Can The UFC Take A Page From The WWE For A New York Brand Win?

April 21, 2013 by

Two weeks ago the WWE was everywhere and anywhere in the New York Area as Wrestlemania became the lynchpin for all things about the brand. Community projects, brand partnerships, education news, appearances on Wall Street, meet and greets with celebrities, panels on broadcasting, economic viability studies…you name it the WWE rolled it out as they headed up and through their record-setting event at Met Life Stadium, with over 80,000 turning out in what was a good model for testing the limits and challenges for next year’s Super Bowl.

 This week another vibrant brand this one in a cage not a ring, will roll into the area looking to showcase all its marketing muscle and extol its virtues to Madison Avenue, Wall Street and to the seat of government in New York State in Albany. It is the UFC’s chance to sell itself even larger, with a mega-card and pay per view at the Prudential Center in Newark. Athletes, ring card girls, organizational head Dana White as well as a host of athletes talking up the brand even as the NFL Draft descends on Gotham this week as well. The challenges for both the UFC and the WWE similar in many regards…they are both testosterone driven entertainment, which use cable and broadcast TV to fuel very lucrative pay per view events. They have engaging stars and storylines and a charismatic leader as the face of the company. They have been dogged in their use of social media to engage fans, and their events have worldwide appeal especially in a demo, the young male early adopter, that many traditional sports and entertainment events find elusive. The two brands also struggle with critics who say they are too violent, too misogynistic and are part of a continued dumbing down of society. 

 There are also some distinct differences between the two. The WWE is a publicly traded company, the UFC is privately held. The UFC is real sport, the WWE is pure entertainment. And for the UFC, the WWE is allowed to hold events in the State of New York, while professional MMA remains outlawed in New York. Wrestlemania could always return to Madison Square Garden, while the UFC still awaits the day when it could call MSG or The Barclays Center or The First Niagara Center or any upstate casino home.

 New Jersey meanwhile has thrived as a focal point for legal MMA both large and small, and will welcome the UFC back this week. However in the midst of all the events, the expo of goods, the sponsor in store autograph signings will be a look by all at Albany with the continued message that the UFC and its larger competitors have done all that has been asked to make the sport OK in New York, like it is in a majority of the country and around the world. What will all that glad-handing and lobbying do for the brand? It will probably help push some consumer brands still reticent to engage off the fence and into the sport, especially if ad decision makers can go down 6th Avenue to see an event without crossing a river. It will also help open more key venues and raise competition for large scale shows, which will help the bottom line for the UFC or a promotion like Bellator, which is the industry’s number two promotion.

The drumbeat for next Saturday has already begin, with appearances UFC athletes in a number of places, including the booth for Saturday’s Mets-Nationals game on FOX. While much of that talk was about tune in for the live event that was on Fox Saturday night, the message to a national audience about the New York issue was spelled out pretty clearly and articulately be UFC fighter Uriah Hall. It was simple…we are mainstream, we are legit, we can deliver a product and we can help New York.

The lack of pushback by anyone on Wrestlemania should serve as a good template for what the UFC could do as they return to the New York area this week. It was big time glitz, big time promotion and all clear messaging. It helped lift the brand of the WWE on all fronts, and a similar effort can help float the rising tide of the UFC, one which still needs a little push to win their fight in The Big Apple.

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

Wrestlemania Re-Affirms WWE Brand Power…

April 12, 2013 by

There was probably a time when the NFL would have shied away from seeing the WWE as anything but an encumbrance to business. After all for at least part of its history, the publicly trade company has been awash in misogyny, steroid use, violence and controversy.

But today the WWE is a thriving entertainment vehicle worldwide, hell bent on providing fun, exciting and engaging stories in every medium and to fans old and young. The pinnacle of that growth was last weekend at Met Life Stadium, when WrestleMania brought a record crowd of over 80,000 to the new home of the Jets and the Giants, the culmination of a week of tri-state and national appearances with media, charities and athletes and celebrities of all walks of life, all showcasing the value of the WWE brand and how far the company continues to go as an entertainment brand.

