October 2008 Archives
With the slowdown of the economy has caused many people to spend their money very wisely potentially putting little to no money towards tickets for sporting events. The NBA is very aware of this problem and are thinking of creative way to still attract fans to their games. In the past special incentives have only been given to valued season ticket holders but this season teams are offering special offers to all ticket sales. These offers include food vouchers, gas gift cards, free parking, and discounts on merchandise. Teams have also increased the amount of partial season ticket offers to give fans more options. Individual NBA teams are also coming up with other innovative ideas to keep their tickets sales at an average rate. For example the New Jersey Nets have started to use the buy now pay later method. Fans that use their credit card will be pre-approved but will not be charged until January 5th. Nets CEO Brett Yormark said now retail stores aren't the only ones that can offer this buy now pay later deal. Many other teams are also coming up with other ideas to keep fans coming to the games despite or weak economy.
Giving fans more options to spend their money will give the NBA more opportunities to keep up their ticket sales. Fans like when they have options to spend their money and are just not told how to use their own hard earned money. Hopefully these efforts by the NBA and individual teams will keep fans attending the games.
The NFL is starting to feel effects from this economic problem. Television advertising during
the 4th quarter had dropped down by 10%. This slowdown due to these problems has had an impact on the scatter market, which is generally made up of one-off sales that are separate from ad packages sold during the traditional upfront season. One of the major problem areas in the slowdown of the scatter market has been the financial service sector.
I find this hard to believe because the NFL is one of the major broadcasted sports in the United States. To hear that advertsising is going down is crazy to hear for a fan of the game. I myself have a lot of NFL merchandise from jerseys to cups. I hope that this drop doesn't get any lower because the last thing that any fan wouldn't want is advertsing to drop.
Read more at http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60381
The Canadian dollar falling is hurting many of the Canadian sports teams such as the Oilers, Blue Jays, and the Canucks. For every one-cent that the dollar drops a professional franchise can lose anywhere between 400,000 to 1,000,000 dollars. This is a problem that most of the sports teams are facing. With this decline it is putting them in a huge economic disadvantage against the American sports teams. A strategy that some teams are using is to lock in a fixed amount for the dollar for a certain amount of time. This is risky because if the dollar rises then the club will also lose money. The Edmonton Oilers has tried this strategy and locked in prices for November, December, and some of January.
The Professional Sports league should do something that compensates for this lose of money. Every team should have the same financial breakdown. It is not fair for one team to be losing money because of the decrease in dollar while another team is not. The Canadian teams should work out an agreement where they use United States currency so every team is playing on the same level financially. This is a problem that needs to be addressed by the MLB, NBA, and the NHL. Fortunately for the NFL they do not have to deal with this problem because they do not have a team located in Canada. They are not 100% immune from the problem because the Buffalo Bills will be playing games in Toronto. This could cause a problem for the amount of profit that the Bills make from concessions, memorabilia, and ticket sales.
Ken Macha will soon be back in the dugout to take over the helm of the Brewers. It was announced Thursday that the 58-year-old Macha will be the new manager and take over for interim manage Dale Sveum. Macha has not managed since 2006 when he was with the Oakland A's. He took the A's to two AL West titles in his time there, but things did not work out with him and general manager Billy Beane. Now Macha looks to take the Brewers back to the postseason alongside general manager Doug Melvin. Macha feels that his time with the Brewers has a great chance of success and is very excited to work alongside Melvin. Macha hopes that he and Melvin can have a different type of relationship than that he had with former GM Billy Beane.
Ken Macha and the Brewers will look to improve on last season when they got eliminated in the first round by the eventual World Series Champs Philadelphia Phillies. With their top two pitchers ready to enter the free agent market the Brew Crew will need to rely on some young talent and may need to look at the market themselves. Macha may struggle early with the young talent, but if he is given time he could turn this team into an annual contender
Tottenham Hotspur have unveiled plans for a new 60,000-capacity stadium close to their White Hart Lane ground in north London. In their financial results released to the stock market today, Spurs announced further details of the Northumberland Development Project, a large-scale development incorporating leisure facilities, public space and housing, as well as the new stadium. Chairman Daniel Levy's statement, 24 hours after the team's thrilling 4-4 draw at Arsenal, said: "The scheme includes the current site and adjoining land with the stadium sited largely to the north of the existing one." The Tottenham board pushed ahead with proposals for a larger stadium with a season ticket waiting list of around 22,000, but were conscious of the importance of remaining in the Haringey area. Other sites were considered, but ultimately it was decided their current location, plus land adjacent to it, was the most suitable option.
