Johnnies Give A Seat To Tweet…A Move That Could Set The Pace…

August 28, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It is sometimes the simplest of moves that make the most sense and can set the pace for others. This week, St. John’s University decided that they would have a designated, unbiased person have a credentialed spot for all their hoops games and be credentialed as a “Twitter” member of the media. His name is Peter Robert Casey, and he is a credible, well thought young person who both understands the media and has a passion for the game, and he has built a rather large twitter following, So St. John’s whose fall in the New York market from the college that was on par with all pro teams in terms of exposure to less than a blip on the radar these days, will give Casey a seat to tweet what he likes and when he likes throughout the course of the game, in pregame media sessions and postgame. Unlike other media members this will be his sole assignment…he wont be filing stories or covering other things (although he has that option)…and he wont be paid for his service. It gets St. John’s a little buzz, maybe draws some additional casual eyeballs their way in a crowded marketplace and helps get them some additional exposure. It is not unlike the Islanders, who had open space in their pressbox, creating a blogger area a few years ago, which paved the way for other teams to slowly welcome the bloggers into their space and led to former PR Director Chris Botta creating his t highly popular blog Islanders Point Blank. So whats the downside to St. John’s or other schools to credential an active twitter “correspondent.” Like the blogging space, credibility and traffic is a small concern. The person or persons should have legitimate media skills and be treated and act like a professional. They should also have a solid following and not be looking to use this opportunity as their chance just to build some personal gain only. End of the day it is simple, no cost with a good upside for any team or brand looking to grow its base. It can be no different than the radio stations doing live updates from games or the beat writers now filing blogs on the fly. One of the ironies of course is that it is a Big East school making this move, which is counter to the schools of the SEC trying to restrict media coverage and usage as has been reported lately (good summary on Sports Business Daily on the SEC’s moves). Now of course Twittering is different than posting live video and infringing on media rights, and St. John’s search for coverage is different from what Florida or Georgia still receives, but it is a smart move by the Johnnies.

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.

Twitter As A News Vehicle…

May 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the best sites on the web for sports things digital is Pat Coyle’s Sports Marketing 2.0, and they recently did a summary on the NFL Draft and teams use of twitter to actually break news (which was also put together by the Sports Business Daily). As brands and athletes jump to the twitter bandwagon, it shows that the technology may have an immediacy that others do not have for exclusive news distribution. Keeping in mind that it was less than three years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs were vilified for breaking news on their website...now common practice in many places and the only place athletes like Tiger Woods send media for the latest news…the immediacy of Twitter remains intriguing, more for its news value than to know what Charlie Villanueva is doing in a halftime lockerroom or what miscellaneous WPS players are having for breakfast. Now of course there is still no way to make money off of Twitter, and it still remains that those using it look at messages and then get rid of em, but maybe in those 120something characters a sponsor mention creeps in to justify the spend, time and effort and the passalong value can grow exponentially. Now would it have been great to have Carl Edwards twitter that he was OK after his crash at Talladega, or Dikembe Mutombo twitter from the lockerroom that his career was done after he injured his knee last week, but the fact that teams used the service to allegedly break news before picks were made can be the most interesting development to date, and would be a real reason to sign up as opposed to the ramblings of miscellaneous folks looking for another place to “voice.” The latest mainstream news site to look at the Twitter phenominon was Sunday’s New York Daily News, with a piece by Ebenezer Samuel.

Taking The Mountain To Mohammad: Ravens Host Business Summitt In New York…

November 16, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Most pro sports teams will take advantage of the road trip to host fans and business partners from their region with the team as a reward for customer or brand loyalty, and to give those involved with the team the much-wanted “insiders” perspective.  That access is becoming more and more valuable as brands look at their sponsorships.  However this week, as Terry Lefton reported in the Sports Business Daily, the Baltimore Ravens made a very smart play to go the experience one better…they hosted a Friday media summitt for New York media buyers and potential partners as part of their advance trip for their game with the Giants.  The move is even better for a smaller market team like Baltimore, especially with the Redskins media machine right in their backyard.  It gave them a well-produced presence in the biggest media market to tell their story and give those who may not know enough about the brand the chance to learn from those on the inside about the team partnership opportunties and personalities that make up the Ravens.  Now instead of buyers looking just nationally or to the low hanging fruit of the Giants or the jets, the Ravens may present a very smart opportunity that the buyers may not have know about before.  Very aggressive, well thought out and tactical branding plan by the team, taking great advantage of their one shot in New York during the fall.