Why was this valuable to the NFL? Wrestlemania 29 provided the perfect test of the facility and the area for next February’s Super Bowl. Hotels were filled, traffic patterns were tested, and most importantly, the power sources for the stadium were pushed well beyond what will be used for next winter’s extravaganza, quieting any critics who were wondering if the same power outage that occurred in New Orleans could occur in next year’s home. Every test was passed, giving the NFL another box checked for when the world’s sporting eyes will be focused on Met Life.

From a branding and merchandising standpoint, WrestleMania was everywhere. Kids and adults sporting tee-shirts and hoodies were everywhere from college campuses o Times Square to the three area airports, and the WWE brought out superstars past and present to make sure that every demo could be involved. It was fun and engaging branding, and the next lifting off point for a property that is still viewed as sport because of the athleticism of its performers, but is all about family entertainment for every walk of life. No brands ran from the WWE brand, promotions from Times Square to children’s hospitals came off without protest, and the WWE leveraged the event to show how expansive their marketing pull can be.

For a sports and entertainment property, it doesn’t get much bigger than the WWE, and the brand did its cousins at the NFL a solid last weekend.

Filed Under: Ambush Marketing, Gaming, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

In 140 Characters or 120 Minutes…The Communicators Who Communicate

April 1, 2013 by

One of the opportunities and also one of the issues with social media is that the stream and the quest for information and access is never ending. The pipeline if you choose to use it, never really shuts off. So into that vacuum of information, especially for the consumer, comes the communications head in sport of teams, leagues, governing bodies, and broadcast entities.  Like every new medium, some choose to embrace, some run and hide and others take a wait and see approach. Sport, on the team level at least, is a business of ritual which can sometimes be endless, and for some teams with long rituals and full press areas, those rituals are sometimes hard, if not impossible to change, even if there is benefit.

Some teams see the social media space as a way to reinforce the company line and that’s about it. Buy tickets here, here is tonight’s promotion, here are some facts about our players…much of it is not new or innovative, but it is effective to use social media to make sure that followers have some information, especially about the bottom line for the team. Often times these feeds are not personalized, they are generic, and can be generated as much by an intern as they would be by a senior staff member. They provide a service, but don’t really give the consumer much more insight or added value than they would get in other places. It’s access, but not access that enhances the experience or sheds light into what is going on with the team, or the athlete they passionately follow.

As a communications tool to the masses, for those teams that choose that path it works for them.

The tragedy of taking that path is that many times those communicators on the staff are great storytellers who often times can provide a very unique glimpse through their daily interactions. Little slice of life anecdotes which followers of the team, media, business partners, would find interesting. Because these men and women spend so much time inside the business of sport, and they are usually skilled communicators, they have both a different take on things and see the business from a side that is pretty unique. Can they mix in the obligatory shill for a giveaway day? Sure. Would they take shots at the team or officials in lean times, probably not.  However using social media as a fun way to peer inside the glass tower is a way for those who do the communication to better communicate even humanize the team or the entity that they represent in sport.

Who does the mix well? Some, like Josh Rawitch at the Arizona  Diamondbacks or Ron Colangelo at the Detroit Tigers  or Jim Saccomano at the Denver Broncos, or Charles Bloom who was at the SEC for a long time and is now at the University of South Carolina, or Mike Kelly who went from the ACC to the BCS,  do a great job of mixing in information and anecdotes from a long career. One of the first, and best, adopters of social media is New York Giants longtime communications head Pat Hanlon, who not only gives some solid insight into team goings-on but is not afraid to mix it up with fans and the media, usually in a good natured way. Most recently, the New York Mets longtime PR leader Jay Horwitz became a media story himself when he took to twitter like a fish to water, and provided amazing insight every day from a life dedicated to the orange and blue, telling tales of players past and present, mixed in with a lighthearted look at himself, in 140 character bursts. It is a fun and very unique peer into the inner workings of sport at its highest level. It is genuine, fun and very sincere.

Now that type of look, or the work that Hanlon and others do is not sanctioned by every organization. The Brooklyn Nets for example, recently cut off their lighthearted “Nets PR” twitter feed, which was providing some fun, some silly little slices of life inside the team.  While no real reason was given, the feeling is similar to what other teams, colleges and leagues feel…social media should be a marketing tool to push product, not to entertain fans. It’s may not be the right approach for some, but it is the choice of the organization. Sure, sometimes the rat-tat of social can also burn those who get caught up. Several teams and colleges have had to recant statements when front office execs, even some in communications, have fired off shots at media members or fans too hastily. However all that can be avoided if you think before you hit send…the same advice, most communications executives give to their players and coaches.

