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.

Negotiation overview.

Stephen Stuart is the president of the Humanist Society of Victoria in Australia. In his presentation, he discussed the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement or BATNA. He touched points on some of the things that we went over in class. He begins by mentioning how our egos can interfere with the negotiation, especially when the BATNA is a good one. People are reluctant to change their minds on their BATNA once they realize it may not be a realistic objective. He also goes on to discuss how you should never settle for an outcome that is less than your BATNA. The best way to ensure a favorable and fair outcome is to research the true and realistic values of an agreement.

In the Stanford webinar video, they discussed how we tend to see negotiations as competitions. The go on to further explain the importance of finding a mutual benefit for both parties. They define negotiation in this video as a process where two or more parties discuss what they are willing to give up and gain in order to attain a mutual beneficial outcome. Dirty tricks are discussed on this video. He uses the example of making demands extreme if you are seeking a counter offer and to make it less extreme if you are seeking to get your offer accepted.

This last video focuses on separating the people from the problem. This video discusses having a high emotional intelligence to notice the physical changes in a person when the negotiation starts to goes south. They discuss the importance of focusing on the positional bargaining aspects rather than the people or personal emotions. This tool is helpful in negotiations not only because it keeps the negotiation on track, but also can help create new ways to create a win-win situation for both parties.

History of stats in sports.

Stats offer historical data for sports leagues across the globe. Historical packages include player and team statistics, leader boards, schedules, standings, awards, draft information, injuries and transactional data.

With deep, rich historical content dating back to 1876, stats provides an unparalleled package of historical statistics for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League. In addition, we offer the most in-depth historical databases for college sports, cricket, international football/soccer leagues, golf and tennis.

Statistics or stats can be used for various activities in the fields of science and mathematics. The word statistics comes from the Italian word statista, the German word statisik, and ultimately from the New Latin statisticum collegium (“council of state”). Early in the 19th century, the meaning of statistics was to include a collection of data. The history of sports statistics began with baseball, one of the earliest sports of all-time. How statistics works in sports is that an observer, who attends a game, records every play by taking notes on either a box score or a scoring report. When a game is over, the box score or scoring report is complete, and is then sent to all sports news around the world, so the statistics can be posted. Methods for data in sports are not just statistical, but they also mathematical, since some statistics take a lot of arithmetic. For example, a player’s slugging average in baseball uses addition, multiplication and division. Other sports statistics take a little less arithmetic, for instance, golf.

UFC 189 produces the most entertaining fight card of 2015....so far.

Mix martial arts has seen a raise in popularity for the past 15 years in the United States. The reason for its unprecedented growth from an underground sport to a mainstream Pay-Per-View event is the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship. In recent years we have seen the raise of dominant, raw and talented mix martial artists like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, George St. Pierre and of course Ronda Rousey. The UFC has taken over the combat sports niche and it is not looking back. For those who are familiar with the UFC then you are most likely aware of the Jose Aldo vs. Connor McGregor bout for the featherweight title that was schedule for last night’s UFC 189. Unfortunately, Aldo suffered a rib injury that kept him from stepping into the octagon to defend his tittle. Jose Aldo is known as the most dominant, pound-for-pound fighter in the deep UFC roster. His challenger, Connor McGregor, is a young and very talented fighter with a deadly and flawless striking ability. This fight was promoted to be one of the greatest fights of the year and possible one of the best match ups in the UFC.

Unlike boxing, UFC fighters do not pick their opponents. The match up became notorious because of Connor’s ability to sell himself as the biggest threats to Aldo’s 6 year undefeated fight streak and champion status. Because of Aldo’s injury, Chad Mendes who was the #1 contender for the belt stepped up on short notice to fight McGregor at UFC 189.

UFC 189 was one of the bet fight cards ever put together by Dana White, president of the UFC. The fight card included fighters so well match and talented that the entire night was a bloodbath. All of the fights ended by KO, TKO or submission, making this one of the most exciting fight cards in a long time. Pay-Per-View customers were not disappointed by the content of the UFC 189 event.

In the end, the popularity of the UFC and mix martial arts is continuing to grow. The depth of the roster indicates the raise in popularity of the sport among athletes. It has taken over the combat sports niche and its unprecedented growth in the industry seems to have no end anytime soon.

