The Sports Info Business

When it comes to basketball and sponsorship, the women got there before the men did.

Yesterday, The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Boost Mobile, announced a landmark multi-year marketing partnership that will make Boost Mobile the first league-wide marquee partner of the WNBA.  The partnership with Boost Mobile provides the wireless services partner expanded exposure across the league.  The ground-breaking portion of this deal will place the Boost Mobile name across the jerseys of WNBA players.  Of course we would expect things like arena signage, promotional ties in such as “WNBA Top 15 Moments presented by Boost Mobile”

Here are some of the elements Boost receives as part of the agreement:
**The Boost Mobile brand will be prominently featured on the front of the game jerseys of 10 WNBA teams, including Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Tulsa Shock, and Washington Mystics.

** The jerseys, which will debut in games tonight, will mark the first time the WNBA has had a league partner with jersey branding with multiple WNBA teams throughout the season other than adidas.

** Boost Mobile will also have a strong presence in these 10 teams’ arenas, where its brand will be displayed on courts and pole pads.

** Additionally, special programming highlighting the “WNBA’s Top 15 Moments presented by Boost Mobile” will be included as part of the league’s 15th season celebration. All 15 moments will be featured during an NBA TV special presentation that will air on Aug. 26. They also will be highlighted during select WNBA national game broadcasts, and will be featured on a special microsite on WNBA.com. Fans will be able to rank their favorite moments from Aug. 23 to Sept. 13. The top five greatest moments will be counted down during the WNBA Finals broadcast beginning Oct. 2.

** The sponsor will also have a presence throughout court-side signage and in-game advertisements during national game telecasts, along with a variety of in-game promotions, prominent exposure on WNBA.com and NBA.com, and inclusion in WNBA social media channels.

Boost Mobile will also be the presenting partner of the WNBA Playoffs and WNBA Finals. Beginning next year, Boost Mobile will be the title partner of WNBA All-Star, the presenting partner of WNBA Tip-Off and WNBA All-Star balloting, an associate partner at the WNBA Draft, and will be featured within the WNBA-specific area of NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by adidas each year.

Financial terms of the sponsorship were not disclosed in the official press release.

Quick, when you think of aspirin, what comes to mind?

Is it baseball?

The folks at Bayer HealthCare sure hope so.  Communications folks from The New Jersey based company recently out and brought my attention to a new campaign it recently launched, called  Speed Up Your Relief.  This campaign is an attempt by Bayer Advanced Aspirin to leverage its new role as the “Official Pain Reliever of Major League Baseball.”

How The Sponsorship Works

Through the Speed Up Your Relief campaign, the company has pledged to donate $10 to the Red Cross for every strike 95 mph and over thrown during the remainder of the 2011 Major League Baseball regular and post season. The company stated i a press release that last year, an average of more than 3,000 strikes 95 mph and over were thrown each month. MLB fans and Red Cross supporters can track fast strikes resulting in relief effort donations on the website, SpeedUpYourRelief.com.  The donations will be made, up to a total of up to a total of $150,000, that support Red Cross relief efforts.

Activation Component

In addition to Bayer’s donation, fans can get involved in the Speed Up Your Relief campaign by making personal donations to the Red Cross on the website. They also can play an online fantasy baseball game developed by MLB.com for a chance to win $10,000 or an all-inclusive dream baseball vacation, courtesy of Bayer.

“Speed is essential in pain relief, baseball and relief operations. That’s why Bayer has stepped up to the plate to expand our relief efforts to help Americans in need,” said Barton Warner, VP, Marketing and New Business, Bayer HealthCare. “Through combined efforts with the Red Cross and Major League Baseball, we are confident that the Speed Up Your Relief campaign will help provide fast relief to those who need it most.”

Sponsorship Package Details

Here is additional background of what Bayer is receiving as part of their sponsorship commitment.