So no it’s not for everyone…however for those who use the medium well, communicating with the top communicators can be fun and effective, and a strong tool to engage fans and even grow brand and media following. The folks who do it well don’t shill, they are good story tellers and communicators, with a gift to spin a tale efficiently and make the game and those who play very human.

They make social media fun and interesting to their followers with their genuine approach learned from a lifetime of being on the inside. After all, sport is big business, but it is supposed to be fun, and communicating that fun is what brings fans, brands, and even media, engaged and interested, in good times and bad.

Filed Under: College Baseball, College Basketball, College Football, Minor League Hockey, MLB, MLS Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Head and Shoulders Doesn’t Whiff With New MLB Program…

March 31, 2013 by

For the last few years men’s hygiene brands have used the sports space to lift awareness with a series of fun and engaging campaigns, the latest of which was their “Smelf” campaign starring All-Pro Wide receiver Greg Jennings for Old Spice. It was the next in a series of fun and irreverent campaigns that men’s brands have used to try and generate buzz and ROI in a very competitive and growing space, one which needs to capture the eye of the female purchaser sometimes as much as the male.

Before we had “smelf,” we did have the Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu using his expansive head of hair for “Head and Shoulders” as well, a campaign which certainly generated interest and innovation for the Procter and Gamble brand as well.

Now the one upsmanship in the space goes back to the diamond from the gridiron, and shays back to Head and Shoulders again.

H and S will kick off another fun play on words on opening day with their “Season of the Whiff,” which will go coast to coast when MLB gets started this week. The campaign will be across all forms of media, and will be integrated into game broadcasts in 11 markets, encouraging fans to use the #Whiff hashtag with their team’s Twitter handle each time a pitcher strikes out an opponent.

The brand won’t just be looking for social engagement either…it will put $1 for each strikeout to Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) and can push social media by giving the MLB club whose fans rack up the most #Whiff tweets monthly an additional $10,000 for local chapters.

Head & Shoulders will also take an active role in New York, the home of this year’s MLB All-Star Game in July. By wrapping subway cars as part of the outreach.  To make sure they also get ample play out west, the brand by tapping Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson and All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton as spokespeople for the campaign.

The whiff is a great play on words for the diehard fan, and by throwing in a charity component the campaign will have legs outside the traditional fan engagement property that can sometimes get lost in the programs that MLB offers up. It is a catchy, convenient and widespread program that has appeal both locally and nationally, and is a next great step in the men’s healthcare category for P and G.

Filed Under: ESPN, Fox, MLB Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

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: , , , , , , ,

Grabbing The Quietest Weekend In Sports…

February 9, 2013 by

A blizzard blanketed the Northeastern United States (kudos to The Weather Channel folks by the way, who took a lot of heat from The National Weather Service when they started naming winter storms like hurricanes but struck gold with Nemo!) this weekend, leaving millions with nothing to do but dig out and turn on the TV and fire up the computer. With the Super Bowl buzz a distant memory, and the NBA All-Star game a week away, there is a surprising gaping hole in the sports calendar this weekend that teams and brands may look to exploit in future years. The NHL for example, would have had its All-Star weekend the week before the Super Bowl (in Columbus, Ohio, helping a franchise…the Blue Jackets... that may be the least known of any team amongst the five major North American sports leagues), but that weekend still had the rise to Super Bowl and even the Pro Bowl. This weekend? Other than regular season NBA and NHL and college hoops? Nothing. USA Hockey has made NEXT weekend Hockey Weekend Across America, but it butts against the NBA All-Star Weekend…why not this weekend?

Now next year will be a bit different, as we will slide into the first weekend of the Sochi Olympics. But even the Winter Olympics will be six hours away from the States,  and usually the first few days do not bring the major events. Can the NHL take advantage and drop some elite early round pool matchups into those days, and in turn make the weekend in the States all about brand hockey? Peewee, minor league and college? Would be a great play. Could NASCAR  move Daytona back into the quiet week? How about a sport like lacrosse, with its indoor pro game, finding a place in the crowded schedule? Gold is tied to warm weather, tennis is indoors in Europe, but how about Davis Cup, which somehow decided to play a US-Brazil tie LAST WEEKEND in Jacksonville, Florida. Going up against the Super Bowl, even for a sport that says it is more global and doesn’t concern itself with local events, did not help the USTA or the sport, and a very exciting 3-2 result was lost amidst commercials for Super Bowl and mega pre game shows.