The average English Premier League stadium holds around 40,000 people, so the upgrade is indubitably appreciated. With Tottenham's new stadium there will obviously be significant local benefits including a huge boost to the area's economic structure. It also provides for greater investment in the staduim and larger regeneration. Furthermore, Tottenham will bring in double the fans that they bring in now and ultimately earn more profit.
host the 2010 NBA all-star game in the Cowboys new $1.1 billion stadium. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is against holding the game in the Mavericks stadium because the season ticket holders would lose there seats. However, holding the game in an NFL stadium would cause all sponsorships to be canceled. Commissioner David Stern has looked into taking the all-star game overseas but that it is hard to put together right now.I find this interesting because it is the second team from a different sport, in the last two weeks, that the Cowboys have attempted to team up with. I also find this interesting because of the idea that the NBA could go overseas. This would be interesting, especially after the Olympics, and the buzz surrounding the US team. I would be interested to see the turn-out of fans compared to the NFL and MLB which have been overseas before.
Usually after the Olympic Games, Athlete's sponsors are made public. However, this year due to the economy, everything has been kept under wraps. Sponsors have been keeping their deals quiet until the first quarter of next year. The deals are there but because of the economy, they are unwilling to unveil them. Evan Morgenstein, president of Premier Sports Group, represents NastiaLiukin (gymnast) and Dara Torres (swimmer). He speaks about how big the Beijing Games were and how impossible it is to rely on the economy. The games should have generated much business but it did not. Morgenstein points out an example of Kraft. Dara Torres is a fan of Kraft but because Kraft is going through a tough time economically, just as everyone is, it is useless to show her support of it. Only big name, gold medal athletes appeared to generate any business after the Games. Due to this economic burden, smaller name athletes have been knocked out of the picture. Morgenstein is doing his part to keep his athletes, big and small, in the main picture through different appearances.
The Olympics are a huge event worldwide. It is something that seems to bring our world as a whole together because everyone wants a part in it. The people who make this possible, the athletes, are now experiencing difficulties in getting sponsored. In my opinion, these are the athletes that should be getting the six figure endorsement deals, not the MLB players, NFL players, NBA players etc. Olympic athletes have trained to be where they are and they are considered the best of the best. Breaking records and setting new standards makes these athletes one of a kind. Perhaps the sporting industry should be more focused on these athletes who are changing history, rather than the athletes that come and go each day. Yes, the Olympics only occur once a year, but when they do occur, those involved should be treated like royalty. They worked hard to get there and they should be rewarded.
Rain rain go away, that's what MLB has started to say. Monday nights World Series game 5 was rain delayed in the 6th inning of a tie between the Phillies and the Rays. The game which was schedueled to restart Tuesday night at 8 pm was then once again postponed. This has caused huge problems for major league baseball dealing with restart times and pressure from fans around the globe. Phillies fans themselves who were at the game are upset now that they will have to provide their gameday ticket to get back in for a mere 3 inning game of baseball. People are selling their tickets since they do not want to go back just for a 3 inning game. Major League Baseball is also worried that people wont tune in to see the conclusion of the game and a possible Philly World Series win. Revenue is already down a significant amount from last years World Series and the rain outs can not do anything but hurt. Tonight will hopefull resume play between these two teams but with a forecast of snow we can do nothing but wait.
The Milwaukee Brewers are planning on renovating 43 luxury suites, the team's main retail store, and several meeting rooms at the stadium. The luxury suites will be decked out in the most modern televisions and furniture. The Brewers also plan to team up with Harley Davidson for a Harley-themed seating deck. The raised seating deck will be added to the left-center-field area. The 42-seat area will be adorned with motorcycles built into the décor. The team store will now carry a variety of sausage race mascot product. It will also contain a new section of woman's clothing.
