ESPN's Mining Gold in South Africa

World class athletes, the newest and best facitilities, global viewership, multinational sponsors, and now another innovation to keep our eyes on: broadcasting. While it sounds hum-drum, the way these World Cup games are broadcast is setting the stage for the future of sport broadcasts, at least the broadcasting of major international events like FIFA World Cup or the Olympics.
In the past, broadcasters, companies like CBS, NBC, ABC, or Fox, bid for the rights to show some event. For instance, NBC has the broadcast rights for the Olympics in America. They regularly paid big bucks for it. The broadcasters then turned around and sold spots within the events to organizations like Budweiser, Army, or Honda. The commercial spots (or commercials) were purchased by the major brands to get in front of all the viewers of the events. As long as the Olympics draw in millions of viewers, the brands are interested in getting their name in front of them and will pay NBC for the chance to shoehorn their commercial spot into the broadcast.
This is how network broadcast has worked from its inception. However (1) soccer doesn't fit the model well because there are no regular stops in the game where ad space can be sold, except for halftime. Also, this year the World Cup broadcast rights were sold, in part, to ESPN, a broadcaster that makes money not only from selling commercial advertising sports, but also from cable companies who charge us monthly subscriptions. ESPN doesn't rely solely on advertising revenue.
If successful, this could be the real game changer.

Baseball 101 for Women Pays Off

Yesterday, the Phillies hosted a Baseball 101 for Women. It was a sellout with 147 women attending. $28,000 was raised by selling tickets to the women. That money went to charities determined by the Phillies. Gotta love it when everyone wins.
On the surface a great day all around: 147 women got to live one of their dreams by visiting Citizen Bank Park for a special day; the Phillies added to their fan database, brought value to some happy fans, and looked like a hero by donating the ticket fees, and got some good media exposure; selected charities get a boost to their coffers in a year that witnessed a lot of charities scrambling to make up for smaller donations.
I love to see communities coming together like this. I supppose that a lot of other people do to or we wouldn't see the events like this publicized in the media. It's good to see an organization being a good guy, even if they're gaining from it too. Hey, they're in the business of making money and making loyal fans. Bringing some dreams to life yesterday was super. The women involved will never forget the day. The really smart thing is that the Phillies could do that AND help their own business.
The Phillies engaged in a form of corporate social responsibility that helps them. Everyone's doing it. Pure philanthropy is an old myth. Being good is good, but being good AND doing well is how it works today.

Star Power?

By Ross Steinman
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Widener University College of Arts and Sciences

The NBA Playoffs are in full swing. Have you noticed? No? Well, you are not alone. The NBA has failed to capitalize on the momentum from a scintillating NCAA championship tournament (otherwise known as March Madness). Why? The NBA sells "stars." The NCAA sells "team." The NBA should go back to college and take a lesson from the NCAA.

The NBA showcases the individual talents of its star players and minimizes the team aspects of the sport. I admit I tune in to watch LeBron or Kobe just like you do. However, what will happen if LeBron and Kobe—I mean the Cavaliers and Lakers—do not meet in the NBA Finals? Will the fan still watch? The NBA and its corporate partners learned this lesson the hard way just last year when the Orlando Magic met the Kobe-led Lakers in the Finals. Nike was left with only one puppet in prime time.

There is a simple solution. The NBA should focus on "team power" instead of "star power." Do you remember the rivalries of the 1980s and 1990s? This was because you had a love/hate relationship with teams. The NBA should take a page out of its own storied past.

Don’t worry NBA executives...fans will still buy LeBron, Kobe, or Dwayne Wade jerseys. They might also see the NBA for what it is: a team sport with world class athletes. NBA, you can sell this. You just need to try.

Hottest ticket in town

It's hard to say what the hottest sport ticket is right now. Last week's DelCo Times declared on the front page that the Phillies held that title. Though the MLB season is just beginning, the Phillies are town favorites. Yes, I know that the Flyers are in the playoffs and people are excited. It's the NHL playoffs, you have to be excited. If you're not a Flyers fan now, then when?
But the Phillies are selling out night after night...in April! April is not only a chilly time for fans, but it's a hundred games from what anyone would consider a race. But on Saturday night we attended the Phils-Marlins game courtesy of Titan360.com and Harmelin Media. Here's what we noticed: the place was PACKED and the fans were really fantastic. 45,000 plus fans filled Citizens Bank Park again despite the cold and wind. Moreover, the fans supported the team. Even though the Phillies were 5 runs down before fans sat down following the national anthem, the fans hung with the team, rooting for the Phils and remaining in their seats to show their support. Not until the seventh inning, after that many innings of a pretty flat Philly showing, did people really start leaving the stadium. And booing never took hold. The fans threw a lot of support toward the Fightins on Saturday night and it was a great experience.
Fans from Philly get a bad showing at times. In our ten years living out here, we have witnessed some terrible stories. Some of it is deserved I suppose, but those are rare and individual cases many times. On Saturday night, the stadium full of fans showed a great side. Maybe the Phillies are the hottest ticket in town. But the fan experience was cool to see.

