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Sports Business & Sports Ticket Management Links Of The Week: Week Ending 4/25/10

Posted on April 26, 2010 by SpotlightTMS  •  Leave Reply

Spotlight’s weekly collection of relevant press, tweets, and blogs shaping the world of corporate ticketing. The evolution of Corporate America’s involvement in sports is leading towards more responsibility and better analytics. Please read on for more on: sports sponsorship, sports business, ticket management, corporate accountability, and The Spotlight Ticket Management Solution.

It seems that even the very conservative sales numbers for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa were overzealous considering the news coming out of South Africa yesterday.

It’s very clear that FIFA, the sanctioning body, is going to escape South Africa with plenty of profit due to commercial rights and official marketing however the same cannot be said for the local organizing committee. A few of the depressing numbers pointed out by the USA Today:

The global recession started by hitting the corporate dollar hard causing a call for responsibility and guarded spending. Simply put, South Africa is the next victim.

The Sports Business Journal reports (under a misleading title about price hikes) that, for the most part, NHL prices are staying relatively flat. The pricing trends outlined in the piece show two things: 1) The recession is relatively finished taking bites out of ticket prices and 2) The NHL has done a great job in aligning pricing over the past year so as to not necessitate a downward change.

12 teams will increase prices, however reading between the lines shows these increases to be from 1 to 6% for 9 of the teams, which barely covers inflation. The three price hikes will be for three of the highest performing franchises: The Washington Capitals, The Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Four teams will actually decrease ticket prices while four others will keep pricing flat which, in effect, is a drop in price. Three teams are not cited in the piece.

The effect of these changes on the corporate market will be interesting considering there is a mild return to purchasing happening across the boards. The NHL, in particular, has been very strong this playoff season for Spotlight clients.

The LPGA has had a rough two seasons. First the global recession comes crashing down and they lose major corporate sponsors and have to cancel tour events and now the dominate world #1 golfer Lorena Ochoa is calling it a career. The real question is: How does the LPGA recover? Golf is already plagued by very low ticket utilization rates amongst their corporate sponsors while the major PGA sponsors still take on fire from the press for their involvement…forcing some to remove their name from their tournament (Wells Fargo) while others try and weather the negative PR storm (Northern Trust). The LPGA is lower in utilization than both NASCAR and the PGA, which are in their own right fairly low. Firms that implement a company ticket management tool are the only firms that can feasibly show an ROI. The LPGA is already on tenuous ground in proving the vitality of on-site client entertainment, it will be very interesting to see how they rebound to the loss of Ochoa.

Wells Fargo, despite being on the hook for a $7 million naming right sponsorship to the tournament (grandfathered in with Wachovia), is almost nowhere to be found at this week’s Quail Hollow Championship as reported by the Charlotte Business Journal.

In what is one of the most head-scratching moves in sports sponsorship, Wells Fargo has decided to remove all branding, with the exception of on the tickets, from the tournament as they continue to fear a PR backlash. How is spending money and then getting absolutely nothing for it a better idea? Who is okay with this? The Shareholders? If we were shareholders at Wells Fargo, we’d be demanding a suitable explanation as to how they will drive value from this deal as opposed to letting the money rot. Sure, the deal may not be worth $7 million a year (who knows, maybe it’s worth more), but it certainly has some value and any rational person can see this is a waste of money of the worst kind.

Corporate America can take this experience as a lesson: if you can’t back up your marketing dollars you will find yourself between a rock and a hard place with those that matter most. Sports ticket management and true sponsorship analytics could have save Wells Fargo / Wachovia a lot of grief had it been done responsibly.

Another NFL Draft has come and gone without a Los Angeles franchise involved and Ed Roski’s City of Industry stadium hopes have seem to have been forgotten in the pubic perception. There is now talk of a stadium proposal between AEG and Casey Wasserman to bring a $1 billion dollar state-of-the-art NFL stadium to Downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the very successful STAPLES Center.

In this piece by the Whittier Daily News, James Wagner explores the obstacles and happenings in the LA NFL scene. Jim Kahler, Executive Director of Ohio University’s Sports Administration offers that a state-of-the art stadium would bring corporate backing:

“I think you are going to see the value of naming rights rebound,” said Kahler. “You are going to see corporate America do that again.” This is a very interesting and controversial statement as we continue to see teams and leagues struggle to find corporations willing to lead the way. The new Cowboys Stadium remains unnamed and the public perception of naming rights, though not supported by any tangible numbers, is that they are a waste of marketing dollars. So much so that Wells Fargo is the naming rights sponsor to this weekend’s Quail Hollow Championships….and doesn’t have their name on anything.
AEG has a wonderful track record of success both Downtown and in the naming rights game with STAPLES Center. It will be interesting to see if they repeat the magic or if Roski’s dream is finally realized.

Relevant Sports Business & Sports Ticket Management Links Of The Week:

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