WNBA Outdoor Game: A Missed Opportunity

When the WNBA planned an outdoor game, only days after the NBA solidified an outdoor game for their pre-season, the league had big exposure and big sponsorship dollars on its mind. Staging these events is part of marketing the league - build brand awareness, generate revenue. Did you even know the game was held yesterday?

Hosted on the biggest stage in the world, New York City, the game between the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever failed to generate any buzz. I live in New York and did not see one promotion in recent weeks, not reminded of the game until the last day or two before they played.

A special event needs national television exposure. League broadcast partners ABC and ESPN did not cover the event because they held it on a day no part of their weekly WNBA coverage cycle. The league needed this game on national television with an ad campaign leading in. Outdoor professional basketball is unique. It appeals to all the kids who grow up playing in the school yards around the country. Instead, ESPN will play the usual Tuesday and Thursday night games on ESPN 2. With a little effort one of three accomodations should have taken place: ABC accomodate an evening start time (maybe 6 PM) on Saturday, ESPN move off its WNBA cycle to televise the Saturday night game, or the league move the game to a weeknight for ESPN exposure.

New York’s big stage actually had the reverse effect on the WNBA event. Because so many events happen here, the Liberty game was swept under the rug thanks to the lingering All-Star game effect, and the Yanks and Mets. On the national landscape the sports headlines are never barren - Favre, British Open, baseball’s second half, a NASCAR event, NBA free agency - it all pushed the WNBA to the background, a place the league has lived since inception.

Overall, the league missed an opportunity to grab new fans. It was buried locally and nationally. Outside of grassroots outreach achieved through a fanfest and local basketball players (David Lee, Allan Houston) helping get tickets to kids in the area, this event failed its marketing mission. I can’t name one sponsor. Despite announced attendance of over 19,000, an overhead shot unveiled thousands of empty seats, potentially as much as 40% of Arthur Ashe Stadium. It also failed to capitalize on playing at a historic place in women’s sports history - Billie Jean King Tennis Center.

Gaffes like this will prevent the upstart league from ever reaching its goal.

Costas Now Brings Out Stars, Lacks Controvesy

Hank Aaron and Willie Mays on stage with Bob Gibson in the audience. Few shows, or hosts, can attract baseball diety like Bob Costas. Wednesday’s second townhall format of Costas Now brought more star power, better timed panel discussions, but failed to replicate the controversy that Buzz Bissinger and Will Leitch stirred - though the two sat side by side, toasting beers, in the audience.

Costas opened with Dave Winfield, Jim Palmer, and Pete Rose via satellite, discussing the Hall of Fame. Removing Rose from the live show (illness) took away some potentially awkward moments on stage when debating his reinstatement. Can Winfield take a side? He’s not there to tell us what he hear’s other people saying - we hear those people too - tell us what you think, straight out about Rose, in or out. Palmer advocated Pete. As usual, Rose paraded for himself consuming more time than planned, leaving less time for other issues among the topic. Suspected and convicted drug users came up - Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro - and stat accumluators like Jim Thome that have denigrated the meaning of 500 homers. Most agree drug users are out, so are are accumulators, but I wanted to go one by one through a list of about 5 players and get everyone’s opinion - in or out, including Costas. They didn’t even get into pitchers. What is the new 300 wins and new criteria? Is Mussina a hall of famer? The hall is about more than Rose and steroids.

Panel discussed baseball’s first half, yet I don’t think the word playoffs came up once. Evan Longoria, Jimmy Rollins, and Todd Jones are all in the playoff hunt still, which precludes them from any bold predictions. Who wants to hear more about maple bats? Give it a two minute answer and move on. Instead of the writers picking first half MVP’s, surprises, disappointments, and Cy Youngs, put the players on the spot. Ask these guys if they want Barry Bonds on there team - a major baseball 2008 question. How did the Sabathia and Harden trades change the NL race? THe panel is baseball’s first half, so discuss baseball’s first half.

