text: Joe Favorito 2016-05-27T03:07:56-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=joe-favorito Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Joe Favorito Good old fashioned elbow grease. New Jersey Devils and Their Fans Take a Bold Step Forward With "Mission Control" tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.824956 2011-02-18T11:25:04-05:00 2011-05-25T18:35:25-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ Leagues and colleges had no idea as to how to effectively use or monitor or even credential bloggers, effectively monitor and maximize social media, or even figure out if it is useful or effective. Make money with all this stuff? Not a shot. However as with any new medium -- radio, television, the internet -- water will seek its own level, and those who have a chance to study effective use of ways to engage fans and brands will find and set the best practices. Bloggers become credible new sources and good writers, social media becomes the voice of the fan, athletes and coaches and teams even find a way to engage and give simple access like never before. Brands can monetize and grow their effectiveness and partnerships develop in fan engagement. It's ever evolving but evolving nonetheless. Hiccups along the way? Many. Ways to make money? Some but not many just yet. One of the early positive adaptations for this social media use was witnessed firsthand at a Mixed Martial Arts fight in New Jersey in 2007. The International Fight League was one of the first sports brands to fully embrace bloggers, and let the bloggers post live during the event. While looking at the posts as they flowed in real time we noticed that one blogger, Sam Caplan, noticed that a fighter's information was posted incorrectly several times on the video board. The officials were able to take the information and instantly adjust the board to the correct information, thus alleviating an embarrassing situation. Other bloggers seated in places in the building commented on the volume of music, the lights that were missing in some areas, reactions of fans, and all helped the organization adjust the presentation in real time throughout the night. It was an interesting and very positive first test, one that would seem primitive now but at the time was pretty eye-opening, and led to other examples in other sports of ways to engage through social media. Last year St. John 's took another step forward by having the enterprising Peter Robert Casey tweet at all their games, a practice which was unheard of at the time but which is also now regularly done at every level by both journalists and fans alike. Another big step forward. So into this mix of access comes the New Jersey Devils, who launched "Mission Control" on the third floor of the Prudential Center in Newark. The Devils, once at the bottom of professional sports in the fan engagement category, have become one of the leaders in a league (the NHL) which probably does the digital space better than any other sports property. The goal is to have a central location where fan leaders, part of their "Army" can monitor, engage and join in the real time conversation on any social platform possible. Thoughts from fans can be pushed out instantaneously, problems in the arena can be fixed right away, promotions can be created and activated with sponsors at a moment's notice, media can chime in with what is going on, information on injuries and other topics can be relayed very quickly to all those in the space who are engaged, all from one central hub. It is a bold and costly step for a team which has a string online following but still limits the access to players and coaches during the season, a long-held stance that the team continues to stick to. Still, this type of broad-based and centralized engagement can lead to maybe bringing injured or inactive players or team officials into the conversation during games as well. Between period interviews and analysis can be uploaded via Skype or stored in podcasts, and broadcasters and bloggers can also chime in with their perspective with additional shared content. It was the latest step in digital fan engagement for the team, who earlier in the year started renting iPads during the games to fans to provided an added experience on top of what was being done on video boards and with traditional in arena contests. The launch also comes at a good time for the team on a few levels. Under Jacques Lemaire the team has turned around their fortunes on the ice and are trying to go from the worst record in the league in December to the playoffs, creating excitement at a time when there was little for fans to look forward to this spring. It also helps show that the team is committed to finding ways to engage their fans and stay involved despite all the talk about the franchise being for sale, at least by part of their ownership group. In many ways the launch of "Mission Control" becomes an even bigger enhancement for owner Jeff Vanderbeek should he need to go find new partners in the ownership group. Even more importantly the launch of the center will serve as a litmus test to see if such a social media hub can translate to other events in the building such as concerts, college basketball or other shows. Music and entertainment have as strong, if not stronger, social engagement abilities with fans than sports do, and taking this kind of test to engage people around other events will be a very interesting test. Also of note will be the ability for the other new arenas in the area -- the Barclay's Center, the renovated Madison Square Garden, the new Meadowlands Stadium and Red Bull Arena, to also create similar centers of monitoring, promotion and engagement. It is interesting to see a space once seen as a curiosity and a scourge to now be all the buzz, led by a franchise that once was well behind others in engagement. Both the involvement of social media, and the fact that the Devils are leading the way, shows how far things have come in the space. It also opens even more doors for the future, both for engagement and for brand activation, which will turn the curiosity into a potential profit center not just for New Jersey, but for any entity who can find a way to engage smartly, efficiently and show how all leads to a smart return for both fans and partners. As for the Devils, the mission is still to make the playoffs, and hopefully engaging their fans in additional ways will be another positive push in that direction. ]]> Scorecasting: A Good Read, Whether We Need It or Not tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.823235 2011-02-15T13:25:26-05:00 2011-05-25T18:30:24-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ We are a superstitious lot, we sports fans. If sitting facing east works on the day the Jets finally beat the Patriots in the playoffs, we better sit that way against the Steelers. Your Trail Blazers come from 20 down to beat the Lakers, better wear the same socks for when Kobe and crew come to the Rose Garden next time. After all, what usually makes the fans fanatics are those little peccadilloes that we never think make the difference in winning and losing...but why tempt fate right? Sports as we know is a game of repetition as a means to success, and all those tried and truisms for success on the court or the ice or the pitch have to be factually correct don't they? "Respect the streak," "Keep doing what you are doing," "Act, don't think too much," are very much the reasons why athletes are successful, and why we as fans follow and believe so passionately in our guys or girls or our teams or clubs. But what if all those superstitions, all those repetitive hours, all those truisms (or at least most) that we built up in sport were not exactly true. What if the hottest hitter or the best shooter didn't stand any better of a chance as to get on first the next time up, or of making the next shot, than he did before. Would it make games less fun, would we regale in the streak any less, or would we still marvel at the hottest of hitters or best of goal scorers? What if... Many of those facts that lead to legend are explored in Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played And Games Are Won, by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim, two childhood friends who probably spent way too much time staring at box scores and watching losing streaks end or continue, but probably not too much more time than most young Americans who love the games we play. These guys just took the time to ask the questions as to why...and found some interesting answers. Truth be told, Wertheim, a Penn grad and senior writer for Sports Illustrated, is one of a generation of solid story tellers. In addition for all his work for SI, he has penned very entertaining works on topics ranging from tennis to Mixed Martial Arts and pool hustling, each time taking us inside a world of athletes we rarely knew that well. Moskowitz on the other hand provides the empirical view of the passionate sports fan from his background as a behavior economist at The University of Chicago. Together the two look at everything from hitting and shooting streaks to why officials make or don't make calls in particular games, and try to explode or at least explore, most every "myth" the fan associates with sport. Ice the kicker? No need. Home field advantage? Not as important from a physical standpoint as from a psychological one. Get the ball to the hot shooter? His shots get more risky with each one he or she makes. Defense wins? Well...yes, the authors prove that one does indeed hold water. But not as much water as one would think. If you are an official, be prepared for some of the harshest of news...no matter how hard you try, the calls or lack of calls, always seem to be slanted to the situation, and even the best of refs or umps in any sport can be effected more by the circumstances around them, or what is supposed to happen, than they ever could care to admit. So in the end what does Scorecasting do for those in the stands who love watching the games? Does it make us throw up our hands and shout at the moon or drive us off to watch more interminable hours of reality shows or American Idol? Do we thumb our noses at the research and stay with what we think or know to be true in our hearts as opposed to our heads? Does it make us any less passionate about the games we watch and those who play them? Hopefully not. Stephen Dubner's work Freakonomics or Malcolm Gladwell's Blink didn't make people change all their beliefs or diffuse their passions, they provided pause for thought as to why things are, just like any good research work should. They give the reader a chance to answer a question about why things are why they are, should they choose to ask the question. Also like Scorecasting, they provide good conversation, whether it is at a barstool or in a lecture hall. Whether all this debunking is needed by the average fan is probably open for debate. Many times the superstitions of fans are as much about NOT knowing the facts than they are about consuming every piece of data. That unknown is really what makes sports fun. Then there is also the great unknown of the human factor...the belief that no matter what the odds say, that DiMaggio can hit in number 52, or maybe Kobe can someday get his 100 and join Wilt in the stratosphere. That's really why we spend the money and go to the games, and what sets the live event at any price apart from other forms of entertainment. You never know. In the end, Scorecasting is a good read, one that provokes debate and answers some questions, whether you believe the conclusions or not. It is not heavy handed in its thought and pokes fun at just enough personalities to make it more a narrative than a text book. Who knows? A Knicks fan may read it moments before the orange and blue clinch a playoff spot. Then the superstition would be to keep reading it every year or every series, until that myth is debunked. Or maybe, just maybe, someone puts the book on a Cubs fans required reading for 2011, and the myth of the Bartman ball and other issues that have plagued Wrigley for over 100 years go by the boards. It would certainly take Scorecasting to mythic proportions, if only for the superstition. Logical? No. Fun to feed the passion of the fanatical. Definitely. That after