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.

 The Supreme Court gets ready to hear the case of American Needle vs. The NFL. The ripple affect on sports will be dynamic as, if successful, the NFL will gain status as a single entity and be able to use monopolistic power. The league can eliminate competition and begin setting ticket prices across the board. Drew Brees created a stir by responding to the case in an article written for the Washington Post:

• The National Football League‘s appearance before the Supreme Court this week is shaping up as a legal Super Bowl that could affect the cost of Pittsburgh Steelers caps, Green Bay Packers jackets and possibly even stadium tickets and player salaries.

  As other major sports leagues watch closely, the court will hear an appeal Wednesday by a suburban Chicago clothing manufacturer that lost a contract to make caps with NFL logos when the 32-team league signed an exclusive contract with Reebok. Read More….

The New York Jets are enjoying a bump in Personal Seat License Sales with their playoff success. Corporate dollars historically have flocked to a winning team, and with good cause as a winning team that’s in demand is a crucial piece driving ROI on sports tickets. The real importance is the due diligence firms do when signing these deals. Is the ROI there? Do they have proper use for these tickets and suites or is it just the whim of an executive that may not even be there in a year or two? Is there a system, like Spotlight, in place to assure ROI?

• The New York Jets have seen an increase in sales of seat licenses to their new stadium after a run to the National Football League playoffs combined with an improving corporate economy.The Jets and Giants are opening a shared $1.6 billion stadium next season in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and paid part of the cost by selling personal seat licenses, or PSLs, which grant holders the right to buy season tickets. Read More….

The Wall St. Journal went shopping for some Super Bowl tickets on the secondary market, an article angle done by a major publication each year, and shares the findings. The Super Bowl market continues to grow more and more into a commodities market as information is becoming readily available for the customer. The article compares two brokers with Ticketmaster and Ebay, however the writers dont realize that the brokers share the same inventory of tickets and are speculating on the pricing of said tickets.

• Not so long ago, football fans looking to buy a Super Bowl ticket turned to scalpers, ahem, ticket brokers, who sometimes skirted the law or traded in counterfeits and fraud. Stories abounded of fans paying thousands of dollars only to find the seller couldn’t deliver on that “guaranteed” seat. Talk about a quarterback sneak.But these days, the broker biz has gone increasingly legit—with most states legalizing second-hand ticket sales and regulating terms and pricing. In fact, it’s become a big-time corporate enterprise. California-based Ticketmaster has a National Football League-sanctioned exchange (or resale) program that partners with licensed brokers and individual ticket-holders to sell seats for games during the season and postseason. Individual ticket brokers are upping their efforts, too. Select A Ticket, a New Jersey-based company, even sent out a Super Bowl-timed mailing to Florida customers. And Web sites like eBay and Craigslist have also become popular sources for buyers and sellers alike. Read More…

Relevant Sports Business & Sports Sponsorship Tweets of the week

• darrenrovell1 Clijsters re-signs with Fila http://bit.ly/8epB4X
• NFLprguy i’m lovin’ it. McDonald’s inked deal to become title sponsor of the Pro Bowl. will have 6 spots on ESPN in game Jan. 31, week b4 Super Bowl
• TechCrunch UFC Vows To Go After Pirates No Matter The Cost http://tcrn.ch/54kLuw by @nicholasadeleon
• js_bizofsports My take on the American Needle case. http://bit.ly/5JiQ57
• SBJSBD USA Bid Committee today announcing 18 cities inc. in bid to host the ’18 or ’22 FIFA World Cup. http://tinyurl.com/ykdcg44
• darrenrovell1 UFC sells stake to Abu Dhabi group http://bit.ly/8bzNq1
• SBJSBD Papa John’s signs short-term NFL deal making it ‘official pizza sponsor’ of Super Bowl XLIV. Media plans could inc. spot in the game.
• SBJSBD U.S. committee names 18 cities that could host matches for ’18 or ’22 FIFA World Cup bid. http://tinyurl.com/ydosy3w