Costas called out Arte Moreno, the Angels owner, about ticket prices, in a panel with Dave Winfield and Andy Van Slyke. Public tax funding of new stadiums followed by lack of affordable tickets received a big stir from the audience, who will certainly suffer from that dichotomy with the new Yankee and Met stadiums starting next year. The remainder of the panel, The State of the Game, was interesting, but lost in the shadows of anticipation of Hammerin’ Hank and the Say Hey Kid.

Mays and Aaron had a great dynamic - Aaron’s stoicism accompanied by Mays’ humor and passion. Priceless stories, great commentary. One valid point that arose from this discussion, and a comment by Jimmy Rollins, is how the Nego Leagues demise may have led to the disintegration of African-American players in the majors. The discussion evaded controversy, as it should with two older, living legends. Both players are anti-PED’s, as most older players are, but neither will go on a diatribe about how wrong it is. Aaron gracefully annointed Bonds the home run champ, handling it like he did last year, and like he always does, with class. This discussion was about the stories. Aaron breaking Ruth’s record, Willie asking for a raise then charging a Cadillac to his owner after the owner refused to give him a hgiher salary.

What started as five extra minutes for HBO.com turned into an entire half hour to forty minutes that will now air as an entirely separate Costas Now episode just about Aaron and Mays. I’ll never forget being in that room with those two guys and Bob Gibson, who looks like he can still knock down a hitter that leans over the plate.

Somehow an ad or link for this Costas Now show was nowhere to be found on HBO.com. The 5-minute turned half hour segment not available for streaming. This is rare stuff that baseball fans live for, get it on the home page. What’s new on Cinemax can wait a day. No excuses for not having the video up there either, those at home missed out. Mays went on a roll after the HBO segment stopped. Even though it will air as a separate episode, studies prove online video does not cannibalize TV, get the video on the website immediately, and make it a presence on the homepage.

Fox Ruins All-Star Introductions

Interleague play and free agency has robbed the All-Star game of many special qualities. It may mean something with home field on the line, but the game still feels different. Opening introductions are one of the few special moments that remain. What will the crowd reaction be? For the player, his one moment to bask in the spotlight and receive his deserved credit. Last night, with 40 Hall of Famers on hand at the baseball cathedral it had a chance to be special, then Fox jumped in.

At least Joe Buck acknowledged Bob Shepherd, the legendary Yankee PA announcer for over 58 years, who remains home sick. I was curious if he would do the introductions, only fitting. With Shepherd on the sidelines, long time fill-in Jim Hall, a ringer for Shepherd over the mic, should have stepped in. Everyone equates that voice with Yankee Stadium. Yet, we had the soothing tones of Fox’s own Joe Buck. Don’t we hear enough of him already. Something seemed amiss.

Crowd reactions help create the special atmosphere in pre-game introductions. Match-up a good story with a hometown hero, the crowd can send shivers up your spine and goose bumps down your arm. However, right from the start, Fox drowned out the crowd noise for viewers at home with its intrusive background music and overbearing PA microphone. Marionao Rivera’s thunderous applause, the only time he’ll ever be an All-Star at Yankee Stadium lost that edge that Yankee fans always bring.

One other possibility is the decidedly corporate crowd that took over Yankee Stadium for a night. Outside of a few “Derek-Jeter” chants, we had no sign of the Bleacher Creatures. Thanks to MLB for taking the event away from the greatest fans in the world. Baseball has to take care of its sponsors, but find another way. Make sure at least half the stadium is filled with regular fans, not suits from Pepsi.

When was the last commercial break during player introductions? Welcome to Fox, 2008, commercials at every opportunity. First they drag the game to 4+ hours with the longest comemrcial breaks in sports history, now they host a 45-minute to one-hour pre-game introduction. Get serious. Fans at the stadium must have loved that. Terrible job. Why break up the momentum right at the pinnacle? Forget the rules of TV for a second, and treat the viewer with respect.

