Sponsorship in 60 seconds

Within their crowded sphere of New York and New Jersey, the Red Bulls look around and see nine major professional sports teams, more than any other Major League Soccer market. And those nine do not stand still. In the last four years two new ballparks and a football stadium have been erected, while work continues on renovating Madison Square Garden and a new NBA arena in Brooklyn.

So the investment in Red Bull Arena, which opened in 2010, was not just about making a statement to the rest of MLS. It was also a matter of keeping up with the Joneses—or the Mets.

Now with the Red Bulls into their third season in the Harrison, N.J., facility, the dark days of Giants Stadium, when fans could hear their chants echoing through the emptiness, are beginning to fade. And the franchise that has spent 16 years struggling to penetrate the most saturated sports market in America is making a new push to finally break through.

“We don’t play at Giants Stadium anymore,” the Red Bulls’ president of business operations, Chris Heck, said. “We’re not the MetroStars. We’re not the Cosmos. It’s almost like we’re an expansion franchise in many ways, with this new stadium, with these new players, with this new mentality.”

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Six mannequin torsos — three wearing Chicago Bulls jerseys and three sporting Boston Celtics jerseys — sat on tables before N.B.A. owners in a meeting room at the St. Regis hotel in Manhattan.

The jerseys were unlike any that the Bulls and the Celtics currently wear. All sported a corporate name or logo — and were sartorial harbingers of the N.B.A.’s future.

The presentation to the league’s board of governors last Thursday night strongly suggested that the N.B.A. might be the first major sports league in the United States to allow its players to wear advertising. If the N.B.A. agrees, its players will join golfers, soccer players around the world, Nascar and IndyCar drivers, and W.N.B.A. players, some of whom have worn corporate logos or names since 2009.

Jeanie Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers’ executive vice president for business operations, said that adding advertising to uniforms was worth discussing in part because other leagues had embraced the practice.

“I like tradition and I actually still miss the short shorts of the ’80s,” she said in an e-mail message, “so perhaps it is better the Lakers management fully discuss the subject internally and come to a consensus.”

For years, N.B.A., M.L.B., N.F.L. and N.H.L. teams have changed their uniform styles and designs to increase merchandise sales, keep up with fashion trends or herald a new era, as the Miami Marlins just did. Patches have been added to remember a former player or manager who died (the Mets are wearing one as a memorial to Gary Carter). But advertising has not broken through; after Major League Baseball considered putting logos on players’ sleeves in 1999, Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the idea.

Adam Silver, the N.B.A.’s deputy commissioner, said in an e-mail: “If we add sponsor logos to jerseys, we recognize that some of our fans will think we’ve lost our minds. But the N.B.A. is a global business and logos on jerseys are well established in other sports and commonplace outside the U.S. Our goal isn’t to be the first major league to do it, but in the same way that virtually all arenas and stadiums now have naming rights deals, we recognize it’s only a matter of time.”

At last Thursday’s presentation, the sets of jerseys for the Bulls and the Celtics displayed three variations: a jersey with the team name stripped away and replaced by a corporate name; a second with a company name beneath the uniform number; and a third with the corporation’s logo on the jersey strap.

UNO hopes that a long-term partnership with Nelligan Sports Marketing, which was announced Monday, could make a significant impact on the financial well being of its athletic department.

“We’re optimistic that in five years we could be in position to triple our gross sponsorship revenues,” said Gary Freeman, UNO’s director of athletic advancement.

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In a testimonial on NSM’s web site, Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich said NSM increased his school’s corporate sponsorship revenue from $1 million to $4 million in the first year.

UNO’s five-year agreement, which also includes the possibility of an extension, gives NSM the exclusive rights to manage the university’s athletic corporate sponsorship program and media rights.

NSM provides sales and marketing expertise for sports properties worldwide and represents many major Division I institutions, including Louisville, Marquette, Providence, Rutgers and Seton Hall of the Big East Conference.

In the first year of the agreement, UNO expects a net distribution of $600,000, an increase of 26.3 percent over the $475,000 it would typically expect, Freeman said.

“We have had real good success in this area,” Freeman said. “But in order to take it to the next level, we feel we need to bring in someone with the expertise and the firepower that Nelligan Sports Marketing can bring us.”

Because of its contacts through other universities and colleges, NSM can help UNO break through with national and regional sponsors, Freeman said.

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There are scores of sport associations that would love to bottle up what the Super Bowl has. It doesn’t seem to matter what the Super Bowl does, where it is, and what teams play; it’s a marketing juggernaut of no equal.

