Next Level Sports Marketing

Former Denver Bronco all-pro linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, founder of the REACH Foundation, is hosting a Texas hold’em poker tournament to benefit the Denver Public Library Elementary School Reading Program tonight from 6-11 at Comedy Works in Landmark Village, located at 5345 Landmark Place. Full table (seats 10) sponsorships cost $1,000, half table sponsorships cost $600 and single player entries cost $150. Non-players are also welcome. A silent auction and raffles will be held throughout the evening. Interested players can e-mail jpanning@karlmecklenburg.net or call 303-881-8957.

Westwood One has picked Steve Harrison for the newly created post of VP/Director of Sports Sales & Marketing. He arrives from International Speedway Corp., where he’s been Sr. Director/Partnership Marketing and earlier served as VP of ISC’s MRN Radio, working with more than 700 affiliate stations.

“It is our pleasure to welcome Steve Harrison to Westwood One,” said WW1 network division President Gary Schonfeld. “Steve brings to our company his vast experience in both radio and sports sales, as well as marketing background working with major sports leagues, teams, and facilities. His knowledge base and creativity will add an important dimension to our ongoing success.”

Harrison will be reporting to SVP/Sales Susan Love, who said, “I am looking forward to working closely with Steve to enhance the advertiser value of Westwood One’s huge sports brands like the NFL and NCAA, as well as to create new opportunities and expand the company’s sports offerings.”

Harrison starts at Westwood One on Monday.

InBev, the Belgian company that bought Anheuser-Busch last fall, has cut jobs, revamped the compensation system, dropped longstanding perks for managers and told vendors that it wants to take up to 120 days to pay bills, David Kesmodel and Suzanne Vranica report. It also has begun making drastic changes in its relationships with ad agencies, sports teams and TV companies.

Relying on research commissioned before the merger, new management believes changing demographics and media habits no longer require spending as much on mainstream sports events watched most heavily by men aged 21 to 40. It recently told NBC it will spend about 50% less on its coming Olympic ad package, and a source says it won’t seek to be the exclusive beer advertiser.

It also has dropped ad agencies responsible for some of its best-known past ads, including Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and is reducing the number of new ads created per year to 50 or 60 from about 100, say two people familiar with the matter. A-B InBev also has cut fees for some agencies that it’s still using, according to people familiar with the matter, and is moving toward a model in which the agencies are paid by the project.

Sports radio stations working with mobile marketing leader HipCricket have increased cumulative audience (cume) and time spent listening, built robust remarketable databases and consistently recorded the most text messaging activity among HipCricket’s hundreds of stations.

By nature a highly interactive medium—first with call-in programs and later with e-mail and Web sites—sports radio has always embraced media that allows it to interact with fans. Now, stations are increasing that connection to their listeners through an on-air window that gives fans unmatched access to show hosts, and while the radio is off – through mobile alerts and information delivered to an opt-in audience.

HipCricket’s list of sports stations reads like a Who’s Who – The Ticket Dallas, WEEI-AM Boston, KJR Seattle, KESN-AM Dallas, KTKR-AM San Antonio and ESPN Seattle. Syndicated sports radio host Jim Rome is also a client.

Prior to HipCricket, The Ticket was signing up an average of 75 new listeners per month to its VIP database. In the first two months of working with HipCricket, the station opted in 2,615 new members. Also, The Ticket sent a text push to its entire database encouraging listeners to tune in for a major announcement. Portable People Meter (PPM) data showed that the station’s cume doubled in each of the three quarter hours that the Cowboys’ programming push messages were sent to the station’s text club.

“In a PPM world, getting as many listeners as possible to all tune in at the same time is critical,” said Jeff Catlin, program director, The Ticket. “The answer is push text messaging for breaking news. On October 14, 2008 in Dallas Fort Worth there were three breaking sports stories in one day and we sent text message alerts to our database for each one. In each instance, our cume spiked in the quarter hour immediately after the text message was sent. Tune ins equal cume, time spent listening and higher AQH (average quarter hour) shares.”

KJR-AM Seattle was one of HipCricket’s first clients and remains one of the company’s most successful. The station has effectively built loyalty clubs that have spawned sponsorship opportunities for brands looking to tap into the ongoing engagement between KJR and its listeners.