Numerous options exist for how Fox and MLB could have introduced the All-Star’s and Hall of Famers. They handled it fine. But I really wanted to hear the thunderous reaction for Derek Jeter, drowned out by the poor audio job and the lack of “real” fans in the stands.

I’ll never forget the 2008 All-Star game introductions, and how I couldn’t enjoy it the way I wanted to.

CBS Ushers Out Old Generation With Packer

34 years is an historic run of broadcasting championship games. That’s 102 Final Four games, 34 Championship games. All good things come to an end, and well, Packer was no longer that good.

Let’s put that in perspective. Packer knows basketball, he can break down a coaching strategy with the best of them, something Dick Vitale should learn one day. Problem is he never changed with the times. Packer possessed a pompous attitude that came through in his broadcasts. He was stubborn, tackling controversial subjects with less tact than a professional wrestler. In today’s world, that emphasizes political correctness, Packer was a sad reminder of the way things used to be, constantly feeding into stereotypes, then making contrived apologies. Aggravation CBS did not need.

In full disclosure, I did not enjoy Packer as a broadcaster. In fact, I could never figure out why they stuck with him in the spot with such a strong arsenal of analysts sitting behind him. Too many times I felt Packer made the game about him. His delivery gave off a negative aura. Maybe it was his tone, or the the fact he doesn’t have the same excitement that other analysts bring, but he always seemed to look for something negative. He erred toward criticism, not praise. The broadcasting game passed him by. I can’t name one person younger than 30 that actually enjoys Billy Packer.

Still, he called games at the side of three legendary broadcasters - Dick Enberg, Brent Musburger, and Jim Nantz. Behind the scenes he did a lot for the game of college basketball, and, though it may not come through in his broadcasting, he genuinely cares about the game and the players.

One note on CBS, if they made this decision because of his “this game is over” comment in the National Semifinal when Kansas was torching UNC in the first half they made a huge mistake. They teach you to avoid that statement in broadcasting 101, but honestly, I don’t need Billy Packer to tell me the game was over. I thought it was too. I stayed tuned in to see if they could make an unbelieveable comeback. I guarantee not one person turned this game off because of that comment. The big college basketball fans - and the bettors - stayed with it. Those who switched, changed channels because it was a blowout, not because Packer told them to. It just gave CBS another reason to pull the trigger.

On Clark Kellogg, he’s a solid analyst, not a bad choice, but is he the best choice. I think Bill Raftery is a relic and Jay Bilas is an emergin star in the analyst position, who really knows the game. Like him or not, next March will feel and sound different.

OKC Basketball Club Faces Franchise Altering Decision

Now that Clay Bennett has officially spurned Seattle, and has his club in Oklahoma City, it’s time to make a team. Over the next few weeks Bennett will have a staff work with a mjor shoe and apparel company to create the team’s indentity. Don’t underestimate the importance. Team logos and names speak to the fans, its the ultimate in marketing. What message do you want to send to your fans, or better yet, to fans in general that may make them consider your team?

Logo and team name, sounds like a basic premise, yet teams screw it up all the time. How did Devil Rays work out for Tampa? Did you see many hockey fans sporting Islander jersey’s when they tried to change their traditional logo to something more “modern”? And the uniform color’s some teams opt for are appalling, alternate team jersey or not.

Plenty is at stake here. In addition to the first impression you leave on fans, Oklahoma City has an opportunity for extensive merchandise sales if they can appeal to the broader audience. They have last season’s Rookie of the Year, a potential contender for this year’s award, and a second solid rookie from last year’s team. If those players blossom, OKC can be near the top in jersey sales, people will clamor for OKC hats and shirts. Lots of money is involved with this decision.