all, is why we root, right? Not for the facts of what are, but for the myths of what can be. ]]> In the Midst of a Cold Winter, Quiksilver Yells "Surf's Up" tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.814631 2011-02-04T10:50:38-05:00 2011-05-25T18:30:24-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ Yes surfing, and not of the channel variety and not in Coney Island. Actually not in the city proper at all, but in Long Beach, just outside the borough of Queens and hard by Kennedy Airport's runways. And no not in January, in September, usually the time when New York's sports eyes are watching the US Open wrap, the pennant races heat up, and the Jets and Giants get the 2012 season kicked off. The event, run by the Association of Surfing Professionals as part of their World Tour, will make Long Beach its first-ever East Coast stop, at a time when the water is warmest and officials say the surfing is actually world class. Sponsored by Quiksilver, the event will feature the world's best surfers, superstar Kelly Slater among them, for a shot at $1 million in prize money. So surfing? In the New York area? Could it work? Take a look at the recently completed PBR season opener at Madison Square Garden as an example. Three days of brand exposure in the middle of Manhattan... a chance to showcase the sport to a non-traditional, casual fan base, an opportunity to give dedicated fans from a large metropolitan area a chance to experience the live event, a chance to give TV partners the ability to bring brands in to feel the event in their backyard, and a way to create a unique showcase for the athletes (and yes the bulls) in front of major media to start the season. It is the type of event that auto racing has always craved and never delivered up, because of lack of venue. Last summer Red Bull rolled their air race through lower Manhattan on a sweltering weekend, and although not the mega-media hit that the PBR has been, still drew large crowds and the type of brand exposure that the energy drink loves around the world. Now in some respects the surfing competition will be different. It is in Long Beach, not New York City, so there is a bit of out of sight, out of mind. That is the issue the AVP always dealt with when bringing pro beach volleyball to the Apple. For such a great experiential brand, the cost and the distance, even to the sands of Brooklyn, was an issue. Like AVP, surfing is definitely an experiential lifestyle brand, so all the positives and potential brand activation will be there, along with some great athletes. Those athletes can easily make the jump for some great guerrilla events around Quiksilver's Manhattan locations or other places to stir buzz and showcase their personalities, and the "first time" nature of the event should also draw interest. There are also the Long Island and New Jersey surfing communities who love the lifestyle and have never had a chance to embrace a large scale event, so all those opportunities play in the sport's favor. While many elaborate X Games events have found New York a strong but cost prohibitive market, maybe surfing's controlled costs for execution can play in their favor as well. There is probably a strong digital play and push for the demo as well, and maybe even some new technology that can be displayed and tested as a showcase to break through the September clutter. One thing is for sure though. The move to at least try and elaborate, high scale event in the New York area shows that the sport is willing to try and elevate itself in the sports lifestyle marketplace. Like others that cater to the demo (MMA is another example), the realization that no matter how successful you are in your core group, you still need to find a way to ratchet up brand, television and marketing dollars by playing right to Madison Avenue, is a fact. Especially in a challenging sponsor marketplace, the need to deliver across all platforms is key, and by giving the New York market a strong test, surfing will find out if its rise in popularity will continue, or whether it will plateau and stay strong where the waves are best. It will not be easy even under the best of conditions to draw interest and buzz consistently in September, but by taking a step to give winter weary New Yorkers a little taste of summer this week, the sport and its title sponsor have shown they are ready for to take on the challenge. Not a bad brand message to send midway through a cold January. ]]> No Team? No Games? If You Are The Cosmos, So No Problem tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.809109 2011-01-14T17:57:15-05:00 2011-05-25T18:25:24-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ You want quality, you want consistency, and you want to be able to explain to your constituents both new and old exactly who you are. In an all access environment sometimes that is not easily done. That consistency of brand is even tougher in sports because for the most part your brand relies on the day to day happening of living beings... athletes, coaches, who are not as easy to manage, have faults and great days like everyone else, and their success is played out in front of millions every time they step on the field, court, ice or pitch. You have to usually build along parallel paths, managing the consumer side of the business (tickets, advertising, sponsorships, media, digital, community and government relations) while still relying on events that are usually out of the control of a core business (wins and losses, injuries etc.) to maintain that quality of brand. Sometimes billions are invested in the team on the business side, and a mediocre result doesn't yield the best return. Sometimes the business is not run smoothly, the team does really well, and the results from a bottom line standpoint are still not there. It is a very tough balance to strike, and with a startup or an expansion, it can be even tougher. With all that in mind, let's look at a very unique opportunity emerging on the horizon, the rebirth of the New York Cosmos. Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl had a great q and a with the "team"'s newest member, Terry Byrne, online this week. There is no question that the Cosmos of old were one of the defining brands not just in sport, but in the culture of sport, the world over. They helped usher in a new era of glamor, hipness, and popular culture through the dollars of Warner Communications in the late 1970's. Unfortunately the team itself was way ahead of its time in spending, marketing, branding and even interest in soccer in the United States, and it slipped below the horizon with the demise of the North American Soccer League. The return and steady rise of Major League Soccer in the past decade has been calculating and successful... cultivate the grassroots, infuse professional and cost efficient standards and grow the sport organically. Factor in smart marketing and activation partnerships and the result is a viable professional league that still has its best days ahead. All of that growing took place while the sports mega brand, the Cosmos, was slumbering in suburban New Jersey. The pieces of the brand were held by Pepe Pinton, who ran a very successful Cosmos sports camp and held the brand at arms length from anyone in soccer who would come by and try to use it to besmirch its image with a subpar product. that was until last year, when Paul Kemsley, the chairman and CEO, a former vice chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, came along and bought all the pieces of the brand from Pinton. So here the Cosmos sit today, as Major League Soccer holds its Superdraft in Baltimore. An established, iconic, sleeping brand, with no players, no stadium, no league but lots of mystique. They have brought in a team of advisors and marketers to help with academies and get exposure, they have even signed sponsors like Umbro (which they probably could not to if they were actually playing in a professional league since there are restrictions on apparel sponsors) who are intrigued by the possibility of what the Cosmos as a lifestyle brand could become again. The fun question will come when the "brand" actually has to start playing games, whether they are friendlies or at some point in a league. What happens when you take a high level, elite brand and mix it into the expansion world of sports? MLS' one bog question in the international world still revolves around quality of play. It has improved greatly, but global soccer fans still consider it a noth below the world's elite clubs for the most part. Could the Cosmos brand suffer damage being an expansion MLS team? That is the great question. MLS's biggest successes have been in reviving some old brands in cities like Seattle and now Vancouver. They built a quality business with the old NASL name and then infused quality soccer. However even that quality soccer was not of the mega-elite level that the Cosmos were known for. Will fans follow the brand if the soccer is not world class, with world class names? How much value does "Cosmos" have as just a lifestyle brand once the games begin? If the club does end up across the river from the New York Red Bulls and engages the soccer crazy communities in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island can both clubs sustain, especially with the Red Bulls also looking to use their marketing power to draw big names to fill their stadium? Is there another, bigger play involved outside of MLS that can really help take professional soccer to a new level in the United States? Will Cosmos as a brand be able to flourish within the steady growth system MLS has built for all, or will its mercurial owners try and push the system to grow and adapt to them in a very challenging economic environment? It will all be very interesting to watch. One thing is for sure. The Cosmos as a brand revived have been fun to watch in the abstract thus far. The plans have been strategically unveiled piece by piece, with just enough kept behind the curtain to keep people intrigued and guessing. They have the strong brand part down. If they get the on-field part in place, it could be very interesting for sport and pop culture indeed.]]> Sports Needs to Embrace an Anti-Bullying Platform tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.807128 2011-01-11T11:20:06-05:00 2011-05-25T18:25:24-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ Therefore, it should come as a surprise that an issue that continues to rise to crisis proportions amongst young people -- bullying -- still really has not been embraced by a team or large group of athletes or a property. Maybe because elite athletes accept some form of intimidation as part of the game, and that they have been able to overcome and succeed by taking on that intimidation, mental, physical or emotional, that there is a disconnect. Maybe it's because at some level bullying is part of athletic success. However, that is all the more reason for athletics and athletic marketing to find ways to effectively and publicly address a bullying issue with the highest of stars in sport, and use them as role models to show that bullying is not acceptable to those with whom they can influence. Bullying is not as tangible as a disease on any level, and addressing it cannot see the same physical results as one will see with a campaign to fight childhood obesity like "Let's Move" is doing with First Lady Michelle Obama and her team. However, it is an embraceable cause, and one which can actually lead to exposing the value of sport to an audience that may not have accepted or enjoyed sports as a whole because those people were not good enough to play. Embracing an anti-bullying platform would go a long way in a new area for cause marketing, and could help heal some very public and very silent wounds for millions of young people effected by it every day. Recently, the New Jersey legislature passed a bill that enacts the toughest anti-bullying law in the country. Much of the buzz in New Jersey was because of the tragic death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi last year, who committed suicide after his roommate and another student posted videos of Clementi with another male student. It was a strong move for the State regardless of whom is being bullied and for whatever reason, and opens the door for teams who play in the state and in the area, to step up in Public Service in support of the bill and the movement. Maybe the issue is too controversial to take on and justify, but it is needed. Maybe even a property like the UFC can find a creative way to take on the topic and speak right to the demo that is most effected, teens and young people. It would be cutting edge and novel and could be a great help to millions who are getting support through academics and others but not yet in sport. A worthwhile cause, and one which can help avert unspeakable and unneeded tragedy at a time when the nation is coming to grips with another tragedy, the senseless slayings that took place in Tucson over the weekend. Anti-bullying. A good cause that could use a nice pop from the business of sports -- and the brands that support it.]]