Next Level Sports Marketing

With Efrain Escudero out with an injury the UFC went about finding a replacement to face Jeremy Stephens at Fight Night 18 on April 1st. It didn’t take long to find that fighter as MMAWeekly.com reports that Gleison Tibau has stepped up to face Stephens at the event. It will make for the same turnaround time for both fighters from the last time they faced action, as both were in action at Fight Night 17 last month.

Stephens came up short as a last minute replacement for Hermes Franca against Joe Lauzon, succumbing to the highly talented lightweight in the night’s main event. Tibau, on the other hand, was on the victorious side of things, submitting Rich Clementi in the first round.

Fight Night 18: Condit vs. Kampmann will serve as the live lead in to the ninth season debut of The Ultimate Fighter. The show airs live on Spike TV on April 1st.

Sports fans are always looking for more news, insider information and opportunities for trash talking about their favorite teams. Those with accounts on social messaging system Twitter.com are getting that kind of satisfaction literally at their fingertips.

In case you haven’t tried it, Twitter is akin to instant messaging, allowing users to send free short text messages known as “tweets” explaining what they are doing, seeing or thinking. The tweets are delivered instantly to users who are signed up to receive them, also referred to as “following” another user.

It’s an easy way to send and get scores from live events, news of player injuries and tips that a certain parking lot is full. But fans are also using it for other applications — from tracking instant ticket sales to last-minute promotions for sporting events and even free sports-related gifts.

Toby Srebnik, a sports fan from North Lauderdale, Fla., has used Twitter to give his more than 1,100 followers play-by-play commentary and weather updates from a college football game and to report on the visit of a hockey VIP to South Florida.

“Waiting for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Panthers (General Manager) Jacques Martin to arrive for open house meeting at BankAtlantic Center,” Srebnik wrote in one of his “tweets.” Another one Srebnik sent from his cell phone read: “Loving that NHL commissioner Bettman has a sense of humor; that, plus he is shorter than my dad.”

“It gave me the opportunity to be the sports announcer I always wanted to be,” said Srebnik, who works for a Boca Raton, Fla., public relations firm.

Teams, too, are embracing the new technology to drive ticket sales, announce promotions and offer news updates.

The Miami Dolphins [team stats] have a Twitter account to advertise ticket offers and make other announcements. The Miami Heat sell tickets, posts gameday reminders and hosts trivia contests on Twitter, through Facebook and via text message.

“It’s a 365/24/7 kind of world we’re living in these days, and we need to allow our fans to access the Heat when, where and how they want to access us,” Heat Executive Vice President Michael McCullough said. The idea is to deepen the connection fans already have with their teams, events and players and reach out to non-fans. John Sternal, a Plantation, Fla., marketing executive who has had an account since October, used Twitter to bet a couple of Chicago Blackhawks fans the Florida Panthers would beat Chicago in a game last month. When the Panthers lost, Sternal had to put the Blackhawks logo on his Twitter account the following day.

“I just got an avalanche of tweets. Not just Blackhawks fans, Detroit Red Wings fans and Dallas Stars fans,” Sternal said. “At one point, I thought ’Where are the Panthers fans coming to my rescue to back me up?’ Not even the team came to my rescue.”

It might soon. The Panthers are preparing to launch a Twitter account to complement their YouTube channel and Facebook pages.

“It’s possible to experiment and try all sorts of things,” said Lee Berke, a Scarsdale, N.Y., consultant helping the Panthers and other teams develop TV, online and cell phone communications strategies. With Twitter, “You can talk about whether the parking lot is full, you can do commentary during a game, you can create marketing events, say meet us at this location at 3 o’clock for a special player appearance,” Berke said.

Last month, golf’s PGA Tour kept fans on Twitter updated on Tiger Woods’ return from surgery and saw its followers nearly double to more than 1,200. The tour plans to tweet from this week’s PGA Tour event at Doral Golf Resort & Spa.

Scott Gutterman, executive producer of PGATour.com, said the tour recognized that making its Web site robust was important, but couldn’t be its sole Internet strategy.

“You want to reach out to people in other environments, who may not come to PGATour.com,” Gutterman said. “This is a great way to reach people in other ways.”

The Minnesota Timberwolves were so proud of themselves.

So pleased, that a press release wasn’t enough. A team representative followed with an e-mail alert, ensuring the earlier missive wouldn’t go unnoticed.