From past history, it’s best to avoid bright, flashy colors, and any controversial or difficult to understand name. Did anyone honestly know what a Devil Ray or Diamondback was in 1998, the Wild may not be the best name but at least you can sort of wrap your head around it. The name must make sense and resonate with fans - short, sweet, catchy, and to the point. Remember, the team plays in the Midwest, without another basektball team in sight, they have the potential to appeal to an entire region of fans and must keep in mind the culture in that region, with an eye towards national and international sales.

If we could isolate the variability of wins, studying the impact of logos and team name on sales and team popularity in the first year or two of expansion or after relocation would prove interesting and justify the value. Another future component, cool jerseys and catchy names appeal to children, and sometimes the first team they love becomes their team for life - a valuable commodity.

Inject Interest Back Into The Derby: Integrate Community and Sponsors

News circulated late this week that batches of empty seats remain on sale for Monday’s Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, despite baseball stating that the event is sold out. Especially with the ultra-inflated prices of this year’s All-Star week festivities, why would 55,000 people want to buy through the roof to watch a handful of players the casual fan needs an introduction to.

Star players shun the Derby, of the 7 confirmed participants only two are repeat All-Stars. What happened to the days when the stars came out, Junior Griffey off the warehouse in Baltimore, McGwire bombing away at Fenway, Bonds with his walk-off win, Giambi back in his hay day. All memorable moments. ESPN says its the highest rated event of the year outside football season. Ratings aside, the event needs fresh blood or it’s at risk of hitting a downslide.

State Farm currently sponsors the entire event, however with 8 individual players hitting, additional marketing and sponsorship opportunities exist. One idea that may entice more players to participate is allow them to play for their chosen charities. Most players already work with a charity or run a foundation, the opportunity to publicize their message and earn corporate dollars could bring more stars to the table.

Taken a step further, get a sponsor for each player. Talk about valuable marketing. The five or ten minutes that a player bats, then gets interviewed, is valuable advertising time. SInce most players already have marketing deals, using one of their pre-existing sponsors would make the most sense, and an arrangement must be made with State Farm to not infringe on their sponsorship of the event.

Tying the two ideas together, the sponsor for each player can donate a set amount of money per homerun to the selected charity or foundation. Another twist on this is to select a team from 8 local Little Leagues to be on the field, each supporting one of the players. That player could play for the Little League supporting him. A great community outreach opportunity. Baseball can’t provide on-field incentives for home run derby, as they do for the actual game to entice players to play hard, however a few other ideas could help generate interest.

My mantra with sports is always interactivity. Fantasy games are everywhere else, why not integrate the in-stadium and home viewers with the event. Start fantasy homerun derby game, pick the winners, pick a team with the most home runs given a set salary cap (obviously each player will have a fictious salary number attached based on home run prowess). Play against your friends, play against all fans, or play against other All-Stars not participating. They always sit on the field and cheer for fellow All-Stars, have them involved online with the fans. Perhaps even a live blog by a player sitting on the field.

A lottery promotion could be interesting. Fans submit a set of numbers as their guess for either the home runs by round of the champion, or total home runs hit in each round, or most home runs hit by an individual in each round, possibilities are countless. Of the winners, pick a grand prize winner to get a signed bat from the champion and a promotional gift from one of the sponsors.

Home run derby needs an infusion of energy. While it’s great to introduce Evan Longoria and Ryna Braun to the world, the fans want to see A-Rod go head to head with Pujols, get Ryan Howard against Prince Fielder in a heavyweight battle - that brings up another point, throw out the rule that only All-Stars can participate. If the big names don’t want in, open it up to the best home run hitters period. Fielder and Howard are names that draw interest.

Now that I think of it, one-on-one matches, like the old school home run derby show from the ’50’s and ’60’s would add spice to the event. Set it up tournament-style, AL players face off against each other, NL players likewise, then winner of each league in the Derby Series. It opens a whole new world of outside interest. Heck, Vegas can even put a line on each matchup - not that gambling spurs any interest.

