “Restore The Shore” t-shirts online here and register by emailing restore@blueclaws.com or returning this registration form. Each Friday until Memorial Day, staff members (or families) wear the t-shirts and each person makes a donation every Friday. Donations are made through PayPal at BlueClaws.com/Restore orAtlanticPTCenter.com.Businesses that participate will be honored in a ceremony at a 2013 Blue Claws game.

Those impacted will be able to fill out an application and donations will be made to as many families as possible directly. No red tape, no third party.  The Blue Claws staff has been wearing their Restore the Shore shirts each and every Friday since the initiative started, and since then the movement has spread to other Minor League markets as well. Minor League Baseball charities has donated $10,000 to the program, thus far the largest single contribution received.

Once again it goes to show the value of the franchise is not what happens on the field, but in the impact they can make in the social fabric of where they exist as a business.

Filed Under: Crisis Management, MLS, NFL, NHL 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 Brand NHL Recover And Will Anyone Care?

December 22, 2012 by

As we fast approach the holidays it’s amazing the difference…or rather…the indifference is in the sport and business world with brand NHL. At this time last year the sport was buzzing with hot franchises in key markets like New York, Philly, Boston, and Los Angeles. The league and its partners were gearing up for a landmark festival of hockey around the Winter Classic, and NBC was enjoying helping a rebirth of the sport. The NBA was not yet back from its own lockout, the hockey had the fall to itself in many markets. They may not have grabbed fans from hoops, but they had a nice opportunity to sample casual fans and grow some equity as a strong winter gave rise to a renewed and growing interest in the sport. The LA Kings and the New Jersey Devils, two clubs that had not just embraced but showed great innovation in the social and digital space, met in a Stanley Cup Final  that brought the Cup to Southern California and a new legion of celebrities who found the game fun and exciting.

And that was that.

The lockout, and the stalemate between the league and the NHLPA has brought not just silence to rinks but really indifference to the casual fan. They have moved on to other things to spend their casual dollar on, and the league and the PA are hopeful that the tribal nature of the game will bring their core fans back when the lockout ends. After all, even with games now canceled until at least mid-January and the Winter Classic and All-Star games, the two biggest draws for casual eyeballs, now evaporated, sponsors have not yet bolted for other sports for the most part, and those with a jones for the game have watched a smattering of KHL contests and college hockey on regional networks and NBC Sports Network to see there is a game still out there.

Now if the lockout is settled and the season is played, there is probably cause for hope. This lockout is somewhat different from the previous season-cancelling one, since it was much clearer that the game itself was at stake if the balance of dollars did not shift. The result was not just a better financial model at the time, it brought about fan-friendly innovation and a renewed interest in a sport which had slowly lost its way even from many of its core fans outside of Canada. The new NHL was faster, more fun and more embracing of change. It was worth the season lost to invoke that change. This time? The battle is among large sums of money to be split by owners and players. It is the bane of the casual fans existence…wealthy parties struggling to split up large pools of cash. It’s less about the fans, much more about the dollars.

This time there are also differences in the media landscape [e and in fan engagement that are going to give the NHL trouble when returning to the ice, even if it is this year. While the NBA or the other two large team sports in North Americas, the NFL and MLB, really wont syphon off casual fans, soccer is much stronger than it was the last time the lockout occurred. There is very much a commonality between casual fans of soccer, and even lacrosse (another growing sport) and those of hockey. MLS has probably pulled some dollars from NHL spending and now with the major European clubs as a fixture on broadcast TV, it will be harder for hockey to fight its way into their customary spot in the big four team sports.

On the sponsor side there have yet to be any mass defections from a game that really has built more brand loyalty the last few years than it ever had before. There is a wait and see, and even a cost savings for brands without the NHL to this point, but should the full season go, those brands are going to need to find ways to engage the young male demo that hockey has. They can’t wait to do so until next fall. So where do those dollars go? Soccer, maybe MMA, maybe lacrosse or maybe even back to baseball for a look-see. That is a place where the NHL runs a great risk. If those brands find success in other sports, maybe they won’t return to hockey, as it is the result they need, not the sport they crave.  The other big risk is in the economy itself. The financial world as we know it today is different from when the previous lockout occurred. Even the strongest of franchises of sport have had issues moving all tickets and growing their brands, so can NHL franchises with a year away find a path back to stability and relevance? It is new and unchartered waters even if some say that the brand came back stronger the last time. There is a bigger difference in the passage of time.

Now in Canada the story is probably different. Hockey is the national game, and when the clubs return to the ice the feeling is the dollars and the fans will follow, whenever it is. The same probably holds true with a smaller core group in the States. They love the ruggedness and the speed of the game, and the franchises have done a strong job in recent years to build loyalty. However loyalty is a two way street even for the strongest of brands, and with a full year off, even some of those core fans may have been able to find events to spend some of their discretionary dollar on when the sport they loved was pulled away. Come back, probably…but will it be less often or at full price?