The T-Wolves were trumpeting their “No-Risk Pledge,” which goes like this: Any 2009-10 season-ticket buyer that loses his or her job this year can get a refund for unused tickets. The team also introduced a nine-month, no interest, no- additional-fee payment plan.

The club cited the economy for its largesse. Lots of teams are issuing press releases these days that include an acknowledgement of hard times.

One community. One team. So said the letter signed by the Timberwolves billionaire owner Glen Taylor.

It’s laughable.

I called Timberwolves Chief Marketing Officer Ted Johnson and asked why, if the Timberwolves care so much about their customers, wasn’t there an employment-protection plan years ago? You know, just in case someone needed help. It’s called value added. And while we’re at it, why no payment plan until now?

“It’s a great question,” he said.

After a brief silence, he resumed.

“The state of the economy has all businesses asking themselves questions that they may not have asked a year ago, entertaining options that they wouldn’t have entertained,” Johnson said.

What a Friend

You know what they say about a friend in need. Well, for the first time in a while it’s the teams that are needing. All of a sudden the concept of treating the customer fairly, offering value, seems like a good idea.

Leagues are cutting staff, even the mighty National Football League. So, too, are teams. Revenue is falling. The New York Yankees are struggling to sell the best seats in their new stadium. The New York Jets last week furloughed 60 employees without pay for two weeks.

Sadly, it took an economic calamity for most teams to make available the kinds of fan-friendly offerings that should have been standard practice long ago.

Let’s not forget the Jets once tried to charge fans an annual fee just for the right to remain on the season-ticket waiting list. The Washington Redskins had the gall to charge a fee to watch practice.

Talk about money for nothing.

City Pride

Every pro sports team claims to be a source of civic pride. And then they try to extract every last penny from the customers they’re supposed to represent.

Let’s not pretend these what-can-we-do-for-you ideas stem from altruism, no matter what the press releases say. They’re born of desperation.

“It says that most teams are reactive rather than proactive when it comes to understanding how their customers perceive their product,” says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, whose club, contrary to the core tenet of sports marketing, cut upper-tier seats prices in the years after the team reached the National Basketball Association Finals.

Cuban says he trimmed prices in preparation for the day when the Mavs stink. Fan loyalty, he says, is earned over time. Treat the customers right, offer them value, and they will come back. In good economic times and bad.

Let’s not pick on just the Timberwolves, who aren’t the only pro sports team resorting to gimmicks during a recession.

Sign of Relief

The Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are among the NFL teams that froze tickets prices. Froze, not lowered. The Bears made a big deal out of introducing an online payment option. What a relief, huh?

“During these tough economic times, we understand the difficult situation many of our fans are facing and feel it was the right thing to do,” said Tampa Bay’s director of ticketing and sales, Jason Layton.

It was the right thing to do years ago.

The New Jersey Nets followed the Timberwolves, offering their own version of an extended-payment plan and job-loss protection.

Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels are requiring everyone in the organization to attend a customer-service seminar. As if customer service didn’t matter before.

The Baltimore Orioles last month announced their so-called Birdland Stimulus Package. As part of that offering, fans can apply for a free ticket anytime during the month in which they were born.

Fine Print

Read the fine print, though. The offer doesn’t apply when the Yankees or the Boston Red Sox are in town. No gimmicks needed to sell those primo tickets.

The Washington Nationals, the worst team in baseball last season, are betting that a photograph with third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and clubhouse tours will help sell tickets.

“This year we need to reach out more than ever,” Nationals President Stan Kasten said.

He’s right. And wrong. Teams should reach out every year, striving always to offer more and better.

The Nationals, Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks began offering no-interest payment plans. Some fans can stretch out pay into June, whereas previously payment was required in December. National Hockey League teams jumped on the extended- payment bandwagon, some offering as long as 20 months, interest- free.

Little things are big things. On the field. And off.

The Timberwolves will have to forgive sports fans if they don’t applaud a billionaire owner seeking pats on the back for doing what he should’ve done long ago.

You have to wonder if these enhancements are permanent. So I asked Johnson.

“Who knows,” was his answer.

That in all likelihood means no.

When the Timberwolves and other teams rescind their fan- friendly initiatives — and they will — there won’t be a press release or follow-up e-mail.

