Fragmentation In Niche Sports Proves To Be A Killer…

July 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Speaking with one voice, whether it is to a business partner, the media, or to fans is always important, especially in the alphabet soup of niche or second tier sports. With the limited dollars and eyeballs available for the casual fan, splitting the marketplace with alphabet soup of organizations usually leads to confusion and can ultimately drive partners on to a platform which is much more simple to understand. The latest example of split markets being a killer is in indoor soccer, which despite the huge success the outdoor game is seeing in the US, just fell further off the roadmap this week. Last year the Indoor game split into two “leagues,” both of which struggled for any kind of existence in far-off marketplaces, and despite the local success of teams like the Milwaukee Wave and the New Jersey Ironmen (who were in two different leagues by the way) the sport is on the verge of extinction. Another sport teetering but doing better with some unity is lacrosse, where the National Lacrosse League extended commissioner George Daniel this week, sending a positive message to all involved. Still, lacrosse, indoor and outdoor, needs to be presented as one platform to be an effective tool, but at least in their case the sport has a platform of success to build on. Indoor soccer has hurt itself with divergent forces for the indoor game, forces which told the sports world they were too fragmented to present a unified front, and in the end, all suffered. Would having one unified league have worked? Perhaps. But with the alphabet soup presented last winter to fans, media partners and business partners there was no chance of survival in an already tight marketplace. Hopefully the indoor game can be resurrected and lifted by the continued success of the outdoor product, but with too many cooks it will be next to impossible to deliver.

An Open Opportunity For US Air To Capitalize On The Course Of Events With Their Sports Partners?

January 20, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The “Miracle of the Hudson” involving US Air last week immediately created more goodwill and media opportunities for the airline than they could have ever come up with during any type of branding campaign.  Invites, web traffic and interview requests flooded in (no pun intended) for the survivors and crew, and Marketing Daily had a good piece on the huge spike the airlines social index received coming out of the crash.  The New Jersey Nets were first on the scene, inviting pilot Chesley Sullenberger and crew to their Saturday afternoon game with the Celtics (they couldn’t attend, but it won’t be the last opportunity) while the survivors tales will be told over and over again, and rightly so. One of the more interesting aspects is seeing if US Air would have the ability to capitalize on the great turn of events in their existing sports sponsorships. Since the money spend against sponsorships gives them both a platform and built-in audience, would the teams that are partners get the chance to work with the brand to expand or create opportunities for crew and passengers? As luck would have it, US Air’s two NFL sponsored teams met in Glendale on Sunday (the Eagles and the Cardinals) and with the Cardinals win came a natural opportunty to link the airline and the Super Bowl to potentially get some nice  pop.  Alas, as Darren Rovell reported in his blog on Monday, the US Air relationship with the Cardinals appears now to be more of a media buy than actual partnership,  but the opportunity does exist for some great media and pr between the two fortunate brands in the two week lead-up to the Super Bowl.  The same exists for the Suns playing in US Airways Arena, and for the Diamondbacks going into their regular season and even in spring training...good chances to work with a partner to garner all kinds of exposure and good will. Now is US Airways exploiting the incident or tempting fate by rolling out the PR machine for the brand with their sports partners?  Absolutely not. It is actually exposure well deserved and the stories of those passengers and crew, as well as the rescuers, deserve to be told and and have their moment in the spotlight, so US Air should reap the ancillary benefit as well.  We are not saying that the events of the crash should be exploited through merchandise or paid appearances by US Air.  What we are saying is US Air now has the opportunity to use a very unique asset to build their brand, and use their sports partnerships to do it. All will benefit from the good fortune, and in a challenged economy the push for exposure is a smart one for all.

Panthers Dentist Takes A Title Sponsorship For Kids Day…

January 9, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Last year the St. Paul Saints sold their stadium naming rights for a game to some enterprising fans, and as teams, especially those in challenging markets, look for unique and noteworthy revenue and exposure, the idea of titleing a day for your sons Bar Mitzvah or your daughter’s Sweet Sixteen may become more run of the mill.  Especially for those in entertainment looking to build some brand recognition, maybe a niche could be spun off of not just an individual sponsor when it is a company, but an individual sponsor that is really one person.  Now you would have to find people in a challenged economy looking to throw that money at a team, but why couldn’t it be tied to a charity…Joe Smith Day, presented for (as opposed to by) Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia?  These thoughts are spurred by Sarah Talalay’s piece in the Sun Sentinel today, which talks about the Florida Panthers committment to family and hosting another kids day this weekend.  Unusal? No.  What is different is the sponsor is a dentist.  Not a medical group, but one enterprising dentist,  Dr. Larry Kawa, team dentist. Now in all probability Dr. Larry didnt lay out what cost title sponsors would normally for such an event, since he is associated with the team, but how many teeth can Dr. Larry straighten in exchange for the title sponsorship?  Still, for distressed inventory, it makes for some interesting possibilities, and in second tier sports with low costs for some sponsorships, it makes for more buzz than an outfield wall or a dasher board, or a unique way to enhance the overall package.  Good job by the Panthers, good luck Dr. Larry.