Winning Gets the Turnstiles Moving and TV’s Tuning

More confirmation that new stadiums are not the end all to generating the revenue franchise’s need to compete in baseball, the surprising Tampa Rays, a top the ultra-competitive AL East have seen a 10% jump in attendance through the first half of the season. And attendance numbers show it typically takes fans until later in the season, if not the next season, to catch on to a team’s new found success. Basically, expect attendance at the Trop to keep rising.

Did the Rays get a new stadium? No, in fact, they delayed pursuing financing for that new waterfront ballpark. Tampa made no blockbuster acquistions in the off-season, fielding a team with nary an All-Star. Ownership’s biggest off-seas change was dropping “Devil” off the team’s moniker and changing the logo - perhaps good karma.

Recent series with the Red Sox and Cubs traveling road shows helped boost attendance, but Rays fans also tuned in, making the Red Sox games the most watched in Rays history. Fox is now considering Tampa for a pair of national television appearances later this season, exposure never before seen in Northern Florida after Spring Training.

The Rays did it by rebuilding the brand, appealing to the fans, and building a winner by making smart moves. Perhaps no team had more bad equity to overcome, so if Tampa can do it any team can do it.

The attendance theorm works both ways. In San Francisco, subtract Barry Bonds, subtract a pennant race, subtract 10% from attendance, even with arguably the best ballpark in baseball. Losing in San Diego has led to a double-digit percentage attendance decrease. Despite a big off-season acquisition, baseball’s biggest disappointment, Seattle, another team with a new, beautiful stadium, has seen attendance plummet to its lowest levels.

Winning makes everything easy, the hard part are putting fans in the seats when the team is not winning. Teams continue to try all sorts of creative ways to draw crowds. Loaded tickets (tickets that include free food) have been modestly successful, promotions and giveaways help bring kids to the stadium, however they lose their luster if you have promotions every night. Teams have reverted to showing movies on the jumbotron after the game, fireworks displays, and more.

Teams need to develop a few events that draw well, and occur annually, and I’m not talking about the old-fashioned bat day and cap day. Is it time for entertainment in baseball? Basketball has pyrotechnics before games, football has outlandish halftime shows, maybe baseball teams could trot out a music act on tour in the local area to perform one song before the game. The game becomes secondary, but fans will come.

Improving interactivity at the stadium through new technology is a more effective way to draw fans, then make sure they enjoy the experience and come back. Start with wireless access, add in a few creative text-message contests and promotions. Next comes mobile video, allow fans in the stadiums to watch replays (if MLBAM rights allow it), and provide access to view the stadium from various cameras, for example, a fan can check out the camera in the bullpen to see what’s going on. Control it by limiting access to the wireless network in the ballpark, so users have to be at the stadium to enjoy it. Open a forum for fan interaction, so they can argue about a bad call, or tell everyone to check out that guy in Section 41 who caught two home run balls.

Give fans the option to opt-in for special concession and merchandise promotions. At various times during the game, send a text alert for a discount or special at a particular concessionaire. It could say the first 10 fans to the food stand outside Section 8 get a free hotdog and soda, or the shop in the lower level in left field will sell all caps for 10% off during the 7th inning. Better yet, make users place the orders through the phone, then go pick it up. Teams can collect more valuable information, demographic data.

The key is to keep the fans that do come, coming back, and build buzz. Winning does it for some teams, others need to give incentives off the field.

Tennis At A Crossroads

Tennis has more problems than momentum right now, leaving the sport at risk of disappearing into oblivion on the US landscape along side such nice sports as Arena Football and Major League Soccer. Steeped in tradition, tennis has typically garnered strong interest in the US thanks to a lineage of notable stars on both the mens and womens side, now its in need of a new direction.

