NBA’s necessary 75-mile rule limits social media effectiveness for teams

25Jan10

The speed that social media has grown and the power it gives to NBA team marketing opportunities is as exciting as a LeBron James fast-break dunk. But, the NBA’s 75-mile radius marketing rule is as limiting to these new sponsorship outlets as Bill Russell in the paint.

The NBA blocks the integration of team sponsorship deals with social media to prevent official NBA sponsorships from being diluted. Waiving the 75-mile rule would allow for team sponsors to reach a much greater audience while increasing the chance of being perceived as an official NBA sponsorship. The NBA is trying to avoid such confusion to protect league sponsors, which is why social media sponsorship sales to team sponsors are prohibited.

The league’s digital assets will be up for discussion during the Jan. 28-29 digital marketing summit in Atlanta with hopes of expanding upon early social media success. The inaugural summit will look for solutions to the problem social media presents to the 75-mile rule and ways to increase profitability of the NBA and teams’ online marketing.

With about 15 teams generating $1 million in revenue from their websites, the search for ways to enhance the online offerings to sponsors and digital experience for fans is on. The interactive platform and accurate targeted consumer analytics (such as unique views, average time on page, purchase after clicks, purchase %, $ index) that social media offers give teams and sponsors the ability to target the most appropriate and relevant consumers.

Facebook currently offers filters for ads to target the right consumer, but it relies on registered location of the user, rather than the actual current location. At this point in time, waiving the 75-mile rule doesn’t make sense for the league and its official sponsors. Though, including ISP address locations to change the online experience of the user depending on his or her location could work to fix this issue. Users accessing the site within the 75-mile radius could see the team’s partner brand, while accessing the site outside of the zone would provide the user with official league brands.

While the NBA may not waive the 75-mile rule in the near future, the upcoming marketing summit will lay the groundwork for the future of NBA and team sponsorships on the web.

Filed under: Corporate Sponsors, NBA, Social Media   |  1 Comment
Tags: 75-mile marketing rule, advertising, facebook, NBA, nba digital, Social Media, sponsorship, Twitter

Archie Manning is a marketing touchdown during Super Bowl

25Jan10

The head of the Manning family, Archie Manning, offers interesting marketing value to companies at the Super Bowl. He played for New Orleans and has his obvious ties to the Colts. There are many different ways his services could be utilized during the big game and the time surrounding it in Miami. It will take creative marketers to jump on this opportunity to receive full value. Follow the link to Darren Rovell’s story on the topic and Patrick McGee’s thoughts on the matter.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35061562

Filed under: Football, Marketing   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Archie Manning, CNBC, Darren Rovell, indianapolis colts, miami, New Orleans Saints, Peyton Manning, super bowl

NCAA Votes to Uphold Women’s Sand Volleyball as an Official Collegiate Sport in 2011

15Jan10

Today, the NCAA voted to uphold women’s sand volleyball as an official collegiate sport in 2011.  The sport was added to the NCAA’s list of emerging sports last spring.  Those that supported the initiative saw sand volleyball as a “cost-effective avenue for Title IX compliance.”  However, a number of schools raised protest leading to an override vote, which required two-thirds majority to scrap the sport.

The winning vote is especially encouraging because of the fact there is no revenue component to the sport.  Above that, expense can be high, and most schools will need to add costly competitive facilities in order to host matches.

The AVP is the immediate beneficiary of this decision, as there is currently no feeder league for professional women’s beach volleyball.  The development of a college program would significantly expand the tour’s talent pool.  Currently, NCAA indoor volleyball serves as the stepping-stone to the pros.  While most mainstream sports have a grassroots process, the AVP is forced to work in reverse due to lack of a foundation for the sport.  Ideally, this grassroots effort would provide play opportunities to juniors before they enter college.  The victory of this measure is a big step in the development of the AVP as a league, and the sport in general.

