Social Media through

As for less than 10 years ago I wouldn't have seen social media being a intricate part to the sporting industry.  But in today's world and soon in the future, social media to be one of the most important ways to connect with fans or any other type of audience.  I think the future of the sport marketing and sponsorships in the NHL will use social media more than ever as well.  When looking at the Detroit Red Wings home page you can find that it can connect with many other applications such as mobile, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, and Twitter.  By reaching out and using these other avenues of social media it allows people that are constantly on the go to stay up to date with what is going on in the organization.  Almost every American these days has access to the internet whether it be at home, work, library, coffee house etc.  This is a key reason why it is and will be successful in the future.  More over, the cost of these social media outlets is extremely cost efficient.  A website cost practically nothing to setup and with sponsors and advertisement spots inside the web page, the Wing's for instance, could make money off of their page. 

Sport Writing for Marketing & Promotions

Throughout this course I have learned many things associated to sports writing for marketing promotions.  I have learned that there is a lot more that goes into the advertising of events.  Looking at how much advertisements and marketing some organizations do opened my eyes to how much time is invested in this area.  When walking into a stadium there is number of advertisements from sponsors and other promotions.  Another key aspect I have learned is that having a star athlete that is well respected both in the community and the sport they play in will increase the power of an advertisement for your organization.  It's understood that the cost of this player will be high, but the profit from this deal will be in your organizations favor.  I have also learned the basics of writing contracts.  I know these contracts go more in depth but it is good to have a foundation to work from.  I enjoyed the class very much and I think with my love of sports I will take my profession to a high level.

Olympic Athletes & Endorsements

Michael Phelps was dropped by Kellogg’s when it was revealed he had smoke marijuana at a college party.  The decision to drop Phelps came just about a week after the News of the World published the photo.  Kellogg’s had stated that it is "not consistent with the image of Kellogg's.”  I did some research and found out that this is hypocritical of Kellogg’s to reprimand him.  Phelps has had a DUI in the past and signed him anyways.  This offense is much more serious and could have potential killed someone.  How can they get rid of him for doing something that Presidents and members of the US Congress have done?  It doesn’t make any sense.  Kellogg’s got rid of him because of this so how does this make our nation look?  Kellogg’s is just a food producer and distributor and seems to be stricter than the President of the United States. 

Speedo on the other hand decided to keep Phelps as an endorser of their product.  This is a smart move seeing that he is the face of all swimming and will bring in tons of revenue for them.  Yes, he made a mistake that a very large portion of US citizen do as well.  Phelps has taken on some new endorsements since  the incident and it has benefited those companies.

There is a portion of implications that agreements and contracts have for “moral clauses”.  These agreements and/or contracts outline the behaviors that will breach the contract.  They put this section in there to ensure they are getting every penny worth when signing the athlete.  A company doesn’t want to sign someone that is constantly in trouble with the law or someone that is seen in a negative way in their sport.  The player is a representation of the company and anything the player does will affect that endorser, i.e. revenue or reputation. 

20 Consecutive Years in the Playoffs

For the 20^th consecutive year the Detroit Red Wings have made it into the post-season to fight back for what they have been working for all year, The Stanley Cup.  This is Detroit’s 25^th time in 27 years to enter the playoffs.   This year the Wings controlled the Western Central division coming in 1^st place, their 19^th time to do so.  They came in 3^rd place in the Western Conference with 104 points behind, San Jose 105 points, and Vancouver 117 points who finished 1^st overall in the NHL.  Out of the 30 teams in the NHL Detroit came in 6^th place behind San Jose Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, and Vancouver Canucks, respectively.

In the first round of the playoffs the Wings took the 6^th seed to face off against the 3^rd seed, Phoenix Coyotes.  With home ice advantage for the Wings they took the first two games with ease and then the next two at Phoenix to end the series in a sweep of the seven game series 4-0. Since the Wings did a tremendous job beating the Coyotes they have been taking the past week off resting, practicing and waiting for another series to finish.

The other series the Wings are waiting on is Vancouver vs. Chicago which is going into a game seven on 4/26/11 at 10 p.m. EST.  Now this doesn’t mean we will be playing either of those.  We are just waiting on the seeds to be rearranged to find out who our next opponent is.