Media

* The company is being featured in advertising across ESPN/ESPN2, FOX, TBS and MLB Networks

* The media buy includes approximately 350 Bayer Advanced Asprin on-air, digital and in-game advertisements throughout the 2011 Major League Baseball season including

** 35 electronic video inserts, one game a week across the networks (ESPN, FOX, TBS and MLB Network)

** 209 :30 second TV spots in games across the networks

** 40 billboard sponsorships across the networks

** Approximately 65 features across the networks

I am  sure this is my first ever posting about the WWE but you’ve spoken and I know you want to know about sponsorship news, so here it is:  WWE and 7-Eleven recently announced the companies are getting back in the ring for the month of August to promote WWE collectible Slurpee and Super Big Gulp cups and straws. 

7-Eleven will offer the exclusive collectible cups and straws highlighting WWE’s biggest Superstars and Legends including John Cena, The Rock, The Miz, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels and more. The cups feature action shots of each Superstar and Legend from WWE All Stars™, the latest WWE video game released by THQ.

This marks the first time 7-Eleven has had three consecutive summer promotions with one entertainment property.

ACTIVATION COMPONENTS:

The deal also includes an incentive for  consumers:  Purchase a Slurpee and a TWIX candy bar and be entered to win an all-expenses-paid, VIP trip to WrestleMania XXVIII to be held at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami on Sunday, April 1, 2012. Consumers can also register for the VIP trip to WrestleMania by going to Slurpee.com.  There is something about entering Slurpee Nation reward points and TWIX game codes but that is a little too deep inthe weeds for this post.  The programs also allows for mutiple chances to win other prizes including WWE merchandise — WrestleMania XXVII DVD’s, WWE branded t-shirts, action figures, baseball caps, videogames, sweatbands and more.

The cross-promotional partnership began on August 1st.  The promotion also features WWE images in-store at 7,400 7-Eleven retail locations in the United States and Canada. It will be supported by TV ads featuring WWE Superstar The Miz throughout WWE programming and at live events, WWE social media properties and WWE Magazine.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting in today’s newspaper that Los Angeles Clippers rookie of the year Blake Griffin and Kia Motors have agreed to a multi-year business deal.  Griffin, if you remember, was seen dunking over a Kia car during the NBA All Star game in Los Angeles last year and the video has been replayed countless times on TV and the internet.  The automaker even made a commercial of from the dunk. I previously blogged about Griffin’s dunking abilities and showed one of him showing off his talent in this AT&T commercial.
The multi-year deal, according to the newspaper, makes Griffin “a global spokeman for the automaker.”  He will make appearances on behalf of Kia and appear in advertising material.

Interesting though that when I ventured over to the Kia Motors website, it did not have an official announcement in its press release section.

Kia, an official auto partner of the NBA, has a co-branded micro website dedicated to the professional basketball League and had this Griffin picture among others on the site.  Kia also sponsors 13 NBA teams.

On Top: If I asked you which U.S. City has captured the most titles in major sports since the 2001 season, who would come out on top? Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Detroit, Boston, Chicago or San Antonio? According to SportsCenter, it’s Boston with seven on top, then Los Angeles with six. Detroit, Pittsburgh and San Antonio each have three.

Wrigley Field = Summer Sale?: There is a sale going on and if you are American Airlines, that means associating it with something to do with Wrigley Field.  The airlines is promoting special fares via an email marketing program and among its messages this week is a shot from the historic national League park proclaiming “U.S. Summer Sale”  With the Chicago Cubs some 14 games under .500 as we head into the final week of June, I am sure there are more sellers than buyers these days.

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We all have seen in the last few years when a video turns viral.  It gets passed around like a hot potato.

Well, mark this story old school.  For the second time in two years, the Macy’s Department Store had apparently committed an advertising fopah.  It seems that Macys ran a print ad in a local Miami newspaper, the Herald, yesterday congratulating the Miami Heat on winning the 2011 NBA championship.

Talk about Typos.  Oooops.

The ad read:  CONGRATULATIONS MIAMI! Celebrate the 2011 NBA Champions with official merchandise from Adidas!  Men’s Locker room tees available today with more styles for him, her and kids arriving daily.