The mens tour is riddled with leadership problems. Management has allowed a betting scandal, much worse than Spygate can ever be, manifest itself and threaten the integrity of the sport. Then they decided to stir up controversy by shifting the schedule, creating lawsuits from tournaments dropped in status, and a revolt by players that led to the world’s Top 3 players positioning for spots on the board of governors to represent the players and prevent renewing the commissioner’s contract.

Meanwhile, Andy Roddick and James Blake, the two most prominent US players, have failed to live up to expectations. Both making a habit of early exits in Grand Slam tournaments. It all adds up to chaos.

The tour needs to find a strong leader with a plan immediately. A la Roger Goodell, the betting scandal must be addressed swiftly and sternly. It appears gambling outposts can provide solid evidence of match fixing. Penalty for a first offense is a one year ban and a million dollar fine, second offense is lifetime banishment. That will help clean the sport up quickly.

Next, address this scheduling issue with the players and tournaments. FInally, the sport needs a new image and a new marketing plan. Casual sports fans in the US hardly know Rafael Nadal, yet he is one of the cornerstones to this era of tennis. Perhaps the greatest clay court player ever, and currently second to only Roger Federer on all other surfaces, on the brink of surpassing him. Nadal speaks multiple languages, including English, is young and extremely marketable. Federer is already an all-time great. He appears in a few advertisements, notably the Gillette series with Tiger Woods (and now Derek Jeter) and has a lucrative deal with Nike. Yet, I don’t feel the American public knows Roger Federer. Not like they knew Sampras and Agassi, or McEnroe and Connors. Yes, neither Federer nor Nadal are American, but its turning into one of the better rivals in modern tennis, the sports must take advantage.

I can’t remember one time either man has been interviewed on radio or TV in the US. Networks and tour officials need to make this a year round effort, not just a one month push leading into the US Open. Tennis is a year round sport. ESPN should have these players on during the French and Wimbledon. Show us more McEnroe as well to stir the pot and draw attention to tennis.

Tennis is a great way to appeal to the upper class. Nadal and Federer should appear in commercials for luxury items and travel companies. Digital media fits tennis to a tee, given the simultaneous, densely packed action at tennis tournaments, and the international appeal. ESPN and NBC streamed Wimbledon matches - albeit at a cost. More than the matches, use viral marketing to get their names out, reach out to tennis players.

On the women’s side, I watched the Williams’ sisters Wimbledon final this morning, then wondered why they did not follow the path of Tiger Woods. Individual sport, father that pushed them from an early age, one of the first notable African-Americans to make a dent in a predominantly white sport, great human interest story, polarizing character, unbelieveable talent. Unfortunately, off the court issues cost the sisters a few years of dominance on the court in the middle of the decade. Still, why have they not transformed women’s tennis the way Tiger has golf?

As much as I’d like to believe it’s not the case in 2008, it could partially relate to gender. I’m not convinced. Tennis has not received the media coverage it deserves, nor has it pushed for it. The Williams’ sisters matches should have received tremendous hype this week, considering the are the only US link to the tournament right now, and they were both playing dominant tennis. Nothing, slicence.

Part of the problem, the game has changed signifcantly and many fans left. The days of tremendous volleys succumbed to the 145-mph serve thanks to technology advances, all but exttinguishing prolonged rallies. Tennis became unwatchable. And more fans have left without the appeal of a US rivalry, and none have come back. Eventually the standards board has to push back, though the sports has become less serve oriented in the past year or two.

Tennis needs to re-create its image and re-connect with its fan base. A weekend at Wimbledon featuring an all Williams women’s final and Nadal-Federer on the men’s side should generate the same buzz as Tiger in the final round of a major. While it will register on the sports landscape, it will not be nearly where it should.

Digital Industry Moving Slow on Wireless

Of all the breakthrough technologies driving digital media, wireless should be at the forefront. Consider that almost every family in the US has a cell phone (84% of households, over 250 million people). You can’t go anywhere, stadiums, subways, schools, sidewalks, movie theaters, cars, without seeing people, young and old, using cell phones. Text messaging, phones, Internet, cameras, you name it, someone’s doing it. So why is wireless revenue for digital media sports entities still a blip on the radar?