> NHL Winter Classic Again Heats Up New Year's Day tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.802025 2011-01-06T13:55:41-05:00 2011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ This past New Year's Day the NHL staged it's latest version of "Can You Top This," with the latest installment of the Bridgestone Winter Classic. Despite the rain in the forecast, this year's game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals again served as a launching point for the sport, the league and its partners. We asked NHL COO John Collins his thoughts on the Winter Classic, it's brand extensions and what it means not just to hockey but to sports business overall. Q: The origin of the Winter Classic is interesting. The 2003 outdoor game that Edmonton put on was the inspiration... a big event strategy was part of your vision for growing the business side of the NHL... NBC offered a New Year's Day window and that collaboration led to the game, right? A: The idea was a great one and a true collaboration, but the idea needed a business model driven by sponsorship/licensing, big gates and operational expertise. That's what the league has brought together these past three years. The Winter Classic has been successful for all kinds of reasons, starting with our fans, who have responded to the concept in a big way. NBC has done a great job giving it a big-time feel. Madison Avenue loves the Winter Classic. The last two years, the Blackhawks and Bruins did a great job finding new ways to involve their communities and make it bigger than the year before. Pittsburgh is doing a great job this year. The possibilities are unlimited. Q: One of the biggest additions to this year's event is the HBO series. What does that mean to hockey? A: Ross Greenburg and I worked together on the original Hard Knocks concept when I was at the NFL, so I knew how compelling this could be and how well this could translate to the NHL. The fact that we are following these two teams during the regular season, something that's never been done, seeing the ups and downs that professional athletes experience, seeing how much they care and the chance to get to know them off the ice makes this the ultimate reality show. The show is providing us with a tremendous opportunity to expose the NHL to a different audience outside of our core fan base and it has exceeded our expectations. Q: There will be a second outdoor game in Canada this year... the Big Chill at the Big House was a great success and there are companies out there trying to do outdoor games in the minors. What keeps the Winter Classic a step above everything else? A: The Winter Classic has become a fan favorite among casual and avid fans alike because of its iconic venues such as Wrigley, Fenway and now Heinz Field, and because the energized environments, unpredictable weather and throwback nature make it so unique. This year's Winter Classic is the most anticipated yet because we have such a great matchup. The game features two of the biggest stars in the league in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin -- two guys who happen to be fierce rivals -- playing for teams that don't like each other all that much and are both Stanley Cup contenders. The HBO reality series, "24/7: Road to the NHL Winter Classic" has added to the anticipation by doing a great job telling the stories of these teams. All of the elements are there to make this year's game something truly memorable. Q: Pittsburgh and Washington, from the top of the organization on down, seem to be the model franchises for the game. How important is the buy-in from ownership in selecting teams and the city? A: You're right in saying that Washington and Pittsburgh are model franchises. Both organizations understand how important it is to be connected with their communities and their fans and have done a tremendous job on and off the ice. This Winter Classic has been embraced by the City of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania in a big way. A key objective of ours is to leave a lasting legacy in each community that hosts the event and make it about more than just the one game. In Pittsburgh, we have a fan festival and an outdoor rink open to the public outside Heinz Field, we have the alumni game, with Mario Lemieux,on December 31, the Stanley Cup will be on display and importantly, we're teaming with the Penguins to benefit a local children's hospital. Overall, the economic impact on Pittsburgh is $23 million and it exceeded $36 million in Boston. There is huge demand among our clubs to host the Winter Classic and we have a number of intriguing options to consider. Commissioner Bettman has been on record as saying that Ted Leonsis and the Capitals will host a game in the near future and there are many other franchises that will be great hosts down the road. Q: Alex Ovechkin continues to emerge as a marketing star despite the Caps' recent on-ice issues. How do you think this game will help elevate his brand as an international star to the casual fan? A: Alex is one of the rare athletes who transcends his sport. One of the benefits of the HBO show and all the buzz around the Winter Classic is that the casual fan and the non-sports fan alike get to see what a dynamic personality Alex is. Marketers also recognize Alex's appeal. Reebok has featured him in a global campaign; Gillette uses Alex as an endorser and Verizon will debut a spot with him during the Winter Classic. I believe that's only the tip of the iceberg with him. I also think that the rivalry between Alex and Sid has served to elevate both players. Given that both of them are in their early twenties, we should be enjoying this rivalry for years to come. Q: The NHL has been the leader among the four major team sports in digital activation and this year's game will bring together a host of platforms to enhance the fan experience. What else will fans get to experience from a digital standpoint starting with the Winter Classic and then going into the playoffs? A: We have been at the forefront of technology and digital advances and that has a lot to do with our fans, who are the most tech-savvy of the major sports leagues. There is a pent up demand among hockey fans for NHL content and our job is to super serve them and connect them to the game across multiple touch points. That also goes for the Winter Classic, where we're doing of a number of cool things. One innovation I'm particularly excited about is we're becoming the first league to integrate Facebook into a broadcast with a Watch and Win promotion that is being jointly promoted across Facebook and our platforms. Fans watching the NBC broadcast will have a chance to win a Honda CRV among other prizes. NHL.com will stream much of the festivities around the event including the alumni game. The live web-cam that shows the rink being built at Heinz Field is incredibly popular. You'll continue to see more of these innovations role out throughout the year as we head towards the playoffs. Another new wrinkle this year is the addition of 20 hours of Winter Classic programming on the NHL Network, which you'll begin to see having a bigger presence. Q: How have sponsorship sales been and what are some of the interesting things sponsors are doing? A: The interest among corporate North America has been overwhelming. NBC sold out far in advance and a record number of commercial units have been taken by our NHL partners. Total revenue is up 20 percent and any possible sponsor-able element has been sold. Two weeks before the event, Winter Classic jersey sales surpassed the 38,000 mark. The event has become such an important part of our business from a sales, marketing and merchandising standpoint. Bridgestone has been a terrific title sponsor the past three years. They activate in a number of ways, most notably onsite through their popular "Slapshot" activity at the fan fest. In addition to Bridgestone, Bud Light, Reebok and Dick's Sporting Goods also have a big presence at the Winter Classic and help make the fan experience so special. And both Verizon and Geico are debuting hockey-themed creative during the game. Q: Does it surprise you at all how important this one regular season game has become to the business of the NHL? A: It's rare that a regular season game in any sport attracts national attention the way the Winter Classic does. It's great to see how quickly the Winter Classic has become one of the most anticipated events on the national sports calendar and a New Year's Day tradition of increasing magnitude and buzz. From a business standpoint, including the creation of big events as part of our strategy to drive growth has worked well. We've been able to elevate the passion our fans feel for their favorite team to the national level, and in so doing attract new sponsors who are finding creative ways to engage with our fans, who represent a young, tech-savvy demo. A total $330 million in new sponsorship revenue has been added over the last three years -- driven in part by the Winter Classic and it's helped the NHL achieve a 66 percent increase in marketing revenue over the same period. Q: Much has been made of the innovations in synthetic ice surfaces recently. Is there any thought in bringing the outdoors game to the warm weather cities where the game needs a boost? A: There is the technology available and the potential to bring the Winter Classic to a warmer climate but we are probably a ways away from that happening. ]]> Good Reads of 2010 tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.800304 2010-12-28T19:33:58-05:00 2011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ Are We Winning by Will Leitch... great account of a father, a son and a friend and their experience in and around Wrigley Field... There were lots of books about the Saints, but Sean Payton's chronicle, Home Team, takes fans inside their run to the title and gives insight into what it is like to be a head coach. Steinbrenner by Bill Madden... one of America's great story tellers and chroniclers of baseball hit the stands as the great leader was fading, and brought all the stories of his life back around again. The Ones Who Hit The Hardest by Chad Millman... a good look back at the Steelers, the Cowboys and what shaped the NFL in the decades past. ESPN analyst Merril Hoge had a good look at inspiration and the things he had to overcome in his book, Find A Way. Here is all the info on his site. Hoops fans may wanna check out the recent book by former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, Trust Your Next Shot... great stories about life, business and the Globies. For those who like auto racing and the personalities of the fans around the sport, pick up Andrew Giangola's The Weekend Starts on Wednesday. It is an easy read with a story for everyone. Always the best compilation of the best in the business is, the Best American Sportswriting is a keeper for any sports fan. One of the most inspirational stories was The Long Run, the story of former NYC Fireman/triathlete/marathon runner Matt Long and his battle to overcome a horrific accident and then inspire others. A summary and link to the book is here... Sports Illustrated's George Dohrmann had a new work, Play Their Hearts Out, which was a unique and in depth look at youth basketball, the players, the characters and how it all fits together, a la Friday Night Lights. Nice insight into a very unique and complex subculture. Pat Kirwan's book Take Your Eye Off The Ball, is a great primer for the football novice. