The Sports Info Business

Here is a simple case study, in close to real time, on what sports organizations must learn in order to make an impact when it comes to driving eyeballs online.

Today’s News:  Today, Petra Kvitova beat Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon women’s singles final to capture her first title at the All England Club and the fourth this year for the Czech.

Now, I wanted to add value to folks that have liked the sportsinfo101 Facebook group page. Naturally, I went to the Wimbledon’s web site and thought it would be great to link a finals story from the home page.

To my surprise, when I clicked on the Wimbledon news section in the tab, the lead story was Djokovic downs Tsonga to become No.1

However, if you did a Google search for Sharapova or Wimbledon in the news section, one of the top placements was a news story from the LA Times sports section, which already posted a brief story by 8:00 a.m.  It was the first listing in my search.

Now, I know that organizational websites are not in the reporting business.  However, I would argue that they need to produce timely content to capture eyeballs from fans that want and need information.

If they do not jump into this space and create this content, then they are losing out in business opportunities like new advertising revenue or creating more value for sponsors that already advertise on their websites.

Organizations must adapt.

What a strange and wonderful day in the world of sports. It has truly been the wide world of sports.

So different but if you had the time to watch some or all of either or both matches, it was a thing of beauty.

The day started with the World Cup match between USA and Algeria. It was win or go home for team USA and it looked, as regulation was coming to a close, the Americans were headed for a long long flight home.
Then American soccer sensation and Galaxy star Landon Donovan knocked in a loose ball in front of the Algerian goal in the 91st minute and suddenly the Americans had advanced to the round of 16 in South Africa.

Meanwhile over at Wimbledon a different drama was playing out on court 18 between 148th ranked Nicolas Mahut and 19th ranked John Isner.

The two singles players, which took their match to a fifth set played for more than seven hours. At Wimbledon, the fifth set is a win by two games and as the soccer game finished I noticed the two players were tied at 28-28 in the final set.
56 games played for a single set? For a first round Wimbeldon match?
The match was far from over. In fact, it was just beginning.  The games went to 30 apiece and as far from over. It jumped to 35 apiece and then 40-40 each in games.  When it got to 50-50, it felt like the score for a basketball game.  The only thing that could stop the match was the lack of light.

ESPN reporters, broadcasting the match, called it epic. Another said you would have to wait 50 to 60 years to see something like this again.  We will never see anything like this, ever.

The winners of today?  A few people…..

• The local fans who attended both of these events. For better or worse, no one will forget either.
• ESPN comes up huge as they broadcast both events
• Associated sponsors to gained valuable air time.  This includes Nike, IBM, Lacoste and Slazenger.
• Social Media — I saw the USA vs. Algeria match had set web record for traffic.  I am sure the tennis match will have a few online records of its own.
• Sports fans.  Records, drama and stories to retell for years to come.

The events could not have been more different and here’s why.

You have a soccer match, team sport that is timed.  Now compare it to a singles tennis match.  Two people who no one to depend on but themselves.  The fifth match is decided by two games, with no stop watch to halt the action.  It could go on forever and for the fans, broadcasters and especially the players, many felt it would never end. And is hasn’t ended.

Just take a look at the time of each set by Manut and Isner.

Set #1 32 minutes

Set #2 29 minutes

Set #3 49 minutes

Set #4 64 minutes

Set #5 Still going.

Total time for the match is 10 hours!

Here are some notes to compare to the tennis match:

• So far, the two players combined for 118 games in the final set alone.
• Haile Gebrselassie from Berlin set the Marathon word record on 9/28/08 with a time of 2:03.59.  He could have run three and had time to spare in the time it took to finish the tennis match.
• The two players combined for 118 points in the final set.  By comparison it took the Baltimore Orioles scored only 75 runs for the entire month of Aril, a span of 23 games.
• No service breaks in the first 118 games of the final set

The 1980 match between Bjorn Borg vs John McEnroe remains etched in my memory.  That match was 18-16, not even a third the number of games that Isner and Mahut played today.

What stopped it all?  The lack of light.  More fun tomorrow and a match no one will ever forget.

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.