How about amateur and fitness sports? This past Wednesday was National Girls and  Women in Sports Day…yet it garnered little coverage and was lost in the post-Super Bowl hangover, the one year to Sochi campaigns and other mid-week happenings. How could such an important demo…from moms who are decision makers to young women who need to be active as part of a healthy lifestyle to elite and telegenic female athletes…be lost in the mix by brands and Madison Avenue. This week Sports Illustrated will unveil its swimsuit issue as part of Fashion Week in New York, and that well marketed “tribute ” to beauty and sport for sure will not get lost in the shuffle. Baseball? Pitchers and catchers have started to report and some teams will hold fan fests, but the logistic transition of most teams make this a difficult weekend to convene in most major markets, unless you are a warm weather club lie the Marlins or DBacks who don’t have to go far.

Now maybe the psyche needs a respite from the Super Bowl, and we needed a weekend of nothing. However if you are a league, a sport, a brand looking to engage and carve a niche, this weekend seems to be a good annual one. The NFL has found a great spot opening their season the Thursday after Labor Day unencumbered. The Kentucky Derby has its spot. The Masters has its own place on the calendar. The weekend after Super Bowl seems ripe for someone to claim and build upon, lets see if someone grabs it.

Filed Under: College Basketball, ESPN, FIFA, Minor League Hockey, MLS, NASCAR, NHL, NLL, Olympics, PGA Tour Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Can Football Spring Eternal?

February 7, 2013 by

This Wednesday those fans of the gridiron reach what is an unofficial official end to all things football for a while…the media frenzy of national signing day. From coast to coast on every sports network and radio show, young men who are the best at their sport tell the world in choreographed press conferences, streaming video feeds and press conferences where they have decided to go to join the big business ranks of major college football. From this day, booster hopes rise, coaches careers are stabilized, dreams are dashed and season tickets are sold, all on the backs of 17 and 18 year old student athletes. Ironically the day follows another American tradition that is also based on what might be…Ground Hog Day. Whether a little furry creature sees his shadow doesn’t really determine the fates of thousands, but it is just as safe a prediction as to whether those who commit to college on National Signing Day can turn the fortunes of college football.

Signing Day has turned from a clerical necessity to a media extravaganza in just a few years, but now for football it really serves as the end of a long trek that starts at the NFL Draft and marches almost unceasingly through the Super Bowl. On every level across America, the pageantry of college football starts in Radio City Music Hall in New York and goes through the day when high school players officially make their mark for where they will go. After that, the sport goes into a lull, despite the passion and yearnings for millions of fans who can’t seem to get enough.

Now there is the Arena Football League, although the latest version is nowhere near the media and entertainment draw that its previous bankrupted version was. This spring there remains the specter of the UFL returning to finish a season which started in the fall and never went anywhere amidst a sea of red tape and financial losses. Other than that, fans have to wait for the draft, and talk about the perils and fortunes of free agency for the NFL, with maybe some spring practice banter mixed in.

So with the lull in gridiron action, is there a chance that a spring football league can fill the void? It is a sexy, intriguing idea, but can it work?

The sad thing is that the UFL could have made great brand inroads had they played in the spring in their first few years, as the NFL went through its now completed labor pains. Into the void they could have gone loudly, filling an interest for the casual and the disgruntled, testing the marketing dollars of brands who may have been worried about the NFL, and providing a great showplace for the free agents and unsigned who needed a chance to play somewhere. It would have also continued to have been a great testing ground for new rules, new styles and coaches looking for a chance to either re-engage or find a new home.

