Looking back at my journey....

Two weeks away from graduation now and I will like to reminisce on the experiences on my journey to mastery. My professors continue to emphasize the magnitude of our accomplishment, saying that we are part of a small number of people with an advance degree. In the last year, I have had the pleasure to learn first hand from industry professionals. My journey began with courses that focused on executive leadership. During this part of my journey, I learned a lot about myself. Courses like project and team management certainly help me at not only understanding my leadership skills but at refining them. This course also helped me understand the many tactics and ways I can be an effective leader in a team or a project. The middle part of my journey to mastery included a lot of business classes and concepts. We began with branding and storytelling. This course was where I first developed my brand logo. It was an interesting course; we learned about the meanings of the colors on logos as well the many types of logos out there. My favorite business class, surprisingly, was business finance. Sure, this class was complicated and challenging, but I certainly learn so many things about the financial aspect of running a business that I never knew before. I was lucky enough to get digital marketing again. It was a class that I used to refresh my memories on some of the best practices when it comes to digital marketing tactics. I expect this month to challenge me in recalling all the things I have learned so far this year. With graduation less than 2 weeks from today, I will like to proof to myself that I have exceeded my expectations on how much applicable things I have learned in my journey to mastery.

Marc Edeleman: Daily Fantasy sports and law

Marc Edelman is a law professor and sports business scholar that He specializes in sports law, antitrust, intellectual property, and gaming law. Marc Edeleman is well known for his work on fantasy football gambling. Marc believes that the federal and states regulations on fantasy sports are underdeveloped as well as misunderstood. Marc believes that the daily fantasy sports industry is being threatened by the lack of understanding of the industry. Marc Edelman is currently the lead lawyer for DraftKings and FanDuel in their current legal battle to establish the legitimacy of daily fantasy sports and betting. Both fantasy sports platforms are facing legal actions due to their connection to gambling. Their business plans have been found to be in violations of the state and federal regulations on gambling. The lack of regulation in the daily fantasy sport industry has lead to allegations of possible inside trading. Marc Edelman argues that the short existing industry is amateur gambling and that the state or the federal government should not regulate it because users receive some winnings after every game. Marc advised DraftKings to discontinue providing services to those states that have ruled their business practice illegal. DraftKings and other daily fantasy sport platforms run the risk of facing criminal charges if a state court rules daily fantasy sports advanced illegal gambling in violation of state law. “It seems foolish to move forward and risk liability and jail time for executives simply to retain revenues for a short time,” said Edelman, who is a consultant to the daily fantasy sports industry and writes about it for Forbes. Marc Edelman used the example of Jay Cohen’s WorldSportsExchange. Jay was sent to prison for running an illegal sports gambling site in the early 2000’s.

Marc Edelman is the leading voice in sports law and how gambling affects daily fantasy sport sites. His expertise will provide the help needed to understand and better regulate online fantasy sports gambling.

Top 4 Quarterbacks of all time

The 50^th edition of  The Super Bowl is set to take place at Levi’s Stadium in February 2016. Many great Quarterbacks have played in the NFL’s championship game since the 1969 merger. The game of football has generated some of the greatest quarterbacks to ever grace the football field. However, the question at the end of the every season is which of these quarterbacks is the greatest of all time. In my opinion, it is fruitless to try to compare quarterbacks from different generations. New rules are added and some are changed every year, the game of football simply is not the same what it was 50 years ago. This month I plan to share my opinion on which I consider the greatest of all time. I have shortened my list to the top 4, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, John Elway and Dan Marino.

We will begin this week with the #4 spot on my list, Dan Marino. The legendary Miami Dolphins play caller makes my list at #4 for many reason. Marino held the record for most passing touchdowns and passing yards in a season until the mid 2000’s. During his tenure as the quarterback for the Dolphins, Dan was an integral part of the organization. His release is still considered the standard for all quarterbacks today. His 17-year career was so successful that he picked up almost every major passing record by the time he retired. Dan Marino comes in at #4 for one simple reason, never winning the Super Bowl. Dan Marino made it to Super Bowl XIX where he faced another great quarterback, Joe Montana. Marino’s Dolphin’s failed to score a single point in the second half and lost to the 49ers by a score of 16-38.

Marino set the standards for the highflying offense we enjoy today. His ability to release the ball quickly and avoid the sack led him to be one of the toughest quarterbacks to game plan for. Although he set multiple passing records, Dan failed to win a super bowl and never returned to the big game after his loss to the 49ers dynasty. 

Sports Media: The billion dollar industry

These past few years we have seen a number of massive new Media deals that promise to change the landscape of media deal negotiations for years to come. The MLS negotiated their biggest media deal ever with ESPN, Fox Sports and Spanish broadcaster Univision. ESPN also signed a deal with the NBA that promises to change the way we consume its product. The MLB also reached a deal that is worth $12.4 billion, a 100% increase from their last media deals. The amount of dollars thrown into the sports and media industry is at an all time high and it is showing no signs of slowing down. With sports league renewing their media deals and the growth of technology are factors that influence the ever-rising price for sports content.

The advances in technology have brought forward the demand for content on mobile devices. Verizon has capitalized on this demand by becoming the exclusive mobile of the NFL. Verizon paid $1 billion to expand their coverage of games, a 40% increase from their last deal. This deal highlights Verizon’s understanding of the value of their partnership. ESPN and the NBA have also capitalized on the streaming craze brought upon by technology. The NBA now allows ESPN to stream games online and on mobile devices. The NBA becomes the first of the big sports leagues to enter a comprehensive deal that allows for full streaming of all games.

In closing, the downside to this trend is that the consumer may end up paying more on their cable bills. Sports channels carry the largest fees on your cable bill and will likely continue to go up. Technology has had profound effect in the way media deals are negotiated. Distribution channels in today’s world go far beyond the television, radio and other forms of traditional media. The landscape of sports broadcast is changing because of the way sports fans are consuming this content.

