Recently in Basketball Category
Based on the largely successful season that the Syracuse Orange Division I basketball team is having, Syracuse was able to skip the first round of the Big East Tournament and in doing so faced off against the Georgetown Hoyas on March 11th. The Orange, however, was less than successful in their efforts against the Hoyas. Throwing them under the bus back to Syracuse even further was the knee injury of senior center, Arinze Onuaku. Arinze was caught leaving Madison Square Garden on crutches after the game on Thursday. Team physician, Irving Raphael, was optimistic and said that Onuaku would be capable of playing in the NCAA Tournament that is approaching. Onuaku is a major contributor to the Syracuse Orange and is in essence vital if the Orange hope to race for a national championship title. The Orange is having quite the season defying many pre season predictions. Hopefully, Arinze Onuaku can make a recovery and return to the Orange lineup to continue in their success when the Division I men's basketball tournament begins.
On February 10th the UConn men's basketball team entered the Carrier Dome along with newly designed Syracuse Basketball jerseys. Nike recently developed the Nike Hyper Elite jerseys for elite basketball teams in the NCAA. These jerseys not only become more breathable for the players but, they reduced weight and cut off almost 13 inches of fabric from the jersey.
Another key feature of the newly designed jerseys is the customized back panel, featured in the picture to the right. The back panel now consists of outlines of key places on the Syracuse University campus such as, the Carrier Dome and Carnegie Hall.
StratBridge Inc. has just developed ground breaking software that should undoubtedly help professional teams in every sport to make better managerial decisions. StratBridge Inc. is a company that has developed software for both ticket sales (StratTix), and player analysis (StratEdge). The company was founded in 1999 by Mr. Matthew Marolda and made a name for themselves in 2005 with their ticket selling software. StratTix can be used in a number of ways to help teams gain valuable information about their ticket sales, as well as the people buying them. This software can help the team view up-to-the-minute seating charts to see which seats are selling, and which ones are not. It will provide the teams with information about the people purchasing the tickets such as their geographical area, what source they used to purchase them (Ticket Master, Stubhub etc.), and helping to predict attendance. This will help lead to teams to finding the best time to market, when the best time is to promote, and will help their yield management strategies to become more effective. The company's newest software breakthrough, StratEdge, will ultimately give an "edge" to teams that are scouting and looking to draft, or sign specific players. It provides teams with detailed information about trades, contract extensions, and how they match up to other athletes at their position. This company is in a niche of its own, and one of the best at what they do. These new tools that are now readily available for any team will help them make smarter business decisions that everyone knows will ultimately affect their franchise for years to come. StratBridge Inc. already has more then 100 deals with professional teams in the NHL, MLB, NFL, MLS, AFL, and minor league baseball. They hope to continue to build bridges with and for various sport franchises around the world.
Syracuse, Binghamton, Cornell, Siena, Niagara and Buffalo could all be in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. What a great year for Division I Upstate New York basketball in a terrible year for the economy.
Although UB needs to win the Mid-American Conference Championship tonight to punch its ticket and Niagara must wait for Selection Sunday, all of the aforementioned teams have had tremendous seasons and deserve to be in the Big Dance.
Even if UB and Niagara do not make it, the economic impact created by the buzz around all these teams will be interesting to measure, especially with the current state of the economy. How many more tickets were sold? How much more merchandise was sold? How many more meals and hotel rooms were sold? How much did applications increase at those schools because of national exposure? How many more dollars did alumni donate?
The answers to the above questions will provide the quantitative proof of the impact of success on the basketball court, but what could be of even more importance is the measurement of the enhancement of community image and visibility. Sports teams are highly visible images of universities, communities, cities and regions. Success of sports teams have proven to provide millions of dollars worth of positive public relations in addition to direct economic dollars.
With Upstate New York, especially Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton, being particularly hard hit during this recession and unemployment approaching double figures in many cities, Division I college basketball success just might be the stimulus package its communities are looking for.
University of Memphis men's basketball season-ticket holders will receive information this week about the new Tiger Scholarship Fund's Per-Seat Donation program. This program will "require fans to make a minimum annual donation to keep their season-ticket location from one year to the next" according to a front page article written by Jim Masilak of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.The New York Knicks were unable to reach a buyout with Stephon Marbury today. Marbury, and his lawyers met with New York Knicks GM Donnie Walsh in an attempt to buy out the remainder of Marburys contract. The point guard is not in the teams future plans and is considered a "distraction." Marbury is set to earn 21 million dollars this year, which is the final year of his contract. Since the Knicks do not want anything to do with the player, they told him to "stay away" from the team until they can figure out a way to get rid of him, whether it be via buyout, release of trade.