This is how it looks for the Wings: If Vancouver loses we play Nashville Predators.  If Chicago wins we play the San Jose Sharks.  As much as it burns to say this, I would like to see Chicago come out on top in this game. Remember, if Vancouver loses the Wings play Nashville and this is an easier opponent then the Sharks.  Nashville ended up 10^th overall in the NHL while the Sharks finished 5^th overall, one spot ahead of the Wings.  I am only saying it would be easier to beat them then Vancouver, but I know the Wings will beat both of them.  It may not be in a four game sweep like we did to Phoenix, but with no doubt or hesitation in my mind will the Wings lose the series to either of these teams.     

Wings Sweep Series 4-0

              

  POTENTIAL 2^nd ROUND MATCH-UPS



The Over-Commercialization of Sporting Events

Having signage in stadiums is extremely effective.  As stated in chapter 7 in the Honda Center Partnership Opportunities section, Honda Center has tons of signage spots for quality branding opportunities all throughout the stadium and with the organization.  The Honda Center uses every avenue they can to sell spots to advertisers.  For example they have: In-Bowl, LED, dasherboards, team bench, player tunnels, zamboni machine, and communication signage; such as radio and TV.  As these advertisements are shown people nationally and internationally will be exposed to them.  In some way or form every sporting event uses this technique.  It not only helps the team that is allowing the company’s to advertise because it brings in income for them, but it also helps the companies that are advertising by the exposure they are getting from it bring air threw internet, TV, or radio.

Over-commercialization would start to detract from the exposure benefits for clients when the stadium or organization is tied up more into sponsors and advertisements rather than the fans or the game.  I think it would be detrimental to the organizational if the stadium managers and owners relied on the sponsors and advertisements to bring in the cash for the club.  I understand these advertisements contribute to a large portion of the income for the organizations, but the games are for the fans and the players.  For example, the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl is known for having fans that are in attendance because companies are given tickets or these companies buy tickets to treat other companies.  I think this takes away from the passion that a true fan can bring to the game.  A true diehard fan is there to root on his team no matter how the game turns out.  On the other hand, you have the business companies that are solely there to just be at the game that don’t add excitement to the game.

Sponsorship: UofM vs. OSU

A lot of the Bowl Games in college football and other professional stadiums around the world use sponsorship.  Some of the ways these stadiums or teams use these naming rights of sponsorships is to endorse the team to get their company name to be the name of the stadium.  This obviously comes at a high price, but it can pay off for both the team and the sponsor.  For example, the Detroit Tigers stadium is named after Comerica Bank, Comerica Park.  Comerica Bank pays $2.2 million per year and will being be paying this through 2030 to keep the name of the stadium.  This brings business for Comerica Bank and also gives the Detroit Tigers extra cash to use seeing the Tigers organization spent about $300 million to build it.

A good potential sponsor for the UofM vs. OSU football game would be a beer company.  Typically, people will have a few beers while enjoying the game, so I think a beer company that shows their name and logo as a key contributor to the enjoyment of the game will only benefit from this.  The only problem with a beer company being a sponsor of a college footballgame is that college students that are under the age of 21 will be watching closely.  It will be difficult for the beer company to not target these students while targeting the college students who are of legal age.

Michigan Stadium, also known as The Big House, and Ohio Stadium, also known as The Shoe, should keep their names of the stadiums as is.  I believe they should do this, because it has been the tradition of each university for years now.  Also, the universities bring in enough money through football already so having a corporate name on the front of the stadium is pointless.

Coors & FedEx

Coors and FedEx are both very popular company's, both of which are in two opposite ends of products that are offered.  Coors is a beer company and FedEx is a shipping company.  To start off with Coors, I found that Coors uses a beer drinking index survey that must rate high when considering to be part of a sponsorship program.  It looks for sports that have high number of audiences, competitive in nature, and when finding an individual they look for someone that is known and respected as a "leader" in their sport throughout  the Coors market are. 

Coors is limited to only advertising to a demographic of 21 and up.  This doesn't necessarily mean their commercials and any other advertisement aren't seen by the younger population.  I have done research on beer company's before and they usually target the 18 year old demographic indirectly.  There are more opportunities than limitations for Coors.  Being a company that sponsors a large avenue of sporting events the name of their company is viewed mostly in part by men. 

Sports Sponsorship Opportunities appealing to Coors but not FedEx would be any type of college related event that involves people in their mid - late 20's.  I say this because Coors strives on advertising to legal drinking age - 29 years old.   A Sports Sponsorship Opportunities appealing to FedEx and not to Coors would be something like a Polo golf tournament or a gymnastics meet.  You usually find a different type of crown that tends to be a bit more established and older crowd for these type of events.  A Sports Sponsorship Opportunity for both Coors and FedEx would be a mega or regional event.  Something like the Olympics, Super Bowl or World Cup.  Even a major league sport will benefit both company's. 

