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