With all the talk of the problems and lack of spending around the Super Bowl, news of NBC's still solid advertising numbers and the cautious optimism of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell continue to show that in the gloom and doom of the economy, sports remains an industry which will eventually grow even with a current correction. And as one looks to the future, the continued entreprenurial spin of the digital space will continue to make its way forward. One of the more interesting areas, in addition to fantasy gaming and video (and blogs of course) remains the futures market, especially in the ticket space. One of the smarter and more innovative groups that we have noticed is YooNew, where fans can hedge their bets in a stock market-like futures game both buy and sell the opportunity to see their favorite teams and athletes compete somewhere in the future. The YooNew market took a great turn for the positive this weekend, as a Texas Tech professor took a chance with a minimum futures buy in December and scored himself a ticket for the Super Bowl by playing the odds on the chances of a Steelers-Cardinals Super Bowl. The story was chronicled in Lubbock online today and should expand the positive YooNew experience going forward. By capitalizing on the “Super” play of one of their participants…an everyman who just wanted to take a chance at $29.00…to see his favorite team play in what was then a longshot, the “lottery dreams” of thousands have the potential to be realized and leveraged by YooNew going forward and with increased traffic and visibility could come new partners looking to tap into that “once in a lifetime fan experience.” Great best case scenario for a technology and a system that seems to be coming into its own in the secondary ticketing marketplace.
Some other good links…the New York Times this week had a good look at the history of “The Terrible Towel“ …the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan has a really solid read on the Bidwell family…and CBS Sportsline's Mike Freeman has a good profile of the Cards’ Edgerrin James…