Standards remain a big problem. Almost every phone provider and wireless carrier has different development platforms. Most phones have still have varied screen sizes. And to make matters more difficult, the landscape is constantly evolving with new releases. A content providers nightmare. Faced with developing a variety of formats to roll out just one application, content providers have stayed behind the curve opting to utilize more standardized offerings, such as text messaging.

Rights issue to video also hold back innovation. In order to maximize profit, some sports rights holders opt to negotiate exclusive deals with carriers, preventing millions of people that use other carriers from receiving desired content. It’s a mistake by the content provider (i.e. the NFL). No users will switch mobil providers simply to watch NFL highlights, you need to make it as accessible as possible to everyone. Exclusivity rarely works in the digital world, especially when you are trying to push out a product to mass appeal for the first time.

Even with these issues, it’s on the cusp of exploding. Phones continue to get better and better. Each round of smartphones has better display attributes (size and clarity) and better battery life.  Users are quickly moving over to smartphones, much more conducive to mobile content. Carrier networks are evolving with faster speeds, and at some point the day will come where standard will rule, making life easy of mobile application developers.

Thus far, text-based applications are the most successful. Local networks post questions during the broadcasts to text in a vote for the player or play of the game, or they will post a trivia question and have fans text the answer. Teams and sports media proviers also have text message based score and news alerts. Some providers charge a small fee, but primarily carriers collect a portion of the text fee, and providers garner the sponsorship money.

It’s a first step in fan engagement, yet it completely leaves out the fans at the game, and the fans not watching at the time. It requires appointment viewing. Content providers should expand the program to have question of the day contests, where users can text a question in and have the broadcasters answer it, or have it answered on the post-game show. Teams and networks should also integrate with sponsors, particularly QSR. Run an advertisement that offers a deal to users who text in an order (for example, pizza) within a certain time. Easily measureable and highly integrated. Teams can run ticket promotions at the stadium. Post a question on the scoreboard answered via text message, winner gets a pair of tickets or a dinner.

Mobile video is going to take off as smart phones improve. Costs, battery life, and rights issues are holding it back. As they are resolved, mobile video will can become a big money maker. The makers of Slingbox have a similar application for mobile phones,  allowing users to watch games and highlights from anywhere using their phone. In today’s world of constant information expect that technology to take off. How many people will be watching those afternoon baseball games at work, without worrying about streaming MLB.tv through the corporate firewall? Fans at games can benefit tremendously from mobile video. One word, instant replay. A great dunk, a great catch, a controversial call, fans at the game are not privvied to the thousand replays shown on TV. Eneter mobile video, allow the broadcasters or stadiums to stream replays out to the fans. I believe fans will pay a per game fee for that service, and it has great sponsorship potential.

Another form of text messaging is to connect the fans at the games with the fans at home on the Internet. Allow mobile access to message boards, connect the fans at home watching with fans on the road or at the game. Given a forum and a topic, users will engage. It leads to further engagement on the web site by home users, and another use of wireless. More engagement and more texts makes the product more attractive to sponsors.

MLBAM offers mobile video alerts, essentially the next generation of text alerts for news and scores. The alerts are accompanied with a video link. All highlight plays that you want get sent to your phone, when news breaks users not only get the alert but imagine also receiving the press conference or video of the news coverage.

WIthout delving further into more ideas, the fans will use mobile, now the teams and media need to find the revenue. The obvious part is to have a sponsor for the content or contest. However, it’s important to integrate the sponsor. Ad’s should accompany the content to the phones in a non-intrusive manner and give fans the opportunity to engage with the sponsor if they choose. Content providers should work together with mobile carriers to find a way to make the pie bigger to the point where each can take home revenue. Right now only the carrier nets revenue.