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden's work, Blood, Sweat and Chalk, looked at how the iconic plays of football became iconic and followed the progression of the game at all levels with some amazing tales. Mike Weinreb had a great read called Bigger Than The Game, about how the '80's altered the athlete landscape. Find all his info here. A book that combined the elite athlete with the immigrant experience was former NYC Marathon winner's Meb Keflezighi's bio Run to Overcome, which he co-authored with Dick Patrick. All the details on Meb and his story are here. Another good untold story about one of America's titans in sports and business was David Sweet's bio of AFL co-founder and MLS pioneer and oil tycoon Lamar Hunt. Lamar Hunt: The Gentle Giant Who Revolutionized Professional Sports. And for sports fans everywhere, current Miami talkshow host and native New Yorker Sid Rosenburg had some great tales in his book You're Wrong and You're Ugly by Sid Rosenburg and Paul Schwartz. So there you have a good list to get you through the winter should you choose. Varied topics, good stories and lots of fun. ]]> USO & Tostitos Offer Up a Fiesta of Good Will for Those Far From Home tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.797558 2010-12-16T12:22:39-05:00 2011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ an environment that was once perhaps the most stable for a company to pout dollars and get ROI. On top of all the volatility for brands is the continued debate over the BCS system and the value of secondary bowls to anyone (colleges, television, brands, municipalities) who is not participating in the BCS championship series. In the quest for clarity and value in that morass, a handful of brands and brand partners seem to be coming up with a viable solution to use the college platform, the bowl platform, and the good will of the holiday season to really create an effective win for all involved. One of those brands is Pepsico's Tostitos brand, which will again take its sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl and give it a global good will spin for all involved. This year's effort was announced recently, and will bring former bold face name football players and coaches... Jim Kelly, LaVarr Arrington, and Rodney Peete, as well as coaches Bobby Bowden, Gene Stallings and others... to the Persian Gulf for a Tostitos sponsored good will tour and football game, which will involve servicemen and women through the USO, and will be incorporated into all the flash and dash the brand will have for this year's game between the University of Connecticut and the University of Oklahoma. The "Connect to Home Bowl," will be held at an undisclosed military base in the Persian Gulf during the time period when college football bowl games take place back in the United States. The event will have legendary coaches Bowden and Stallings directing teams composed of former college all-stars and active military heroes playing alongside one another as part of a one-of-a-kind flag football competition. Highlights from the event will be captured and shared at halftime during the nationwide broadcast of the 2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on ESPN on January 1, 2011 and at www.facebook.com/Tostitos. For Tostitos, the event connects their activation in the States with a group of consumers, the military, who are very loyal in their spending habits with brands who go the extra mile in assisting those serving. It also is a great win for the USO, who are constantly looking for new ways to create unique experiences for those serving and their families, and connect those experiences directly to those who are here in the States, whether they are on active duty, retired or in the reserves. "Partnering with the USO and bringing the 'Tostitos Connect to Home Bowl' over to the Middle East at a time of year that matters most, helps Tostitos deliver a powerful message," said Sloan Gibson, USO CEO. "It tells our men and women in harms way that they care about them and haven't forgotten them. This kind of partnership gives consumers another great reason to support the brand, beyond traditional means." For athletes like Jim Kelly someone who grew up, played and still lives in Buffalo, New York, the program provides a unique one of a kind opportunity to give back at a time of year that is all about family, and at a time when during their playing careers their focus was laser-like on the game, and not on much going on outside of it. "I am a Buffolian, my father was in the Navy and my uncles were in the U.S. Army, these are the people sacrificing their lives every day." Kelly said. "We are so blessed to be living in the United States of America and to bring our troops stationed overseas a taste of home around bowl season is going to be a one-of-a-kind experience for me especially." However the real winner in the program remains the troops, those stationed around the world and serving selflessly at a period of time in the nation's history where volatility is rampant and uncertainty is king. This partnership gives those far away a new connection to home, albeit for a short time, and helps reaffirm their mission and its importance. "The single most important message our troops and their families need to hear is that their service and sacrifice is appreciated," Gibson added. "This kind of a initiative sends exactly that message and thereby helps people make the decision to continue to serve." In an area where ROI for brands is under constant scrutiny, Tostitos sends a clear message as to how to justify a big time spend and activate not just for today's consumer, but for all those who will look to put discretionary dollars to a brand for the future with programs like this. It is not just marketing, it is cause spending and activation that touches many with a very unique and personal rewards program and with a platform, a major bowl game, that can bring that message to millions in person, online and on television. It is also a pretty nice reminder for those who question the value of college athletics and those participating on its grandest stages that there are athletes who have emerged from those programs who do give back, and will continue to give back, despite the confusing times in sport governance today. While the program is not an ultimate answer to what ails big time sports today, it is a refreshing win for all involved, and uses the tools that sport can offer to tell a story, grow a brand, and assist those who need assistance and a little lift at a key time of year. ]]> Mid-Majors Find Ways to Keep Dancing With Cinderella tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.796234 2010-12-14T15:15:18-05:00 2011-05-25T18:20:30-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ With the NCAA tournament always comes the rise of the Mid-Major school, those from the smaller, non-BCS conferences whose post season runs give us the biggest thrills year in and year out. Most casual sports fan not living in a particular geographic area would not know the names of Valparaiso, Siena, Gonzaga, St. Joe's, George Mason or Butler without the expansion of the tournament and those schools recent successful runs in the field. It is the everyman's dream, the slaying of Goliath, that gives March Madness it's cache and keeps it as arguably the most exciting extended postseason of any sport, professional or college. However for many schools the burden of sustaining the run is a very difficult task. The level of expectation, the feeling of being the hunted and not the hunter along with all the financial and academic obligations that go with consistent success when competing with large state schools and ever-expanding football-based conferences make the task even more difficult these days. Even Spokane, Washington's Gonzaga Bulldogs have struggled to maintain their extended top 25 run this year, succumbing to a loss of top athletes, high expectations and a killer schedule early on that hopefully will prep them for conference play and another tournament push in the spring. Last year's darling, the Butler University Bulldogs of Indianapolis, Indiana have been able to use their run properly thus far, using the exposure of success to increase awareness about the University, enrollment applications and television and radio time for this season. It is all good news for a hoops driven private school playing in the Horizon League, always with the shadow of the Big Ten and the NBA Pacers not too far away for the casual fan. The big question is can a school like Butler sustain success, or at the very least use the current success to find ways to grow their impact and footprint not just for hoops but for all students and student-athletes at the school. One program Butler should look at it George Mason University. The Patriots had a miracle run of their own to the Final Four three years ago, complete with the trappings of increased media and student interest and general awareness growth in the community. However as with the case of most mid majors, especially in a large market like Washington, DC, the run ends and the return to the pack, at least for the casual fan and those looking to spend discretionary income, hits home. However the Patriots, unlike other mid-majors, saw the issues coming and found ways to lead, not follow, in years when success couldn't be measured by men's hoops wins and losses. The result came this fall, when mason decided to forgo a problematic relationship on terrestrial radio and use their core support and brand to go all digital with not just their games, but with activities across the Mason athletic program. To answer that question, GMU came up with an interesting compromise, one which gave them a consistent voice, more opportunity to have that voice heard, and a unique trail for the college marketplace. The University launched GoMason Mobile, a free smartphone application, created by industry leader XCO SportsLink, to broadcast all Patriots men's basketball games and all women's home basketball games, along with pre-game and post-game shows. Additionally, the app offers exclusive content from Mason Athletics including interactive social media tools, information on all your favorite Mason teams, team information, rosters, live stats, and schedules. It is available for download from the iTunes Store, Android Marketplace, and BlackBerry App World. It is a new compliment to the streaming of the broadcasts online as well as the essential television component which still gets GMU its largest audience. What the app does is give Mason the ability to speak to a growing audience interested in the games in a format which is becoming more and more consumer friendly, especially for first adopters. It can be promoted across all platforms that touch the fan, and gives the Patriots a little more buzz in the marketplace. If the school did not have ample TV presence would it make less sense? Yes. Going app or stream only for broadcasts is still a major risk in exposure, especially in a casual marketplace. However by communicating properly and well in advance to its constituents, the Patriots have created an interesting balance of test in the marketplace. They are providing a consistent place where fans know they can get games, albeit not on the traditional airwaves. The traditional had abandoned them in the marketplace and at great expense, and it is probably close to reality that if they couldn't be found on a station, the casual fan wasn't listening anyway. Now they have the chance to speak and draw similar numbers consistently and with greatly added content to tell their stories. Is it a perfect situation? No. Is it an intriguing trial balloon that may be copied by others? Yes. Now we are not saying that some Universities cannot extend the run and the dollars and awareness that came with it. Butler's success was not a fluke, they have had a strong program in a hoops Mecca for years. Gonzaga has proved time and again that concentrated success can continue in a smaller market where competition does not come from large schools and pro sports. However for the most part, the high level of competition and the fickleness of sport plays against the extended run. For schools like George Mason it is much better to look long term and see how to parlay that