The Sports Info Business

Conferences are a great way to learn new skills, brush up on old ones and of course, network.  It has been a while since I researched and published a list of upcoming events so I thought I’d take this Monday to see what is coming up on different topics.  The order if each event is based on a calendar listing.

8th Annual IMG Sports Marketing Symposium

September 21-22, 2010
Marriott Marquis, New York City
Since its debut in 2003, the Sports Marketing Symposium has become the “must-attend” event for executives at every level of sports sponsorship. With an unrivaled speaker faculty of top corporate sponsors and advertisers, the Sports Marketing Symposium delivers the latest sports marketing trends from the perspective of brand-side marketers.

30th Anniversary Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association Conference

The 30th Anniversary Conference will be held October 20 -24, 2010 in St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles/West Indies. Anticipated attendance – up to 400 professionals representing the legal, entertainment, sport and other related industries. Networking, continuing legal education (CLE) credits and a host of other activities will be offered to celebrate the founding of the organization.

12th Annual FSA Sports Media & Technology

November 16-17
Marriott Marquis, New York City
This conference gathers the executives who are shaping the future of sports media and distribution. Issues discussed include new technology, revenue models, audience measurement, behaviors and preferences of fans and the integration of media into the fan base. Featured speakers come from every area of this industry including properties, sponsors, media, agencies, technology providers and marketing.

11th Annual Motorsports Marketing Forum

November 30-December 1
The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada
The prime gathering of the sponsorship and advertising community in motorsports, this forum is the platform for sponsors, league officials, teams, track owners and ad agencies to present their ideas on sponsorship, the future of racing and the driver-fan relationship. With featured speakers from sanctioning bodies, media, team management and sponsors, this forum has become an indispensable stop on the motorsports circuit for more than a decade.

9th Annual IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum

December 8-9
The W Hotel, Lexington Avenue, New York City
This program brings together athletic directors, university presidents, media and sponsors to examine the issues surrounding present-day college sports. With speakers from the ranks of academia, marketing firms, media and corporate sponsors, this event is the one time of the year when these constituencies meet to discuss their mutual issues and opportunities.

Annual COSIDA Conference

Scheduled for June 27-30, 2011 in Marco Island, Fla.

If you work in sports, then chances are pretty good you have attended a fundraising event.  Teams have community relations departments that direct these these functions.

These events are not restricted only to teams…..  Here is my Wednesday shameless promotion for one group I am involved with, the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation.  I also have added background information.  I have sat on this non-profit board for several years and next month, we will be honoring Jets QB Mark Sanchez as the OCYSF 2010 Sportsman of the Year.  If you have an interest in attending the event you can click here to print out a reservation form or pay online directly via Paypal. If you would like to become a sponsor, you can also email me and we can speak further.

Event Background

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez will be honored as the 2010 Sportsman of the Year when the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation (OCYSF) roasts him at a special banquet on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at the Newport Beach Marriott hotel starting at 7:00 pm.

Sanchez, a product of USC and Mission Viejo High School, led the Jets to the AFC Conference Championship game vs. Indianapolis last year.  As a rookie quarterback in 2009, Sanchez started 15 games for New York and threw for 2,444 yards and 12 touchdowns.

“Mark is certainly a deserving honoree,” said Tom Johnson, President of the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation (OCYSF).  “He had an amazing rookie year with the Jets in 2009.  Mark joins a long list of prestigious athletes we have honored in the past and we are grateful for his participation.”

Since 1971, the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation has enjoyed a proud tradition of celebrating the accomplishments of sports figures as a means of raising funds for boys and girls in the Orange County, CA community.  Since its inception, the Foundation has donated well over a $1 million dollars to youth sports in the county.  This includes scholarships to college bound scholar-athletes, field trips and improvements to local sports facilities.

At the last OCYSF banquet, the group honored sports broadcaster Jim Nantz and 600 sports fans packed the ball room to share laughs and memories with the CBS-TV personality.  OCYSF past honorees include local and national sports greats like Tom Lasorda, Jerry West, Pete Carroll, Bill Walsh and Peter Ueberroth.

Sanchez becomes the first pro football player honored by OCYSF since Los Angeles and St. Louis Rams great and Hall-of-Famer Jackie Slater was honored in 1997.

Tickets for this year’s banquet are now available.  The cost for a table of 10 is $1,500, corporate tables of 10 are $2,500 and include a seat at a private lunch with Sanchez while individual tickets are $150 each.  For more information about this year’s banquet or to purchase tickets, please go to www.ocysf.org or call 714-815-3885.

