It is the Sunday before Thanksgiving in the United States. The beginning of rivalry week in college football, with OSU-Michigan and BYU-Utah having already taken place. College hoops is well underway, and the NFL is…well the NFL. NASCAR is putting a ribbon on a season, the NHL is solving problems in local markets so most sports fans, even the casual ones, are looking to watch NFL or move their sports mentality indoors until pitchers and catchers take us back outside in February. So into that mix comes two very marketable, very viable championships…the MLS Cup in LA, featuring a major market (New York) for the first time, and the CFL Grey Cup, with a good east meets west matchup. Unfortunately given the time, both highly marketable and interesting events may get lost in the casual sports shuffle on this busy Sunday afternoon. Wh.?
Now no one can predict the confluence of events that brings teams into a championship, and the Red Bulls have done a good job of setting themselves up to capitalize on the opportunity as best they can. As far as the CFL goes, they landed a live deal with Versus for Sunday and they have seemed to be content with growing the event as pure Canadian, so maybe that works as well. However a number of good pieces today on what both can and need to do to expand brand were offered up. The LA Times has a good look at what MLS can do. while the Calgar.Herald has a look at how the CFL, as a small business can adjust and do well in the toughest of times. The hope is that both brands continue to grow from within, and then forge a place with successful partners to adjust schedules and times that keep them free and clear in the fall of the NFL, with a spot of their own. Who knows, maybe MLS in prime time works at some point.Dispatch columnist Mike Arace has a great column today on the stories behind the Crew and what it took to reach the championship today…Canadian Press also has a good piece on the move of the Grey Cup to cable and what it means…on the NFL side today, the LA Times’ Bill Plascke has a good piece on the loss of identity for former Rams players who played in LA…and the Bergen Record's John Brennan has a good followup piece on the stories on those who particpated in the New Jersey Nets’ promotion to help the unemployed find jobs.
