The Sports Info Business

Psst.  You.  Yeah, you.  Can you help me?  I need the keys to let me out of this claustrophobic room.  I feel like I am being held hostage in the never-ending saga of the 2010 LeBron-a-thon.

We are far beyond ‘hype’ of the most sought after NBA free agent in the summer of 2010.  Thank goodness it is all coming to an end tonight when King James and his new Twitter followers will tune in to ESPN tonight at 9 p.m. ET and 6:00 p.m. on the West Coast to find out where the talented basketball player will be taking his game.

You cannot help but feel James and his representatives have hijacked the NBA free agent process and made it their own.  In my mind, ESPN’s decision sets a dangerous precedent in broadcasting the exclusive announcement.

Here are a few thoughts I have about it:

1)   James and his team had ESPN create a one-hour prime time special  called “The Decision” to make the announcement.

2)   According to an article today in Adage.com, James also dictated who will interview him during the special.  For the record, it is scheduled to be Jim Gray.  Do all top-tiered athletes all have “their guy” who they will grant interviews to. moving forward?

3)   Does this mean the next super star will want to one-up LeBron by demanding a media outlet run 24 consecutive hours of news and features the next time something like this happens in baseball or football?  Where will this lead to next, is the question we have to ask ourselves.

4)   ESPN gave up significant advertising revenue to make room for this special program and again, according to the Adage.com article, revenue during the special will be donated to Boys & Girls Club of America, a charity that ESPN and Disney also support.

5) Since this TV special is entire produced by James, it is safe to say he is now in the TV production business?

If I were counseling James during this process, I would highly recommend him to remain humble during this process.  His image has forever changed with the LeBron-a-thon.  Even if he returns to Cleveland and new coach Byron Scott, he’s not the humble hometown hero anymore.

Personally and professionally, I was always taught to shut up until you win something big.  He is a man among boys and extremely talented.  However, I feel he has crossed the line with too much focus on him.  Last I checked, basketball was a team game.  At least make it appear that way until you have won a championship.

Now that the Bulls have signed Carlos Boozer, my best guess of where James will land is one of two places:  Cleveland Cavaliers or the New York Knicks.  If he is a true hometown guy, he has max’d out his publicity from this stunt and returns to his roots.  The reason why I think the Knicks have a shot is that he takes the money and goes into the limelight in the largest media market in America while joining Amare Stoudemire in rebuilding a team that has certainly struggled.  He will make more money by going to New York than any other city in the league.  No doubt about it.  If that happens, look for guys like Jets QB Mark Sanchez to send a giant thank you note for taking the expectations and moving them to another person and team for a while.  If winning is all that matters, then he will land in Miami with Bosh and Wade, but for some reason I don’t think it will happen.

This week, James also joined Twitter and with four basic messages now has a following of more than 312,000 people.  The one Tweet getting the most attention is the one he left on the site this morning….

“Good Morning! It’s your chance to ask me a question about my decision, use #lebrondecision to submit and I’ll answer them tonight.”

I will not be updating my Twitter account around the announcement tonight.  No value to add for people that follow me.  At least as of 7:00 p.m. California time, we will finally know and we can end the LeBron-a-thon.

Quick, put on your objective sports business hat   Got it?  Okay  I have a question for you.  If you had to rank the top three sports franchises, which ones would rank at the top?  Which ones would rank at the bottom.  ESPN, the Magazine, just released its 2010 rankings and I have it here for you. According to the magazine, when it comes to paying fans back for their investment of time, money and passion, the New Orleans Saints are No. 1 out of all major league sports franchises, according to this year’s ESPN The Magazine Ultimate Standings. The Orlando Magic finished in second place and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim finished third.  At the other end of the spectrum, the Los Angeles Clippers are ranked last for the second year in a row.  Here is the kicker abut the Clippers.  They also ranked last in ownership and players.  Ouch. The Ultimate Standings, driven by research and fan feedback, looks at MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL franchises’ affordability, bang for the buck, coaching, fan relations, ownership, players, stadium experience and title track to establish a ranking of all 122. Based on a  commitment to community and championship play last year, the New Orleans Saints, know how to reward fans. The Saints “Who Dat Nation” made it known they feel a strong connection to their team and appreciate everything it offered the New Orleans community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Penguins round out the Top five.  According to the magazine, here is the top 10.