About the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation

Originally named the “Sports Celebrities,” a group of local Orange County residents held a banquet held each year at the Saddleback Inn in Santa Ana to have fun and raise money for young people. The founders include Paul Clearly, Bruce Gelker, Bob Hoyt, Chuck Potter and Paul Salata and their first honoree was race car driver Dan Gurney.  Later the group changed its name to the current moniker The Orange County Youth Sports Foundation.  Today, more than 45 volunteers sit on the OCYSF board and help make an impact in the lives of young people in the community.

Presented every year since 1971, the Orange County Sportsman of the Year Award was established by the Foundation to honor individuals who serve as an inspiration to youth and who are leaders in both their sport and their community.   The Orange County Youth Sports Foundation would also like to recognize The First American Corporation and Westar Associates for their longtime support.

PAST SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD RECIPIENTS

2007     Jim Nantz — Broadcaster

2006    Tim Salmon — Baseball

2005    Matt Leinart — Football

2004    Pete Carroll — Football

2003    Carson Palmer — Football

2002    Bob Baffert – Horse Racing

2001    Mike Scioscia — Baseball

2000    Bill Walsh — Football

1999    Dick Enberg — Sportscaster

1998    Jerry West — Basketball

1997    Jackie Slater — Football

1996    Terry Donahue — Football

1995    25^th Year Anniversary

1994    Bert Blyleven — Baseball

1993    Jim Abbott — Baseball

1992    John McKay — Football

1991    Nolan Cromwell — Football

1990    Augie Garrido — Baseball

1989    Tom Lasorda — Baseball

1988    John Hall — Sportswriting

1987    John Robinson — Football

1986    Tommy John — Baseball

1985    Greg Louganis – Diving & Edwin Moses — Track

1984    Peter Ueberroth — Olympics

1983    Jack Youngblood — Football

1982    Bill Mulligan — Basketball

1981    Hal Sherbeck — Football

1980    Gene Autry — Baseball

1979    George Yardley — Basketball

1978    Paul Salata – Bon Vivant, Football

1977    Donn Moomaw — Football

1976    Sammy Lee – Olympic Diving

1975    Del Crandall — Baseball

1974    Eddie West — Sportswriting

1973    Clare Van Hoorbeke — Football

1972    Rod Laver — Tennis

1971    Dan Gurney – Auto Racing

Cindy Jarvis, Steve Buchan, Roy Englebrecht and Bill Shumard pose for a photo during the event.

Last night I wrapped up another Roundtable for the Long Beach State Sports Management program.  This program is certainly unique in that it brings 10 sports related-businesses from Southern California into one venue to meet, greet and interview with the newsest learning team of graduate students.  Each master’s candidate is required to work in an sports management internship in addition to traditional classes.  New students have a minimum of 100 hours per semester and more advanced students work 200 hours or more per semester.

Here is a list of the companies that participated last night.

1. AEG

2. Disneyland Report

3. ESPN/ X Games

4. Krav Maga

5. LA Galaxy

6. Long Beach State Athletics

7. Newport Sports Museum

8. Roy Englebrecht Promotions

9. Special Olympics of Southern California

10. USA Volleyball

We generally try and rotate the businesses that attend and provide new opportunities each semester.  Some of the other business that have joined in the roundtable include the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Clippers, UC Irvine, Fox Sports, the Big West Conference, The Rose Bowl and many other groups.

I thought it would be good to see as much as read.  Here is a brief video I put together with a few additional photos from the event for you to see.

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The folks at ESPN also have these two sites to visit

www.espncareers.com –

www.workxevents.com -

2. The Best and Worst Super Bowl Commercials

This is certainly a game day topic and water cooler fodder for all Monday morning fans.  Which was the best, worst, and/or funniest commercials seen during the Super Bowl.  There have been some classics over time including this one I really liked when Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played an outrageous game of h-o-r-s-e in a McDonald’s commercials from a past Super Bowl

3. First For New Orleans or Peyton’s Legacy?

Sentimental favorite is on the Saints side for obvious reasons.  As for Manning, the guy who could not win the big one might own two championship rings within the next five days.  Let the debate begin.

4. The score by quarters

This week, bosses may or may not know that productivity is going down, or, maybe they are part of it.  Fans across the nation and around the world are filling in blank squares as Super Bowl football pools his their stride.  True confessions.  I have never won a dime in a Super Bowl pool, but usually play them every year.  Why?  We all want to have a vested interest in rooting for SOMETHING even if our favorite childhood team is not playing in the big game.  What numbers do you own and how many squares did you initial?