While the ratings show a majority of sports fans tuned into college and NFL football over the weekend, a different kind of highlight is making thew rounds on the Internet today.

Video is everywhere these days and captures just about everything.  A Serena Williams outburst video wasn’t captured on a random iPhone.  This was front and center during a semi finals single match at the 2009 US Open on Saturday.  In the heat of a match Serena Williams learned the hard way how closely people watch you when a TV camera captured an outburst on video which has spread through the Internet like wildfire.

The scene was posted on YouTube for everyone to see and has become the number one Google trend topics search topic this morning.

While the microphone blocked out some of the profanity by Serena Williams during the outburst video, fans at home got the message.  As a direct result of the outburst, the eight time Grand Slam champion and number two seeded Williams lost to Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5.

Not only did she lose the match but Serena’s image is sure to take a hit from this outburst.  Much like Obama heckler Republican Congressman Joe Wilson learned as well as Kanye West’s outburst against Taylor Swift, athletes, policial officals and music stars are forced to backtrack even quicker these days.  There is a price to pay for acting out in front of others.  Reputations are quickly ruined.

As for Williams, media outlets are reporting she has been fined $10,000 for her comments.  Only time will tell if her sponsors react to this event.

I desperately needed a new cell phone.  The old Verizon phone worked okay but had been abused by years of bad hands and visiting the asphalt up close and personal.  While I was happy with the reception I got from Verizon, it was tough to respond to text messages.  I think each short message I responded to took about five minutes to complete.

My wife once again took matters into her own hands and surprised me with an Apple iPhone.  Like everything else I have come to expect from Apple, I was surprised by its functionality, light weight and plethora of gadgets.

Ah, yes, the gadgets.

It did not take long to get hooked on all of the gadgets that have been created for this mobile device.  Here I will review some of the free and paid sports applications.

Top 10 Paid Sports Apps according to Apple

According to statistics on the iPhone, Madden NFL 2010 is the top grossing app currently listed.  It costs $9.99 but fans rated it 4/5 stars out of five so they must know what they are talking about.  If you click on the photo to the left, iPhone provides the top 10 paid sports apps.  It is not a surprise that the leader in this category is Fantasy Football 2009.  A related app, ESPN Fantasy Football, at $4.99, is rated fourth on the list of top 25 top grossing apps (there is a difference in categories) and Golf shot GPS, with a $29.99 price tag is listed in the number nine slot.

I have not tried any of these applications nor been invited to test or write about them so I cannot tell you how good they are.  If you look down to the right, I have also provided a picture of the top 10 free apps which again is a Fantasy Football app from Yahoo!

I have started to download a few items, both sports and non sports related, so I can review and speak to these a bit.  The ESPN app is a cool and allows you to find the scores of major sports very fast.  The value of apps is that information is pushed directly to you, extremely fast.  The need for visiting a web site to receive specific information like sports scores is over.  I have loaded the ESPN app MLB scores, NFL scores, NBA scores, men’s and women’s tesnnis singles scores and NHL scores as well as PGA tour updates.

Top 10 Free Sports Apps according to Apple

MLB.com has a free app called At Bat Lite. It willl give you the line score of the games and you can easily move to the standings and the latest baseball video.

Nike teamed with iPod to offer a great application for anyone that likes to work out.  The app will sync with selected music you have and play the exact song you need when the time is right.  The program offers categoeis which include a basic mode (open ended workout), timed, distance and a calorie counter.  I am ashamed to say I have not tried it out yet.

This review is just trying to give you a taste of what is out there.  When I went to iTunes and then to the sports section of the apps available, there more 109 pages of apps.  Each NFL team for example, has a free app which lists the 2009-10 regular season football schedule.  The apps are endless and I must say a bit mind boggling.

While these apps are sports related, I have also reviewed other non sports related applications on my business blog.  It includes things you would expect like facebook, LinkedIn and Skpye but also some that you may or may not know about like Bump and Shazam.

You can see this review by going to www.coast2coastexperts.com and clicking on the link to the blog section, which is located at the top of the page.  These apps are more practical for every day life.  If you don’t have an Apple iPhone, some of this might seem a bit foreign to you.  Just to give you a taste, here is a link to a video on one of the Bump app.  Enjoy.