It also showed a T-shirt with the printed saying RAISE ANOTHER BANNER.

The sad news is, this is not the first time Macys has goofed.

In 2009, it ran a print advertisement congratulating the Philadelphia Phillies as World Champs. The only problem was, the New York Yankees captured the title that year.

Don’t know if Macysgate tops Weinergate or any other gate, but it is quite embarrassing for all involved.

I checked the Macys press room to see if it issues any kind of statement:  Nope.  Just a press release on June 8th touting:  MACY’S MAKES FATHER’S DAY WISHES COME TRUE

It was only when I went to the Macys Twitter feed that I found that it was not the company’s fault at all, but a error by the Miami Herald.  I learned of the result by this Macys Tweet.

This is what the Herald printed:

“A Macy’s advertisement featuring Miami Heat merchandise was mistakenly published June 13 on page 11D in some editions of The Miami Herald. We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience.”

Now that the Macys has been absolved from this major sports advertising error, it may want to rethink this sports advertising campaign.

I am not so sure we can depend on newspaper advertising departments anymore.  They must not be sports fans.

More and more PR people are discovering sportsinfo101.com and last week, I received several press releases announcing new projects, partnerships and naming rights. I decided to take one of the news releases and share a few tidbits from it.
Sponsorship is a key revenue generator for sports. Depending on your market these dollars play a larger role in budgets (college athletics and NHL hockey as examples) or smaller but still important roles (the national Football League). The bottom line is, if it’s a good revenue stream, its important to the bottom line.

Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK, short cut: O.co) is the latest company to put its name on a sports building. According to the press release, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority announced that Overstock.com acquired the naming rights to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Effective immediately, the Coliseum is now known as the Overstock.com Coliseum. The facility will host its first game under the Overstock name Friday, April 29, when the A’s host defending American League champion Texas at 7:05 p.m.

Now I spent part of my youth in the Bay Area and just knew it as the Oakland Coliseum, but when revenue matters, and it does, then folks like Overstock.com are sought out for a business partnership.

An artist rendering of signage

The six-year deal covers the stadium facility that is home to both the NFL Oakland Raiders and the MLB Oakland Athletics. Overstock.com Coliseum is one of only two U.S. stadiums hosting two major league teams.  According to a story published in the Huffington Post, the deal is for six years at $7.2 million, although the story is ambigious as to the sponsorship dollars per year vs the total cost of the sponsorship.  It was confusing indeed.

As part of the new alliance Overstock.com receives branding opportunities through stadium signage, Internet, television, radio and print promotion. The site plays host to more than 100 events annually, including 10 Raiders games, 81 A’s games, MLS and international soccer matches, concerts and corporate events. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority manages the Overstock.com Coliseum and Oracle Arena and is comprised of representatives from the City of Oakland, Alameda County and SMG, a facilities management company.

Founded in 1999, Overstock.com employs more than 1500 people. The company’s annual revenue has grown from $1.8 million in 1999 to $1.1 billion in 2010. For the past five years, Overstock.com ranked among the top five retailers in the U.S. for customer service, according to rankings published in the 2011 NRF Foundation/American Express Customer Service Survey, and recently Forbes reported that Overstock ranked first in employee satisfaction among all U.S. retailers and ninth among the best U.S. corporations to work for.

Overstock.com trotted out its head man, Jonathan Johnson, president of Overstock.com and posted a YouTube message related to the announcement.

Last week, I had the honor of having lunch with with Jim Flanigan. You may know Jim if you have read Forbes Magazine, the Los Angeles Times business section or his current work for the New York Times.

Over lunch, we spoke of many topics including sports. Jim has a wealth of knowledge on many subjects. The conversation made me think of change and I reflected about what has changed in the business of sport since I grew up. Here are my thoughts on the nine of the biggest changes in sports ~ some that have taken place in my lifetime and a few more we can expect in the next few years.