I think this is great for the Brewers to take part in. Renovations always make a stadium more modern. I really like the idea about updating the luxury suites. These people in the luxury suites are the people who spend the most money. It is always good to cater to these people and give them the most modern suites. Harley-Davidson sponsorship is really interesting to me. I think that would appeal to a lot of people in the Milwaukee area since that is where Harley is out of. Lastly, the new team store will be a very good idea. I think it is a great idea to cater to all types of fans.
After the turmoil that basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson put Indiana University through the Hoosiers have taken a step forward. Former AD Rick Greenspan resigned earlier in the year after Sampson was accused and penalized for illiegal recruiting violations for the second time. Bans were put in place on the school and they hired a new head coach to lead one of the most storied college basketball universities in the nation. Now the university took another step forward by hiring Fred Glass as Athletic Director. Glass, an alumnus of the school, will take over on Jan 2 after Greenspan finished out his terms of resignation on Dec 31. Glass is familiar with the programs and with the impact of athletics on the university. Before this hiring he was a lawyer and civic leader in Indianapolis.
I beleive that this is a good hire for the university. Hopefully he can help turn around not only the storied basketball program, but the football program as well. He seems to understand how the community and state of Indiana relies on Hoosier athletics as an economic, and self esteem booster. Even though there is loads of work to do you must start somewhere and this new step has now began in Indiana.
t Sunday was just another instance. The St. Louis Rams played the New England Patriots in Foxborough, on what was supposedly supposed to be a normal game, the Patriots where given zero penalty yards; While the Rams where penalized 12 times for 63 yards. Now doesn't that sound a little odd? That's exactly how the Rams feel as well. As a result of this absurd game the Rams are sending in a video tape to the NFL highlighting the plays they believe should have went for penalties. Rams coach Jim Haslett believes that there were at least three clear plays that should have went for penalties. A grab of Marc Bulgers face mask, a late hit on Bulger and an out of bounds hit on Fakhir Brown following an interception. Since the NFL changed its rules so that if the Quarterbacks get touched they call a late hit it seems obvious that something is going on. Clearly if these three plays did in fact happen than the NFL should do something about this; because there is no possible way that the officials could penalize the Rams twelve times and miss three blatant calls on the Patriots. The NFL is just starting to get a little ridiculous.
The man who is responsible for the acquisitions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen has been promoted to the president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics. Since Ainge
helped bring in Garnett and Allen the Celtics have won their 17th NBA Title. Not only did Danny Ainge help bring the Celtics to the NBA Championship Series in 2008, as a player of the Boston Celtics he traveled to four NBA Championship Series. Out of those four years the Celtics won the title twice, in 1984 and 1986. It is little to say that Mr. Ainge has been a pivotal piece of the Celtics organization for over 20 years now. A well deserving canidate for the job, Ainge was promoted to president of basketball operations for the Celtics from being the teams executive director of basketball operations and GM. Ainge, last season's NBA executive of the year, is in his sixth season at the helm of the Celtics' basketball operations. The details of Ainge's new contract have not yet been disclosed to the media at this point but, the new NBA season is starting for the Celtics very soon and more detail will emerge on the terms of the contract.
After their season in which they surprised everyone by going from the basement to top of the major leagues, the Ray's management is looking to increase both profit and revenue for next season. Their marketing strategies will be put to the test though, because more than half of their attendance was sold after the season began. It is now tough for them to gauge how to approach the upcoming season without losing too much and hopefully make bigger profits than previous years.
Another thing the Rays hope to do is break onto the national broadcasting of major league baseball. Usually the norm for these games are the big city teams that have huge markets, rarely, if ever, do the small cities get the publicity. Hopefully with the breakout season Tampa Bay had, they will be able to break up this monopoly. I believe that this will be good for MLB and fans because it will be good to see smaller market teams competing in the national spotlight.
Patrick Ewing is arguably one of the greatest players to play for the New York Knicks. He leads the team in all time scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and steals for the Knickerbockers. Ewing is beloved by the fans and his legacy will live forever. However his son's future does not look very bright with his dad's former team. Ewing Jr. played in his final preseason game on Friday before being cut from the team's roster. Too much surprise he did not make the team despite his father's legacy. However with a less than average debut with the Knicks, they had to do what was best for the team. D'Antoni had said that the fact that Ewing's father is a Knicks legend could not be ignored, but it wouldn't factor into the decision.