success into overall growth as opposed to hoping and hanging all hope on just wins and losses. Their model for brand marketing and exposure could actually be the one, if successful, that the next Butler (or even the current one) may look to as a successful one for the school, its athletes and its brand supporters. ]]> "Russian" Back Into Sports Again tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.791468 2010-12-03T11:52:33-05:00 2011-05-25T18:15:22-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ HBO aired the critically acclaimed documentary Miracle (2001), which took us back through all the elements leading up to Team USA's "Miracle On Ice" Gold medal performance in hockey at Lake Placid in 1980. The story lines for that team and those events still transcend time. As we know, "Miracle on Ice" told the story of the dogged, underdog, youthful Americans battling the evil Soviet Empire, and how their hard work and success captured a nation and helped turn the tide of negativity in the United States at the time. It was a great example of the power of sport, and was a great time for American sport on an international stage, especially with the games on U.S. soil. In so many ways, the ebb and flow of life has changed time and again since those days in Lake Placid. The dominance of the Soviet Union has come and gone along with so many changes in our everyday lives, both positive and negative. Our focus is on adversaries of a much more stealth nature today, ones that are probably more dangerous and deadly than whatever was faced during the Cold War. However, in the world of sport, one thing that has risen again is the imprint Russian sport is making on the global landscape. The latest example came Thursday, when Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup, outdistancing several European powers in sport and business to gain the honor of hosting the World's greatest single sport event for the first time. The World Cup will follow the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, and are the latest example of a culture which once embraced global dominance in sport coming to embrace sport fully once again. There is a difference in the Russian sport landscape today from days of old, though. Whereas the old Soviet Union looked to take its might and exert its excellence across the board with its collective athletes, the Russia of today is looking to use athletics much more as a bridge for commerce and success. Bringing global dollars INTO the country, which will happen with the Olympics and the World Cup, is just as or even more important than the on field dominance during the Cold War days. Even outside of the large scale events now coming to Russia, the idea of sport for commerce and brand is growing in ways never before seen. Women's tennis now has a large cadre of elite and marketable Russian players, many of whom schooled and trained in the United States, who dominate both the game and the commercial brand marketplace. The New Jersey Nets made their big splash by bringing Mikhail Prokhorov on board as owner last spring, and his presence has had a profound impact on the marketing and visibility of the team... a team which in two years will move into a community, Brooklyn, with perhaps the fastest growing Russian population in the world. Nets sponsors with Russian ties now trump their American ones in many categories, and the team launched a Russian language website this week. The change is even being seen in hockey (the subject of Miracle, as we know), where the KHL continues to exert branding and contract dollars in an effort to become a Pan European league which someday may be a partner of the still dominant NHL. What does the new Russian sport model mean for the business? For brands looking to activate in the country and the surrounding Republics it will probably still be a slow go, as the economy is still in a mode that is reflective and sometimes less stable than the rest of the world. However, for properties looking to bring the brands of the new Russian economy to a new audience, or for entities looking to engage in brand building around the mega-events now going to Russia, there is great possibility. The Nets, and perhaps with other teams to follow, seem to have broken the code on bringing Russian brands to American consumer exposure, and those brands which do succeed in growing will look to other opportunities. Businesses which can find ways to navigate the Russian system may also find dollars and brand share, so long as they do not compete with the privately held Russian companies that still have a stranglehold on a good number of essential categories. The new Russia has embraced sport as a way to gain global positioning, just like the Soviet Union of old. However, the difference is the embrace of today is much more on the commercial side than on the physical side, and has many more areas of cash flow, opportunity and brand building than was ever seen during the traditional Communist regime of the past. The similarity, some say, whether it is having elite athletes dominate the world or elite events showcased on Russian soil, is that it is still chiefly about Russian growth and only Russian growth, although that may be changing. Even with all the big picture success, the country remains one in transition, with small pockets of wealth and large infrastructure problems. Maybe this growth in sport can help change that position as well. Big events bring big dollars from outside, and marquee athletes who are flourishing in the west in some sports can be great ambassadors in breaking down stereotypes. So while Thursday's World Cup announcement brought more disappointment to the United States (who lost out to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup), it brought more promise for an emerging economy, one which was a fierce enemy of the United States not too long ago. It is true that there is no real long-term proven effect that building stadia and bringing transient fans to an area has for the economy. South Africa, for example, is still a lot of TBD following the perhaps most successful World Cup ever. However, if that economic progress continues, maybe the doors to commerce can open more for global brands, which would be positive news for the economy all over, including those based in the States who engage in the business of sport. Positive news for Russian sport helping the U.S.? It certainly is a different world from the days of Lake Placid. That's hopefully a good thing for all.]]> It's Time for the U.S. to Fill the Cup tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.789575 2010-12-01T12:02:07-05:00 2011-05-25T18:15:22-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ Success is always there for America, but it has not been the overwhelming and glowing success across the board of past years. However later this week many of those feelings can be exorcised when FIFA awards the 2022 World Cup to a host nation, of which the United States has been deemed the favorite. So for the challenged times we are in, with all the distractions that people have in their everyday lives, why is this important and why is it any better now than when the U.S. last hosted the World in 1994? First and foremost is the growth of Major League Soccer, not just as a professional sport but as a viable business entity since the last World Cup. While many professional sports dealt with contraction, collusion and shrinking profits, MLS in recent years held firm and in many ways grew as a viable international sports property. There was cost control, salary control, the deep pockets of a handful of visionary owners and an across the board desire to grow and mature slow and steady, thus avoiding the mercurial rises and falls of other sports properties looking to emerge in challenging times. The successful launch of growing brands, not just teams, in cities like Toronto, Philadelphia and Seattle set the bar high for any franchise launch in any sport in North America, with expansion cities in Montreal, Vancouver and Portland waiting in the wings to replicate those models. MLS has been a great litmus test for brand activation, seamlessly incorporating jersey sponsors into the sales process while finding ways for nontraditional brands to activate with a young and vibrant audience. While many sports still look for ways to consistently engage a growing Hispanic audience, MLS made it a priority, always finding ways to speak directly to North America's fastest-growing demographic, a demo which already has a base understanding of the game from wherever they hail. While some other sports struggle to understand the proper way to use social media, MLS has found proper cost efficient ways to engage with their fans online, promoting a growing and engaging product to a growing audience that makes sense. They also took a big step into the world of fantasy sports, creating the first year-round game for that growing audience with industry leader Big Lead Sports. The league has even found ways to address and find solutions for employment issues in various cities, founding the MLS National Sales Center, an academy to train and recruit front-office staffers at all levels. Students devise and expand ticket sales strategies, and work on sales campaigns on behalf of MLS, its clubs and its properties. It is a very unique in-house program that can probably be expanded away from sales and into other areas of sports business, creating a home grown, league certified and consistent talent pool for everything from groundskeepers to accountants if need be. Then there is the biggest difference from the last time World Cup came a-knockin': The grassroots. Few sports have taken the painstaking road to cultivate young people and have them slowly and steadily become the passionate consumer that MLS has in the past decade plus. Young people who played the game now aspire to be its stars on its home turf, and have spent time studying and understanding its nuances, an element which did not exist at this mature level in 1994. Factor in the extensive brand building campaigns teams have done, the mix of the new immigrant who craves the game, and a good smattering of buzz from imported stars like David Beckham and Thierry Henry, and the casual and passionate fan base is stronger than ever. Also now in play more than ever is player development, and the ability for fans of the game to know and appreciate a higher level of professional play from Americans than existed a little over a decade ago. While the recently completed MLS Cup in Toronto lacked the star power to pull in good TV ratings, it did showcase some solid young American talent that down the line will also fortify the case for soccer on the professional level continuing to grow. Will Thursday's announcement, if it is a positive one for the USA, change everything overnight? No. There are still wide gaps in talent and salary levels between MLS and the rest of the world, and the top Americans showcased during the most recent World Cup returned to their clubs across Europe this summer and fall, slowing the exposure level (but not the enthusiasm) for the best American talent in the States. The long hinted move of the schedule from late summer, through winter and into early spring, like exists in other parts of the world at the top level, will also be a challenge but could also be a blessing for higher level talent development and affinity to MLS play by global fans of the sport. Sponsors who have engaged at the grassroots and on site have to continue to embrace the television product as well, not something that is easy to do for a game that still has its issues in the tube for the American casual fan. There is also the issue that 2022 is not tomorrow. Its light years away for a public that needs and wants everything today. However it is a measuring stick to point to and a brand development number to take aim at, and it will be a cause for celebration. The bottom line is that America loves the big stage, and there is no bigger stage than the World cup, no matter when it is. Who knows, if Thursday becomes a landmark day, maybe that re-opens the door for other world class events to return to the States, and helps boost an economy and a pride level that had been waning, but now thankfully may again be on the uptake. A big event is always good for what