Sports Business & Sports Ticket Management Links: Week Ending 1/9/10
CEG’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.
The NFL begins a historic case in front of the Supreme Court where they will make the argument that, thought teams and franchises compete on the field, they operate as a single entity. Though overlooked by the casual fan, the case has enormous effect on the business operations of the NFL as it exempts the owners from Antitrust law.
- The NFL players, like football fans everywhere, will be focused on the playoffs this month and the fierce competition for a spot in the Super Bowl. Their lawyers, however, will be keeping an eye on the Supreme Court.On Jan. 13, the pro football owners will be asking the high court to rule for the first time that the NFL is shielded from antitrust laws because, while its teams compete on the playing field, they function in business as a “single entity.” Read More
No surprises here as Ann Killion details the risks in celebrity endorsements using Tiger Woods as an example. This is one of many arguments stating the same case over and over, pointing out the worst case scenario. None of these articles, however, discuss any tangible numbers as to how these endorsements perform when it comes to revenue. Firms engage in sports sponsorship to drive revenue.
- Under the cloak of New Year’s Eve, AT&T quietly dumped Tiger WoodsWhich makes sense. A man whose life has unraveled in large part because he didn’t know how to use his phone isn’t the ideal image for the world’s largest communications company. Tough to sell the joys of unlimited texting with an athlete whose entire world was undermined by those very messages. With the end of the last decade — a decade in which a man who swings a golf club became, in sequence, the first athlete to earn a billion dollars and the first billionaire athlete to derail his career by hitting a fire hydrant — we’re seeing a fundamental change in the corporate-athlete endorsement relationship. Read More
Naming rights sponsorships, as proven by the new Cowboys Stadium, continue to struggle as the New Meadowlands Stadium, home of the NFL’s Jets & Giants, will open without naming rights. Simply put: firms will invest when it returns business. Those avenues that dont have clear return are the first on the cutting room floor. The guantlet has been thrown down: show your customers a true and tangible return and they will return:
- What shall we call the new stadium that will house the Giants and the Jets? Without a naming-rights deal, it is New Meadowlands Stadium, a blah-yet-refreshing reminder of the era before names like Invesco, Reliant, Ford, Lucas Oil, Gillette, Qwest, FedEx and Heinz adorned #004276;”>N.F.L. homes.For the Giants and the Jets, finding a naming-rights buyer for the new stadium will take time. If they planned to dedicate revenue from such a deal to help pay their construction debt, they will have to use money from other sources…Read More
The Guardian details what business will be like for the PGA in a world without Tiger Woods. Safe to say, the PGA stands to lose crossover appeal, ratings, and massive mainstream sponsorships. CEG Advisory Board leader David Carter is quoted:
- The 2010 PGA Tour season begins on the Hawaiian island of Maui tomorrow and the only guarantees are the television pictures will be spectacular and the private life of Tiger Woods will scarcely merit a mention. As much as the world outside professional golf continues to obsess about the public disgrace of the world’s No1 player, the world of professional golf itself would have us believe that Woods’s personal travails, and his indefinite leave of absence, is unfortunate but hardly a fatal blow to the sport he has dominated for more than a decade.”There were two other times in the last three years where he [Woods] took a prolonged leave of absence and on both occasions we came through it very well,” says Ty Votaw, a PGA Tour spokesman….Read More
Forbes details the most lucrative Arenas & Stadiums in sports- pointing to the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles as #1. STAPLES Center boasts 160 luxury suites, however the economic downturn is not lost on STAPLES with sagging luxury suite sales.
- The Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees each spent more than a billion dollars to open swanky new stadiums in the midst of a recession. Call them greedy and ostentatious if you want, but don’t call them stupid.With high ticket prices and luxury boxes galore, the most valuable NFL and MLB teams not only rake in the most revenue in their respective leagues, their new stadiums are the only outdoor venues that rank among North America’s top 10 in revenue per seat. That distinction has typically been the sole preserve of hockey-basketball arenas, where smaller capacities make it easier to squeeze more money from each seat–not to mention an NFL team’s limitations of playing only eight regular season home games a year. Read More
LeBron James who has lost two major sponsors in the past year, has finally signed a deal with McDonald’s. James will appear in a McDonald’s Super Bowl commercial this year and has been rumored to be in talks with McDonald’s for years. McDonald’s is a very active sponsor showing responsibility in ticket management.
- Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that LeBron James and McDonald’s teamed up to film a Super Bowl ad that includes Larry Bird and Dwight Howard. James and McDonald’s have been in talks about a deal for several years and it looks like it finally happened despite the lousy environment for sports sponsorship deals. It is the first new sponsor in the James’ portfolio since he signed with State Farm Insurance at the beginning of 2008. The deal which is likely worth $3-4 million annually replaces the income for two James’ endorsement deals that expired over the past 15 months: Microsoft and Cub Cadet. Read More
- darrenrovell1 Full statement by EA Sports Prez Peter Moore on Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online game continuing http://bit.ly/8QG508
- mcuban today is my 10yr anniversary of buying the Mavs.. seems like it was only.. 10 yrs ago. But I have loved every minute of it. #Incredible #fb
- SBJSBD ESPN to launch 3D network in June with World Cup soccer match. http://bit.ly/54pUo2
- darrenrovell1 Breaking news: EA’s Peter Moore says company will still use Tiger’s name in game
- ESPN_NOW ESPN to launch 3D network in June — http://bit.ly/8eeRJ4
- js_bizofsports I like Mark Cuban. But his rant on the NFL skedding a playoff game opposite a Mavs game is wrong. NFL rules this time of year. Deal with it.
- js_bizofsports Allianz, a life insurance company, is sponsoring golfer Steve Stricker. It doesn’t get much safer than that in a difficult economy.
- SBJSBD The PGA Tour is looking for a second major sponsor for the SBS Championship in Hawaii. http://tinyurl.com/ycuxvzu