“Text messaging has strengthened our bond with our listeners,” said Gus Swanson, who oversees KJR-AM in his role as Clear Channel Seattle marketing director. “The most powerful part of our relationship with HipCricket is that when our team or I have an off the wall idea and say ‘What If we tried this’, they embrace the concept as a way to make the entire system better. The result delivers more impact for our stations, our listeners and our clients.”

“While many perceive teens as the most fervent texters, we consistently see the most activity from our sports stations’ listeners,” said Ivan Braiker, CEO of HipCricket. “Broadcasters and brands that are embracing the power of mobile are engaging their audience and bringing further value to their opted-in listeners. Moreover, they’re generating additional revenue at a minimal cost – a win-win in today’s rough broadcasting economic climate.”

McFarlane Toys kicks off a major event in the world of sports action figures. In response to fan demand, the company’s new 2009 College Football line will spotlight current NFL players in their college uniforms.

The 2009 College Football line marks the first time college sports have been commemorated in McFarlane Sports Picks™ action figures, and McFarlane is banking on fans’ fierce loyalty to college teams coupled with devotion to favorite players.

McFarlane Toys has worked through The Collegiate Licensing Company, an IMG company, to license its 2009 College Football line, which will feature 6-inch scale figures of six pro football superstars in their school’s home uniform, including:

Tom Brady – The University of Michigan Wolverines

Ray Lewis – University of Miami Hurricanes

Peyton Manning – University of Tennessee Volunteers

Adrian Peterson – The University of Oklahoma Sooners

Hines Ward – University of Georgia Bulldogs

JaMarcus Russell – Louisiana State University Tigers

The line will feature the incredible detail, signature poses, and picture-perfect facial likenesses that McFarlane Toys is famous for with sports fans and collectors.

“Sports fans have been asking us for years to pay tribute to the college teams of the top professional athletes by commemorating them in their college uniforms,” said Todd McFarlane, founder of McFarlane Toys. “By partnering with the CLC and the colleges, we are now able to bring a new dimension to our Sports Picks’ brand. We are designing a unique player-centric collegiate product that is different from anything else on the market.

“McFarlane Toys has created a unique new product that will take fan loyalty to the next level,” said David Kirkpatrick, CLC’s Vice President of Non-Apparel Marketing. “With high-quality action figures featuring current football professionals in their respective college uniforms, we believe the McFarlane line will be greatly received by college sports fans around the nation.”

McFarlane Toys’ 2009 College Football is scheduled to be in stores August 2009. For complete details, visit www.McFarlane.com

TapouT, the premier mixed-martial arts apparel, gear and lifestyle brand, announced today a licensing agreement with Champion Nutrition to offer sports enthusiasts TapouT Sports Nutrition products. Under this relationship, Champion Nutrition will design, distribute and market the Tapout Sports Nutrition brand to all retailers in the United States and abroad. TapouT Sports Nutrition products will be available in mass-market retailers beginning this summer.

“TapouT is thrilled to be working with Champion Nutrition to offer our fans, fighters and every athlete premium sports nutrition products that will let them train harder and reach their goals,” said Punkass, TapouT Co-CEO and Co-Founder. “TapouT is about expressing your passion and attitude, and whether it’s through our clothing or nutritional products, we want our company to help take that emotion to the next level.”

TapouT Sports Nutrition products will feature premium sports supplements that will allow mixed-martial arts fighters, bodybuilders, and athletes-in-training to increase muscle size and strength. The products are competitively priced and engineered with research-tested ingredients, including highly absorbable forms of protein, creatine, hydration drink formulas and more, to deliver results for serious minded athletes and boost endurance for those pushing their physical limits.

“It’s an honor to develop a line of sports nutrition products under the TapouT name,” said Mark Post, President of Champion Nutrition. “Champion Nutrition has been developing sports nutrition products for athletes and champions in all sports for over 26 years. We look forward to working with TapouT to introduce our nutritional performance expertise to the mixed-martial arts community and all TapouT fans around the world.”

“TapouT has built a stellar reputation by supporting mixed-martial arts fighters in every facet of their career,” says TapouT Co-CEO and President Marc Kreiner. “We’re excited to team with Champion Nutrition to expand our support for these athletes by providing the supplements they need to maintain their training and take their game to the next level.”