Continuing the Tradition

It has been 20 consecutive years in a row that the Detroit Red Wings have gone into the playoffs.  This year the Wings finished 1st in the Central Division, 3rd in the Western Conference, and 6th Overall.  Placing 6th place overall put them in the number three seed facing up against 11th place overall, number six seed,  Phoenix Coyotes.  This is the same match up as last year and the Wings won in seven games. 

Tonight at Joe Louis Arena at 7:11 p.m. the puck dropped.  The Coyotes took and early lead 2:16 into the first period.  Then the Wings took over the game after Datsyuk scored their first goal 7:38 into the second period.  The Wings scored approximately every five minutes after the first score, raking up four goals total.  Phoenix put in a late goal to make the final score 4-2. 

Next game is on Saturday the 16th at 1 p.m. at the Joe and will be telecast on NBC.

Here are the highlights from the game.

Playoffs Fast Approaching

With three games remaining and the Wings in a bit of slump in the past 10 games going 5-5, with two of those loses coming from a shootout, the Wings should look for a burst at the end of the season to get them into playoff mentality and spirit.  The last two games of the season are against one of their rivals, Chicago Blackhawks, who are in the 8th and final spot in the conference for advancement into the playoffs.  If and when the Wings take these games it will leave Chicago with only 4 points to gain from their other two games. The Calgary Flames who have 2 games left with a total of 4 points to gain could take over the final 8th spot  if Chicago loses three out of the four they have left and could knock out the Blackhawks. 

This also leaves the doors open for the Dallas Stars who are only 3 points behind Chicago with a total of 8 points possible to gain.  Personally, I believe the Stars have the best shot at taking the final spot in the playoffs.  Their final games are against team that aren't in the hunt which leaves them in a good position to take that 8th spot.  The only thing that sends red flags is in their last 10 games they only won two of those.  If they want to get that spot from Chicago they'll need to win at least three of their final four.

Here's the current look of the current contenders.(click here) Take a look back on the 11th of April to find out who's officially in and out.

2012 London Olympics: Sponsorship Information

The 2012 London Winter Olympics will be host of many Worldwide partners, Official partners, Official supporters and Official suppliers and providers.  Some of the Worldwide partners include major companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Samsung, Visa and Panasonic.  These partners are the main sponsors of the Olympic Games.  They will contribute the most amount of money to the Games to ensure it is held to the highest quality as it has been in the past.  Their names will be plastered everywhere you go if you are a spectator at a game.  These sponsors will be taking up most of the TV time when commercials and also the special thanks that will given out while on air.  Some of the less major, but still extremely important sponsors are that of Adidas, BMW and BP.  Some of the Official supporters are that of UPS, CISCO, and Adecco. 

Lastly, are the Official suppliers and providers.  I think this is one of the more important sponsorship groups that the Olympics have.  For example, Mondo is the Official supplier of sport flooring and equipment.  Without this company in place it would be rather hard to host any type of event with that includes equipment or flooring (pretty much every game).  Another is Aggreko where they are used as a main power source that specializes in generators, gas and diesel.  Some others are companies that service in ticket sales, housing, market research and legal services.


It is very important to have all of these sponsors from the Worldwide partners; Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Samsung, Visa and Panasonic to the Official partners; Adidas, BMW and BP to the Official supporters; UPS, CISCO, and to the Official suppliers and providers; Adecco to Mondo, Aggreko, Ticketmaster, Holiday Inn, The Nielsen Company and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP to name a few.  I am sure there will be more partners that join in on the fun.  With all these companies working together they can promote and perform a magical 2012 London Winter Olympics Games. 


CLICK HERE to see all of the current participating partners in the Games

How the Wings use Social Media

The Detroit Red Wings use many different ways to stay connected with their fans.  Keeping them updated constantly is a major part of their organization.  They want to make sure that every fan is in the loop of what is going on with the team and the players.  One of the many ways that the Wings use social media is through the internet.  The Wings currently have a Twitter, Facebook, Linked in, You Tube and My Space page that gives you ongoing information about past, current and upcoming games along with any other Wings news. They are all easy to access one you have added them.  A big part of the way they stay connected threw a social network is the Detroit Red Wings home page.  From here you can get access to videos, press releases, Q&A of players and along with other exciting and interesting information .  They also have many foundations that they run to promote their team and players to make sure they keep a good public/national image. 