Filed under: College, Volleyball   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: NCAA, sand volleyball, title IX

Upstart ticketing company gives fans an option

07Jan10

Sports ticketing has taken a page out of Wall Street’s book of innovative ways to sell a product. The upstart technology company OptionIt Inc. offers fans the ability to purchase tickets to sporting events and concerts in a similar system to the stock and commodity options market.

The company has most recently struck a deal with the NHL’s Washington Capitals to use its service. OptionIt also has agreements with the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams, Boston Celtics, and San Jose Sharks.

The service works by allowing fans to pay to attain options to buy tickets, giving them the opportunity to purchase the ticket at face value or to sell the rights to the ticket at a later time. Fans lose the option fee if they are unable to resell the tickets to another user.

OptionIt splits the proceeds from the options and the fees charged to customers with the teams and performers involved with the service. The advantage of this deal is that events with high demand earn a greater margin than selling their tickets through Ticketmaster. It allows the market to dictate the price of the tickets, a value that teams and performers do not have the luxury of changing, but with OptionIt can now reap the benefits.

The Capitals released 5,300 tickets for the one season trial with OptionIt. The system will not work for all teams, though. If there isn’t enough demand to move tickets through the service, the teams won’t gain any revenue from the deal.

The interesting innovation provides added value for teams and performers if tickets are in high demand. OptionIt also provides smart fans access to a ticket without the obligation, as opposed to other secondary ticket seller StubHub, which generally only allows for fans to pay a premium to acquire a ticket during the season. OptionIt, though, won’t be featuring any baseball tickets due to the MLB’s agreement with StubHub.

If paired with the right events, OptionIt could catch on as the best and most flexible option for teams, entertainers, and fans alike.

Filed under: Tickets   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: baltimore ravens, Boston Celtics, buffalo bills, optionit, san jose sharks, St. Louis Rams, stubhub, ticketmaster, Tickets, washington capitals

ProVentures’ Weekly News Rundown:

07Jan10

from the week of Dec. 13-19

Sports: Cincinnati Bengal’s wide receiver Chris Henry passed away Thursday morning after sustaining fatal injuries that resulted from falling out of the back of a pickup truck following a domestic dispute with his fiancée. Henry was drafted in the third round by the Bengals in the 2005 NFL draft. He was arrested several times during his professional career for various offenses. Henry was 26.

Our Take: This is a sad end for a young man that teammates and people close to the situation had said turned the corner in his life. Henry seemed to have gotten his life on track. The tragic events cut short a life that held so much promise.

Entertainment: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen finally picked out a name for their son, 10 days after his birth. The first born for the couple will be known as Benjamin. According to Brady, Bundchen had a different name picked out two days before the birth, but opted to go with Benjamin after a week and a half of thought.

Our Take: The super couple picked an average name for their first born child. It sounds like the kid belongs in a bunch rather than the household of a star quarterback and model. Tom could have at least held off with the naming until after the season and used the rights to the first name as motivation for receiver Randy Moss. Then again, Randy Brady isn’t that captivating either.

Quote: “The race is basically a Cup race, some 30 odd drivers in Cup run in it. So, is that the right time for me to start or not? You only get one grand opening, so I’ve heard. We want it to be the right opportunity.” –Danica Patrick on entering NASCAR

Filed under: Weekly News Rundown   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: buffalo bills, chris henry, cincinatti bengals, danica patrick, frito lay, gisele bundchen, godaddy.com, kawika mitchell, NASCAR, pepsi, richie incognito, super bowl ads, Tom Brady, Twitter

ProVentures’ Weekly News Rundown:

15Dec09

Sports: Mark Ingram won the 75th Heisman Trophy award Saturday night in the closest race in the history of the award. The Alabama running back edged out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart by 28 points. Ingram is also the first player from the storied Alabama football program to win the Heisman. This year was the third straight that a sophomore collected the prestigious hardware.  Ingram joins Sam Bradford (2008) and Tim Tebow (2007) as the only other sophomore winners.

