August 2, 2009

The LFL

I recently read an article about a new venture called the Lingerie Football League (LFL), which will begin its inaugural season this year.  The league is exactly what you would expect.  It features attractive women playing football in very little clothing…what could be better than that!!!

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At first glance it looks like a cant miss bet.  Sex sells, sports sell…so sexy women playing sports has got to be the next big thing.  Right?  I don’t think so…

The problem is that professional sports leagues generate most of their revenue from merchandise, gate revenues, concessions and broadcasting contracts and I’m not sure that LFL franchises can generate much money in any of these categories.  If you ask me, this looks more like a reality TV show produced by NBC than a real sports league.  The Lingerie Bowl during half time of the super bowl was probably good idea, but expanding this to an actual league seems like a pretty big stretch.

Leagues are only successful when the fans are invested in the outcome.  Once the novelty of seeing lingerie football wares off, then this will be no more popular than any other sport.  It might stay on for a season or two, but the premise of having women playing football in lingerie sounds like more of a gimmick than a sport.  It’s the equivalent of a roller derby.  It’s something that would be fun to go to a couple of times, but it is not something that actual fans will get behind.  Can you imagine telling someone that your favorite sports team is the Dallas Desire?  Or how about the San Diego Seduction?

If you remember, Slam ball was an awesome sport where guys played basketball on trampolines and basically every play was a dunk.  When Slam Ball first showed up on TV everyone was talking about it and thought it was awesome, but after a few weeks the show’s novelty wore out.  People liked the action but didn’t care about their home team doing well.  Fans had no connection to teams, there was no history to look back on and the athletes were just ex-basketball players rather than trained Slam Ball players.  It was more of a made for TV competition than a professional sports league, the equivalent of American Gladiators.  I don’t even know if Slam Ball is still around, but I bring it up because the LFL will likely follow a similar path.

Lets check in on this after season one of the LFL, but my money is on a large amount of initial fan interest followed by a steady decline.  Then again I could be wrong becuase all the players are very good looking.

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July 21, 2009

Phelps at the ESPYs

Did anyone else think it was weird that Michael Phelps brought his mom to the ESPYs?  I love my mom as much as the next guy, but if I’ve learned one thing from Entourage, its that you always bring a hot date to big events!

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So, this got me thinking about why Michael Phelps (a sports super star) would bring his mom to the event.  Could it be because he loves his mom more than the rest of us?  I think not…

I have to believe that one part of this was just a major PR move.  Why else would a 24 year old guy want his mom to sit next to him while he repeatedly got made fun of for having smoked pot?  Having his mom there made him appear more like the wholesome family kid that all his sponsors want him to be.  Instead of coming across as a playboy, he appealed to the families and kids that cheered for him in Beijing.  It’s the image he is trying to cultivate.

I’m sure part of the reason he brought his mom was because he loves her, but I am convinced PR had to come into it as well.  There are big bucks in sports sponsorships, and when your main competition takes place only once every four years, it’s even more important to maintain an image that sponsor will pay for.

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June 13, 2009

NHL’s has a marketing problem

The NHL should be more popular.   That’s it.  End of story.  The league offers an exciting product which is both one of the most fun sports to play and watch.  Crowds are passionate, announcers are excited, it is awesome on HD TV and there is constant action, but somehow the NHL manages to sit at the fringe of what most people call “Americas major pro sports leagues” (NBA, NFL, MLB….NHL?).

Often when a product (sport) fails to gain popularity it is because the actual game has flaws.  Soccer is too slow for many Americans, the XFL’s players were not as talented as the NFL, the WNBA athletes are not explosive making the overall game much slower than NBA,  but hockey is failing for a different reason.  Hockey’s lack of success has more to do with marketing than anything else.

Recent rule changes including shrinking goalies padding, allowing two line passes and restricting goalies puck handling have lead to higher scores and more exciting games.  These changes may attacked a few fans, but what the NHL needs more than anything else is a new marketing campaign to entice the casual sports fan.  If the casual sports fan can only name three active players (Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin) from the entire league, then the leagues is doing something wrong.  The Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy, Jager, Yzerman generation is gone so the NHL must redouble its efforts to either get fans interested in players or generally interested in hockey.