A new way the Wings keep in touch with their fans is threw the cell phone.  You can download an app that gives you all of the same information that you can get on the internet but on the go in your hand. This is a great way to give the fans what they want, when they want it.  It satisfies their needs and also helps the Wings because not only are fans catching up on breaking news it allows the fans to be able talk about it with some one that is right next to them while they check their phone.  Here's the site NHL Game Center.

The Detroit Red Wings are making major steps in the franchise to make sure they stay well connected with the fans in ways they never have been able to before. 

Here is the Official Detroit Red Wings home page.

Sports Promotions

Sports promotions are indeed a great way to boost attendance to one or many games.  The example of the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club shows that offering incentives for coming to the games will help your team.  They created a "Ladies Night" which entailed a lot of gifts and prizes that the woman could win if they attended the game.  The sales of woman that came to that game increased and when they used it a year later attendance of the ladies increased again. 

The Red Wings have many promotions going on.  One of them is when a player for the Wings scores a hat trick any person can take in a box score to any Michigan or Toledo, Oh area Arby's and receive a free curly fry.  This promotion helps out the Wings and Arby's, because it keeps people wondering about the Wings and how they are doing and it also gets people to come into their restaurant and order more food.  People that use the free curly fry usually don't just order the fry itself but instead will order a whole meal. Start at 1:40 to hear curly fry announcement .  Another promotion the Wings have going right now is $9 tickets.  Any person can purchase a maximum of two tickets to a maximum of two games of the selected games . This is an outrageously good deal considering tickets usually go for $30 minimum.  This promotion brings in all types of people and at the same time fills the stadium to the max.  This is a promotion the Wings don't even need to do, because Joe Louis Arena has sold out plenty of times this season. 

A way  to measure the success of the promotion is to look at attendance for a game with and without the promotion in place.  Put out a promotion for cheap tickets to a game and then do another game, that has a team of similar caliber, without the promotion and compare them together.  Another way is to listen to your fans. If there is talk about how the promotion was a good idea...it probably was.  

"Putting cheeks in the seats"

If I were part of a college or professional level sports team I would look at what would be the best way to bring in a crowd.  For the question of would I rather sell 10,000 tickets at $2 each or 1,000 tickets at $20 each, my answer would be to sell the tickets at $2 each.  The reason I would bring the ticket price down to $2 is because even though the tickets them selves won't make much of a profit it will bring people in that could possibly spend money on merchandise or concessions while enjoying the game.  The sound of a $2 ticket is very irresistible and I can see tickets for that event going fast. 

Orioles vs. Rays Sept. 28, 2010

Also, as a college level player I like seeing people in the stands.  Having that extra edge over your opponent at your home stadium can help motivate the team and give them a boost.  I recall a time this past season (2010) when the Tampa Bay Rays had an issue with filling seats.  They were in an important game that could have clinched a playoff spot against the Baltimore Orioles and they had approximately 12,500 fans fill the 46,000 seated stadium (approx. 27% attendance).  Two specific players, Evan Longoria and David Price, bashed the fans for the "embarrassing" showing.  You can't entirely blame the fans for this one.  The ticket management team for the Rays should have done a better job promoting the game.  It's not like the team was bad, if they were good enough to clinch a playoff spot it shouldn't be to hard to get fans to come out and watch them.  They ranked 22nd out of the 30 teams that are in the MLB for attendance that season. 

It's important to fill seats.  It will bring in people that will spend more money, create a buzz in the stadium, and make players happy.

Grandstand Manager's Day

Bill Veeck has changed the promotional game for sports entertainment.  He had fun new ways to get people interested in his team.  One of these promotions he used is called, "Grandstand Manager's Day".  During one of the games when he was with the Cleveland Browns on August 24th, 1951, Veeck decided to let a portion of the fans decide how the team should play certain scenarios.  He gave the fans signs that said 'yes' on one side and 'no' on the other.  The publicity director held up signs that read steal, bunt or change pitchers and then the "manager's" would flash their response of 'yes' or 'no'.  The Browns won the game 5-3 which snapped a four game losing streak.

This stunt worked because it got people involved in the game.  The team was doing poorly that season and attendance had dropped so any way to intruige fans to come wouldn't have hurt .  The "manager's" felt as if they were a big part of the game and the feeling that they could change the outcome of it increased their participation.  As a baseball fan myself I think this would be a fun idea for a manager to do these days.  I don't see it happening any time soon.  There is to much money in the game to let fans call the shots.