Our Take: Being awarded the Heisman Trophy is the culmination of a great season and years of hard work. Ingram played his best in big games this year for Alabama and deserved to win the award. He should be a high pick in the NFL draft when he decides to come out, but for now, Ingram and Alabama are focused on winning the national championship, then possibly another Heisman next season.

Entertainment: “Invictus” opened on Friday, retelling the story of how Nelson Mandela used sports to unite a nation. The film, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, will compete with is Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” (noted for featuring a black princess for the first time in Disney’s history) for the top box office spot.

Our Take: The story of how the 1995 South African Rugby team was used by Mandela to bring a nation together shows why sports is so powerful and so special. The events surrounding Mandela’s election and the Rugby World Cup are too remarkable to be fictionalized. This heartwarming story of how sports has the ability to break through difficult social barriers will have some success, but while the story surrounding the iconic figure Mandela and the star studded cast should attract people to the theaters, the topic of South African history and rugby will prevent the film from major success.

Quote: “He went for the money. I’m fairly disgusted with the situation, that they let it last this long.” –Cincinnati wide receiver Marshawn Gilyard on Brian Kelly.

Our Take: It was fairly naïve for Cincinnati’s players to believe that Kelly was going to stay when Notre Dame was knocking on the door, despite their former coach’s insistence that he would remain a Bearcat. Kelly has his work cut out for him as the Notre Dame brand is not as strong as it once was. While it is widely mentioned that he has the charisma to recruit players to South Bend, Kelly, an offensive-minded coach, is going to need to re-make the Irish defense into a force to be reckoned with, something Charlie Weis failed to do.

Oddity: When two unexpected entities come together, it can create a very successful marketing buzz. That is what USA Curling is trying to do with the release of a line of condoms displaying the sport’s “hurry hard” phrase as the product name. The product will be used to promote education and awareness for safe sex and HIV prevention.

Filed under: Weekly News Rundown   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Alabama, brian kelly, cincinatti, clint eastwood, condoms, curling, heisman trophy, invictus, march madness, mark ingram, marshawn gilyard, matt damon, morgan freeman, NCAA, notre dame, Olympics, rugby, sam bradford, tim tebow

3D TV offers interesting possibilities to sports

15Dec09

The future is right around the corner as the stadium, ballpark, or arena moves closer to fans’ living rooms—if they are prepared to look like a space-age Horace Grant.

Sony and Panasonic plan to open up the 3D TV marketplace to residential consumers beginning in 2010 with Mitsubishi and JVC close behind in releasing the technology. This move will mark the first major leap in the television market since the flat screen. Even the innovative sleek look and high-definition picture color and clarity can’t compare to the viewing experience that 3-dimensional sets will make available to consumers. The new technology may take a while to catch on full force, but according to one Panasonic executive, the 3D TV will be common in homes in five to 10 years and new technology that will provide 3D viewing without the glasses will be ready in 10 to 15 years.

Sports viewing stands to gain the most from these new 3D sets. Both the NBA and NFL have experimented with broadcasting 3D games in theaters. Most recently, Sony reached an agreement with the 2010 World Cup granting the electronics giant the right to record and broadcast 25 games from the tournament with live broadcasting rights still in negotiation.

While this development may mean the death of HD TV if 3D catches on, 3D offers a chance to save some sports and increase the popularity of others exponentially. Boxing could receive the biggest boost for the new technology. Soccer in America could also get the break it needs to increase viewership in the states. Both sports lend itself to the interactive, intense viewing that 3D offers and both sports desperately need a new innovation to garner greater interest in the sports.

The biggest downside to the new sets is the futuristic wraparound glasses required to view the 3D picture. Whereas Sony and Panasonic say the new equipment required for the television set itself will not add much cost over other comparable televisions currently available on the market, the glasses could range up to as much as $200. Sony has not set a price and is still determining whether or not to sell the glasses separately or bundle it with the TV.

Filed under: Technology, Television   |  1 Comment
Tags: 3D TV, NBA, NFL, panasonic, sony