Biggest changes in sports over the past few years

1) Interviewing coaches during games: Ratings and TV networks have demanded more for their rights fees and have been given even greater access to coaches and players. The first sport I remember bringing this into play was the NHL. Coaches and players are always interviwed between periods and while football did it at halftime, you felt like you had more access in hockey on TV broadcasts. Now, you regularly see it in baseball and basketball. Football is still reserved for halftimes.

2) Yellow Lines on your TV screen. If you are older than 20 years old, you can remember watching football games where there was not a yellow first down line embeded in your TV screen. Today, it is used to show fans where teams need to get for a first down. Often, a blue line is used for the line of scrimmage. In the old days, just just to know simple math (+ 10 yards from line of scrimmage).

3) Monster Stadiums: I am reminded of the NCAA Final Four this year where there was a ridiculous number of people watching college basketball. In fact the 2011 tourney established several all-time attendance ecords. I believe the numbers totaled something like 76,000 fans in attendance. That wasn’t the case a few years ago, but league and venues are pushing the limit to see how many people can be squeezed into a stadium/arena.

4) Advertising: If there is a place where eyeball can see a brand, it has been placed here. Once upon a time, the boards of a hockey rink were snow white. Baseball stadiums only had distance markers dotting the walls and pre-game sports shows had commercials during, well, commercial time. As we all know the times have changed and now advertising has a more integrated look and feel.

5) Work Stoppages: I resigned my position with the Dodgers just prior to the 1994 Major League Baseball Strike. For some reason, in the last 20 years there has either been more work stoppages across all major sports or threats to stop playing games we all love. I certainly do not remember these things when I was growing up.

6) Technology: From tennis players challenging lines calls to baseball stadiums showing pitch counts and pitcher’s speeds, technology advances abound. It has given the fan more insight into each event while trying to provide the most accurate results. I do not know about you but human error is still what makes sports interesting, even if it sometimes makes me mad when it happens.

There are a number of items I think we will see in the near future as leagues, teams and sponsors look to maximize all opportunities. In no particular order….

1) Advertising advances: Two of the last places that remain untapped: Advertising on uniforms and on the field itself. Some sports like the WNBA and professional soccer leagues in Europe have already moved into placing corporate branded logos on uniforms and it is only a matter of time until a Yankees, Red Sox or Cowboys uniform has a corporate logo backing it. The field itself will be labeled, eventually. Another place I would expect further development is virtual ads on TV screens/computer screens. This can easily be changed and if its by technology on TV or computers, it would not impact the actual game.

2) Use of Social Media: We are in the infancy of this development and sports teams will certainly experiment and engage with fans in ways we have yet to see. Stay tuned….

3) New activation levels for brands associated with sports teams and organizations. As ROI, return on investment, continues to dominate marketing spend, we will see deepening programs not yet developed or implemented.

What do Charlie Sheen, Frank McCourt, Wrigley Field, Citibank, Dodger Stadium and the Bakersfield Condors have in common?  Why this blog of course.  Here is a bit of everything in this edition’s Sports Business News and Reviews.

News: A beating by two men outside Dodger Stadium on opening day left a San Francisco Giants fan in a medically induced coma.

Reviews: Rivalries  are great. However, when fans take this concept into their own hands then we know something needs to be done. If I were were part of the Los Angeles Dodgers senior management team, I would be advising Frank McCourt to step up and be a bit more proactive in his actions to show that this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at Dodger games. The site was once known one of the most fan friendly stadiums in baseball. After last years stabbing and last week’s attack, baseball fans refer to certain sections of the stadium as off limits.

News: Its UConn vs Butler in the NCAA Title Game on Monday Night

Reviews: UnConn has had an amazing run through the NCAA tournament in what some are calling the most unusual year for the world’s largest office pool party.  Fact, the Huskies (31-9) have not lost a game since February 5th to Notre Dame.  Since they, the team went 5-for-5 in the conference tournament and have been obviously perfect during their NCAA tournament run.  While they will probably win the title, I will, as usual, be rooting for the Butler Bulldogs to finish off what they could do a year ago.