ails you, so why not now and why not the World Cup? The stage is certainly set, let's see where the votes fall. ]]> The Blogger Battle in Sports Goes to a New Level... tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.786605 2010-11-23T17:59:48-05:00 2011-05-25T18:15:22-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ If you are interested in blogging about sports, that is probably less true. The blog world continues to slowly evolve in various levels of respect in sports, but that evolution, even for some of the most respected writers, is still slow. Maybe it's because sports is such a constant in society that the issues seem to rise and become louder than in other areas, maybe it's because there is still a reticence for acceptance by those who are slow to technology, but the battle wages on. Last week the battle actually came from and center, as two writers were barred from their respective areas of coverage, albeit for different reasons. First salvo was fired by the Miami Heat, who banned writer Scott Raab for his expletive filled tweets directed at LeBron James. Then we have the Islanders, who banned Chris Botta, a blogger they helped spawn and trumpeted out as a pioneer in the field, for violation of some interview rules. Similar? Different reasons, same result. As someone who feels that the blogosphere and digital media needs to be embraced more as an outlet for coverage and access, I cringe when I hear the word "banned" used. Like radio, then TV, then talk radio after that, we are still in a discovery stage of who and how and what is "legitimate" in the digital world and what is contrived. There is abuse on all levels and not just by bloggers, and there is also great work, especially in the long form, being done by media who are less limited and can be more insightful in the digital space. The opportunity for coverage and for telling stories to the masses, is perhaps larger now than it has ever been. However there are limits of good taste, even outside of Free Speech, that do cross the line, and that line of evaluation is still blurred, and will always be controlled, by the credential issuer. It remains an opportunity to gain access, and it should not be an assumption. In the case of Scott Raab, we don't know all the details, but we do know he used an outlet that he has, twitter, to cross a line of professionalism. Whether it was done to gain attention or whether it was stream of consciousness and was regrettable is not known. What is known is that in the eyes of the Heat, a team which has gone to great lengths in their slow days to acquire media attention (remember Lamar Odom pumping gas?), Raab's rantings went beyond what is considered acceptable for a professional journalist, and he lost that opportunity. Did they turn him into a martyr or increase his forum? Maybe. Whatever the outcome, the media-conscious NBA did not let the decision happen in a vacuum, and probably set a standard for what is acceptable, and not acceptable, for media going forward. Then there are the Islanders, a team which just a few years ago was, along with other NHL teams like the Washington Capitals, at the cusp of conquering the digital space for fan access and innovation. Islanders TV on their website, the bloggers box, a partnership with NeuLion, fan interraction during their broadcasts, and then Chris Botta's blog were all hailed as new ways to try and engage a young fan and stay relevant in a very challenging media landscape. Their work was copied by other teams, and was part of the NHL's rise in the digital space that has seen them be the leader in online fan engagement when compared to all the major sports. Ironically in a time when "controlled media" is becoming the norm... writers coming to work for team publications... Botta went the other way. His work was solid and he took the role of journalist, covering the team, and eventually the sport of hockey, with a growing and popular fan base. It all seemed to be a pretty happy relationship, and gave insight into how such things could work together into the future. Then this summer, as the NHL continued to step up their digital innovation and social engagement, the Islanders announced a cutback on blogger credentials. The team that led the charge, for whatever reason, was cutting back at a time when media coverage was slipping overall, a curious move for the organization that was struggling to find its voice. In fairness, they became more aggressive in telling their business stories in the media and tried to find more ways to engage the off-ice coverage, but at the end of the day sizzle and steak need to go together for fans and to warrant coverage, and one cannot effectively control what the media will write about the product. If it's good you get the coverage, if it's not, unless you have some drama to go or story lines to pitch, the coverage wains and is not necessarily flattering. Therein lies the issue with Botta's ban. The house organ (although he was never ever a shill of the organization) became the critical journalist. Fair but critical, and perhaps the Islanders saw that as not neccessary coverage any more. We don't know all the facts, and it probably was not done without deep thought. What the ban did do was again cast a light on what some groups perceive as "real media" and what is seen as "secondary" media. Would he have been banned if he wrote for Newsday or the New York Times or not have been an "insider"? Not known at this point. The Islanders, in fact, are not stopping AOL or any of Botta's other outlets from covering the team, just he himself, which seems very curious. If it was a violation of team media rules, that is certainly not a first, especially in New York, and it has never resulted in a ban of a media credential. He was not profane, he was not unprofessional, and in many ways he brought more interest to the Islanders brand than any other media source short of Newsday or MSG Network. Regardless it set a very strange precedent for teams on every level if the ban holds up, and probably brought Botta, a pretty low key guy, more attention than he ever wanted. So what does all this mean? In one case it means if you are a credentialed journalist, no matter what medium you use, you have to view yourself and your comments in a way that can bring repercussions. It's not what you say. It's how you say it, especially in a matter of good taste. The other case appears to be more troublesome for the line between media and the relationship with those you are covering. What is the expectation? If it is to work with rose colored glasses, then that's not media coverage, that's advertising. If it is to be fair and tell what one sees as a professional journalist, which is really what Chris Botta morphed into, then the ban is very troubling indeed. Both will be interesting to follow, and both will certainly set some interesting precedents going forward. Now there are many blogger sites, the biggest of which is Deadspin, which have little to no interest in being recognized by "traditional" media. That's fine. They make it clear that they are a fans voice and play to the edge, and away they go. Their numbers are big, their practices are avant garde, their style is not for the traditional and that's the way they choose to do their coverage. No excuses and their audience finds them. However for those who choose to be a little bit less of a voice of the fan and more of the news gathering type, the battle rages on. Where it will end at some point is up for debate, but in the meantime following the war from a distance will be interesting, especially for those who in these challenging times are taking to the digital space as a way to make a living, find a voice, and deliver coverage. ]]> Army's Bowl Trip Bigger Than Just Football. Here's Why tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.785278 2010-11-18T08:29:18-05:00 2011-05-25T18:15:22-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ However, for Army, for some communities that pin their hopes to the dollar value of smaller football Bowl games, for brands that spend millions on engaging casual fans and a core audience of men and women in the service, and for vets around the world, the win was very significant. With the win, Army joined fellow academies Navy and Air Force as being eligible for a post-season bowl, only the second time since 1960 that all three of the service academies, the good will stories and their large followings, will go to a bowl game in the same year. Coming on the heels of Veteran's Day, and with what could have been a ho-hum Army-Notre Dame game at Yankee Stadium this weekend, the Cadets win last weekend could not have been better placed. But again, why does this matter? For many reasons. First, there is perhaps no group that is more brand loyal than the families of service men and women. They are in many cases young families, first adopters and savvy with their spending. They also tend to spread information about brands very well by word of mouth, and are very supportive of the brands that support them. Brands who also invest in the military and the academies usually see a string uptick in sales and recognition, especially around the fourth quarter of the year. So added buzz in football gives those in the service more reason to be engaged with those brands, and gives those brands an added platform to activate. The service academies, with all their tradition and pomp and circumstance, also tend to draw the casual sports fan even in the slowest of times. Winning and exciting programs bring more eyeballs, and that is good for both those brands and for the messaging that the military can incorporate into those added broadcasts and interest. In addition, each of the Academies, although Bowl eligible, and not near the top of the BCS rankings. This means that the academies will head to lesser bowls in cities like San Diego, San Antonio and Shreveport. Without the academies, those Bowls may struggle to fill seats and bring in ancillary dollars. With the academies, those Bowls now ratchet up their visibility, their dollar value, and their pageantry, all good things in a struggling economy. Also there is the dollar spend that the military makes in sports itself. That spend is traditionally in the millions for recruitment and other types of programs, and with winning football programs the affinity for recruitment and recruitment spending becomes even higher, an element which an all-volunteer military cannot place a dollar value on. Then there are the brands. From Under Armour, which invested large dollars for a recent program with select schools (Utah, Maryland and Texas Tech) to honor the U.S. Armed Forces on a national platform in the week leading up to Veteran's Day, to Tostitos, which will again take a group of ex-NFL stars abroad during Fiesta Bowl week, the value extracted in military support can usually outweigh the expense and planning put into the projects. It is true that win or lose, those young men and women who attend and graduate from the academies are still great stories and are more than worthy of attention, as are all the people who put their lives in harm's way for the sake of others. They are America's leaders past and present and those future accomplishments will never be diminished by a few more W's. However with success on the field, the platform for attention, and probably the respect level by a casual fan or follower, rises as well. The respect level rises the interest on the business side, and that can help lift communities and brands who may otherwise struggle without that trickle down boost. No, Army, Navy and Air Force being successful won't have the effect on the global economy that an effective stimulus plan would have. But in many ways that success can have a positive effect on moral and sales both home and abroad, and it is more worthy of praise and a pat on the back than perhaps the success of any other intercollegiate programs this fall. ]]> Helping Athletes Heal Their P.A.S.T. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.777518 2010-11-03T14:00:24-04:00 2011-05-25T18:10:25-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ For better or for worse, today's celebrity has more opportunities and far more challenges than ever before. The converse of all that exposure today can sometimes be somewhat of a blessing. Years ago, a career ended and the star drifted off into the distance, many times never to be heard from unless an anniversary or an autograph show came one's way. Today the ability for an athlete to better use the spotlight for ones advantage in their post-career has never been greater, whether that is for broadcasting, endorsements or even for furthering business relationships. The warriors of the past were more challenged to find a full-time job and start over in a traditional field, and were left to usually telling tales in the local watering hole. However, the new landscape is always changing in terms of access and opportunity, hopefully for the better, as those who played in the days of just radio and TV adapt to their new surroundings, new audiences and new opportunities. One opportunity for the names of games gone by is to have a new voice helping them through what can be a very traumatic life post career. In the past, our heroes would fade into anonymity for the most part, and that adjustment back to a normal life was very difficult from the after effects of too much time spent on a field or a court, or too much abuse suffered at the hands of an opponent. For reasons of ego, pride, even ignorance, scores of athletes went to their graves, many early graves, suffering in silence, or inflicting pain and frustration on those who may have tried to help them the most. Hopefully now, much of that suffering in silence for the sacrifices of careers gone can also be a distant memory, thanks to a group of altruistic doctors and others trying to assist athletes to fix the physical and mental toll and sacrifice they went through during their professional careers. One such group is P.A.S.T., a New York area consortium of physicians and health specialists, based in Clifton, New Jersey, who have donated huge amounts of time and dollars to the cause of assisting athletes who have little means or ability to help them. Last week at a press event in New York, the first class of P.A.S.T. graduates came together for a few hours that was part revival meeting, part cathartic experience and part information session. One after the next, from Hall of Famers like Don Maynard to NFL stalwarts like Randy Grimes, Christian Akoye and Ray Lucas, players rose and told their stories of pain, desperation and healing, all with the goal of praising their doctors and making the public more aware of the suffering they were going through after years spent sacrificing their bodies and minds for the games we play and watch. Grimes, who spent ten years anchoring the offensive line at center for the Tampa Bay Bucs, teared up as he talked about being pain free for the first time in over a decade, while Akoye spoke glowingly of having a spine that was healed and a neck he could now turn without worrying of paralysis. The NFL vets were joined by both the NBA (in the presence of Retired Players Association head Charles Smith) and MLB (in the presence of former Expo and Retired Players Rep Steve Rogers) in lending their support and assistance to work on a unified front to bring the message of healing not just to NFL players, but to players of all sport. The doctors come from virtually every field... Pain Management, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics (including Joint Replacement), Neurology, Neurosurgery, Spinal and Chiropractics... and their services encompass full diagnostic evaluations, chronic pain treatment and diagnosis, behavioral health services addressing issues such as addiction and depression, psychiatric issues related to traumatic brain injuries and much more. They form a team that assists the athlete for free, since many do not have the means with their pensions to cover the large medical undertaking. It is a team that has given selflessly, and was the vision of a corps of doctors who saw a need and felt this work with P.A.S.T. was an appropriate way to give back to athletes who could go on to lead healthy and productive lives and also be evangelists not just to other professional athletes but to fans and young people who see the glitz and the glory but not the sacrifice. Now cynics will say that this is some form of hero worship... that these doctors could do the same thing for steel workers or the indigent who never had the benefit of the limelight. Others will say that many of these athletes willingly undertook the abuse and used whatever means possible to get ahead as athletes, and the resulting issues are what is deserved for a life of abuse. Others may draw a parallel, albeit unrealistic, that these men are not dissimilar to war heroes who sacrificed their lives for a greater good and now have the benefit of insurance and other health benefits. All of which may have some semblance of truth and will be a cause for debate for decades to come. However what is unfailingly true is that the athletes of today, those in the spotlight 24/7 and enjoying the millions in rewards that come with being among an elite group, do owe more than a small share of gratitude to those who came before. The bond between most military vets transcends time, but the bond between athletes of various generations is usually faded or uninformed behind a wall that is all about today, less about tomorrow and rarely about the past. So what is the end game or the final result for P.A.S.T. and its team of doctors and athletes? The win in this game is healing -- healing for players who have been driven into a life of pain and neglect largely because they gave of their bodies selflessly for their profession. It is also in education -- education of a new generation of athlete who will take better care not just of themselves but of those who came before them. And yes it is about access -- access for the athlete to information to make healthy choices and access for the public to better understand that these men are warriors, but are also human and are deserving of the care and respect they desire even after the cheering stops. ]]> Now Coming to a Ballpark Near You: The Chilean Miners tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2010:/theblog//3.763911 2010-10-15T12:23:34-04:00 2011-05-25T18:00:30-04:00 Joe Favorito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-favorito/ Already Darren Rovell had a good piece this week on the value that Oakley got in supplying sunglasses to the miners as they rose. There were countless photos and interviews with the men as they kicked around a soccer ball, giving the world's largest game a potential platform, and all our friends in minor league baseball and hockey should be conjuring up miner nights, "chili" specials, and ways to honor these men and the American companies that assisted them in some fun way. No doubt the endorsements and opportunities for these men, the media who covered them, and the companies that were involved will be huge should they choose to accept them. Then Thursday came the report in the New York Times running blog that the New York City Marathon was looking into having one of the miners run in this November's race, which will surely vault the event up the ladder for casual exposure and open the door for all sorts of sports brands to attach themselves and their dollars to at least one of the survivors. Real Madrid has invited the group to a game, and on and on it will go... Then there is the country of Chile itself. How will prominent Chilean athletes and other brands use the miners to enhance their presence? Will they be tied to an Olympic movement or large scale soccer event? Are there ways that Chile can use this good will to generate more funds for relief for their economy... can local teams hold fundraising nights for Chilean immigrants who work and live in their communities as a show of ancillary support? Like the survivors of "The Miracle on the Hudson" or even someone who wins the lottery, the window of opportunity for the miners will also thrust them into a spotlight they may not have wanted or desired -- and still not desire -- and the price of being in that limelight today can still be high. However, for those brands that are smart and have a large audience, gleaning exposure to celebrate the human spirit through this accomplishment and not being overtly commercial can be a very positive experience for all, so long as it is done within a window of opportunity that makes sense. For sure the entourages, the agents and the brokers have already grown way beyond the space that these men survived in underground, and it will continue to grow. Some will be a money grab, some will be blatant exploitation. However for the smart folks, the fun promotions can lead to the right kind of exposure for all. Let the spin begin. ]]>


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Overview (3)
|Date of Birth
|12 September 1957, Cornwell Manor, Cornwell, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK
|Birth Name
|Rachel Claire Ward
|5' 9" (1.75 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Rachel Ward was born on September 12, 1957 in Cornwell Manor, Cornwell, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England as Rachel Claire Ward. She is an actress and director, known for Against All Odds (1984), Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) and On the Beach (2000). She has been married to Bryan Brown since April 16, 1983. They have three children.
Spouse (1)
|Bryan Brown
|(16 April 1983 - present) (3 children)

subset: commoncrawl


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Financial meltdown intrigue in Greece: Should we care and why?
The intertwined worlds of government and finance are swirling with drama not seen since the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The epicenter of the current crisis is Greece.
The intertwined worlds of government and finance are swirling with drama not seen since the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The epicenter of the current crisis is Greece.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said before Congress voted on her massive health overhaul legislation that "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."
The U.S. Postal Service is deeply in the red. Projecting a deficit of $238 billion over the next decade, its governors propose two solutions: halting Saturday delivery and raising stamp prices by 3 percent this year and 10 percent next.
The Georgia Legislature has finally approved a funding mechanism for transportation. Next comes the jockeying for placement on project lists among advocates, agencies and authorities for the various modes.
Years ago, when Dave and his family frequented the beaches of Florida, they never even heard of nearly extinct birds like great egrets and eagles. The brown pelicans we know so well today were hanging by a thread. The only pelicans they knew were the white ones migrating through the wetlands.
I have a problem. It's time I own up to it and confess it. I've known about it for some time but only lately has it become a serious issue.
This morning, The Wife gave me a hug and kiss as she always does before leaving for work. I watched her walk to the car, and then she turned back around, smiled, waved goodbye and said, "If you have the time, could you put away the dishes?
A friend of mine told me a story about his father who was an Army Chaplain during World War II. The chaplain said that he was teased with the standard tease of clergy that he sure had an easy job because he only worked one day a week.
Georgia has 159 counties and one of the key ingredients to successful state political campaigns is financial support from outside the metropolitan Atlanta area.
An update on the Update. Regarding my "From the Mayor," it is always over a month old by the time it reaches Peachtree City homes. That is not timely and often more information or changes have occurred since it was submitted.
Much has been made in recent times about the public debt we might all leave to our children and grandchildren and how we might all tighten our belts by cutting government spending.
We all know the United States is in nonstop competition with other countries around the world. China and India, in particular, have made tremendous gains in their number of scientists and engineers.
Arizona has decided that if the federal government will not live up to its responsibility to control the border, it will.