Sports marketing in college.

They are many factors that influence the sports marketing industry. The amount of dollars invested in sports marketing campaign is higher than it has ever been. More and more sponsors continue to line up with sports organizations in order to increase brand awareness. Media deals worth billions are now the standard when it comes to acquiring television, radio and digital rights. In college football, athletic departments are recruiting sponsors of all kind. Florida State and the University of Florida have partner with Winn-Dixie, a marketing trend that is increasing in college sports.

Marketing agencies have venture into the complexity of college sports and have seen success there. IMG created IMG College in 2007. IMG College handles the marketing and broadcast rights from over 90 schools that have outsourced these functions to marketing firms in the sports industry. IMG College has generated over $500 million in revenue to its clients. The problem with this is that college sports are associated with amateurism and sometimes the image of a school might blur the lines of what is acceptable and what is not. We can look at the lawsuit against the NCAA and EA Sports brought by players that claim their image and likeliness was used without permission or compensation as an example of some of the limitations the college sports industry may present.

In contrast, the college sports industry provides a growing market with promises of loyal fan bases. The increase in official sponsors in college sports is a revenue opportunity for both, the school and their sponsor. Sports marketing agencies designated to handle these marketing functions must appropriately do so without hurting the image or the brand of their clients. There is no denying that the partnerships with these sports marketing agencies and schools has been beneficial for both sides, it has provided stability, consistency and growth to their revenue.

Legal Issues in Sports

Cablevision’s lawsuit against Viacom was due to Viacom not allowing Cablevision to take the bigger channels unless it also agreed to take Viacom’s smaller, little-watched channels. The lawsuit came two months after Cablevision signed a long-term deal with Viacom. The deal allowed Cablevision to carry all of Viacom’s big channels, but it assessed a $1 billion penalty if Cablevision opted to not carry Viacom’s smaller networks. Cablevision won the lawsuit against Viacom and it is likely to change the landscape of Cable programing going forward. This result further supports the idea of a la carte cable. A la Carte cable could mean higher cost for consumers trying to watch sports channels such as Fox Sports and ESPN. It would also make it more expensive to capture other sport specific channels like GolTv or Being Sports, international carriers of soccer matches around the world. However, this could also mean that consumers will also have the opportunity to customize their programing. ESPN would probably lose a high number of subscribers, lowering their current rate of over $6 per subscriber.

The ACC sued The University of Maryland for leaving the conference and failing to pay the exit fee of over $50 million. Conferences protect themselves with these fees to prevent a school from leaving and hurting the conference. Schools tend to leave conferences in search for bigger TV deals however; these departures can dismantle a conference. The Big East conference was the most recent victim of such trend. Leagues are created to protect the interests of the teams that are members of it. If leaving a conference can potentially hurt other schools then exit fees must be put in place. These “excessive” fees are relative to the potential damages a departing school can infringe on a conference.

Lastly, New Jersey’s push to legalize sport gambling in casinos and racetracks across the state has reached a roadblock. U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp struck down New Jersey’s sports wager law. The judge ruled that the law was a clear violation of the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992.  The federal law prohibits sports betting in all states except Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana. Had New Jersey’s law been approved, it would have opened the door for other states to legalize sports gambling. Legalizing sports gambling could lead to the federal intervention in sports by regulating and taxing sports across the states. The federal regulation of sports could have adverse effects in the way leagues pay their players and negotiate league wide media deals.

The importance of fan engagement and fan loyalty

The reason I find the marketing aspect of sports interesting is because of the creativity involved in creating a message. With social media and the advancements in technology, it is possible to absorb quite a lot of information. However, we live in a society that has come to expect entertainment on demand. The general attention span of a person is shorter now than it used to be a decade ago. Marketers have tools like videos and interactive apps that can help capture the attention of fan. The job goes further than capturing the attention of the fan; the relationship needs nurturing in order to maintain the revenue stream open.

We must understand that fans are a major revenue generator for sports teams. Fans affect revenue in the form of tickets, merchandise and game day purchases. Fan engagement is necessary to capture the attention of a target market. Psychographics can be a useful tool to understand what fans might find engaging. Creating a message that can engage the fan can lead to acquiring new fans; new fans translate into an increase in revenue. Every major sport league has an off-season, a perfect time to deploy loyalty reward programs that may help keep a fan engage with social media. The ultimate goal is to keep fans engaged with the team or the brand in such a way that he creates value overtime instead f just for one season or game. Fan loyalty is important because it maintains revenue streams open, not to mention the ability to convert new fans into life-long fans.

The Orlando City Soccer Club a MLS franchise has done an impressive job at engaging, nurturing and creating new fans. They engaged fans by giving away car magnets for weeks, giving fans in Orlando a sense of belonging. They used incentives in their season ticket renewals, this method allowed them to renew 15,000 season ticket. They also used exclusive gifts and memberships from their support groups in order to create 3,000 more season ticket holders.

During my internship with the Orlando Predators, I learned a few tricks that can help keep fans engaged before, during and after the game. The Predators provide entertainment, food and other engaging things for their own tailgating event known as PredFest. During the game, they mix sponsorship activation with fan engagement by throwing t-shirts in to the stands during media timeouts. The t-shirts are usually a mix of sponsor branded and team branded t-shirts. They are also events that require fan participation during these timeouts. These events are founded around a sponsorship activation event. This mix creates for an engaging environment even when the game is not being played. Lastly, the team allows fans to enter the field at the end of each game. They do this to allow fans to meet players and cheerleaders and get their autographs. They also provide posters free and merchandise for sale at the center of the field, this helps maximize profits in sales.