IMG Worldwide announced today that David Abrutyn has been named Managing Director, Senior Vice President and Head of IMG Global Consulting, reporting to George Pyne, President of IMG’s Sports and Entertainment business.

Abrutyn, a ten year veteran of IMG, was Senior Vice President of IMG’s U.S. Consulting business. He replaces Andy Pierce who has left the company.

“David has been a driving force behind the rise of IMG Consulting to the No. 1 consulting business in the world today,” said George Pyne. “I am very pleased to have him in this important leadership role as head of one of IMG’s core businesses. I am sure he will bring a creative and innovative approach to this business that will ensure its industry leading position for years to come.”

Abrutyn joined IMG in 1999 and has more than 16 years of industry experience. He has worked with several Fortune 500 companies in development and implementation of sports & entertainment marketing strategies. He has worked with all IMG’s consulting business in North America as well as practices in Olympic Consulting, Enterprise Consulting and Tourism.

While at IMG, Abrutyn has managed client business for 24 Hour Fitness, AT&T Broadband/Comcast, Churchill Downs, DHL, Harrah’s Entertainment/World Series of Poker, Philips Royal Bank of Scotland, Starwood and Verizon. In this capacity, he has worked on initiatives for clients with teams and league offices of the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, NCAA, Olympics, and FIFA. He has also secured major music sponsorships and negotiated branded entertainment placements in network television and feature films for his clients. In 2008, Abrutyn was named one of Sports Business Journals ‘Forty Under 40,’ which recognizes executives who have made significant contributions to the sports business industry.

Prior to IMG Consulting, Abrutyn worked in corporate marketing at the NHL where he managed relationships with major sponsors. Before joining the NHL, he was Associate Publisher & Director of Marketing of The Sports Business Daily from its launch in 1994 until 1997. Previous to The Daily, he worked in corporate sales and marketing for the Washington Capitals.

Abrutyn is a graduate of University of Hartford Barney School of Business.

In addition, Tom Worcester, IMG’s Managing Director and Senior Vice President, North American Business Development, who previously reported to Andy Pierce, will also now report directly to George Pyne.

Another NFL draft has — mercifully — come to an end. Even better, the endless run-up to another NFL draft is over.

Let’s review what we’ve really and truly learned: almost nothing.

You see, for all the expert analysis of the draft before, during and after, no one really knows who did well and who didn’t do well. Name someone who told us that the New England Patriots had taken one of the all-time great quarterbacks in the sixth round 10 years ago. Five years ago, you could hear the moans from here to San Diego when New York Giants general manager gave away about half his team in order to get Eli Manning.

The list of bad picks in the first round and great picks in the sixth and seventh rounds — not to mention stars who were undrafted free agents — is endless. Even the smartest teams make mistakes. The league’s defensive MVP in 2008 was cut in 2004 by the Baltimore Ravens, a team that would be on anyone’s list of the five best organizations in football.

So here’s what we really learn on draft weekend: No one in the history of sports has ever marketed itself as well as the NFL. It has been 30 years since the NFL and ESPN decided to make the draft into a TV show, and what is most remarkable about it is that as god-awful as that show is, millions sit transfixed by it for most of two days.

This year, the NFL, which has always played the patriot card with the best of them, augmented Saturday’s broadcast with a tribute to the armed services. Leave it to the NFL to be the one entity on earth that finds a way to get Jets and Giants fans to cheer — or, more accurately not boo — the same thing in the same place at the same time.

Of course ESPN deserves a good deal of credit — or is it blame? — for all this. Not only does the network televise the draft and treat it as if it is considerably more important than a national election (those only come every four years), it endlessly hypes the draft for weeks and weeks before it happens. On one ESPN radio show on Friday morning, listeners were breathlessly informed that Todd McShay — aka Mel Kiper Jr. lite — would be back in an hour with an update.

An update of what? Mel’s mock draft? News about new rankings of the top 10 left tackles? An update? Yup, that’s the way this works: We now get updates on what the experts are speculating on from hour to hour.

Meantime, the Washington Capitals were in the process of turning their first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers completely around — no way do the Caps lose game seven on Tuesday night. But the names most mentioned in this area weren’t Alexander Ovechkin or even Simeon Varlamov, but Mark Sanchez and Brian Orakpo.