Taking Ewing Jr. spot was shooting guard Anthony Roberson. They believe he will be more of a help for the team now and in the future. However although Ewing Jr. did not make the Knicks Squad, D'Antoni believes he has a legitimate shot to make it in the NBA with more hard work during the season. I am excited to see where the ex Hoya ends up in the near future and to see where he compares against his father's flawless resume.
Sports Business Journal is reporting that Olympic athletes, swimmers in particular, are in desperate search of endorsements. Big time companies are unwilling to sign new endorsees and do not want to spend money on big time deals during this economic dow
nfall. Many companies simply do not have the money to spend on famous faces to sell their products. This comes as a surprise to many because of the record setting ratings and level of interest that the Beijing Games generated.
Instead of companies like Tyr swimming and Speedo going out and spending money on new faces to sell their products, they are simply sitting around waiting for the economy to get better. With faces like Phelps, Lezak and Torres, you would think these companies would jump on these guys to help sell their swimwear. Maybe if they spent a little money, record breaking athletes could bring in record breaking revenue. Maybe Michael Phelps could use his Gold medals and pull out another miracle to save the Olympics.
Due to slowing economy and the threat of a shortfall in NHl revenue, the NHL Player'
Association has been pushing a proposal that would have the players pay 13.5 percent of their paychecks into escrow. This would be the largest since escrow was established in 2005 as a part of the current collective-bargaining agreement. Players pay into escrow accounts throughout the season in case salaries. They pay for over 57-percent of hockey revenue over the course of the season, but anything over that 57-percent is returned to owners from the escrow account.
From: http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60389
With this poor economy it is important to not just sit around and do nothing. If this proposal goes through the NHL and its revenue can keep flourishing and keep trying to gain the respect it had before the lockout. If we take this too lightly it could cost the NHL revenue and even more fan support. It is pivital that this proposal goes through. If it doesnt and they have to go to members and cut the checks to the owners. The players have the money another 1.5 percent of their already 12 percent they pay to escrow will be more helpful for them to pay then not to.
With the season finally here, the NBA has prepared promotoinal ideas to jump start the 2008-2009 season. The NBA is teaming up with Kia to create a fan fest in New York City's Union Square. The event will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, October 28th, which is opening day of the NBA season. They plan to attract fans by bringing in former NBA stars and current New York Knick players, as well as having a full basketball court with entertainment. This first time event should get the NBA going for a great season. According to Sports Business Journal, Kia will promote Tip Off Week at all of it's 640 dealerships throughout the nation. They will have NBA-branded Kia Borregos in all 30 NBA markets, where giveaways will also take place. 2008 will be Kia's first full year of partnership with the NBA. The NBA will have several other Tip Off Week sponsors to continue traditions from previous seasons. None, however will be as big as the Kia sponsorship.
The NBA deal with Kia is a great way to get fans involved this season, and will definitely increase the Kia sales. The advertisement Kia is recieving through the NBA will be a nice bonus for their marketing department. The NBA attracts many people, and if people see Kia working with the NBA, they are bound to think again before buying a Toyota.
In this week's issue of the Sports Business Journal there is an article about the Canadian and American currency values. Canadian Currency, known as the loonie has hit a recent low, with it being worth about 80 cents to a US dollar. The problem that most Canadian teams in pro US sports are facing has to do with pay rolls. For example, the Toronto Blue Jays have a $98 million pay roll which they pay their players in the American dollars; 65% of their income is in the Canadian loonie and 85% of their expenses are in the US dollar. Obviously this is showing that in order to combat this they will have to take in a substantial amount of income. Last year though there was a time where the Canadian loonie was above the US dollar and some teams like the Blue Jays were allowed to save up to $4 million because of this.
This is really bad for the Canadian Teams because they are losing a lot of money right now. Hopefully the Canadian currency recovers and teams don't take too big of a hit. It would be really unfortunate if any of the Canadian sports teams get sold or whatever, but I think that that would be an extreme case. Most Canadian teams like the Montreal Canadians have a large fan base so they should not have to worry about income. But some teams like the Toronto Blue Jays, who, if you have watched their games don't seem to have a very large fan base could take a big hit, especially since there is no revenue sharing in the MLB.