The 2010 ULTIMATE STANDINGS: THE TOP AND BOTTOM Top 10 Overall Franchises

1. New Orleans Saints

2. Orlando Magic

3. Los Angeles Angels

4. Indianapolis Colts

5. Pittsburgh Penguins

6. Tampa Bay Rays

7. San Antonio Spurs

8. Detroit Red Wings

9. Green Bay Packers

10. Cleveland Cavaliers

and then there is the bottom 10…….

Bottom 10 Overall Franchises

113. Toronto Raptors

114. St. Louis Rams

115. Oakland Raiders

116. Minnesota Timberwolves

117. Philadelphia 76ers

118. New Jersey Nets

119. New York Knicks

120. Washington Wizards

121. Toronto Maple Leafs

122. Los Angeles Clippers

ULTIMATE CATEGORY WINNERS AND LOSERS

Affordability – Price of tickets, parking and concessions

#1: Los Angeles Angels

#122: Toronto Maple Leafs

Bang for the buck – Wins over the past two seasons per dollar contributed directed by fan

s #1: Orlando Magic

#122: Toronto Maple Leafs

Coaching – Strength of on-field leadership

#1: Los Angeles Angles

#122: Philadelphia 76ers

Fan Relations – Players, coaches and management openness and consideration toward fans

#1: Pittsburgh Penguins

#122: Washington Wizards

Ownership – Honesty; loyalty to core players and local community

#1: Detroit Red Wings

#122: Los Angeles Clippers

Players – Effort on the field; likability off it

#1: Philadelphia Phillies

#122: Los Angeles Clippers

Stadium Experience – Quality of arena and game-day promotions; fan-friendliness of environment

#1: Minnesota Twins

#122: New York Islanders

Title Track – Championships already won or expected within lifetime of current fans

#1: Philadelphia Phillies

#122: Minnesota Timberwolves

Summertime in the sports business means two things:  The dog days of baseball are around the corner and if you are in the job market, you should be looking to teams that are out of season.  That is where most of the job opportunities are these days.  In order to keep the blog fresh, I have found the following jobs that are accepting applications for open positions.

Director of Marketing – San Francisco 49ers (Santa Clara, CA)

The Director of Marketing is responsible for all areas of advertising, brand development, merchandise, web and social media strategy, promotions, game operations, evaluating new marketing initiatives, and special events. Special events entail stadium entertainment, pre-game, post-game and half time ceremonies, sales & marketing events, including events at the 49ers training facility and stadium. Administrative duties include strategic planning, budgeting, media and agency negotiations, staffing and supervision. Key initiatives for position will focus on marketing strategy for 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara. Position could include the evaluation of bringing entertainment and production capabilities in-house.                               Additional Details

Vice President of Corporate Partnerships – Columbus Crew

The Columbus Crew is seeking an energetic, enthusiastic and innovative sales executive to lead the organization’s Corporate Partnerships department. The Columbus Crew Vice President, Corporate Partnerships is an integral part of the management team that contributes significantly to the overall success of the club. This position will be primarily responsible for prospecting and selling corporate sponsorship packages at all levels with the specific goal of maximizing net revenue. Creating compelling new sponsorship assets, developing valuable partner marketing programs, packaging the club’s numerous broadcast, digital media, social media, grassroots, stadium and other assets, negotiating corporate trade agreements to reduce expense, raise awareness and drive ticket sales are all critical functions of this position. Finally, the VP Corporate Partnerships is responsible for insuring the timely,accurate and effective delivery of corporate partner deliverables providing the highest level of service to our corporate clients. Direct reports will include the Senior Director of Corporate Sales, Director of Hispanic Business Development and the Director of Partnership Relations. Click here to Apply:

Vice President, Arena Operations & Entertainment – Memphis Grizzlies & FedExForum (Memphis, TN)

Position Purpose

As a Senior Executive of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Vice President, Arena Operations & Entertainment oversees all aspects of FedExForum management to include: Guest Relations, Event Booking, Event Operations, Conversions, Office Administration, Engineering, Security, Parking and Tenant Contracting & Management. As a key member of the Executive Staff, this position will also be responsible for creating a corporate culture that motives staff to perform to their fullest and achieve corporate goals in a collaborative manner. You can click here for Additional Background

Director of Customer Relationship Management – Olympia Entertainment/Detroit Red Wings (Detroit, MI)