Ovechkin and Varlamov are real right now, young stars who have a chance to do something special over the next few weeks and years. Sanchez may or may not turn out to be an important player for the New York Jets. Maybe he’ll be Peyton or Eli Manning or maybe he’ll just be Chad Pennington, whom the Jets surely wish they still had around. Then again, he could be Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith or Joey Harrington — all disastrous top-five picks.

Orakpo’s future is unsure, too — although pass-rushing linebackers are usually more of a sure thing in the first round than quarterbacks. The consensus is that the Redskins got lucky when the Jets outbid them in order move up to the No. 5 pick and take Sanchez. Orakpo should improve the weakest part of an already good defense. And the Dan Snyder-Vinny Cerrato notion that the team’s Achilles heel is at quarterback will likely be proven untrue by Jason Campbell.

Campbell is a solid young quarterback. He’s certainly not Tom Brady, or for that matter either Manning or Philip Rivers. But if you give him a reasonably good offensive line — an area once again ignored by the Redskins in the draft — and someone to throw the ball to, he’s good enough to win.

Exactly where, how or why Snyder and Cerrato got it into their heads that Sanchez was the cure-all for their team’s mediocrity is a mystery, just as where, how or why they decided that using their first three picks on receivers a year ago (or any pick on a punter) was a good idea is a mystery.

Even so, it is their good fortune that fixing the team’s relationship with Campbell shouldn’t be all that difficult. He is not the spoiled, whiny brat that Jay Cutler is by any stretch. He has a good relationship with Coach Jim Zorn. All Zorn has to do is sit him down and say, “Look Jason, the Sanchez thing wasn’t my idea, it was the football know-nothing owner and his comical sidekick’s idea. I believe in you and so do your teammates.”

That should do it. The teammates will rally around Campbell because they want to win. The second the Redskins win a game this fall — or perhaps as soon as he completes a pass in mini-camp — Campbell will say he never really wanted to leave and Snyder and Cerrato will start a whispering campaign saying the whole Sanchez thing was a media fantasy.

In the meantime, there is no way of knowing if any of the players chosen after Orakpo will be contributors. Drafting in the first round is an inexact science, but it is a lot less inexact than drafting in the late rounds. The teams that are consistent playoff contenders are the ones that make hay with late-round picks and undrafted free agents. Almost everyone will hit on a certain percentage of their first-round picks.

Of course the Redskins didn’t have very many late-round picks this year, since they had only six picks overall. A year ago, with 10 picks — none in the first round — they pretty much bombed. The mantra now is, “We won’t know about that draft for another couple of years.”

There’s actually some truth to that, which is why it’s so silly to hear the experts tells us instantly about whether a pick was a good one or a bad one or to read the “grades” teams are assigned at the end of the draft. The Washington Post’s Mark Maske gave the Redskins a B and the Giants a C-. The Sporting News swapped those grades.

Of course the NFL could care less whose grades are right or which teams really got better. All it knows is that it is April and, even though the hockey and basketball playoffs are in full swing, major league baseball is well underway and the Masters has just ended, the most talked-about and written-about story is the NFL draft.

The story that best sums up this town’s obsession with its football team and the draft dates from 31 years ago — the last year before the draft became Must-Miss TV.

It was draft day and a very important Washington Post editor marched back to the sports department and shouted to his sports editor, “Hey George, who’d we get?”

A wise-guy kid reporter turned to the editor and said, “Gee, I didn’t realize The Post had a pick in the NFL draft.”

To which the editor responded succinctly, “Listen kid, you don’t like the Redskins, you can do one of two things: Leave town right now or shut the hell up.”

The kid didn’t leave town. Maybe someday — if everyone else gets lucky — he will shut the hell up.

Mark Sanchez’s Hispanic heritage may boost his sponsorship opportunities should he succeed as quarterback of the New York Jets.

Sanchez, 22, is the first quarterback selected by the Jets with a top-5 pick since Joe Namath in the 1965 American Football League draft. As a rookie, he will challenge for the most high- profile position on a team in the nation’s biggest media market.

Sports marketing analysts said that on top of that appeal for potential sponsors, Sanchez joins All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez as one of the most recognizable Hispanic players in the National Football League, which has sought to increase its fan base among the largest minority group in the U.S.