5. Who is Playing at Halftime?!

The legendary rock and roll band, The Who, is scheduled to perform during halftime of Super Bowl XLIV.  The talk is starting this week, will pick up into game time and be reviewed by anyone who saw the performance starting on Monday/

6. Classic Super Bowl Foods

I was visiting the farmer’s market in my neighborhood over the weekend and stopped at a particular farmer who sells avocados (que Pavlov’s dog cause my mouth is watering).  I asked him how business would be this week, leading up to the Super Bowl  His eyes got wide and said this is his biggest week of the year.  No surprise.  Need some off the wall Super Bowl trivia to throw at friends. try these food based facts I wrote about last year at this time.

7. Living Up to Expectations

Reggie Bush has proven, at times to be a dynamic, all-star caliber NFL player.  Bush, the number two pick in the 2006 National Football League Draft, though has also vanished from other football games and has been called Mr. Kardashian by skeptics.  It is certainly a below the belt shot and reference to girlfriend Kim Kardashian.  Bush has three touchdowns during the playoffs  and has the greatest chance to quiet the critics, once and for all with a big game.

8. Media Day

It has been called a circus-like atmosphere, which is disguised as Super Bowl Media Day.  Hundreds of media descend on players, coaches, trainers and even fans looking for a unique angle or story to tell as reporters look to fill time on TV, radio, print and blogs until Sunday.  I always enjoy the story about the idiot questions a few knucklehead reporters wind up asking.  That said, there is no shortage of topics or story lines this week.  The Colts are return to Miami where they defeated the Chicago Bears three years ago during a rain soaked Super Bowl.  You have a few stories lines about Peyton Manning, the son of legendary Saints QB Archie who grew up in New Orleans.  You have the city’s recovery from the Hurricane, the Saints First Ever Super Bowl appearance and on and on it will go…..

9. The Sentimental Favorites

The average fan is going to want the Saints to win.  As mentioned above, having never won the big prize, plus the post-Hurricane impact favors the Saints.  However, the Las Vegas odds-makers for the Super Bowl Think Otherwise.  I heard on the radio, Los Angeles DJ’s mentioning the odds had started at 5 points in favor of the Colts and since have moved to six points.  Are they right?  We will have to see….

10. Oh Yeah, the Game

After all is said and done, it is about 60 minutes in the biggest game, on the largest stage for people in the United States and around the world to watch.  Four hours of an actual game-day football presentation and even more hours of analyzing the pre- and post game make it a day that keeps millions of Americans glued to the TV. (Hint) If you enjoy shopping with no traffic, today is your day.

When I worked for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, now known as the Anaheim Ducks, part of my responsibilities included overseeing the community relations team for the hockey club.

The CR department had several goals but part of the responsibilities was overseeing special events and raising money for the foundation.

Recently, I spoke with a friend of mine who was planning a special event for her non profit group (non sports related) — you can see the background story at thesportscalendar blog . It made me think, how are these events valued, internally by a team and what can be done to help improve the results.

Here are a few brief thoughts that crossed my mind.

* Don’t just measure how much money was made.  Also figure out if you are generating more interest in terms of attendance, exposure from media an other variables

* Are you meeting your overall business goals?

* Are you following up with participants post-event — this is easily done via a survey to find out what was good and what can be improved.

* Test new components or twists when doing the same event year over year

* Certainly check for conflicts with other events and which days of the week have events performed the best.

* Don’t settle that you must continue to do things the same way as they have been done in the past

December is here and the holiday rush to buy presents is on.  In a related move, I recently posted a one question poll and asked, would you consider purchasing a comprehensive 2010 event schedule with a focus on sports?  The overwhelming majority, 66% said, yes, there is an interest in this solution.

Since then, I have been hard at work creating something that would fit everyone’s need.  You can visit it here at SportsCalendarPro.com

First, I created a master sports calendar.  It has every major sports event in the United States.  What did I include?  In no particular order, here is a listing of just SOME of the events.  The Super Bowl, The 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2010 World Cup, College Bowl Games, The Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500, the men’s and women’s college basketball NCAA tournament and Final Four, sports conferences for sports related events like the IEG Sponsorship Summit and the 2010 World Sports Congress.  There are about 100 sports events in all.

As a sports executive and dedicated sports fan, I want and need to know what is happening and when it is happening.  It would be nice to find everything in one place for the enter year.  I am tired of searching for the Next event.  It is also great for planning events.  Not a sports fan, but you may be involved in major life events like getting married or you are just planning major events like fundraising dinners?  Then this is ideal for you as well.  I cannot remember how many times a major golf event or fundraising dinner collided with a major sports event and either a TV was wheeled in an event or continuous updates were given to keep people informed.

Belowis a snap shot of the calendar for two weeks in April.  If you click on the image you can see it in a full screen view.