About a week ago, no one had ever heard of Melanie Oudin.  I was among them.

Oudin head shot as seen on on 2009 US Open web site

That was before the 17 year old from Marietta, Georgia, ranked 70th in the world, went on an amazing run at the 2009 US Open women’s tennis tournament in New York.  All she has done so far is upset three of the games best singles players in Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, and Nadia Petrova today and en route to reaching her first Grand Slam semi finals.

Dementieva, was seeded fourth and was a heavy favorite in the second round.  Oudin really began her Cinderella run here with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win.  She immediately came back and defeated #29 seeded Maria Sharapova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and then stunned Petrova on Sunday with yet another three set match 6-1, 7-6, 6-3.

Oudin is now slated to take on Candice Wozniacki in the semi finals.

After Oudin’s win on Sunday, I checked the Google Trends top 100 searches to see how hot her name was in the Google Search.  It wasn’t even in the top 100.  Don’t ask me how, but ranked number seven was Caroline Wozniacki breasts search and number 12 was Wozniacki tennis.

What will it take for Oudin to break into the top 100 searches?  Furthermore, she is the third ranked American on the WTA Sony Ericsson Tour behind Venus and Serena Williams.  If I had to guess though, you probably could only name the top two women.

Change is good. A Cinderella story is even better.  Melanie Oudin’s US Open success is something we can believe in because it is a great story about a young women beating the odds.  Stay tuned to see how far she advances.

You can tell change is in the air.  Kids and students are returning to school.  When August quickly becomes September it also means sports seasons are about to change.  College Football fans begin cheering for real as games now matter across America as well as the long awaited opening games of the 2009-10 National Football League (NFL) season.  Tom Brady’s return.  What will Favre do?  No one is talking about Peyton Manning.  The talk will begin this month.

If you are a tennis fan, then the end of the August and September Sports means the US Open. Play gets under way today in New York and goes through Sunday, September 13th.

Looking ahead, on the men’s side, five-time defending US Open Champ Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could meet in in the finals if both play to their potential, as the two are seated on opposite sides of the draw.  A singles win by Federer would allow him to become the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win six consecutive US Opens.

On the women’s side, Serena and Venus Williams cannot meet in an all sisters finals as the Southern California natives are seated on the same side of the draw.  If both advance, then they could meet in semifinal action.

Men’s Draw — Top Five seeds

Roger Federer — one

Andy Murray – two

Rafael Nadal – three

Novak Djovic – four

Andy Roddick – five

Women’s Draw — Top Five seeds

Dinara Safina – one

Serena Williams – two

Venus Williams — three

Elena Dementieva – four

Jelena Jankovic – five

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The top five teams in both pre-season polls — USA Today and the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 are identical. Mark down Saturday, September 5th as all top five schools and many more schools will open the college football season.  Here are the top five teams in the pre-season rankings.

Here are the rankings

1. University of Florida

2. University of Texas

3. University of Oklahoma

4. University of Southern California

5. University of Alabama

Interesting to note the opponents these teams will open the 2009 schedule.  Florida, Texas and USC all have the philosophy of getting an easy win to begin their seasons.  #1 Florida will play Charlston Southern, #2 Texas takes on Louisiana-Monroe while #4 USC will probably beat up San Jose State.  Oklahoma and Alabama however have taken a different path.  #3 Oklahoma takes on #20 BYU in their opening game while #5 Alabama battles #7 Virginia Tech.

THE NFL

If the NFL is more to your liking, regular season play for the National Football League begins towards the middle of the month, when defending Super Bowl Champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, ring in the new season by battling the Tennessee Titans, in Pittsburgh on Thursday, September 9th.  The rest of the league begins play on Sunday, September 13th.  Washington vs. NY Giants, Chicago at Green Bay and Brett Favre’s Minnesota Vikings travel to Cleveland.  People awaiting Tom Brady’s return can see the New England Patriots vs the T.O. and the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night.

Shame on us if we forget the baseball pennenet races as well.  As of this weekend, 12 teams, either in first place or six games back or less were in the hunt for playoff spots.  It is going to be a great month for baseball, but more about that as we get closer to the playoffs.