“The Hispanic market is such a desirable market for the major brands that are involved in the NFL,” said Jan Katzoff, executive vice president for sports and entertainment for the Radiate Group in San Francisco. “A young player with a Hispanic background would resonate very well with that marketplace.”

If Sanchez has a successful first year with the Jets, he might make between $5 million and $10 million in endorsements in 2010, said Katzoff, whose Radiate Group is a unit of Omnicom Group Inc., the world’s largest owner of advertising agencies.

“What makes you stand out from the crowd and make more money like stars such as Peyton Manning is having something beyond football to offer,” said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “Everyone is searching for a source of differentiation.”

Quarterbacks

Manning, a three-time NFL Most Valuable Player with the Indianapolis Colts, is the league’s most marketable player and has done commercials for companies such as Sprint Nextel Corp., Sony Corp. and MasterCard Inc.

Among the NFL’s other top pitchmen are fellow quarterbacks Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Eli Manning of the New York Giants, both of whom also won Super Bowl titles, and Sanchez’s predecessor with the Jets, three-time NFL MVP Brett Favre, who retired from football after last season.

“It’s all about what goes on on the field, as with the others in New York,” Steve Rosner, co-founder of 16W Marketing LLC, said in a telephone interview. “That started with Joe Namath, continued with Phil Simms (of the Giants) and now with Eli. These opportunities will present themselves naturally if he proves himself.”

Namath is the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl title with the Jets and “Broadway Joe” was a television pitchman for products ranging from shaving cream to pantyhose.

Experience

Sanchez, who started one full season at the University of Southern California, will compete with fourth-year quarterback Kellen Clemens for the Jets’ starting job. Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum said Sanchez’s experience at USC, which is 88-15 and won two national championships since 2001, has prepared him for the demands of playing in New York.

Sanchez said yesterday that he’s excited about making the transition from Los Angeles to New York.

“At USC, they put a lot of emphasis on the quarterback with Heisman trophy winners, All-Americans and national champions,” said Sanchez, whose 34 touchdowns for the Trojans last season ranked second in school history. “They want results, just like the fans here, just like the press here. That’s what I’m prepared to work for.”

Sanchez and Sprint

Leading up to the draft, Sanchez worked as a spokesman for Sprint, the NFL’s official wireless telecommunications service provider. Since 2005 the company has used two college players as part of its NFL draft promotions and this year chose Sanchez and University of Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford, the first overall pick of the Detroit Lions.

Sprint spokesman Dave Mellin said heritage factored in the decision to align with Sanchez, who follows fellow Trojan quarterbacks such as Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Matt Cassel in the NFL.

“He was going to be a top-10 pick, he was a quarterback at USC, he’s a good-looking kid, he’s very charismatic, he’s a leader, he’s got all those intangible things,” Mellin said by telephone. “But the fact that he’s a Mexican-American made a big difference for us. We’re always trying to find ways to reach out to the Latino community and we felt Mark would do a great job to help us accomplish that.”

Mellin said Sprint is considering an extended partnership with Sanchez, who also had a sponsorship agreement with PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade before the draft.

Football Family

Sanchez’s great-grandfather came to the U.S. from Mexico and was among those displaced from the Chavez Ravine area in Los Angeles when Dodger Stadium was built. His father played quarterback at East Los Angeles College and his older brother Nick was Yale University’s signal-caller from 1992-94.

The NFL, which has more than $7 billion in annual revenue, played a regular-season game in Mexico City in 2005 and has reached deals with Spanish-language broadcasters in an attempt to lure Hispanic viewers.

The Hispanic market has a projected buying power of $1.1 trillion this year, according to a study by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. That may benefit Sanchez during a recession where companies are looking more closely at their marketing spend.

“Being Hispanic, there’s a strong desire by the league to reach that market,” added Swangard of Warsaw Sports . “Mark may be able to benefit from that.”

Pi Sigma Epsilon, a sales and marketing fraternity at Purdue, will host a fundraiser from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. today at Ross-Ade Stadium’s north parking lot.

Mullen Towing donated a car for Pi Sigma Epsilon to use for the car smash fundraising event, which will benefit the Red Cross.

Former Lafayette Jeff and Purdue football star Dustin Keller will be on hand greeting fans and signing autographs. Keller also will be the grand marshal of the 52nd annual Purdue Grand Prix, which begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Northwest Athletic Complex.