Perhaps the greatest college basketball coach ever, Bobby Knight, has took up a new challenge at the end of last year after his resignation from coaching. When his time at texas Tech came to an end, ESPN was quick to jump for the famed coach. He was used significantly in the postseason league championships and NCAA tournament coverage. This year his role will increase to include Thursday night contests, Sportscenter apperances, postseason analysis, and ESPN Radio coverage.
I think that as a coach Knight had his own way of doing things. This is true with sportscasting as well, but like in coaching, perhaps a different way will succeed. His three national championships are an example of how his different style works, and possibly ratings an increase with this different style of broadcasting.
Baron Davis, Los Angeles Clippers point guard recently signed a 5 year contract with apparel company Li-Ning in China, writes Sports Business Journal. He plans on creating his own line of shoes and clothing to be sold initially to only the Chinese consumers. Eventually the line could make it to the United States. Li-Ning is trying to approach the American market slowly by using a star in American society like Baron Davis. The 5 year deal Davis has with Li-Ning is supposedly the largest deal by a non-Chinese person with a Chinese company. Davis has already filmed commercials to be showed in China. In past years, Davis had endorsed Reebok, but that contract ended over the summer. The new contract with Li-Ning should be a huge success in China. Davis is not the only NBA player to sign with Chinese companies. Stars such as Jason Kidd and Shaquille O'Neal have contracts of their own with companies like Peak and Li-Ning. Who knows how many American athletes will soon be part of the Chinese Market.
The American market has been decreasing recently. With better opportunities for endorsements in China, more American athletes are bound to go international. Endorsements in China should create a much higher awareness of American athletes, resulting in a great increase in the American sports industry market. Not only will international endorsements help, but lately American professional sports leagues have been traveling across the seas quite a bit. International experience is a key towards future success.
Chris Granger, NBA senior vice president of team marketing and business operations was asked questions about ticket values, how teams are doing with the downward economy, how teams doing business differently, and if there seems to be any challenges that have been face along the way. When asked about the strategy that the NBA has towards the limit of season ticket base Granger replies by saying that it's all about value, that would be a way to increase the number of new ticket buyers and keep recent ticket buyers. He also said that this strategy has been very effective.
I believe this is good. Even though I'm not a big fan of the NBA or even basketball this will be good for the organization if they can bring in new ticket holders and keep old ticket holders with the increase of a little extra value with the tickets. Teams might be doing things differently than they have done in previous years because the economy has gotten worse than it has say about a couple or so years ago. Hopefully there's a good if not great turn-around for the NBA from this new added value to ticket sales.
Read more.......http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60466
The NBA is going through an "up-down" situation in response to their season ticket holding sales. The economic downturn is lowering the average renewal rate, as it has dropped to 80 percent compared with 84 percent to date last year. However, their is 11 teams over 10,000 season ticket holders compared to 10 teams last year. The Utah Jazz has 14,000 and The Los Angeles Lakers are second with less than14,000 full-season tickets sold. The Oklahoma City Thunder sold nearly 13,000, while the Golden State Warriors have sold more than 12,000. The biggest increase in season ticket sales goes to the Blazers and Hornets adding over 3,500 tickets for the season. The Lakers a high season-ticket retention rate, renewing at a 99 percent rate. Next are the Celtics at 97%. But to other teams, ticket rates are being dropped because of the failing economy. After the first and second payments, these tickets are etting dropped because of the money. A m
ain ticket base shrink is the Miami Heat, which was among the leaders in season-ticket sales years before. This can be accountable due to the terrible economy in South Florida or the 67 lossed the Heat indured last year. Their are positives but many negatives in this years ticket situation.
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60465
I love the NBA and its fan base. But to see season ticket sales to be dropping because of the failing economic crisis is heart breaking. Sports, especially basketball, is a safe haven for many people during times of high stress and money situations. If these sporting events just add to stress and increase money problems, the sport will be doomed. It is clear and is understandable that the Blazers and the Hornets are increasing sales due to their rising team status. It is also acceptable to see that the Heat is losing ticket sales. It is crazy however to see how Miami was just a couple years ago and its fan base, to now which is very bleak. Yes; there are a lot more problems that need to be fixed with this economy. But sports are important to and this ticket crisis must be figured out in order for our society to stay uplifted. Money is money and the NBA will move on, but in losing fans because of money is just not right.