The Director of Customer Relationship Management is responsible for developing powerful, sales generating marketing strategies utilizing all available media to accomplish the goals of the overall marketing strategy. Effectively communicate the strategic direction to both internal and external support teams to ensure effective execution. Negotiate all contracts and marketing agreements with outside vendors. Continually monitor and analyze program effectiveness and modify strategic direction as necessary to obtain high impact results.                     Apply Here

Manager/Sr. Manager Business Development – NBA

The successful candidate is responsible for generating revenue for the NBA through the sale of marketing partnerships that leverage the core NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League assets including League Intellectual Property, calendar events (e.g., Tip-off, NBA All-Star, Playoffs, Finals, etc.) and marketing platforms (e.g., NBA Cares, NBA Fit, NBA Green, etc.). Apply Here

This last position was sent to me today after I posted the others.  Here is the full job description.

Fan Development Representative – Los Angeles Galaxy

Department: Ticket Sales (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Reports to:  Manager of Service and Business Systems, Senior Director of Ticket Sales

POSITION PURPOSE:

The team is seeking a passionate, hard-working and dedicated individual to spearhead a new position that will focus on fan development.  Specifically, this position will involve managing current relationships with fan clubs; growing the fan club membership; organizing away game viewing parties and away game trips; establishing and managing a kids club; and working with college students.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Grow fan club membership – specifically through the selling of new full season seats
• Maintain and enhance relationship between front office and Galaxy fan clubs
• Manage fan club relationships at the organization level – security, banners at the stadium, singing, atmosphere at the game etc.
• Serve as primary point of contact for visiting fan clubs
• Develop a Galaxy “kids club” – establishing from the ground up including; creation of a business plan; fulfillment of all membership benefits; growing membership; ensuring the long-term success and viability of the program; integration of other departments as appropriate; maximizing sales leads generated through the program
• Seek out ways to enhance game day atmosphere
• Organize and manage away game viewing parties
• Organize away game trips/tickets for fans
• Create programs to directly connect with the student/college population within Southern California
• Manage relationships with existing fan club full season seat holders in conjunction with current LA Galaxy service specialist directives
• Work closely with ticket sales, service, marketing, PR, and operations etc.
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor(s)

Specific Job Knowledge, Skill and Ability:

The individual must possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities and be able to explain and demonstrate that he or she can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of skills and abilities.

• Soccer knowledgeable – MLS and global leagues, understands and identifies with the soccer supporter
• A proactive self-starter
• Proven leadership experience
• Ability to produce accurate and timely reports
• Ability to think on feet and make decisions quickly that uphold the integrity of the company
• Highly motivated, naturally aggressive, with a positive attitude
• Exemplary self-discipline, professionalism, pride and work ethic
• Outstanding listening, written, and verbal communication skills
• Committed to personal integrity and team oriented
• Detail oriented with ability to multi-task effectively and with a sense of urgency, sometimes under a high level of stress
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Creativity and ability to see ideas through to successful execution
• Enthusiasm for and/or experience in professional sports sales and/or service
• Thoroughness and attention to detail
• Compliance with organizational directives
• Flexible hours required: working evenings/nights, weekends and holidays

Qualifications, Education, Formal Training and Experience:

• At least 1-3 years of sales experience (professional sports preferred)
• Experience and training in Ticketmaster, Archtics, Goldmine or other Customer Relationship Management system
• High proficiency in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Internet use, and other basic computer usage
• Knowledge of sales and customer service (sports industry specific a plus)
• Grooming – employee must maintain a neat, clean and well-groomed appearance. Good hygiene & professional appearance required.  Business casual attire in office and during events.  Employees may be required to wear Galaxy attire (to be provided) when representing the Galaxy in public.
• Work Environment – at times the noise level may be loud (especially during games)
• Bilingual (English & Spanish) a significant plus.

COMPENSATION

• Base Salary plus commissions and bonuses
• Full Benefits

OTHER

• This is a new position at the LA Galaxy. Major League Soccer has stressed the importance of growing the league’s fan clubs.  The Galaxy are committed to this philosophy and hence are dedicating an entire position and investing significant resources to this initiative. This position is a critical one for the Galaxy.  The ideal candidate brings enthusiasm, solid experience, and a natural desire to make a footprint at the Galaxy and within MLS

To Apply:

Sometimes, I run across an interesting business fact that I pass along to a friend.  You probably have done this as well.  In marketing terms, it is called Word of Mouth Marketing.

