Sports Business & Sports Ticket Management Links: Week Ending 2/6/10

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.

Forbes details the effect the recession has had on Major League Baseball’s free agent class citing that a drop off in revenue from ticket sales and sponsorships has closed the pocketbooks of Baseball’s owners. For too long sponsors threw names on anything they could with little or no accountability to who was going and why. With reasons like “well I was there so I know who went”, there is no question why these sponsorships fell by the wayside. Teams are beggining to provide the tools necessary to monetize their sponsorships. CEG Advisory Board leader David Carter is featured in the piece.

• As baseball’s off-season hits the home stretch, World Series hero Johnny Damon sits at home and waits to see where he’ll be playing next season. So does Orlando Hudson. And so do John Garland and Jermaine Dye.Unwanted? No, they’re just four of this year’s talented crop of free agents that seem to have misread the baseball market’s new reality. In the wake of recession, Major League owners aren’t showing players the money like they have in seasons past. Spending was cautious last year, with dozens of players unsigned well into January. But with a full year to digest the uncertain economy, the cash spigot is frozen. Owners face another season of falling ticket prices and group specials to keep turnstiles spinning and glad-handing to reassure uncertain sponsors. “Looking out at the horizon, teams are looking at their local sponsorship deals expiring over the next two or three years,” says industry consultant David Carter of the Sports Business Group. Until owners get a sense of what renewals will look like, payrolls will suffer. Read More…

Chicago Sun-Time chimes in on the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and the effect the new Live Nation Entertainment will have on the concert industry. Ticketmaster-Livenation will control information with the merger which creates plenty of positives and negatives for the corporate buyer. Perhaps most interesting will be the actions of AEG, Ticketmaster’s now former biggest client that will either create their own ticketing arm or sign with a competing primary offering such as the up and coming Veritix or the now stand-alone-once-again Paciolan.

• After a year of quiet deliberations behind closed doors while everyone from angry congressmen to consumer advocates to Bruce Springsteen shouted in opposition outside, the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday gave its blessing to the merger of two of the most controversial companies in the music industry: giant national concert promoters Live Nation and monopolistic ticket brokers Ticketmaster.The ruling cleared the way for the creation of a new company called Live Nation Entertainment that will own more than 140 concert venues worldwide and sell 140 million tickets to 22,000 concerts annually. It will dominate every aspect of the live music industry, setting prices while promoting shows from small clubs to giant arenas, selling the tickets, concessions and merchandise and managing the performers. Read More…

The Saints- Colts Super Bowl may be the last feel good game for a number of years as a labor strife continues to grow between the NFL and it’s players. Sports sponsors are already beggining to grow leery of extended deals as the chances of the 2011 season happening continue to dissipate. Sponsors need feel good stories to associate their brands to and games to showcase these partnerships. It’s simple, without games they will be no effectiveness to the deals. However, a long and nasty labor strife may hurt the value of sponsorships with the NFL for quite some time as seen with the 1994 MLB strike, 1998 NBA Lockout, and the continuing labor problems of the NHL.

• Next weekend’s Super Bowl in Miami will be the culmination of another prosperous season for the NFL, which proved once more that it is unchallenged as the country’s preeminent sport. The NFL thrived in an uncertain economy and produced its highest TV ratings in two decades.

  But while the league stages its reinvented Pro Bowl on Sunday night and the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts prepare to travel to South Florida on Monday, there are storm clouds gathering. The NFL’s 32 team owners and players union have made so little progress in their negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement that both are seemingly resigned that next season will be played without a salary cap, and the players expect to be locked out in 2011. Read More…

Forbes released it’s latest list ranking the top sports brands by athlete and, surprisingly, Tiger Woods remains at the top of the list. Due to his existing deals with EA, Nike, Procter & Gamble, and others, Woods continues to be the top gainer. The most valuable teams remain Manchester United & the New York Yankees. Spotlight partner Nike is listed as the #1 brand in the business category. Industry leaders choose Spotlight to manage tickets.

• The business magazine estimated in its second annual “Fab 40″ list that Woods still represents the top sports brand by athlete, with an estimated value of $82 million.It said Woods’ remaining sponsor deals with Nike Inc, Electronic Arts Inc and Procter & Gamble Co’s Gillette brand will allow him to remain the world’s highest paid athlete this year.Woods, who is taking an indefinite break from professional golf, has been in hiding since admitting in December that he had cheated on his wife.His total was larger than that of the next five athletes combined, according to Forbes. Soccer star David Beckham ($20 million), tennis player Roger Federer ($16 million), NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. ($14 million) and National Basketball Association stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant ($13 million and $12 million, respectively) rounded out the top six. Read More or Read the Forbes piece…

Super Bowl parties have not yet rebounded from the global economic collapse and the proof is evident in South Florida this weekend. There are a number of reasons given as to why these parties are starting to fall by the wayside however the true reason is transparency. Firms that cannot justify the expense and the return that comes from taking out clients will not be able to spend any successfull company’s money. Successful firms will demand true and uniform tracking of all tickets and assets

• The Super Bowl is the nation’s biggest sporting event, but for many here this week, it’s also the glitziest and priciest party of the year.  The celebration in South Florida – massive though it is – still is not projected to be what it once was. Anecdotally, it appears the scale of the Super Bowl party scene hasn’t fully recovered from the recession. There is no master list of events, so it’s difficult to make quantitative comparisons. North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee officials are observing the party scene this week and hoping for an upturn next year. Kit Sawers, vice president of special events for the North Texas committee, said she’s hopeful the economy will strengthen in the year leading up to the Feb. 6, 2011, game in Arlington. Read More…

Relevant sports business & sports ticket management Tweets of the week:

• SBJSBD http://su.pr/2Qi580 … A list of the Super Bowl weekend parties. Leaves off the best: www.Tasteofthenfl.com…as well as maxim
• SBJSBD Secondary ticket market for Super Bowl up compared to last year. StubHub says average price is $2,575. http://su.pr/2UYYK5
• SBJSBD The NFLPA, in a war of rhetoric with NFL, reiterated claim that the league wants players to take 18% cut. http://su.pr/1kn49i
• darrenrovell1 Smart move by Sun Life: Buying ads w/ESPN & CBS. Ensures nets will respect new stadium name for Super Bowl.
• darrenrovell1 Olympic mktg rule doesnt apply for summer olympians, so phelps can still swim to vancouver 4 subway!
• SBJSBD BMW Oracle Racing signs JP Morgan to deal as official private bank on eve of America’s Cup. http://su.pr/9FDNDK
• SBJSBD New Jersey Nets are nearing a deal with the Devils to play in the Prudential Center for the next two seasons http://su.pr/32eUeF
• SBJSBD Las Vegas Motor Speedway adds Bud, Miller, Dodge and O’Reilly Auto Parts as sponsors for 3 years. http://su.pr/2dLvyy
• darrenrovell1 Callaway Golf is a presenting sponsor for a half hour (5-5:30 EST) of the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday
• js_bizofsports GMR Marketing, a player in the brand marketing biz, has acquired Experience, a German firm. http://su.pr/1E6LG3