Roger Federer made history on Sunday by winning his 15th Grand Slam tennis tournament, more than anyone in the history of the game.  Everyone seemed prepared for it.  Pete Sampras showed up in case it happened.  Nike was certainly prepared and wasted no time by running a TV advertisement immediately followign the match.  The show company collected a few of sport’s greatest athletes including  Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Pete Samprasm John McEnroe and Serena Williams to salute Federer in a 30 second spot. Net Jets, a luxury private airline company also ran an ad saluting Federer in an ad showing his collection of trophies, though I have to admit it was not the first time the ad had run.

I will admit though, I wanted Andy Roddick to win Wimbledon’s top prize.  It would have been a true victory for the underdog.  How could a Cubs fan root for anyoen else?  It was Basil, Switzerland vs. Omaha, Nebraska and I wanted the guy from middle America.  If the experts were not with Roddick, I felt the fans certainly were.  NBC’s television broadcast showed a fan’s sign that read “A-Rod you deserve it.”  You could hear a little more oomph from the fans when cheering winning points in the match.  On the other side of the coin,   The Sports Reporters on ESPN Sunday morning conversation never gave Roddick a chance in their discussion.  Even the ATP web site on Sunday even had a story on the front page that read “Federer Poised for 15th.”

I guess if I were in the predicting business, I would probably have gone the same way.  In 20 career meetings between the two players, Federer had come out on top 18 times.  

Roddick was going for his first Wimbedon championship.   Federer wanted his sixth.  With the exception of last year vs. Rafael Nadal , you could have engraved Federer’s name on the cup ay the start of the tournament for most of this decade.  He had won it in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

This is not a typo — four hours and seventeen minutes later, Federer came out on top 7-5, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 16-14.  Thirty games in the fifth set.  Combined, it was like they played seven sets.   I looked up most games played in a men’s fifth set final and according to “All About Tennis“ this was a record-setting match, dating all the way back to 1887.

Andy Roddick stayed right with Roger Federer in one of the most entertaining men’s tennis matches I have ever seen.  This includes the classic 1980 match between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe where the fifth set went to 8-6.  Sure, Nadal and Federer battled 16 games in the fifth set a year ago and Nadal won it all.    This year was something special since no one ever gave Roddick a chance.  The first three sets were decided by a total of four games with tie breakers in the second and third sets.  Fast forward to the fifth set and the fans were howling for more.   I wanted to see the trends online and the match quickly made the top 10 trending topics on Twitter as well as a top 5 trend on Google Trends.

Top 10 Twitter Trends

Roddick, was seeded sixth at Wimbledon while Federer was number two.  This center court duel culminated a terrific Wimbeldon run for both the men and many wanted to be in attendance to witness history.  This included former tennis stars Rod Lavor, Bjorn Borg, Samras and John McEnroe who were all in the house.   What no one really planned for however was that breakfast at Wimbledon turned into dusk before it was said and done.  The shadows started to become a factor on center court.  Federer kept serving up aces.  Roddick refused to lose his serve.  At three hours and 52 minutes in the final set, the scoreboard showed a tied heat at 11-11.  The fact that Roddick was serving second in the first set and had to match Federer’s brilliance was nothing short of amazing. 

Tennis legend turned broadcaster John McEnroe said it best late in the fifth set when he said,” you just hate to see this thing end.”  But it had to for two terrific tennis players.  In the end, Federer took home another trophy and Roddick left with his third runner up silver platter and a lot of heartache.

He also left with one more fan.  I hope to see Andy Roddick back at Wimbledon in 2010 and next time, alone at the top.

Here is a picture of recent matches between Federer and Roddick.

You can click on the image itself for a larger photo or go straight to this link at the ATP Tour for a complete breakdown.

As you can see, I am moving more and more into video streaming.  In addition to the video blog on “What’s in Your Closet” that I filed today, I also tried my hand at improving the overall professional production.

Trying to improve my podcast presentation skills.  I just finished editing this one minute Wimbledon Podcast that covers both the men’s and women’s tour.

I also added still photography, the voice over and the music behind the effort.  Let me know what you think.