In the last day or so, I have noticed a few notes in different media that I thought you would find interesting too.  In no particular order…..

First from Sports Illustrated’s June 21st edition with Stephen Strasburg on the Cover.

• “In 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, (University of) Texas led the nation in total athletic revenue, amassing a jaw dropping $138.4 million — almost $20 million more than second-place Ohio State.
• “The New York Giants and Jets were offered — and declined — $25 million for the naming rights to their new stadium by a dating website, Ashleymadison.com which targets adulterers.”
• “Inside the ballpark (at Cleveland’s Progressive Field) memorabilia stands sold Strasburg T-shirts ($25) and replica jerseys ($100) alongside Indians merchandise.”
• “Within two months of his father’s death on September 26, 2007, when the season ticket base had shrunk to a skeletal 3,400 in the wake of four straight losing seasons, Rocky (Wirtz) hired John McDonough away form the Cubs to be Hawks’ President.

From the Los Angeles Times

• “(Magic) Johnson, who owns about 5% of the team (Lakers), said his first hope was that Phil Jackson would return as coach, one of the “big decisions” facing a franchise whose profit margin shrunk because it had the NBA’s largest payroll as advertising revenue declined and season ticket revenue remained the same.”
• “The Lakers, with their game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics, produced championship rating for ABC, and the game worked the same magic on Twitter.  The website had already experienced record activity from the World Cup.  On an average day, Twitter gets about 750 Tweets per second, for a total of about 65 million a day.  The top three tweeted goals of the week.  Japan scores against Cameroon on June 14 with 2,940 tweets per second; Brazil’s first goal against North Korea on June 15, 2,928 per second; and Mexico ties South Africa on 11 with 2,704 per second. Then, the Lakers, with the franchise’s 16th title Thursday night, set a Twitter record, generating 3,085 tweets per second as the game ended.”

From Major League Baseball on Kansas City Getting the 2012 All-Star Game

• “It is estimated that revenues from the Midsummer Classic will amount to $70 million to Kansas City and its environs,” (Bud) Selig said.  He later estimated that local charities would benefit by $4 million or more.”

From the Web

• The National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA), headed by its president, Randy Spetman who is the Director of Athletics from Florida State University is in Anaheim for a week-long conference starting today.  The conference runs from June 19-25.

Now that the Lakers have disposed of the Phoenix Suns and the Celtics have conquered the Orlando Magic, most basketball fans will get what they want in a 2010 finals match up:  The Los Angeles Lakers vs the Boston Celtics.

I saw a figure on TNT this evening that showed these two franchises are the most storied in the NBA with the Celtics owning 17 championships and the Lakers right behind them with 15.

So that got me thinking.

What has happened over time when these two teams have gone head to head in the finals?

It may not be what you think.

This is only the second Lakers vs. Celtics Finals meeting in the post Larry Bird/Magic Johnson era.

According to the NBA listing of all-time NBA champions, the Celtics own a 9-2 finals record vs. the Lakers.

Here are a few other stats….. Though the Celtics came out on top in 2007-08, the Lakers havve won two of the last three times these teams have met.

In the 11 times LA and Boston and have collided, the series has gone at least six games nine of the 11 times including the last seven meetings.  Four times the series has gone a full seven games, the last time when Larry Bird and the Celtics came out on top.

Here is a year by year review of the Lakers and Celtics when they met in the finals.

Year                   Champion                            Opponent            Result   MVP

2007-08          Celtics                                Lakers                      4-2        Paul Pierce

1986-87           Lakers                                Celtics                    4-2        Magic Johnson

1984-85           Lakers                                Celtics                    4-2       Kareem Amdul Jabar

1983-84          Celtics                                Lakers                      4-3        Larry Bird

1968-69          Celtics                                Lakers                      4-3        Jerry West

1967-68         Celtics                                Lakers                      4-2

1965-66         Celtics                                Lakers                      4-3

1964-65        Celtics                                 Lakers                     4-1

1962-63        Celtics                                Lakers                      4-2

1961-62       Celtics                                 Lakers                      4-3

1958-59       Celtics                                 M. Lakers               4-0

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Additional Notes

I have updated the blog as of today and added the following:

If you are a regular reader, you can now link posts to FaceBook and Digg with buttons on each entry on the left hand side.  I hope you will find it easier to pass along future posts to others.

Also, I have added an advertising page as a new option at the top of the blog.  If you are interested in exploring this, my contact information is listed for a weekly or monthly rate.