If you want additional details of the event itself, you can click on say The NCAA Frozen Four dates and you will see this

At SportsCalendarPro.com, I created the site where you can view it online via a gmail account and from there, you can easily download this or sync it with Outlook and iphone.  I did it and it now runs as event dates on my master calendar.

The second option is to purchase the 2010 Master Calendar.  This includes not only al of the sporting events, but also includes the 2010 Entertainment Calendar, the 2010 Technology Calendar and major U.S. holidays.  For example, want to know when the 2010 Academy Awards take place or the ESPYs?  Maybe you want to visit the Sundance Film Festival, CES in Las Vegas or Macworld?  Then, this option is for you.

Last, which you won’t find on the home page but you will find on the ordering page, is the 2010 Custom Calendar.  It includes all of the above and allows you to add four (total) sports team schedules to the mix. For example, say you live in New York or the Boston area.  You can add the 2010 schedule for the Yankees, Mets, Nicks and Islanders in one place.  Hate NY teams but love Boston sports?  Then you can choose the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics schedules.

You write a sports related blog?  This allows you to preview the event since you know what is coming up.

Okay, it is the first time I have blatently plugged a product in the year I have been writing this sports business blog, but it is my product and I really believe in it.

Please, visit the site, Re-Tweet and Post this onto facebook or Digg for others to see.

Consider purchasing this unique holiday gift for the sports fan or event planner in your life.

It may be November, but 2010 is just around the corner.  Where does the time go this year?

My guess is, part of your energy has gone into finalizing schedules, planning budgets, checking on event availability and things like this.  Even if you do not work in the sports industry and are planning an event for next year, you need to know what may conflict with your own agenda.  Ever plan a fundraiser and it lands on….. a March Madness game? the World Series?  Your home team’s biggest event of the year?

For that reason, I have developed a 2010 master calendar.  The main focus is on sporting events things like College football bowl games, the Super Bowl, Wimbledon but also includes events like published sports conferences from a variety of groups.  Additionally, there are a handful of non-sports events like  The Sundance Festival, CES (technology trade show) the Academy Awards as well as general U.S. holidays.  In all, there are more than 50 events so far and I am adding more as they are listed.

Here is the question of the day.  It is simple and is one question only.  I would sincerely welcome your feedback.  Please take a moment to participate!

This week, we had our monthly board meeting at the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation (OCYSF).  I have been apart of this 501c-3, non-profit group since my time with the (then) Mighty Ducks and I am proud to say the group has had a positive impact on on the lives of many.

First, some brief history…..OCYSF is a non-profit organization based in Southern California.  The board is comprised of businessmen who are devoted to athletics and our county’s youth.  The Foundation distributes scholarships and grants to young athletes in Orange County and provides assistance to tax-exempt, sports related organizations.  The Foundation also assists individuals who have medical needs related to or associated with athletics.

It is a great group of folks that have fun and make an impact in the local community.  Some of the members include former USC star and NFLer Mike Salmon, gold medal Olympic Swimmers Janet Evans and Brian Goodell, basketball coach Danny Rogers, former Major Leaguer and Angel Tom Murphy and of course one of the organization’s founders Paul Salata (USC , San Francisco 49ers but also well known for Irrelevant Week)

There are three areas where the group concentrates its time.

1) Youth Scholarships — Each year, we hand out scholarships to worthy high school student athletes that have excelled on and off the field.  The awards include a scholarship dinner with parents and a check that helps, in a small way, to pay the growing expenses of college education.

2) Grants — OCYSF also provides dollars to local youth sports related organizations.  For example, a Santa Ana Little League had no funds to replace threadbare uniforms and was seeing its dispirited participants prepare to disband. The struggling league was left out of the Southern California-wide disbursement of the surplus funds of the 1984 Olympic Games, funds earmarked to aid youth sports. Consequently, the league was losing its battle to remain self-sufficient.  OCYSF stepped in to help bridge the gap.

3) Annual Banquet – This is where it all started.  The history of the group began with an annual banquet in 1971 by honoring race car driver Dan Gurney.  In those days no one was raising money, just having lots of fun.  Today, it is all about making an impact for children.  The list of past honorees is impressive:  Peter Ueberroth, Tommy Lasorda, Jim Nance, Pete Carroll, Carson Palmer…. It goes on and on.  The event is a smash hit which roasts the honoree.  The banquet draws 500 during a tough economy and as many as 800 when times are good.

I got involved with this group because I always believed that senior sports management professionals needed to be attached to their community.  With the Anaheim (then Mighty) Ducks, I always encouraged each leader to adopt one organization and sit on its board, serve as an honorary chairman or some sort of involvement that matched with our overall business and community goals.