That is a quote from a report in this week’s SportsBusiness Journal on the backlash against the TARP assisted financial services sector’s sponsorship of professional sports. This past week saw a media and political outcry over Northern Trust’s sponsorship of a PGA tournament in Los Angeles and BofA walking away from a nearly concluded sponsorship of the new Yankee Stadium. Corporate sponsorships have been an important contributor to the record revenues generated in recent years by professional sports. Stadium naming rights, luxury suites, premium seats, signage, TV advertising, tournament sponsorships etc., are all under duress in a climate where corporations fear being perceived as irresponsible and ostentatious.

In January, IEG Sponsorship Report predicted that sports sponsorship growth in 09 will be less than 2%, compared to growth of 14.7% in 08. According to IEG, “…sports will account for 68 percent of the $17 billion North American sponsorship market.” Weekly Standard contributor Jonathan V Last wrote in the WSJ.

In recent years, teams have also become reliant on revenue from corporate clients, in the form of naming rights and luxury-box purchases. Nationwide, corporations spend roughly $10 billion a year on sports sponsorships. Those should be the first expenditures ditched by any company looking to save money.

The February 09 Metropolitan Corporate Counsel published an article by Jordan S. Solomon which discussed the potential impacts of diminished corporate sports sponsorships and the difficulties in justifying their existence in recessionary times.

2008 will be remembered (not too fondly) as the year the housing bubble and the credit bubble burst. One casualty of these bubbles bursting and the resulting global recession has been a decline in corporate sports sponsorships. As a result, the sports bubble may be the next to burst, adversely affecting the sports stars and teams we root for.

Corporate sports sponsorships are declining rapidly, particularly in industries hardest hit by the credit crisis, such as the automobile and financial services industries. According to data from the sponsorship agency IEG, global sports sponsorships doubled in the past ten years to about $30 billion annually. These dollars have caused stars such as Tiger Woods, David Beckham, and even lesser known sports personalities to become rich and famous. This massive spending has also enabled sports teams and leagues to realize tremendous profits, as well as fuel the creation, development and expansion of new sports leagues and teams. Due to declining sports sponsorships, many of these new leagues and teams will not survive.

Some of the biggest players in the sports sponsorship industry, such as General Motors, Honda, Wachovia and Merrill Lynch, have suffered severe financial losses from the economic downturn, and in some cases are no longer in business. In these situations, these companies are under huge pressure to cut costs, and marketing budgets (in particular sports sponsorships) are often the first to be cut. These sponsorships are viewed as excessive when a company is losing billions of dollars, laying off employees and asking for a government bailout.

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One of the factors in the decline in sports sponsorships is that the benefits of such sponsorships are difficult to quantify for the sponsor, even in good financial times. When times are good, sports sponsorship is an opportunity for building a reputation (i.e., brand), as well as generating high-level corporate entertainment, such as a sponsor’s hospitality tent at a golf tournament. A company’s name and logo displayed on signage at sports arenas, on uniforms and during TV broadcasts provides tremendous exposure of the company’s brand. Free tickets and other access to sports teams and players that often accompany a sponsorship can be used as an incentive to employees or as an inducement to clients, governmental officials and suppliers. However, the benefit to a company’s bottom line is difficult to measure, and these incentives are even harder to justify during a recession when the company is cutting jobs and losing business.

Adidas had a better than expected fourth quarter, but its outlook for the year looks decidedly shaky.

Adidas, the world’s largest sports apparel company by revenue after Nike, said that its net profit in the three months to December rose to 54.0 million euros ($68.2 million), from 21.0 million euros ($26.1 million) the year before, ahead of estimates, as it cut back marketing costs and sales rose 6.0%, driven by demand for its own line of products, as well as its specialist TaylorMade golf segment. Annual net profit rose 16.0% for 2008.

However, initial euphoria evaporated rapidly and by the end of trading on Wednesday, Adidas (other-otc: ADDDY – news – people ) shares were up just 0.1%, or 3 euro cents (4 cents), at 22.93 euros ($28.97), reflecting investor concern about what lies in store for 2009 as consumer demand across the globe dwindles.

For one thing, the company shows little sign of having shaken off the troubles at its Reebok division, where sales fell 8.0% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The company is gloomy about the year ahead, warning that the impact of the downturn on the sports goods industry this year was “subject to a high degree of uncertainty.” The company also scrapped its November target of achieving growth in 2009, and said it expected sales, in constant currency terms, to decline at a “low-to-mid-single digit rate” in the year.

The firm said that while the company was taking cost cutting measures, this wouldn’t completely offset the impact of falling demand.