Here is a quick list of things the NHL should be doing to market its sport:

  • There should be more promotional events like having the Bruins practice on Frog Pond one day.  It would be a cool event and get the city excited about hockey.
  • There should be the equivalent to “NBA cares commercials.”  Show that players are more than just men with missing teeth and awesome beards.  Figure out a way to show that players are real peope and are helping out in the community.  The NFL works hard on this because its a violent sport with guys are wearing helmets all the time.  Hockey must work equally hard to get players names in the peoples vocabularies.
  • Everyone loves a rivalry, so promote it!  The Ovechikin vs Crosby rivalry should be pumped up.  Not only are these guys the best players in the league, they are also both really young.  Its a rivalry that could develop the same way Bird vs. Magic did.
  • Sponsor youth leagues for kids that cant afford to play hockey and build ice rinks to get youths on the ice.  If kids like the sport from an early age they are likely to become life long fans.  The kids might also get the parents excited and into the sport.
  • More commercials like this.  Enough said.
  • Have more than one big outdoor event per year.  Why not do it like the NFL on thanksgiving and do both an afternoon and night game?  It would draw twice the attention.
  • Give greater support to college hockey as a way to get college students from schools outside of North Dakota excited.

Possibly a more thought out post on this later.

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May 31, 2009

More Online Content

One of the many things the NBA does better than any other league is share content on the internet, but if I want to see a huge dunk from last night, I shouldn’t have to watch some random persons home camera recording of his tivo.  I should be able to see any highlight in HD quality uploaded from the league itself.

Seriously all you need to do is pay 5 people to watch games and upload highlights of the best plays.  Have those people put  together highlight reels of the best catches, hits, goals or dunks from the night.  It is something that should be really easy, but not all leagues do a great job of this.

This is especially important for games that don’t get shown on national TV.  Leagues should be promoting the small market teams that need it the most.  The Sox, Yankees, Giants, Celtics and others will always make it on to sports center.  Their games are always nationally televised.  The leagues should instead use the internet to grow their game in areas that don’t have the same exposure.

Take Danny Granger for example.  This guy had a break out season, was averaging ~25 points per game, was voted into the all star game…and I still have no idea what he looks like!  If is saw Kevin Garnet walking down the street everyone would recognize him, but since Danny Granger plays in Indiana instead of LA or Boston, he is not as well known.

He is the perfect example of a player that should be promoted in league sponsored online content.

  • Feature him in some sort of online behind the scene mini-series
  • If he has a huge play from the night before make sure that it gets noticed on digg or youtube
  • Sponsor some funny videos promoting small market players like Chris Bosh for the all star game a few years ago

Basically, I think there is an opportunity to continue to use more league sponsored HD quality online videos, highlights, documentaries and other content to promote players and teams which may not get national coverage.

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May 27, 2009

A leason in how to turn away fans

News flash to commissioner Stern: If your fans are turning the game off with three minutes to go because there are so many fouls, then you are doing something wrong.   The NBA should take a page from the NHL rule book if and allow the players to decide the game. Its cliche to call it “playoff basketball,” but at some point the refs just need to let things go.

Case in point: Kenyon Martain…ESPN says “Martin has actually collected six technical fouls this postseason, but his previous three before Monday night’s T were rescinded by the league office.”

All this shows me is that refs are overreacting to plays on the court, and the league office is then going back and correcting what should have actually been called.  Sure they might be getting the calls right in the long run, but that fact that the refs are making so many wrong calls is killing the playoffs for fans.

Its essentially the same argument that owners, players and fans make against instant replay.  Sure you are getting the calls right, but only at the expense of killing any flow of the game.  Baseball loses its appeal when an umpire takes 10 minutes to figure out a home run call, just as the NBA becomes boring when there are 5 personal fouls and 2 technicals between the 4:05 and 3min mark left in the Lakers- Nuggets game.

Professional sports leagues are, at their core, companies that sell the same product over and over to fans.  They need fans to keep buying tickets, so there primary responsibility should be to make the games as enjoyable as possible.  While there can be no outward directive from the league office to call less fouls, the NBA needs to do something about the inconsistency and over reactions this post season.  Professional soccer made a concerted effort a few years ago to clean up the game by penalizing players for diving.  Similarly, the NBA must not reward players for touch fouls which only get called once the game is tight.