In polls and elections, a majority of Americans said "No!" to federal healthcare legislation, but it passed anyway. Most still want it repealed, but the time has come to plan ahead and prepare for a very different future.
It was one of those crowded events a while back that I didn't want to attend. But courtesy and obligation dictated that I put my wants aside and be a big girl about it all. So, I put on a pretty dress, a gorgeous pair of high heels and plunged in.


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Reality Dogs! The "Other Kids" in the Family from the Real Housewives to Teen MomSunny Chanel
The human children aren't the only "kids" in the family. There are also the more furry variety like Pomeranians, Labradors and King Charles Cavaliers that are members of the reality show clans.
Some of the pint sized family members even have their own fans from websites dedicated to their cuteness to their very own Twitter accounts. Yes, they are stars in their own right. And for good reason. They are adorable!
Check out this totally "aww" worthy collection of reality star pups from Teen Mom to the Real Housewives right here!
(Above: Cookie who belongs to Bethenney Frankel)
Bethenny Frankel 1 of 13Bethenny Frankel's dog Cookie (full names Cookie Frankel Hoppy) even has her own Twitter account!
Check it out here!
Photo Source: PacifcCoastNews.com
Ramona Singer of Real Housewives of New York 2 of 13"Another hot day hanging with friends and coco my other child."
Source: Twitter
Chelsea Houska of Teen Mom 3 of 13This is such an adorable photo of Chelsea's daughter Aubree and their dog!
Source: Twitter
Linda Vanderumps Dog Giggy 4 of 13One of the world's best dressed dogs even has a website dedicated it's fabulous pup-ness with photos of Giggy with the rich and famous.
Check it out here!
Photo Source: PacifcCoastNews.com
Kail Lowry of Teen Mom 5 of 13Kail tweeted this super cute photo of her son and their dog with the message, "Best Friends….Sometimes."
Source: Twitter
Catelynn Lowell of Teen Mom 6 of 13Catelynn may have given her daughter up for adoption, but she has another little girl at home.
Source: Twitter
Sonja Morgan of Real Housewives of New York 7 of 13"With my baby Marley"
Source: Twitter
Jacqueline Laurita of the Real Housewives of New Jersey 8 of 13How cute! This is a photo of Santino that fellow housewife Caroline Manzo tweeted.
Source: Twitter
Adrienne Maloof of the Real Housewives of Beveryl Hills 9 of 13Her dog Jackpot enjoying an afternoon ride.
Source: Twitter
Tamra Barney of the Real Housewives of Orange County 10 of 13Tamra Braney's cute pup Bronx.
Source: Twitter
Janelle Evans of Teen Mom 11 of 13A portrait of her and her pup Brody.
Source: Twitter
Brandi Glanville of the Real Housewives of Beveryl Hills 12 of 13Brandi's pups!
Source: Twitter
Kelly Bensimon and Her Dog Chief 13 of 13"I love my chief. Send me picts with your shelter/ rescue animals. Everyone deserves love and a home"
Source: Twitter via Twylah
Photo: Twitter
Read more Sunny Chanel on Famecrawler right here.
Read more Sunny Chanel on Strollerderby right here.
Article Posted 4 years Ago


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"Lincoln Financial Center Minted Team Medallion Photo Mint Frame" is not available for sale online.
This item may be discontinued or not carried in your nearest store. Please call your local store to check in-store availability before heading there. For informational purposes, the product details and customer reviews are provided.
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- This double matted, 13" x 16" frame is officially licensed.
- Made in the USA.


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Apr 6 2009It Hurts Just To Look At: The Trippy Clock
This Salvador Dali clock costs $15 and is painful to look at. I glanced at it once and nearly lost it. Then, which I was editing the image, I puked in my mouth a little. It was yogurt-y.
Just follow the hands out to meet the face and you'll be just fine. Zany is one word for it. Eclectic another. Put it above a bar and you'll have the punters examining the contents of their glasses. In short, buy this slippery, rubbery chronograph and say 'Hello, Dali' to a distorted vision of time. And an insight into the mind of a creative genius.
I don't know about all that. Besides, who needs a clock to make them feel like they're tripping? Now if you really wanna trip you need to drink this right here. Yeah, I know it tastes awful, but just trust me. Theeeeeere you go. So, feel anything yet? No? Well maybe you should walk around a little. *THUD* HAHA -- I tied your laces together when you were busy drinking my urine!
freaky dali-esque clock is twirlin', not meltin' [technabob]
Related Stories
Reader Comments
trippy trippy!!!
well, at least its better than anything tokyoflash have ever made.
That's only because you can actually tell the time
Makes me wanna yak
stop bashing the tokyo watches, i like them because they look futuristic. anyways this looks cool
Talking about bending time! Where's this for sale?
wow #5... woooooooow, you fail! also my clock is wrong, it says 6:07 but that clock says 10:10... *switching clock*
the clock isnt really THAT trippy. The numbers are in the right place, just a little curvy and hey....
... who tied my shoe laces together?!?!?
No I'm not drinking that!
Whats up? I finally get some time to hang out and everone leaves?
I'm going home and I'm taking my ball with me.
Old. My favorite local pub (Winchester-style) has had this clock on the wall for a couple years. That clock, plus bar-time = sorry honey, I came through the window and puked in the baby's crib but it's ok because I wiped it off and I slept on the stairs because I didn't want to wake you, I thought I came home at 4AM three days after I left, that wall clock confused me and I was drunk, but not that drunk, well we were doing shots and ... is that a gun?
Is there anywhere stateside that we can order this? Shipping to the US is over $60.
@10 awww c'mon, I had a last minute meeting taking me away from geeko for a good 2 hrs. I love no less & I'm sure you know this, even though your @9 did linger for awhile hehe
Interesting. I wouldn't buy it, but I would like to have an interesting clock in my office.
too bad the clock's logo isn't trippy like the rest of it...
I think I'm going to stay up all night, tomorrow night also. If I'm not early on tomorr(todays) posts then Fųck I feel asleep & that shouldn't have happened.
*Fell asleep, not feel.... It's happening already
I might buy this .....really....really really
I don't like it... :( It's cool for the first 30 seconds, then I can see myself throwing darts at it or setting fire to it in a volcano.
Salvador Dali-->Little Ashes-->Rob Pattinson....OMG I found a link to Rob from this post.. hehe
its actually kinda neat... but not terribly original
Have one of these on your spaceship. As you're sucked into the black hole, you'll be able to tell the time correctly... for an instant before you become neutronium.
I assume it looks like a normal clock if you are trippin.
u dont see that every day. haha. i like it. maybe it is just me but i would have that clock in my apartment just 2 mess with my guests


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Change At The Top Of SS&C Advent
May 24, 2016
The Connecticut-based provider of financial services software and software-enabled services has
The Connecticut-based provider of financial services software and software-enabled services has
The alliance will give GIS advisors access to Dynastys investment platform, while helping both
A former Morgan Stanley team has joined Merrill Lynch in Minnesota.
This article by Lauren Benenati, director of family education at GenSpring Family Offices, outlines
The Seattle-headquartered subsidiary of investment management firm Eaton Vance has boosted its
GenSpring has made three family office appointments in Washington, DC, and California.
Industry experts talked about how technology is changing the way family offices and other investors
The penultimate panel at Family Wealth Report's inaugural Family Office Fintech Summit was entitled
Robo advisors, cybersecurity and the cloud were among the key topics discussed at a recent
Senior industry figures recently discussed co-sourcing at a New York City conference hosted by this


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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
3 Comments | Copyright: IANS
Sonal Chauhan is the latest actress to turn singer. She has sung a song in her forthcoming film "3G" and thanks music composer Mithoon for encouraging her by giving this opportunity.
"It was a very good experience and I would like to thank Mithoon for it because he encouraged me a lot. I have always been a big fan of his music. I think encouragement was necessary because I am not professionally trained in music," the 27-year-old said here Monday at the music launch of the film at Big FM.
"Mithun believed in me and he asked me to try it. I would like to thank Mithoon in front of everyone for giving me this opportunity, I love singing," she added.
Sonal has sung the song "Kaise bataaoon" along with KK.
Earlier, actors like Akshay Kumar ("Special Chabbis"), Aditi Rao Hydari ("London Paris New York"), Ayushmann Khurrana ("Vicky Donor"), Shah Rukh Khan ("Josh"), Aamir Khan ("Ghulam"), Amitabh Bachchan ("Baghban", "Kahaani", "Natwarlal") among others have gone behind the mic.
Priyanka Chopra went a step ahead and launched her international single "In My City."
Mithoon is also all praise for Sonal who, he says, was quick to point out her mistakes while recording it.
"If Sonal was able to sing, all credit for that goes to her because it takes a lot of courage to stand behind a mic and sing. The music director can hear every breath, he can notice everything," Mithoon said.
"When she was singing, I did not need to point out her flaws, she was pointing out her mistakes herself. No one is perfect but we should credit her for what she has done," he added.
"3G" is a horror film and features Nitin Mukesh">Neil Nitin Mukesh in the lead. Directed by Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibber, the film hits theatres March 15.
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