Is MLS Breaking New Advertising Ground?

Last week I attended a conference about Sport Marketing in Las Vegas. One of the presentations was from a team of academics exploring fan reaction to sponsors on the MLS jerseys.

Historically, the uniforms of sports teams in most American professional leagues have been free of advertising. Uniforms have been regarded as one of the last sacred spaces where commercialism has not encroached. Many critics have suggested that these uniforms should be kept free of advertising. However, in Europe soccer teams regularly place the sponsor’s logo front-and-center. Even in the US, some sports have embraced advertising on jerseys or uniforms: NASCAR drivers are plastered with logos. PGA golfers are also not shy about generating revenues by selling ad space on their clothing. Nonetheless, MLB, the NFL, and the NBA have been hesitant to go that far. They’ve certainly considered it according to the researchers; the NBA and NFL began selling ads on practice jerseys. MLB allowed ads on jerseys in games in Japan.
But in their case history is working against them…would fans tolerate such a historical adjustment to their beloved teams? Specifically, the research team looked at a few questions that we all might have. I’ll list them below and see if any of you respond. I’ll report the findings from a nationwide study of sport fans later this week.

 Will the public tolerate ads on MLS jerseys?
 Are there differences between how sports fans & non-fans view this issue?
 Could MLS be starting a trend other pro sports leagues would mimic?
 How will increasing commercial creep affect relationships between fans and clubs?

Harness racing is just around the corner

By Dr. Nicholas J. Hadgis
Dean and professor
Widener University School of Hospitality Management

The late Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr., former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Widener University, thoroughbred horse breeder/owner and former Pennsylvania Racing Commission Chairman once stated that “gaming rode into Pennsylvania on the back of a racehorse.” At the request of Governor Ed Rendell, Fitz helped to spearhead the effort to pass legislation that would permit slot machines at race tracks in Pennsylvania rallying the support of horse breeders/owners along the way.

The legislation required that part of the revenue from slot machines would go to horse racing and that the owners of race tracks would get licenses to operate slots casinos, thus the term “racino” was coined. Funding for racing from slots has enabled purses in Pennsylvania to be higher than other states and, consequently, the value of horses at auctions as well as the number of horses in foal in the state, has increased.

In efforts to improve the track experience for racing patrons, casino operators, such as Harrah’s, have built new tracks or remodeled existing ones adding new grandstands and quality food and beverage facilities that complement the racing and gaming experience. The racing fans and casino customers, however, tend to represent two different markets and, currently the casino executives consider themselves fortunate to get a 4% to 5% crossover of people betting on races as well as enjoying the casino. Efforts are being made to increase this number through advertising of incentives and special race days. The casino operators think that the advent of table games will bring a new segment of gamblers to their facilities that are more likely to bet on horses than are the current slots players.

The horse racing industry has been in economic decline nation-wide for years. While Pennsylvania racing has benefitted from the funds flowing to it from the gaming industry, executives in the racino business concede that, given its current economics, the horse racing industry is in a death spiral and the slots funding in Pennsylvania is simply buying it some time. The “sport of kings” needs major revisions in how money flows into it and in making a day at the track more user friendly for a new generation of fans.

Harness racing beings April 23 at Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack.

NCAA Equality

By Gregory Cermignano
Associate Professor of Accounting and Business Law
Widener University School of Business Administration

The Men's NCAA tournament is coming down to the final weekend, and TV coverage abounds. We can even find coverage of the Men's NIT. The Women's NCAA tournament has finally come off of the pay-per-view channels (the only place to find all of the opening round games) and moved to the regular ESPN channels, while the Women's NIT is nowhere to be found. We have worked hard in America to attempt to create some equality for women. We have various pieces of legislation (like Title IX), which have helped. But are we doing enough? Should the airwaves be forced to treat the presentation of all of these events with equality? Should we have a choice of what to watch? This blogger thinks so.