Alas we received none of that.  There remain mid-markets that love football that probably can use cost-containment professional football, and if the NFL does not grow roster size there has been proof that there is still a solid amount of talent waiting to be turned over. Would brands take an offseason Hertz to the NFL’s Avis? Would TV support a promotable spring product and not have to worry about NFL backlash when new deals come up? One thing is for sure, America is a football crazy country. The question is…is the market important enough to support year-round football? The WLAF failed with the NFL’s backing, as had other leagues. The UFL started off with the right capital infusion and found some niche’s, but at the wrong time of year for fans to get energized. The argument that you have one NBA. one MLB and one NHL is different…those seasons are very long and give fans ample opportunity to see the product. The NFL, even at 16 games, still limits the in-season experience for fans, which could create an off-season alternative.

Over a quarter century ago the USFL saw that opportunity and had some level of success, in the days before regional sports networks were en vogue. The latest version of the USFL has made some noise to grab the space again, but a 2013 launch was scrubbed and a 2014 season announcement has come and gone with little talk of capital raised, TV contracts signed or cities announced. Another spring league has proposed public funding, selling shares to raise the millions needed, but that effort is doomed before it starts, as using the public markets for sports is fraught with needs to satisfy millions of investors and pay down the large administrative costs needed to keep a business running in the public sector. If you can’t find investors in the private market, forget the dealings of a business that has to be transparent to all who come looking.

So is there a need and a void to bring football back to play in a league format in the space from say, early March to early July? The NFL could use a developmental component, especially one they would not have to fund but could look seriously at technology and enhanced player safety. The plethora of regional and now national TV networks still have time to fill, albeit not on their own dime for production. There are any number of brands which would enjoy the engagement of football but not at NFL prices, and technology partners would crave using the space as a way to test activation projects that they could then implement at the NFL level in a more refined manner. Would fans turn out in numbers to make franchises financially viable? Would TV audiences tune in to watch a product that may be quality but not at the level of the NFL, on a national level? Would the digital space provide enough of a revue stream to also offset costs of running an expensive proposition like professional football, given its size of rosters and events? Could you find stadia that would be of the right size and standard in enough markets?

We don’t know the answers yet, but the demand for more football has grown in recent years, not shrunk. There are markets that clamor for more professional sports, but whether the private sector will take such a high risk remains to be seen. Secondary leagues in an age where the primary major team sports are striving to give fans more access are not what they once were, and the launch of any league in the United States, major or minor, has not seen any level of true success since Major League Soccer.

So while we hit the football lull, the specter of a never-ending stream of live games to tide the public over is still ripe in the entrepreneurial mind. Whether that mind can bring the league to bear is a pipe dream right now, but certainly one that bears watching as the dollars and the interest in football still seem to hold strong as we head into the final phase of a winter where the gridiron falls silent, at least for 2013.

Filed Under: CBS, College Football, ESPN, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Next Stop: The Frozen Apple

February 5, 2013 by

Late during the bye week officials from New York and New Jersey joined NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to give an update on the plans that will immediately surround the 2014 Super Bowl,  to be held at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, the first time the sports and entertainment spectacle will not be held in a warm weather environment.

Among the events discussed were the usual  fan festival (at a site still TBD), a 2014 Super Bowl Boulevard down Broadway from West 34th Street to West 44th Street for the week before the game, a televised NFL Honors awards show,  media day…a ticketed event for almost 15,000 people, at Newark’s Prudential Center and a tailgating and pregame tailgating event at the  Meadowlands Racetrack, which will host the NFL’s pre-game tailgate party.

All those events will be new to the New York area for sure, but not really new to any brand or marketer who is used to being in the mix for Super Bowl. More spread out, and with lots of plans for inclement weather? Sure. But certainly not new. So if you are a brand why or how can Super Bowl 2014 be a differentiator for you in the biggest media market in the world?

One way is capitalizing on the location, regardless of weather. The US Open in tennis has an amazing appeal to brands not because of its great athleticism and state of the art facilities, but because it is the one and only global sports event that takes place just a few miles from Madison Avenue each and every year in the same time period. Brands can build hospitality and marketing programs that lead toward the end of the summer every year, and not have to worry if the “home team” is in the mix. In many ways the same goes for the Knicks and the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.   No matter whether the teams win or lose, the buzz of the Garden is always palpable, and it makes for a tremendous entertainment platform, with fix dates, only minutes from hundreds of brand decision makers who call New York home, either full or part-time. And if a brand is not using New York as its home base, rest assured its media company is. The old axiom for business success still holds true today… “location, location, location,” and for the 2014 Super Bowl, the location is New York, the media capital of the world.