Blazing A Startup Sports Brand Trail Correctly…

September 6, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The passion and enthusiasm and the dollars involved in getting a new brand off the ground, or re-establishing a staid one, are so important in phase one of a launch.  However in sports, like in an entertainment or a restauraunt or any other start up launch, tempering enthusiasm, living within budget, connecting to the community around you and growing in effective stages (especially in today’s economy) are also key elements that often get lost in the shuffle.  The UFL, the IFL, the WUSA, the ABL, the New Jersey Gladiators, the AAFL are just some examples of recent startup ventures that had the best of intentions and a lot of the money but missed on some of the key elements in order to complete long term success and vision.  Now into the fold comes the NLL Boston Blazers.   Already the Blazers appear to have hit on many key elements needed for success…unique, well funded promotions, an understanding of the market, an arena that has interest in them as a tenant, a sport that is “perceived” to be hot, and owners who are both passionate and fiscally responsible about the product.  There is no doubt that Boston is a lacrosse town, and the Blazers have made the right first steps in the community to build market awareness.  Whether that can translate into financial success in a region that has had more than its share of onfield success lately, or whether that success at first is even needed, remains to be seen.  But at first glance the Blazers have pushed the right buttons and could follow the successful stories of franchises in the NLL like Philly and Denver who have done well both in fan perception and at the box office.  So long as the path they blaze remains slow, steady and responsible.

Bitter Reminders That Sports Is First And Foremost A Business

July 2, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Coming off an exciting NBA Draft and Finals, a well viewed NHL Finals, and with the promise of a memorable MLB All-Star game on the horizon, many on the outside looking into the sports world would view the economic impact and excitement that the business brings to fans as quite a bonanza.  Yet a glance at today’s stories for those in the business have the cold reminder that this is indeed a business, one that is more visible than most in both the best and worst times, and the results for lack of ROI or shortcomings on performance can be not just devastating but very public.  First there is the ESPN.com report today that popular NASCAR driver Dario Franchitti’s race team is being shut down for lack of sponsorship.   Follow that with Darren Rovell’s piece today that former NBA All-Star and US Olympian Vin Baker is the latest in a series of athletes to have their houses foreclosed on.  Then there is the report today that the NLL’s Arizona Sting has released its players and staff and is up for sale.  All three are painful reminders that real world problems…money, foreclosure, unemployment, underperformance and slowing economy…can impact even the most “glamorous” of industries and the resulting fall can be more public than most in the business world.

No Lax of Support, But Can It Transfer Into Consistent Business And Branding?

May 28, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Once again this weekend, and really for the last few weeks, the great game of lacrosse grabbed its share of headlines, with Syracuse winning the Division I men’s title in Foxboro, Mass, Northwestern taking the women’s title in Towson, Maryland, and even the NLL Buffalo Bandits taking the indoor title with a last second 14-13 win over Portland earlier this month. On top of that, the ESPN-backed outdoor Major League Lacrosse season just kicked off, with all the intensity of coverage that “The Worldwide Leader In Sports” can help with.  This past weekend produced great pieces in the Providence Journal and the Boston Globe about the growth of the sport on the grassroots side and the hope of lucrative professional efforts for indoor and outdoor lacrosse in New England, while a host of media outlets took the time to cover both championships, highlighted by a great SI.com piece by Nina Mandell on brain cancer survivor Jaclyn Murphy and the way the Wildcats have helped her.  From St. Catherines Ontario to Roanoke, Virginia, solid support for lacrosse as a sport came forth, all signaling a potential bright future.  However as we have all seen in many sports on the edge, confusion in the marketplace and a lack of consistent branding, pricing and promotion can hurt even the best of efforts.  In order for lacrosse to succeed in the mainstream, the sport should look at the recent merger in open wheel racing and figure out how the outdoor MLL (with its ESPN piece) and the indoor  NLL can work together to jointly market and promote the sport, especially in the same markets.  Now do the NFL and the AFL, and MLS and MISL need to work together?  Probably not, as the NFL and MLS are more established.  But they do work together on certain iniatives, and when you have such alphabet soup in certain sports, finding ways to use economies of scale to reach the masses is important.  Without that joint effort, it will be very hard, even with a strong grassroots following, for the sport of lacrosse to really break through.  Regardless, it was a good few weeks for all involved.

ECHL Nailers Hit On A Timely Promo…

January 31, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day:  It may be play on words week, but once again an innovative minor league franchise came up with a hook of a major news story to land some great exposure.  Like the New York Titans of the NLL earlier this week, the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL are capitalizing on a football “name,” although one that has left the area under difficult circumstances (the Titans are hosting “Eli Manning” Night Thursday).  The Nailers will host “Shred Rich Rodriguez Night” this Saturday against the Charlotte Checkers.  The promo, a takeoff on the circumstances around West Viriginia football coach Rich Rodriguez leaving Morgantown for the University of Michigan, will allow anyone named “Rich Rodriguez” in for free and will give a discount to anyone who brings a picture or a Rodriguez-related item to the arena to have it shredded (as Rodriguez was to have allegedly done with files when he was leaving WVa.).  The promo has gotten great press, including ESPN.com, the Detroit Free Press and lots of local exposure that should generate a solid uptick in sales, good brand exposure and some solid local good will for the franchise.  Nice job to create a unique, pressworthy event for the brand.