Wireless ticketing, concessions, and e-commerce will also have a major impact on the sports industry, but require separate discussions. It’s an all encompassing technology. Almost every fan has a cell phone attached to their hip morning, noon, and night, and uses the phone constantly all day. Phones are the perfect revenue-generating device for sports media because the eyeballs are already there, it’s just a matter of pushing the right content out and providing the right incentive.

Can Golf Turn A Problem Into An Opportunity

PGA Officals could not have asked for a a better US Open, other than if Phil played the part of Rocco Mediate, though an aspect of the everday man helped bolster interest. However, a day later, when Tiger announced he was finished for the year, the outlook turned bleak.

It’s well documented that without Tiger TV ratings decline sharply, attendance decreases, sponsorship dollars are lower, basically the event becomes secondary on the US sports landscape. This week the problem is magnified with Tiger unable to appear at his own tournament, the AT&T National in Washington DC. A Tiger-less tournament is not exactly with the golf course, the sponsors, the network, or the ticket holders signed up for when they made their respective committments.

Business is business, none of the profit centers involved will give back committed money because Tiger is not playing. It’s the chance sponsors, ticket holders, and TV makes with sports, the uncertainty. Fox paid for the World Series already, whether its Yankees-Cubs or Devil Rays-Diamondbacks they will broadcast it, but clearly the revenue and ratings will be significantly different. Darren Rovell on CNBC.com raised the question of reimbursing sponsors since Tiger is not even appearing at his own tournament. I don’t see that as feasible, nor will any sponsors of tournaments Tiger was scheduled to play in later this year receive any reimbursements - at least not this year.

As mentioned, golf’s appeal without Tiger is significantly lower. If the rest of this season play’s out in that fashion - lower TV ratings, lower attendance, less buzz, and decreased ROI for sponsors, we may not be far from having “Tiger Provisions” in every contract. This year proves you never know what sport will throw at you. Few imagined Tiger would lose a whole season to a torn ACL in a non-contact sport. To protect themselves in the future I can envision sponsor’s and TV Networks paying two different rates for rights to a tournament - one if Tiger plays, one if not. 

However, with this threat on hand, golf has an opportunity to broaden its horizons. Now is the perfect time to market new stars. Make Trevor Immelman, DJ Trahan, and Adam Scott household names that casual fans know rather than players that draw a “who’s that” comment when they appear on the leaderboard in a major. Appeal to the international strength of the tour - KJ Choi, Geoff Ogilvy, Immelman, Sergio Garcia. THe tour boasts young stars abound from numerous countries around the world, an attribute no other major sport played primarily in this country can boast. The other major sports receive most of their imports from a small set of countries, while tennis not played in the US most of the season and has a myriad of its own problems.

Schedule these players for appearances, book appearances on sports talk shows, have one of them do the popular ESPN tour (when a player goes to Bristol for a day and appears on every show under the sun), hold cross-promotional events with big names/teams in other sports to draw fans from other sports. THrow out the first pitch at baseball games, sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley, you name it they need to do it. Get these players in front of the American public. And put them closer to the fans with public appearances, hold clinics for kids during the summer tournaments. Work on having players appear in more commercials, have stories appear in ESPN Magazine and SI. Now is the time.

Without Tiger, more playhers have a chance to shine, and the Tour has a chance to provide the stage. Golf needs more young fans, after reaching a peak following Tiger’s initial impact, growth in golf, particularly youth golf and minority golf, has slowed or even slightly regressed. Marketing multiple players, and the game itself, rather than one player, will appeal to more people.

The longer golf waits to do this, the more risk they take on. Even when Tiger is active, the gap will continue to grow between Tiger and non-Tiger events. In a Ryder Cup season, with two major’s still left to play, now is the perfect time to introduce the new generation of players to the world. And they should market the heck out of the Ryder Cup, the closest thing to the Olympics in golf.