Lisa Schoolcraft worte this article entitled, "The Green is Fading from Golf Course Business," due to the decline in the economy and its affect on golf courses. The article is based in Georgia and there are reports of numerous golf courses going backrupt. Due to the slumping economy private courses have seen a reduction in their memberships and public courses are starting to see less customers due to the economy.
Due to the economic slump in the U.S. it is interesting to see how the entire sports industry, not just the golf industry, will hold up. The article states that golf in Georgia is currently a 3.3 billion dollar industry. With the state of the economy, this number will surely decrease, but by how much? I do not think golf will take a large hit in sales because of its popularity. The PGA may not be the most popular sport, however many people simple enjoy playing golf. Public courses will always have their customers and will always be successful. Although private courses may lose a few memberships, they will always have their loyal paying customers. I do not think people will turn away from golf just because of a slumping economy. Golf is a game that can be played by anyone and because of that reason, the golf industry will always have plenty of customers
LAS VEGAS -- The NBA Board of Governors voted to allow the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas to accept bets on league games, even though the Maloof family owns both the casino and the Sacramento Kings, owner George Maloof Jr. said Thursday.
Maloof told The Associated Press the unanimous vote Thursday means that for the first time the Palms will be allowed to take wagers on all NBA teams, except the Kings.
The arrangement is similar to a deal between the NBA and casino company Harrah's Entertainment Inc., whose chief executive, Gary Loveman, owns a 2.4 percent stake in the Boston Celtics. Harrah's casinos accept wagers on all NBA games except those involving the Celtics.
"The Celtics kind of opened the door a little bit," Maloof said. "We just thought it would be fair to do the same thing with us."
Maloof said he had talked to the league for some time about such an arrangement, but began a formal push about six months ago.
Spokesmen for the NBA did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Maloof said he had not calculated how much NBA betting action the Palms expects, but said the move is about keeping customers from gambling on games elsewhere.
"The fact that somebody couldn't book a bet and had to go off property drove me crazy because ... you want to provide every service for your guest and you want to be competitive," Maloof said.
Oddsmaker John Harper of Las Vegas Sports Consultants said NBA betting is popular because games are played throughout the week and the season is 82 games, not including playoffs.
But for sports bettors, basketball is considerably less popular than college and professional football.
"Football is king, and that's far above anything else," Harper said.
Vitaminwater has become a dominate sports drink along with Powerade and Gatorade. Coke who is the lead sponsor in the NCAA will switch its focus form Dasani water to Vitaminwater revive, which is the fruit punch flavor. Vitaminwater will be present on the sidelines of all 88 NCAA championships. But leader of these cham
pionships is basketball and coke is excited to have Vitaminwater out on the court as well as on the commercials during March Madness. Along with this Vitaminwater is also getting big name endorsers to support their product. Most recently LeBron James has switched his endorsement deal from Powerade to Vitaminwater. Other profession athletes which back Vitaminwater are David Ortiz, Kobe Bryant and Brian Urlacher plus many others. Vitaminwater hopes all of these factors contribute to further exposure and bigger profits.
I think this is a great opportunity for Vitaminwater to drive in more business. They have already become recognized but hopefully these efforts will take it to the next level. The only question I have is are the players happy with this decision and will there be an alternative for them if they don't like Vitaminwater. But other than that it seems Vitaminwater is making good decisions in the sports industry.
Read On...
Rocked by the turbulence in the financial markets, the NFL has not yet renewed its $1.5 billion lending pool with less than two weeks remaining before an Oct. 31 deadline.
The NFL is facing significantly higher interest rates and challenges borrowing money. While the league last week expressed optimism a deal would come, banking sources said the loan pool, or credit facility, may "term out," which means that over the next four years, the league would have to pay down the loans.
About half the league's teams have relied on the credit facility for cheap loans. That era, it appears, could be set to come to a close.
This problem doesn't sound good for the NFL or any other professional sports league who could fall short on the financial part of their respected franchises. The NFL has been having financial problems. However the league is using many options before the October 31st deadline. The league has been payin about .5% to the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate). This number has flucuated to an astonishing 6.88% last month. The NFL is trying to refinance the credit facility with LIBOR at 125 points. With this said the league would have to start paying off loans over a four year period. On the other hand many other leagues are facing these same problems...
Read More at..... http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60310