News: Citibank is an official sponsor at Wrigley Field in Chicago

Reviews: By the look of the photograph below, someone might want to tell the Cubs management to reinforce a sponsor’s static sign with a little more super glue.  While scanning the news stories after opening day, I came across the following photo posted on ChicagoTribune.com. Never mind for a moment the picture of Sterlin Castro trying to stay warm.  Look at the Citi sign.  This is opening day and someone had to chalk in the T on Citbank’s sign.  Official scorer gives an error to the logo hanging folks.

News: According to Team Marketing Report (and the Los Angeles Times where I read the story yesterday), The Red Sox have the most expensive tickets in baseball for 2011 and the Pittsburgh Pirates have the cheapest seats.

Reviews: Fact, the Red Sox average $53.38 for admission while the ‘Bucs clock in at $15.30 per person.  That may be the cost for doing business and the difference between winning teams and those that have had 19 consecutive losing seasons.  However, if you plat out the cost to take in one game for a family of four, the difference between the top and the bottom stretches to $213.52 vs $61.20, a difference of one hundred and fifty-two bucks.  That doesn’t include parking food or logo’d memorabilia.  Baseball could be losing younger fans as some families may not easily afford an outing to a ball game anytime soon.

News: Actor Charlie Sheen has amassed 3.4 million Twitter followers.

Reviews: The former Two and a Half Men star is sporting a baseball that says #fastball on his Twitter page and he was recently featured in a minor league hockey promotion to drive attention and fans to a game.  Recently, the Bakersfield Condors held a Charlie Sheen Night, where fans got in for $2,50.  Get it?  Two and a half bucks?  The event was covered by Los Angeles-based TV station KTLA. Here’s the news report.

The links on the right hand side of each my blog pages will take you to important trade related sports groups.  When you click on an organization like Sponsorship.com, you will find great resources and now that we have started a new year, I thought I should pass along some information on 2011 sports conferences and trade shows.

Since every business needs to build in sponsorship, this conference is a must.

Return on Engagement:  Sponsorship’s Impact on Business will take places, as always, in my hometown of Chicago from March 13-16,2011.

Their Keynote Speakers for the Conference Include:

Keynote Speakers

• AT&T Senior Vice President, Sponsorships, Gail Torreano
• Kantar CEO, Eric Salama
• Gatorade Chief Marketing Officer, Sarah Robb O’Hagan
• GE President, Olympic Sponsorship and Corporate Sales, Peter Foss
• IBM Vice President, Corporate Marketing, John Kennedy
• Macy’s Executive Vice President, Marketing, Martine Reardon
• NFL Chief Marketing Officer, Mark Waller

Not to be outdone, the IMG World Congress of Sports, held in partnership with the Sports Business Daily and the Sports Business Journal, will take place in Miami March 30 and March 31st.  I was surprised that IMD has not yet published their list of speakers for this conference.  I have attended the West Coast version in the past and it has been well attended.  As the World Congress of Sports finishes, another event begins on March 31st called the Forty Under 40 Awards, held at the same location on March 31st.  This is also a well attended networking event.

Florida appears to be a popular destination to hold a conference in 2011 as Co-SIDA or the College Sports Information Directors of America will move their annual conference to Marco Island, Florida from June 26-29, 2011.  According to their website, the annual Convention includes workshop sessions and networking opportunities are designed to help you thing and grow as a professional. Our CoSIDA Convention is designed to help athletic communicators “think together”.

Make no mistake.  These events help professionals at all levels make new connections, help provide opportunities to learn as well as create a setting to set up and execute new business deals.

Please remember that this is just a sampling of the 2011 Sports Conferences and Trade Shows scheduled to take place.  I certainly did not mean to leave out any organization or key event.  You can explore many more opportunities by clicking on the links under the Blog Roll to the right on the www.sportsinfo101.com home page.

Happy Networking.