The UFC Looks To Reinvent…

September 2, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The smartest brands are always trying to reinvent themselves in the marketplace. In today’s economy staying fluid and satisfying your audience while looking to engage new partners or customers is key for success.  One brand which seems to constantly be looking for new is the UFC.

Not A Wise Choice….

September 1, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Mike Wise of the Washington Post is a very good writer and has built a strong and solid following on the radio side at WJFK radio in Washington.  He is a deep thinker who always looks for long form angles in his pieces and rarely follows the path that is easiest to tell a story.  Recently he had an extensive piece on Olympian Rafer Johnson that showed the great value that senior athletes can have for a young and sometimes uninformed get it done now world. Mike has also overcome a freak accident to return to good health, get married, and later this week will be a father.  He has some great long term relationships with media, and always speaks his mind and voices his opinion.

Football vs. Football…Parity Not Always Needed To Grow The Brand

August 29, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

With the Premier League now going in the UK and the NFL just a few weeks from kicking off in the United States, it is interesting to look at the two monster branding organizations and see how they run in parallel tracks in some ways and are apart in others still. Both have global aspirations, with soccer’s foothold as the world’s largest and most popular sport helping buoy the marketing, digital  and branding rights for the top EPL clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea for years.  Tours to North America for clubs like Tottenham and Manchester City this past summer also help raise awareness amongst casual fans looking for a bigger soccer jines than MLS can sometimes provide, especially in major markets, and the trical following for most EPL clubs keeps awareness attendance and local and regional value going.  The aggressive push for additional outside ownership for clubs like Liverpool has been an issue as the global economy shrunk, but overall the global awareness of the Premier League, what it stands for and for many of its clubs has never been higher.

On The Record…Sort Of…

August 5, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

This past week has seen two prominent sports names…LeBron James and Brett Favre…dragged into the middle of controversy by being invlved in stories that were sort of on the record sort of not, but both show the continued issues media have with ethics, the battle to get out unique content and the growing rift between those who want coverage and those who have all coverage thrust upon them.  The first involved ESPN reporter Arash Markazi and his trailing of James and crew in Las Vegas. The murkiness over whether James’ team knew who Markazi was and what he was doing in a public place trailing the soon to be Miami Heat star is one issue, the fact that the reporter really didn’t find much and reported as such is another.  It is clear that Markazi never clearly stated or showed that he was a member of the media when he started asking questions to the group, but whether some people knew or didn’t know is the issue.  He did go to Las Vegas to see what he could find, and the resulting story, which ESPN did remove when it caused some controversy, was the product of his trip.  Should he have clearly said why he was there and asked for access, should James’ crew have known why he was there, should ESPN have removed a pretty benign story or should they have posted it in the first place is all the source of the debate.

On Giving Back…

August 4, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Many people may not know what UNICO is http://www.unico.org/, but millions have been touched by their support.  The largest national Italian-American service organization with a large presence in New Jersey, the group spends countless hours fundraising thousands of dollars community by community for charities ranging from help for the elderly to cancer and life threatening disease research.

Brand NFL Gets Stronger, Despite The Clouds On The Horizon…

August 1, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Granted there is a labor dispute in the distance and the Jets still have issues in the New York marketplace with PSL’s, but it is hard to argue that even in a challenged economy the brand of the NFL remains strong and gets stronger. It can be argued that the opening of training camp has come close to eclipsing the reporting of “Pitchers and Catchers” as the day that fans look forward to the most…the NFL Draft has easily become a media and brand spectacle like no other…fantasy football play is the dominant game of choice, almost four to one over baseball, because of its simplicity and appeal to the casual fan…and the one  game a week schedule gives the NFL a chance to build week on week like no other sport.  Even those who argued that parity diluted the game have fallen short of their argument, as witnessed by the record numbers who tuned in for last year’s Super Bowl, featuring two of the smallest markets (Indianapolis and New Orleans) in professional sports.

Taking A Gamble In Business…Literally

June 18, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Throughout the course of the history of sports there have been business deals fueled by the problems and pratfalls of gambling or paying off debt.  Lore has it the New York Giants were originally acquired by the Mara family in an effort to pay off gambling woes by a partner. The Philadelphia Eagles ran amok at one point becuase of the gambling debt accumulated by owner Leonard Toes…there is the legendary story of Red Sox owner Harry Frazee selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees in order to finance his play “No No Nanette” (although thats not necessarily true).  Although not realated to gambling, the USFL’s Arizona Wranglers and Los Angeles Express franchises literally swapped entire teams one year.

A “Saintly” Display Of Being A Public Trust…

June 10, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the toughest elements for a sports entity to maintain these days is the balance between being a multifaceted, revenue generating business and being a public trust, like other community institutions that evoke emotion, passion and support in addition to brining in dollars. The endless media presence, a never ending season, the transient nature of athletes have all contributed to the drive to having franchises be more big business and less part of the community as they were in earlier generations.  There is a need to find every way to engage partners and fans these days, and the balance between quality and quantity of brand positioning can sometimes get lost in the dollar search, especially when partners are under continuous pressure to justify their spends, and teams are under constant pressure to deliver more return for the dollars spent by fans. Now it is true that teams have realized this issue and have taken strides to restore community trust and interest, but the true integration into the community is still a very tough balance in these challenging times.

CHL, IHL Merger Makes Great Sense…

June 7, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

It wasn’t widely covered this week, but the merger between the CHL and the IHL to effectively create a joint program and a de-facto North American “AA” level of hockey was a very smart move and could be a very financially viable one for the minor league clubs at that level in the sport.  In reality baseball is the only sport that has figured out a business model that makes business sense for a viable minor league system.  The NBA has made strides with the D-League but it is nowehre near successful from a financial standpoint yet.  The NFL attempts have been less than fruitful (thank you college football) and the overtures the UFL have made now appear dead. Hockey does  OK in some markets in fits and spurts, but it is not the social sport for the casual fan that minor league baseball is, and the higher overhead combined with limited interest has slowed growth. There is also the alphabet soup of leagies and affiliations with no real centralized plan.  Last week’s announcement, to help in effect create one combined strong minor super league…connected but limited in travel costs…may help to finally right the system for hockey, and in many ways help to alleviate costs from the top of the NHL on down.

Naming Rights: Effective Branding For Dollars in the Midwest…

May 30, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

Much of the talk with regard to naming rights deals revolved around the Meadowlands this past,  as branding experts voiced opinions as to whether the addition of a Super Bowl to the new Meadowlands Stadium will enhance a potential overall naming rights deal and can entice other secondary sponsors to the just opened facility. While it is still a long term process and the Super Bowl addition does help (and probably opens the door for even more top tier events in the future), just one additional event four years hence won’t bring in a multi-million dollar price tag.  The work the Stadium is doing filling ancillary events…soccer, concerts, etc. will also have great brand value, and may even pull in a non-traditional or overseas brand into the mix, keeping in mind Allianz was close to a deal at one point and UK-based Barclay’s is already in as the title sponsor for the upcoming arena in Brooklyn for the Nets.

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