You don’t see these happen at sports events every day.

Having worked in sports for years, I have experienced many good, bad and ugly promotions around event management.  A few examples you say?  Let’s see, we have dot races, kiss cam, trivia questions, bloopers and traditional highlight reels.  All pretty standard stuff.  Now, let’s mix in a little looooove. When you toss in romance with the actual sporting event, it can get more interesting…..

I am talking about the ever popular marriage proposal.  This is usually done in front of tens of thousands of spectators.

Sometimes it can be a bit of a tight-rope walk at a circus without a net.  You never know what is going to happen when the guy or gal pops the question during pre-game, half-time or an intermission.  Plus, there is often detailed planning from the sports management side.  This includes changing halftime entertainment, coordinating music, making sure there is flowers for the woman, yada yada yada.

This poor guy took to the Jumbotron during the New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lighting hockey game earlier this year and the results were, um, apparently not what he had hoped for.

Think that was a coincidence?  In a related video, I also saw this basketball proposal gone wrong at the Houston Rockets vs. Sacramento Kings game.

Getting married is a lot like sporting events.  You are never sure of the outcome.

The Space Needle in Seattle is anything but miserable

Tom Van Riper, a reporter from Forbes.com recently wrote a story about the 10 most miserable sports cities.  Now, I enjoy lists and I found this one interesting.  What makes a sports city miserable?

According to Riper, Seattle is number one for some of the following reasons:  The Supersonics left town and morphed into the Oklahoma Thunder behind Kevin Durant and UCI alum and coach Scott Brooks. Riper goes on to write, “The Seattle sports scene isn’t exactly hopping these days. Baseball’s Mariners haven’t been in the playoffs since 2001, while the NFL Seahawks are 9-23 over the past two seasons.”  Okay, fine facts, but does that qualify as the most miserable sports city?

My initial take would be a town like Detroit (sorry guys), where the city has produced the following:

The Lions have never won a Super Bowl much less been in one.

The Detroit Tigers while returning to winning ways since Jim Leyland took over, have not won the World Series since 1984 and captured the division just once (1987) in the last 25 years.

And then there is Cleveland, the long suffering sports town that has been the butt of many sports jokes.  Here is what Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski, a long time Cleveland fan, wrote in the May 24th issue of SI:    Talking about Lebron James (and Cleveland), he wrote “It is not exactly fair that you ended up playing for your hometown Cavaliers in a city that has not won a championship since the Browns beat the Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship Game — 20 years, almost to the day, before you were born.”  Ouch.  That’s 46 years between banners if you are keeping score at home.

I am not trying to jump on Detroit or Cleveland.  They are mid-western towns and I am a Chicago guy so I can relate.  This whole business about Miserable Sports city in a story should not even be one.  Once upon a time we, the sports fan, grew up in a town and cheered on the home team.  We had something to believe in.  Now, many of you play Fantasy Sports and cheer on stats, argue salaries and pick one player to like.  You can take me out of Chicago but you cannot take the Chicago out of me.

————-

Here is the Forbes.com list, in order

1. Seattle

2. Atlanta

3. Phoenix

4. Buffalo

5. San Diego

6. Cleveland

7. Washington, D.C.

8. Kansas City

9. Minneapolis/St. Paul

10. Houston

Every time I speak to a college class, be it a general marketing class or a sports management learning team, I offer the opportunity to serve as a guest blogger in this space.  May speeches and few takers.  One that chose to send me a word document for consideration is Mike Skogmo, a graduate student with the Long Beach State Sport Management Program.  Here is his take on the NBA and a possible missed sponsorship opportunity.

By Guest Blogger:  Mike Skogmo

Something occurred to me during the Lakers game the other night…

If you stuck around to see the end of Thursday night’s Lakers-Nuggets game (which you probably didn’t because Kobe didn’t suit up), you would have seen the refs take a long look at the replay monitor to watch a play where Chauncey Billups and Derek Fisher batted the ball out of bounds and no one could tell who touched it last.

Billups hit the ball one way, Fisher hit it the other way – they ended up giving it to Denver, but the play itself was inconsequential. What’s important is the replay protocol, and what occurred to me during this particular replay.

The process is slow, and all replay situations play out the same way.

As a TV viewer, you see the refs walk up to the scorer’s table where some guy pulls out a stunning, flat screen, 30” high-definition monitor[1] for the officials to review the play.