The Modern day Sacred Truce

In one of my first classes in my master’s degree we were asked to write a paper on the influence of our industry, for me that was sports. I remember in my paper claiming that I believed that sports had the power to stop wars. The professor highlighted that part and noted that he would love to see proof of such thing. Well it turns out that in the 8^th century B.C. the city-states of Greece signed the Sacred Truce, a document that would end the war during the reformation of the Olympics. With the intensions of stopping the fighting in Beirut, even if it is just for a day, May El-Khalil is the modern embodiment of the Sacred Truce.

May El-Khalil explains in her TED video how running has been an inspiration for her through her life. The impact that her injury had in her life was monumental because it inspired her to dream big in life as well. She believed that a marathon could help bring people together even with their political and religious differences. She also discusses some of the obstacles she encountered while organizing the marathon. She mentions how at the time most of the country was unfamiliar with the term marathon. She solved this by visiting remote villages and even the president of Lebanon to help educate them on the sport. She also uses her personal story to empathize with others and helps them share their story. The marathon did not just help May El-Khalil overcome her injuries, it also help show the world the desire of the Lebanese people to live in peace. With this event, she exemplified how the Lebanese people could come together as one.

In conclusion, May El-Khalil found a way to share the values she had learned from being a runner. She used her injury as a motivation to help others and determination to put together a marathon. May El-Khalil is an inspiration to athletes around the globe. Her contributions to the people of Lebanon have made her a modern day hero, and she has paved the way for modern day Sacred Truces.

Cheating, it happens.

My last blog post discussed the issues the NFL has had in the past few years with players’ actions off the field. However, what about when these poor decisions make it on to the playing field? The NFL has struggle with cheating at the player and organization level. Quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots allegedly carried out the most recent act cheating. After the 2015 AFC game balls were found to be deflated, it is likely that the NFL and Brady will have a lot of explaining to do.

This is not the first time the NFL has found one of its players to be guilty of cheating. It is the first time that the league will have to deal with its most popular player cheating. Cheating in sports is not only reserved to the NFL. Take the recent PED scandal in the MLB. This included names of well-known players like Alex Rodriguez. Alex was found guilty by the league to have tampered with evidence related to the investigation of PED usage. The MLB was swift at handing down a suspension to Rodriguez and made an example out of him. Another example of cheating in sports is the story of the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox’s. the majority of the team was allegedly guilty of fixing the World Series in order to protest not having received their payment for the season. This became one of the most infamous stories of cheating in the world of sports. Many of the players believed to be involved were banned from the MLB for life.

In conclusion, I believe that sports are a true measure of the human spirit and its will. Someone once told me that in sports everyone cheats. To believe this is to tell myself that the human spirit is more willing to cheat in order to win. When we look at this issue in professional sports, we must also remember that the actions of our favorite team or athletes are a reflection of their fans and their city.

NFL struggles to be proactive

In the past two years the NFL has seen an alarming rise in off-the field issues involving its players. Some of the most notable ones are the Ray Rice elevator incident and Ray McDonald’s sexual assault cases. The NFL has worked in the past few years to eliminate the risk of concussions and the frequency of which they occur. Numerous changes to the rulebook have been added to protect players and to provide evidence that the league is working towards eliminating the issue. We can applaud the NFL in their efforts to lower to improve player safety, but sadly, we cannot say the same about its effort on maintaining player discipline off the field.

Last off season the league experience a string of domestic abuse including an incident involving running back Adrian Peterson and one of his children. The league and the commissioner, Roger Goodell, were under heavy criticism because of the poor way the league handled its cases of domestic abuse involving its players. This off-season Greg hardy will be returning to the football field as a Dallas Cowboy, but not without the league handing down a ten game suspension for his involvement on a domestic abuse case last year. The biggest problem the NFL had last year during the stretch of off the field issues was the way in which the league was handling their punishments for these players. The league was presented with an opportunity to be proactive this time around. The league handed him a 10 game suspension to essentially punish his actions, which were labeled “detrimental to the league”.

In the end, the NFL has done many things to curve its public perception on player safety and they have worked for the most part. Unfortunately, This change came only after public demand for a change. Now that the NFL faces a new issue that it must be taken care of I can’t help but wonder if they will ever be proactive about issues, which are essentially “detrimental to the league.