So while the game may still be far off in the immediate consciousness of the fan, it should be front and center with brands looking to innovate, entertain and take advantage of a rare time where the sports and entertainment world will focus on a sports event in New York with a long lead time. How does one do that? Start today.

Brands who can get out in front with innovative programs…philanthropic events like playground builds and restoration events for victims of Hurricane Sandy, volunteer rewards programs for all the workers that will be needed around all the events,  legacy school programs that can enhance learning, consumer activation programs that can give fans special access to a series of events leading toward the game, can give those looking to get a much needed edge simply  because the frequency of connecting will be there now, not next January when the fight for those same eyeballs will be immense from long-time partners who roll in annually regardless of where the game is held.

Tickets to the actual game will be scarce for local residents, but the equity that can be built into fans being part of the “experience” is going to be very high. The Super Bowl host Committee needs to continue to find ways to cut through the clutter and make that “experience” top of mind, not just the week of the game, but in all 52 weeks leading up. They need to incent fans to buy tickets to all the ancillary events well in advance, to purchase merchandise and most importantly to patronize the brands that are heavily invested as both NFL partners and as stakeholders in the event itself.

It is very rare to have such a mega-event in the largest media market in the world at a time of year where there is precious little competition. The baseball All-Star Game comes to New York in July at CitiField, and that will have lots of trappings and engagement, but nothing on par globally like a Super Bowl.

If you are a brand looking to take advantage, the kickoff should really be now. By the time you get to the fourth quarter (of 2013) you may not have a chance to win the consumer engagement game. The investment while consumers are still thinking Super Bowl…in the next few weeks…can provide a great roadmap to success as the game comes to New York next February.

Filed Under: CBS, ESPN, Fox, NFL, Tennis Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Super Gamble Fight Continues

February 2, 2013 by

We reach Super Bowl weekend, a spectacle that has advanced well beyond the vision that Commissioner Pete Rozelle and the others in charge of the AFL/NFL merger had probably even envisioned. So little is about the wins and losses of the teams on the field, the Ravens and the 49ers, and so much more is about the buzz, the National Anthem, the commercials and the social media…and the gambling.

According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, approximately $93.9 million was wagered on the 2012 Super Bowl at sports books across the state, the largest total ever for a Super Bowl, but most of that figure was returned to bettors in the form of winnings. After paying out to bettors, Nevada sports books earned $5.1 million on 2012’s game. Certainly not a figure that would be a cause for major investment, however when you consider of the total amount bet on the Super Bowl, only about 1.5 percent is wagered legally; these bets are made by those over age 21 and physically present in the state of Nevada.

So there you have the reason why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and fellow legislators like Frank LoBiondo and Frank Pallone are going head to head with all comers…the Federal Government, every professional sports league and the NCAA, to overturn a law that gives the State of Nevada and its casinos the only legal sports books in the United States. It is a law that New Jersey legislators feel is unfair and should it be overturned, will open the way to re-energize the State’s casinos and racetracks and bring millions in much needed taxable income to the infrastructure of the State, much like the lottery and the casinos originally did when they were first brought into State control.

The concept of well-run, corruption free sports wagering is not new around the world, but it is new to the United States outside of Nevada. In the UK, sports gambling, especially with mobile devices is an accepted part of the fan experience, with millions of regulated dollars flowing to government and private entities. Teams have official gambling partners, and many athletes, including tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, endorse an online or traditional bookmaking partner. In the US, it is still seen as a dirty business run out of back rooms.

That all appears to be slowly changing at least in the eye of some legislators. The monopoly that Nevada has should come to an end, and many states, with New Jersey and possibly Delaware leading the way, some quietly, some boldly, to help open up the regulated flow of dollars into a sports book.

For their part, the professional leagues and the NCAA are holding firm with the Federal government against New Jersey. The NCAA has even pulled several championship events from state colleges because of the tact officials have taken to try and change the law…a move, when you consider that fact that the NCAA allows college basketball games to take place in venues within casinos in places like Connecticut and Nevada, seems very petty and hurts the schools more than the State.