After they show the replay ten thousand times from 20 different angles, and every single at-home viewer and their mother can see the correct call, the cameras continue to show the refs wearing perplexed expressions and still watching the replay monitor.

Nobody knows what on God’s green earth is taking them so long to figure it out. It’s all pretty boring and it disrupts the flow of the game.  But as I was watching this happen on Thursday night, a light bulb went off.  It occurred to me that the NBA is missing out on an incredible sponsorship opportunity for Sony or Samsung or whoever to become the Official TV of the NBA.

There’s a break in the action, and there’s a product to be shown. We at home are forced to watch the officials, while they watch another TV screen, which is set up for them on the spot.

What if that TV screen that the referees watch is the newest and coolest Sony or Samsung TV? And what if the announcers plug that TV during this whole process?

Let me paint the picture:

The Lakers are down three. Eight tenths of a second left on the clock. Ball goes in to Kobe who jacks up a rainbow that spirals around the rim a few times before falling through the net to tie the game and send it into overtime!!!!!!…But wait a second… His toes were dangerously close to that three point line… Maybe it’s only a two…

Cue Marv Albert:

“The Referees will go to the Sony Real-Vision[2] Instant Replay to determine if it’s a two- or three-point basket. They’ll get the call right because they’re using the newest top-of-the-line, high-def, liquid crystal, real-motion, LCD, 1080p, turbocharged, Sony television for the clearest most vivid picture in the universe.”

I know what you’re thinking. Making the announcers go through that whole spiel every time there’s a replay would be too lame for words. But seriously, is it any worse than hearing Al Michaels reluctantly utter, “EA Sports – If it’s in the game, it’s in the game,”[3] on Monday Night Football all the time?

The fact of the matter is that even though such promotional efforts are a bit irritating, they don’t really take anything away from the action. They do, however, get a ton of eyes and ears because even the TiVO audience is still watching during those replays.

And as we all know, eyes and ears could equal much needed dollar signs for the cash-strapped NBA.

The end result of this hypothetical TV replay sponsorship deal? The NBA is happy with their newly found sponsorship money. Sony is happy with their increased sales. And the guy watching from home is happy with his new idiot box.

Now if we could get the NBA to spend some of that new sponsorship revenue on better officiating, then hoops fans everywhere would be happy too.

[2] Or Sharp Cutting-Edge; Or Samsung  Clear-Vision; Or Vizio Sweet-Picture; Or LG Awesome-View

[3] I don’t know if it’s EA Sports or some other annoying slogan, but he’s always made to say something like that.

Yesterday, we tackled the NFL and today we feature the National Basketball Association and how its teams use social media.

Let me just begin by saying, if you did not see yesterday’s article on the NFL, you can easily click on it here. Overall, I applaud teams for entering into the next stage of sports marketing and that is using social media to listen, brand and communicate with fans via different platforms.  However, just because they develop a site does not mean the team is using best practices.

Today, we begin with Twitter.  I put together a brief chart on the top five teams using Twitter. based on the number of followers each organization has listed over the weekend.

A new year.  January 2010 marks one year that I have been writing this blog.

The expereince has been an adventure for me in many different ways.  It has given me the opportunity to share information on the sports business.  I have shared some of my personal stories from my experiences of working with the Dodgers, Angels, UC Irvine, The Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks and more…..

I have showcased leading sports executives, talked about sports management programs, covered technology in sports as well as breaking news.

According to WordPress, which is the platform I use to publish the blog, this is officially the 219th blog posted on the web with 24 more listed in various draft forms.  Some of the ideas will come to light and several more will be deleted and never be read by a single person.

I started the blog with the premise that I could create a brand and to drive traffic from a starting point of zero, nada, nothing — clume.  During this process I have learned quite a few things.

* I learned that people from all over the world are interested in sports management and sports management issues.

*I learned that Blog posts related to breaking news stories often draws the most attention from visitors to the web site.

* I now know that Saturday’s are usually the slowest for you folks coming here since I rarely post on that day and Mondays are usually the busiest.

* After doing this for a year, I can appreciate the journalist even more.  One that writes on a regular basis needs topics and news to speak about.  It is easy to write about Peter Caroll possibly leaving USC for the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL playoffs or even Allen Iverson’s return to Philadelphia.

What is not so easy is to turn out thought provoking content when it is a slow news day and you have writers block.