To sum up:

  1. The NBA (and all sports leagues) are in the business of providing entertainment for fans
  2. To generate revenue these leagues need fans coming back
  3. The league should be doing everything in its power to make the game more enjoyable
  4. One way to make the game more enjoyable is to call less fouls and let the game flow
  5. Fans rarely get upset about a game being to physical (aka hockey or the NFL or MMA)
  6. Once a players  and fans safety is ensured, refs mus take a set back and look at the game as a whole
  7. All the players want “playoff basketball,” so let the little stuff go and truly punish those who merit it
  8. Keep the fans happy and they will keep coming back

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May 21, 2009

Forgive..or at least Forget

All the news today has been about Michael Vick getting out of jail after 19months of confinement in relation to his dog fighting charges.  Will Roger Goodell admit him back in the NFL?  Will any teams be willing to take him? People love to forget….

  • Kobe: rape trial (2004)-…NBA league MVP (2008)
  • Barkley: Drunk driving conviction (2009)…back on prime time TNT (6 weeks later)
  • Shawne Marriman: Steroid suspension (2006)…Pro bowl (same season, 12 games later)
  • Marv Albert: Sexual assault charges for biting a women on the back 15 times during a sexual encounter (1997)…back on TNT prime time (all the time)
  • Latrell Sprewell: Choked his coach (1997)…. played in the NBA through 2006, all-star 2001

I could go on all day with examples of professional athletes getting second chances.  If you are a good enough people love to forget bad things you have done.

In the short term it might look bad for a team to sign an athlete like Vick, but in most cases the long term reward is worth the risk.  Sure PETA and some fans will boycott whatever team picks up Vick, but there is little chance this will negatively impact the teams finacials in the long term. Remember when the blazers were affectingly known as the “Jail Blazers?” History should remind us that fans will still attend games, merchandise will continue to sell and the world will move on.

Three possible scenarios:

  • Vick once again does something stupid, a team is forced to cut him, and everyone wonders what could have been.
  • Vick returns to his status as an elite NFL quarterback and a team gains a great player.
  • Vick turns out to be a mediocore player after 3 years away from the game.  He makes headlines as a back up and part time player for his first team before he is cut and picked up by a second team as a 5 play per game player.  Within 4 years he is out of the league for good.

In any scenario we know there will be immense press coverage during his first days back with a team.  We know reporters will argue about how he is affecting the locker room and fans will act outraged that their team would sign such a bad guy.

Yet, I believe that owners must take the chance at signing such a rare talent., sponsors should at least rethink their relationship (as Nike did Kobe away after Adidas dropped him), and general managers must remember that the only bad press is no press.  If you are operating a franchise you must look at how history has treated players and realize that Vick will likely get a second chance somewhere.  It is in the teams best interest to at least consider the benefits of such a player.

I do not condone anything Michael Vick has done in the past (and I have personally never been a fan) , but if history has taught us anything its that fans have an amazing capacity to forgive…or at least forget.

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May 17, 2009

Website Content

Sports franchises have an opportunity to be THE SOURCE for sports news.

Currently if I want the start time for a game, the TV channel showing it, the latest injury reports, trade rumors, or suspension news I just go to ESPN.com as my one stop shop for all things sports.  The website is great for getting a variety of news stories and pretty much makes every other sports website irrelevant.  Sure some people go to SI sport or Yahoo sports, but ESPN is really the place to be.  This got me thinking about franchise websites are extremely underutilized.  Just think…where does espn.com get all its news?  It’s the “sources inside the celtic organization, ” or “Red Sox team doctors!”

Teams hold the cards when it comes to access and team information.  So why aren’t the franchises bringing news directly to the fans?

If franchises want to make their web portals relevant, then they need to offer something espn.com can’t.  ESPN aggregates stories from across teams and leagues.  Since individual teams cant do this, then they need to offer exclusive content ESPN doesn’t have.  Teams websites must be the fist place to announce a trade, injury, or suspension.  If the Lakers were doing a good job with their web portal, I would have been checking their website instead of ESPN.com to find out if Derick Fisher was going to be suspended for game 3.

Since individual teams cant compete on breadth of information, their value add must be the depth of targeted insight they can provide. Team’s have an opportunity to increase they web presence and connect with the fans in a way that has never been done before.

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