‘Zo Uses A Platform For Political Change…while a columnist lays out a platform for startup sports biz success or failure…

September 27, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With the baseball playoffs getting ready, the NHL about to get started, college sports and the NFL in full swing, the Ryder Cup just finished, MLS going down the stretch, the WNBA going to its finals, NASCAR finishing its chase and the NBA ready for camp, there is probably no busier sports month than October.  Athletes from almost every sport will have some kind of forum with the media this month, and the sucesses and the failures will be very well documented in our 24/7 world.  So with the financial crisis and the election a little over a month away, we still see athletes who have a chance to use their platform to speak about social change reluctant to do so.  Many will advise athletes that their forum is not a place for personal issues.  However those who are socially conscious may get the support of their brands and their fans to speak their mind in a well informed and positive forum.  Granted, political interest among elite athletes may be lower on the interest scale than even it is amongst their peers, but one would think this election would garner more interest from elite athletes.  Maybe we will see that in the next month, and it will be interesting to see how athletes can become influencers in a very tight election.  We have seen some, like the Trail Blazers Greg Oden step up to coice support for Senator Obama, while we have also seen Senator McCain do the photo op. with many NASCAR drivers.  Where it goes this month remains to be seen.  However, one athlete who has never had a wont for a lack of an opinion did step up this week, and used his platform, promoting a new book and telling positive life stories, to chime in with college students to voice his support for Senator Obama:  Alonzo Mourning.  The former Heat star and Georgetown alum used part of his book tour on Florida campuses this week to endorse Senator Obama, and he used a well thought out and dignified public speaking platform to do.  It garnered his book tour extra publicity and could make a difference in a key state with the average sports fan and college student who may have been on the fence.  Now should every athlete take a stance?  No.  No one should ever be asked to step out of their comfort zone.  But many atheletes have a real social conscience and have views that can be well thought out and influential, and with the right guidence can influence social change. Nice move by Mourning to speak his mind in a thoughtful way and try and influence the young to get out and make a statement, regardless of which candidate they support.   

FAU’S Schnellenberger Sinks His Teeth Into Activation

April 18, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day: The ability for athletes and coaches to participate in sponsorship activation is key for any partnership, but this week Florida Atlantic University football coach Howard Schnellenberger took that activation to a new level, agreeing to get his teeth whitened as part of a promotional campaign with FAU sponsor SmileXpress (as reported by Sarah Talalay on her sports business blog). Obviously FAU, which continues to improve under legendary coach and needs creative marketing to battle for the sponsorship dollar with area powerhouses like Miami, Florida, Central Florida, and Florida State, scored some big points and nice dollars with this one. Hopefully if they land a cosmetic surgery or weight loss center the coach will be able to pick and choose his spots of participation.

Putting More Faith In Sports Marketing, Branding and PR…Faith Nights

March 24, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

A few weeks ago, New York Times baseball columnist Murray Chass wrote a piece about faith, specifically Christian faith , becoming more involved in the business side of baseball, and the potential issues it can cause as church and state intermix.  However for teams looking to react positively to their fan base, as well as create new branding opportunites and fill distressed inventory, the idea of Faith-based nights is a good one.  The question becomes not really do these events push religion on those who are not interested, since many of the ticket selling events include post-game activites which fans do not have to stay around for.  The question is how uncomfortable do in-game faith activities become for those who choose not to be involved.  The organization of events for a majority of Major League teams is done by Third Coast Sports, and teams should really look to include non-Christian religions in the same way soon.  It would make a lot of sense and would follow along the way the many major and minor league teams use Ethnic nights as a way to be more inclusive with their fan base.  If it shows community involvement, assists the team with ticket selling and revenue potential and is not exclusive or offensive to those of another faith, then the Faith Nights practice should be included in the plan.  What can sports learn from these nights?  Here is an example.  A few weeks ago I met a pastor (through a friend) who had a well established church, but he felt like God was calling him to be involved in sports and he couldn’t figure out how.  We talked about his ability to fundraise, his ability to speak publicly, motivate a congregation, operate on a budget, work with young people and implore people to take their passion and act in a public forum.  All of those are key abilities to be successful on the business side of sports and entertainment which he did not think applied.  Although he chose to stay with his church work, those abilities easily translated to sports business, and his ability to network with faith-based groups could have also given him an in.  On a broader scale, it is still welcoming that such open discussion and opportunity does exist in American sports marketing.  With the number of issues in Beijing continuing to rise (nice piece by Kurt Streeter in the LA Times on the concerns) the issue of a Faith Night would never come up in Chinese sports.

Billy Ball A Good Yanks Move…and Athletes On International Branding And Social Change…

March 16, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of The Day:  Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News “got it” Friday in his column on the Yankees letting Billy Crystal bat in a game for his 60th birthday. The move got the sport some great exposure that it still needs, created buzz, and did nothing to hurt the integrity of the game. Will there be knockoffs around the minors and maybe in other sports going forward? Maybe. But it didn’t hurt the purity of the game and was a good March story for a few days.