It is also worth noting that the WNBA has both a team playing in a venue that is in a casino (The Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun) and this past week had a team approve a casino as a jersey sponsor (Osage Casinos on the front of the Tulsa Shock jersey, not as a patch but across the front of the uniform). Teams in most professional sports in the US also are allowed casino sponsors to bring in millions in advertising  as well, and Canadian franchises like the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Raptors  even have advertising for online gambling sites surrounding their rink at the Bell Centre and the court at the Air Canada Center.  All of which is perfectly legal and very much regulated, but there is no public outcry at all when these entities that involve gambling are infused into professional sport.

As the Super Bowl comes to New Jersey next year, it will be interesting to see where the fight goes. The leagues, without admitting it, are leaving millions on the table in revenue by not having the federal law overturned and States continue to see large amounts which could go to public projects go instead to shady backroom organizations that are not controlled.  This also doesn’t include the millions that could be generated as mobile technology and second screens become more infused with the revenue of sport in North America. The more you can keep fans engaged, the more revenue you stand to make. The more new revenue streams, the less the chance there is to raise ticket prices.

Now this is not to say that the floodgates of legal sports gambling should just open without more study and strong regulations. It’s also not to say that everyone in a Super Bowl pool should suddenly turn their $20’s and $50’s earned into the IRS. What it does is cast another light on a very valuable revenue stream in its biggest one weekend of the year and open healthy debate as to whether an old law should be revisited for the betterment of millions, or whether the status quo should hold and sport should find other streams of revenue.

It is certainly a game, maybe the biggest game, worth watching in sports business in the coming months, especially with Super Bowl 2014 poised to take place in the state looking to upset the gambling applecart again, much like it did with casinos in the 1970’s.

Filed Under: College Basketball, College Football, Crisis Management, Gaming, NCAA, NFL, WNBA Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

An Alternative Pro Bowl Idea With A Great Impact…

January 27, 2013 by

Sunday night as Super Bowl week began the NFL brought everyone the Pro Bowl, which for any number of reasons seems to have become the least interesting and most controversial of any professional all-star event. Instead of championing the great players of the season past, the Pro Bowl continues to become more of an afterthought, even lodged into the week before the Super Bowl. Other than the obvious difference…all other All-Star games fit into a break in the regular season…the game has become one to avoid as many players look to heal, relax and avoid injury for the future.

Now the game has some great benefits for the NFL…it is a big sponsor perk for companies who invest heavily in the game throughout the year. It provides a nice financial bump for the state of Hawaii and for those fans who would never get a chance to see the NFL live…especially those in the military stationed in and around the Islands. The trip is a very nice reward for the players and their families not moving on to the Super Bowl, and in recent years the game has served as a mice way for the league to test some fun and innovative digital and sponsor initiatives in a real-time setting that usually can’t even happen during the preseason. The give and take for the game will probably go on for a while longer, as the league weighs the cost benefit of putting on the event, which will still draw OK ratings on NBC despite its perceived lack of interest…it still does have many, albeit not most, of the league’s biggest faces, many of whom are its rising stars.

So if the game is scrapped, is there something the NFL could do that would benefit a wide audience, maybe not millions on TV, that would showcase these stars in another setting? How about a league-wide day of service. Now this is not to say in any way the NFL and the NFLPA do not give back to their communities. They do, in the form of millions each year. But instead of playing the game, have each of those selected for the game…either in the city they play in or their home town, use the Sunday between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl to give back. It is somewhat along the lines of the Yankees Hope Week, but here, as a homage to the season, every top star takes one more day to work in the community of his choice. There is no risk of injury, it could combine teammates, and benefit the charities of their choice. The publicity received, as well as the opportunity to lift brand partners with a CR initiative, could not be beat in market and would make for a very interesting one day compilation of best practices to send off into the craziness of Super Bowl week. Heck, you could even send a contingent to Hawaii to work on a charity initiative if that is needed.

It certainly doesn’t have the flash and buzz of an All-Star Game, and yes it would be complicated and probably more work market by market than staging the game in Hawaii, but if the game is going away and the stars want to align, why not do it for the greater good that would put a nice cap on am amazing season for top stars of the NFL, not to mention a very nice give-back to the communities that have supported the team and its stars throughout the year and into the future.

Filed Under: College Football, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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