In 2009, the sports clothing industry is being hit by the double whammy of a global economic downturn, and a year without any major sporting event–such as the Beijing Olympics which spurred demand in 2008. Last month, Nike (nyse: NKE – news – people ) warned that it may have to cut 1,400 jobs or 4.0% of its workforce in light of the economic situation. In January, Adidas said that 300 jobs would go during ongoing restructuring at Reebok.

Two world leaders, Octagon in sports marketing and Healthy Interactions in health care education have formed a strategic alliance in Europe to deliver an integrated offering to clients.
Football clubs, the Olympics and hundreds of other sports organisations and their sponsors are increasingly working with their local communities to promote healthier lifestyles. This new alliance will enable Octagon to reach out with their clients to the community, using a range of health initiatives that are already proven to be successful when it comes to helping people gain a better understanding of their own health and take more responsibility for it. Healthy Interactions, who are now involved in more than forty countries worldwide, will be able to create health education programmes tailored to Octagon’s clients specific needs.
“Corporations that use sponsorship to improve individual and community quality of life are inevitably more successful in influencing, attracting and retaining customers and clients.” said Bob Heussner Senior Vice President of Octagon. “A growing number of sports governing bodies are putting in place programmes designed to improve the communities in which their events are held or their teams compete and are looking to their sponsors to support these important initiatives,” he said.
“Health care education programmes (we call them engagement programs), developed by Healthy Interactions are ideal for integration into a brand’s sports sponsorship activities,” said Paul Lasiuk, a founding partner of Healthy Interactions. “As an example, Olympic sponsors can create customised programmes which will engage their key audiences in supporting London 2012′s mission of inspiring a stronger, fitter nation which has a goal of an additional two million people being active by 2012,” he explained.
Octagon and Healthy Interactions are already working with corporations in the U.K., Europe and the Middle East that are seeking ways to activate their sponsorships of events, teams, leagues, NOCs, federations and other properties across the entire sports landscape. The cornerstone of the health care education programme is Healthy Interactions’ Conversation Maps(TM).
Conversation Maps are interactive education programmes using the power of small group dialogue and collaborative learning. Originally created to help people with chronic diseases improve the management of their condition and to positively change their behavior, Conversation Maps are being used in partnership with leading medical and disease associations, not-for-profit organizations, corporations, and healthcare professionals in 40 countries, and have proven effective in helping people not only retain information but also make long-term lifestyle changes, increasing their quality of life and reducing the impact of their condition.
“Conversation Maps can be developed for corporate sponsors to address a range of health topics, including nutrition, active lifestyles and fighting obesity, plus a host of programmes addressing sustainability which is of critical importance to many rights holders and their sponsors,” said Lasiuk.
“In a very competitive environment and particularly during these challenging economic times, marketers must derive maximum value from their sponsorship investments,” said Heussner. “Through this partnership of Octagon and Healthy Interactions, brands can establish a deeper and broader relationship with their various audiences. The timing couldn’t be better for bringing this opportunity to the marketplace,” he said.

UAE. The sporting events industry in the UAE is highly promising especially nowadays. This outlook has created the country’s first sports events marketing and advertising partnership between Venture Communications and Asia Sports Marketing. The two agencies will provide turnkey solutions to local, regional and international companies.

Venture Communications CEO Gabby Bechara Chamat announced: “Our agency is always looking at opportunities not only for business growth but also for pioneering efforts in the marketing and advertising industry. We believe the sports events sector in the UAE is fundamentally strong and that Asia Sports Marketing is a well-experienced and reputed sports marketing company.”

According to Chamat, the partnership is in line with his company’s thrust in 2009 to offer more communication services, effectively making Venture Communications more than a one-stop shop agency. It has already opened its Abu Dhabi and Beirut offices and has affiliates in Europe such as France and Switzerland.

For his part, Asia Sports Marketing General Manager Chucri Rizk added: “This partnership is a welcome development for us as it brings greater stability to our operations. We don’t need to talk to different agencies whenever we have a new project.

With Venture Communications being a full-service advertising agency around, we will be more focused on delivering the best results expected from us.”

According to Rizk, the sports event management and marketing field is a big business that has grown enormously in the last two decades. He noted, however, that the industry in the Middle East is still young.

“From small participatory programs to mega hallmark events seen by millions across the globe, this industry has mirrored the explosive growth of the media, entertainment and tourism industries around the world and is worth between US$ 110 billion and US$225 billion.

