The Sports Complex: The Insane Trends in March Madness

Amongst the madness of March each year (as fellow contributor Kevin Murray discussed yesterday), it’s easy for the big business of the Big Dance to go unnoticed. High-level sponsors and multibillion dollar broadcast deals make the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament one of the biggest draws in sport. Here are some trends that affect the future of the Big Dance:

An NFL Stadium for Racing

Nascar is about to have some huge renovations in their main racetrack. Joie Chitwood III recently said, “If you’re going to claim to be the ‘World Center of Racing’ or the Super Bowl of the sport, there’s an expectation that comes with that – big, grand, the best.” This is exactly what Joie has in mind to do and he recently has gotten the approval to renovate the ancient track. These renovations would make the track look more like an NFL Stadium and less like a racetrack.

SBJ Review: The NHL Is Back

Matt Puzio is a sophomore Drexel Sport Management student. 

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The Man Advantage: "The Song Remains the Same" for NHL

When the NHL lost the entire 2004-05 season due to CBA negotiations and the resulting lockout, fans prayed the NHL Players Association and franchise owners would have learned their lesson. No one expected another lockout seeming likely a month before the 2012-13 season is set to begin. Lo and behold, here we are eight years later with the same sense of impending doom looming over the NHL as we did the last time the NHLPA and Board of Governors sat down to discuss collective bargaining. 

As I said four months ago, the NHL cannot afford another lockout. As reported by BleacherReport, it took the NHL six years to see its ratings recover from the previous lockout—another lockout would be disastrous. Many big name players (such as Joe Thornton and Rick Nash) are already rumored to have offers on the table from European teams for this next season.

Last week, Chris Botta of SportsBusiness Journal reported that “NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman received almost $8 million in salary and benefits during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011”, more than double what he made before the 2004-05 lockout. Making this worse, the league reported a loss of $14.7 million for this past fiscal year. The league is "losing money," but the commissioner (as well as several other top league officials) all saw significant increases to their salary.

Add in the looming labor strike (and a NBC Sports contract that still leaves much to be desired) and it’s a situation that seems daunting, at the very least. For the last few months, the league has done nothing to reassure fans of a peaceful resolution to this dispute—the league cancelled its annual season opening games in Europe, and Detroit recently cancelled the 15^th annual Traverse City Prospect Tournament because of the labor uncertainty. The preseason is likely next, and a prolonged dispute might also cancel the All Star Game, if not the entire season.

If the NHL wants to regain its position as one of the “Big Four” North American sports, they have to come to a solution quickly. Donald Fehr and the Player’s Association remain optimistic, but, with less than a month from the September 15^th deadline, there has been no progress in negotiations. There is still a wide gap between the owners and the NHLPA’s demands. Any work stoppage would be disastrous for the league. The NFL and NBA have had years of good favor with fans and the media to lean upon with their potential work stoppages--the NHL doesn't have that same luxury. 

The writing’s on the wall, and fans, it doesn’t look good.

Sixers Sales

As the Philadelphia 76ers continue through the NBA playoffs looking to survive the Boston Celtics for a chance to play in the Eastern Conference Championship, ownership hopes that the on-court success can translate off-court.  This summer will be a big offseason for the team because it will be the first full offseason for Adam Aron, Josh Harris, and the rest of the new 76ers ownership group.

This season saw the team earn the 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.  The 76ers capitalized on the playoff berth by beating the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the NBA playoffs to win its first playoff series since 2003.  The on-court accomplishments have been impressive, but the off-court accomplishments have been even better.

According the Terry Lefton in this week’s Sports Business Journal, the 76ers ticket sales were outstanding for the first season under the new ownership group.  Average attendance at the Wells Fargo Center jumped from 14,751 to 17,503 this season, which was good for moving up from 25 to 14 in NBA.  The statistic that I found most interesting was the fact that the 76ers sold more paid tickets in lockout shortened 66 game season than they did in the full 82 game season last year.  Season tickets have also seen improvement with a jump from 3,294 this season to 5,438 next season with CEO Adam Aron’s prediction that next season’s number will end somewhere around 6,500.

This summer will be the test for the marketing arm of the 76ers.  The team looks to use the momentum from the on-court performance and attendance increases to build stronger sponsorship deals.  Four of the bigger categories of 76ers sponsorship inventory are up for renewal this offseason including beer, healthcare, quick service restaurant, and wireless provider.

One element that may really be holding the organization back sponsorship wise is their lack of signature inventory.  A solution may be on its way because the team is moving its offices out of the Wells Fargo Center and into office space at the Navy Yard.  The biggest plus to this move is the 76ers’ plan to build a practice facility there.  I think this would be huge for the organization because it would provide them a unique sponsorship inventory item and give one of their top sponsors a chance to further brand themself in the Philadelphia sports marketplace. 

I think that the success of the 76ers this past year will help them greatly in the area of sponsorship.  Not that companies looking to partner with the team will automatically throw truckloads of money at them (ignore the impossibility of the physical strength needed), but it will offer a little bit of friendly competition that could push the price up a little bit.  Every little bit counts for a team under new owners, even for new owners like Adam Aron and Josh Harris who have seen great success already.

Agree?  Disagree?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

L.A. Kings Winning With Tweet Game



From SportsBusinessJournal.com

In the latest edition of “things Ryan finds cool” we go back to the NHL to see how the Los Angeles Kings are changing the social media game for pro sports, one Tweet at a time. Chris Botta’s SportsBusiness Journal article this week takes a look at the franchises’ official Twitter page, “@LAKings: irreverent, entertaining, sarcastic and controversial.”

Three years ago, LA ranked 29^th out of 30 franchises in website engagement (calculated as “average time spent per user.”) According to the most recently league data, the franchise now ranks first in the league. The Twitter page has also added over 37,000 followers since April 1 of this year. This can largely be attributed to the social media staffers, who use Twitter as a fun way to engage with the fans. Over the years, official social media pages have given just facts and figures—consistently dry and lacking for engagement. The Kings are changing that by breaking the rules. Who’d expect to ever see smack talk from a team’s official Twitter? Certainly not me, but the Kings are giving fans just that. Twitter is aiding in adding some heat to their playoff series, on and off the ice (Ahahaha, I get it; the games are in Phoenix and LA. Hot. Funny!)

Regardless, I think this is good. Heaven knows the league needs something to talk about come Stanley Cup Finals time (I certainly don’t care about New Jersey or the Phoenix Red Jackets right now.) I like a little smack talk, especially when it’s witty. Just reading last night’s Tweets during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals made me chuckle—it’s akin to reading fans Tweeting about the game (but with less cursing and anger.) 

For example, “Not great at math, but #LAKings getting a whole bunch off PP time. They kind of need the practice anyway.”  @LAKings 10:41p.m.

It’s smart, it’s funny, it’s original, and it’s giving us all something to talk about. That’s a mix fit for royalty, don’t you think?