Even at this stage there are many losers no matter what happens when the game returns. Scores of workers who needed events to balance their budgets have lost dollars that will never return. Businesses around arenas will never recoup the cash that flowed on game nights, and arenas left in flux have lost valuable dates where they could have booked other events. While TV has filled the void thus far, the make good on local advertising salespeople also hurts.

Who wins? Well if the game is more financially viable the theory is everyone does in the long run. A healthier game for those at the top financially means brand NHL rebounds. However a rebellious climate today may not make that work as easily as it has in the past. There have not been mass protests or talk of another league starting up to sate the needs of the hockey fan this time as there have been in the past or with other sports. It is much more quiet indifference, and that quiet indifference, coupled with frustration, can be a very bad message for those who will look to revive the dormant NHL.

In the end, a January settlement and a short and exciting season will be a salve for wounds reopened for brand NHL. If the season slips away, the silence of arenas, of departing brands and of casual fans will be deafening for a brand that was on the rise again and came to a screeching labor halt.

Here’s to finding a big Christmas gift for the sport, a labor solution as we enter 2013. The huge risk may not be worth the overall reward.

Filed Under: Crisis Management, MLS, NHL 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: , , , , , ,

Bowling and Brawling, Thoughts For The Weekend…

November 10, 2012 by

We arrive in the middle of November and as NCAA hoops tips off and football hits its stride some thoughts…

Nice Try, Bowling: Even with its ESPN presence, bowling hasn’t had much of a wow factor in years. The latest try is professional team bowling, city vs. city, in addition to the traditional tour. The thought, like other individual sports have tried, is that casual fans may have an interest in rooting for the guys and women from their cities, or at least their teams. Ok, but how do you draw with it, or at least get some additional buzz? Celebrity owners who bowl. So the PBA announced that Chris Paul, Jerome Bettis,  Terrell Owens and Kris Hart have become “celebrity owners” of teams. All love bowling and have agreed to participate in promotions and other competitions to help the league. Nice idea, and the guys will probably have a nice equity stake if the thing takes off but… The PBA has tried lots of things…rivalries, outdoor bowling, different scoring, million dollar purses etc etc over the year. Not much has resonated in bringing in casual fans. Now professional teams have used bowling for charity events for years with great success, and inner-city bowling centers, built up in buildings, not out, have become reasonably successful in recent years.

Chasing celebrity is certainly worth a shot for the PBA. Bowling is a fun casual game which is probably under appreciated. Other sports who have tried teams and celebrity have never really succeeded, so there’s really no formula which would lead anyone to believe that thousands are going to start showing up in bowling centers to watch pro bowling or to follow “celebrities.” It hasn’t succeeded in sports from MMA to boxing to golf to volleyball, but if bowling can make a team concept work without great loss of dollars, great.

Does MMA Need A Hertz? This week the rumors got louder that Strikeforce, one of the best well run regional professional Mixed Martial Arts promotions; will fold their tent in January after a long run in the business. The company, based in Northern California, was purchased by Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC last year, and will now be the latest MMA brand acquired by the UFC to go out of business. Strikeforce follows Pride, the World Fighting Alliance and World Extreme Cagefighting as brands that were strong on their own, were absorbed into the UFC and then disappeared. It also comes at a time when the UFC has expanded even more into Asia and is now bringing Ronda Rousey, a Strikeforce champion in as their first ever female fighter, something UFC head Dana White had said for years would never happen (Female fighters in the UFC).

There are many who feel that the professional side of MMA in the U.S. will plateau without a competing promotion to drive interest. Yet others say like the NFL, there is no need for a major second promotion when the UFC fills the bill. Sure there are smaller regional promotions that do well but does the demise of Strikeforce mean that the market is a one trick pony now more than ever…UFC or nothing?

We shall find out more in the coming months when The Bellator Fighting Championships, easily the number two national promotion now, will push forward with their new deal on Spike TV, the network that helped make the UFC before the promotion departed for  FUEL. Bellator has made its name with a tournament style competition in mid-sized arenas and has worked hard to embrace all areas of MMA fandom. What will the market, sponsors and fans tell the sport through TV ratings, attendance and brands? Is the UFC enough or is there a national market for a competitor for the long haul. The late Jay Larkin, who ran Showtime’s boxing division when it was at its peak, always said the the Showtime/HBO rivalry was best for the sport of boxing, because it forced both companies to push the other to be successful. HBO was Avis, which drove Showtime like Hertz, using the metaphor from the car rental companies. Without that push, the industry and the competition become stale.

Will that be true for professional MMA? The fight really begins in January.

Filed Under: Boxing, ESPN, Fox Sports.com, Mixed Martial Arts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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