Sports marketing is virtually everywhere and will continue into the future,” Rizk explained.

Since 2003, Asia Sports Marketing owns the advertising rights of the Dubai football clubs related to the UAE National League.

“In particular, we were handling the President Cup organization and have the commercial rights. We used to manage the sports events of local and regional corporate brands,” Rizk further said. Asia Sports Marketing has also managed other sporting events like tennis, horse racing, golf and basketball.

The general manager has over 15 years of experience in sports marketing and has managed over 200 events, including Asian events like the World Cup Qualifiers, Olympics Qualifiers, GCC Cup, and West Asian Championship, as well as the Asian Basketball and Asian Golf.

Chamat said he is excited about the prospects of engaging in big events. “We had managed major events in the past like the Dubai Balloon Festival, Italian Festival Week, Mont Blanc 250 Years of Mozart, Sparkling Korea, and with our previous agency, the Dubai Ramadan Festival for two years, Ice Surprises, Formula One Boat Race in the UAE, Muscat Festival in Oman, and fashion shows around the world,” he added.

Venture Communications was established in September 2005. It provides media buying, branding, creative, production, and public relations, including event management such as major events and festivals.

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that Alan Belcher will return to action at UFC 99 against American Top Team’s Alessio Sakara. Belcher most recently upset Denis Kang in Kang’s UFC debut at UFC 93. Sakara was recently slated to face Jake Rosholt, but had to pull out of the bout due to injury.

Former WWE star and MMA rookie Bobby Lashley (1-0) will meet UFC hall-of-famer Ken Shamrock (27-13-2) at the March 21 “March Bandess” event.

The hybrid MMA/boxing card, promoted by the event’s boxing headliner Roy Jones Jr. and his Square Ring Promotions company, takes place at the Pensacola Civic Center in Florida and airs on pay per view.

Sources close to both fighters told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) bout agreements were today signed for the heavyweight fight.

The fight was first reported by bloodyelbow.com.

Lashley, a two-time NAIA national wrestling champion who wrestled with the WWE from 2005 to 2008, made his MMA debut in December. There, the American Top Team product scored a swift 41-second TKO of Joshua Franklin.

He’ll now meet Shamrock, a longtime MMA fighter who recently snapped a five-fight, four-and-a-half-year losing streak with a first-round TKO of super heavyweight Ross Clifton. The 45-year-old will go for his first back-to-back wins since stoppages of Brian Johnston and Alexander Otsuka in 1996 and 2000.

Set to headline the MMA portion of the March 21 card is Seth Petruzelli (10-4), who recently knocked out Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson before EliteXC’s ultimate demise. Petruzelli fights for the first time since the October event, and he’ll take on former WEC light-heavyweight champion Doug “Rhino” Marshall (9-3).

In other action, former top UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson (27-8) takes on IFL heavyweight champion Roy “Big Country” Nelson (13-3).

On the boxing portion of the card, Jones (52-5), an eight-time world champion and former Olympian, takes on Omar Sheika (27-8) in a light-heavyweight contest.

Dustin Keller was drafted late first round out of Purdue. Jets traded up to get him for his great receiving skills at the tight end position.

He certainly lived up to expectations racking up over 500 yards and three touchdowns in his rookie year. Those numbers may same average but lets compare those numbers to some great receiving tight ends

Tony Gonzalez: only racked 368 yards and two touchdowns in his rookie year, compared to Keller’s 535 and 3 Td’s
Jason Witten: had 347 yards in his rookie year and 2 Td’s also started in more games then Keller
Antonio Gates: Started in six more games in his rookie year then Keller and only 389 yards and two touchdowns

So obviously Keller is off to an incredible start. But could we see those numbers start to decline?

Dustin Keller was one of Brett Favre’s favorite targets in some crucial games like the Patriots game where he had 87 yards on eight receptions and a crucial 3rd-and-15 conversion in overtime. Also in the St. Louis game where Keller racked up 107 yards on six catches.

Now that Favre is gone will Keller see the same numbers as last year?

There are arguments to both sides whether he will better and worse. Let’s look at both sides.

Why he could be better:

He is just a rookie and picking 500 yards as a rookie is phenomenal, now that he knows the ropes he could get better,
He only started in 6 games this year and averaged 40 yards a game including days he sat out. If he starts all 16 games next year could he reach over 700 yards?