Another stunt by Veeck: A 3 ft. 7 in. batter

Bauer Hockey

Niklas Kronwall using stick, gloves, and pants by Bauer.

Bauer Hockey is a household name for people that know and play the game.  Nike bought Bauer in 1995 for $430 million and then sold it to a group of investors from Canada for about $200 million back in 2008.  Bauer now includes brands such as, Vapor which is mostly known for their skates and sticks, Supreme, Flexlite, Re-Flex and then later in 2008 they bought up rivals Mission-ITECH.  They also have a Lacrosse company named Maverik.  Bauer plans on entering the stock market which means it will be offering IPO's (initial public offerings).  The process is still under review so prices for individual stock have not been determined. 

Stars- Bauer Premium Integrated Neck; protects the neck from cuts by skates and stick by using a Kevlar brand fiber.

Cash Cows- Skates, Sticks, normal hockey equipment

Question Marks- Premium Integrated Full Length One Piece

Dogs- Roller Hockey Equipment.

Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl is a wonderful time for company's to advertise their products.  The amount of money it took to get a spot for a commercial this year, which was 3 million for every 30 second, can add up rather quickly when trying to get a lot of air time during this event.  A cheaper way to get your company's name out there is to get a banner that is located throughout the stadium.  When watching the Super Bowl it was obvious to see the advertisements that were plastered in between the different levels of seats.  Company's such as Miller Lite, AT&T and Pepsi were some of the ones that were the easiest to see.  Every time the game was going to go to a commercial an ad or an announcement was made.  Company's were sponsoring this event so they got air time with out having to do commercials.

The Wings take the ice tonight (2/11/11) against an Original Six team, the Boston Bruines.  The Wings have been in sort of a slump with thier past 10 games going 5-5. Their last game was against the Nashville Predators where they lost 4-1 and then after got bashed by head coach, Mike Babcock, for putting on a heartless performance.  Many teams wouldn't see .500 as bad, but the Wing's have to live up to another standard that they are well capable of achieving. 

They have finally gotten one of their key players back, Pavel Datsyuk.  In his first game back on Febuary 7th, he had two shots on net with a goal and an assist for the night.  He scored this goal doing one of the things he does best and that is back-checking.  The Wing's won 3-2.  Datsuyk's goal: First game back .  The Wing's are beggining to become healthy again with most of the guys time table to come back to be within the next few weeks. 

All-Star Break

With the All-Star break still in effect until Wednesday, the Wings are using this  time to recoup their injured players.  For about the past month hey have been without one of their top players Pavel Datsyuk. They haven't been as stellar as they were when he was in the line-up.  Having this as a weapon on your team is a key component. Not only is he a great offensive player he is an exceptional offensive defensive player.  He is one of the best in the leagues at back checking and stripping the puck off of players that don't even expect it.


The Wings are also planning on getting back some other key players such as: Brad Stuart, Todd Bertuzzi, Dan Cleary and recent addition this year Mike Modano. 


With February being a short hockey month for the Wings and now half of the season left, it would be nice if the Wings picked up the momentum with the players returning.  But as a legit Wings fan I can't be mad at where they are right now.  Making the playoffs is the main goal for right now.  Obviously, taking the top spot in the league is great, but extending the regular season is where we want to be. 

Detroit Red Wings

This blog is going to be about the Detroit Red Wings' up and downs and road to the Stanley Cup.

My Sports Autobiography

My sporting career started from watching my brother and thinking I could do it better than him.  I remember being really young and going to my brother's soccer game and knowing I could be a better player then him.  Being two years younger than him my parents put me into a league that suited the right age.  I was four when I started playing soccer.  Ever since then it has been the #1 sport in my life.  While growing up in Michigan I played baseball in the summers but all year round I was playing soccer.  I varsity lettered in two sports in high school, soccer for three years and two in baseball.

Soccer has taken me to the next level where I am currently playing soccer at Tiffin University in Ohio where I can proudly say I was selected as an All-Region player.  Tiffin is a NCAA Division II school where it seems as if the school is made up of 90% college athletes. As of right now I am a junior which means I have one more opportunity to reach the ultimate collegiate accomplishment of a National Championship title.

I plan to stay involved in sports when I am done with college.  My most desirable job would be with the Detroit Red Wings doing some sort of marketing or working in the promotions area.  Even though I am not a hockey player I have grown up watching the Wings every game and I feel like I would be a tremendous asset towards their organization.