Fancy the idea of the Super Bowl being played in a northern clime this year: Indianapolis. Okay, so the game will be played in a new, state-of-the art stadium, with a retractable roof, something that is required if the average temperature dips below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. (Average high temperature in Indianapolis in February is 39 degrees.)

But you never know when a snow storm will blow in, crimping the style of attendees. Right now, Indianapolis is shovelling the snow and slush off its sidewalks in preparation for the Feb. 5 game and increasing their inventories of hot chocolate.

Mind you, it’s not that the general public gets a great shot at getting tickets. Super Bowl folks release only about a relative handful of them to the general public and the ones that are available cost $1,000 and up. Way up, to say, $10,000.

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The NBA lockout has erased at least 21 Trail Blazers games, alienated fans, impacted the livelihood of thousands of Portland-area workers and threatened to wipe out an entire season for the first time in NBA history. 

All the while, the ongoing labor dispute has jeopardized the relationship between the Blazers and their sponsors, a group of local and national businesses that pour millions of dollars into the franchise in exchange for the exposure the NBA provides. 

No sponsor has pulled its funding from the team so far during a lockout that has lasted 144 days. But as the NBA owners and players continue their stalemate, the Blazers and their sponsors are feeling the pinch of lost games, lost exposure and the negative backlash that comes from the ongoing bickering. 

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There’s a new sports marketing company that is paving the way athletes operate in the digital marketplace, including how they interact with fans and raise money for charity. And they’ve set up shop in Buffalo.
FiveNineGroup Inc provides current and former professional athletes from around the world with the tools to build their personal brands, enhance their charitable portfolio, increase their involvement within their communities, and engage more with their fans.
Started by four young Buffalonians, each former college athletes with unique experience in design, marketing, sports communications and web development, co-founders Chris Howard, Scott Goergen, Ryan Brennan and Rob Hopkins saw the need to develop a digital platform for athletes to showcase their professional and philanthropic activities beyond traditional means, while providing fans with a new interactive tool to be engaged and stay informed.
“We thought, ‘it would be great for the teams and fans of these athletes if the athletes had more interactive sites,’” said Chris Howard. “The websites we build are a great way to give fans an inside look at the players, which benefits both the athlete’s image and their team’s image. We also help develop their foundations and run events that will, in turn, give back to local charities the athletes are passionate about.”
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It’s hard for the Patriots and Cowboys to escape the spotlight.

After all, any time two of the highest profile teams in the National Football League (and perhaps in the world) get to play each other, it has the chance to be special. Add to the mix two of the highest profile owners in the league inRobert Kraft and Jerry Jones, who have certainly positioned themselves as leaders among NFL ownership, and you have the lights shining brightly, the cameras clicking and the action ready to roll.

Suffice to say, these guys aren’t exactly wallflowers. Like the Patriots’ owner, Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones is one of only four current owners to guide their franchises to at least three Super Bowl titles. His efforts in the areas of sports marketing, promotion and the development of Cowboys Stadium have forged a vivid imprint on the landscape of the NFL, and even in American sports culture. But while Kraft sometimes chooses to shun the public eye, Jones very much seems to embrace his role as owner, general manager, ambassador – and sometimes villain. That’s where any comparison to the Patriots’ owner might end.

“I wouldn’t want to make that comparison because, well, I guess I can be self-effacing,” Jones said Sunday, just prior to his team taking the field against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. “Bob’s smarter than I am, he’s better looking than I am, and he’s won more games than I’ve won, but I’m proud to call him a friend.”

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The moment has come for Tiger Woods to move beyond the heat rub and get back into the big time.

Two years after a sex scandal demolished the golfer’s endorsement career, he has signed on with watchmaker Rolex, his first major pact since the incident.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Sports marketing experts say privately held Rolex SA is likely getting Mr. Woods for much less than the millions of dollars he commanded when he was untarnished and at the top of his game.

Mr. Woods was the most powerful brand endorser on Madison Avenue before marital infidelities and other foibles landed him in the tabloid press in 2009. Amid the public-relations nightmare, Mr. Woods lost several major sponsors, including AT&T, Accenture and Gillette.

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The Michigan football team will open the 2012 season against the Alabama Crimson Tideat the Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

The game provides a national stage for the University of Michigan as it focuses in strengthening its sports marketing platform.

It also promises a $4.7 million payday.

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon says the trip to Texas is another step in challenging the status quo of Michigan football, one of his key objectives since he took over as director in March 2010.

“It’s another historic occasion for us,” Brandon said. “It will be a huge view audience.”

Brandon added that by playing Alabama, ranked No. 2 in the nation by the AP poll and No. 3 by USA Today, the Wolverines — ranked No. 12 in the AP poll and No. 11 by USA today— will be part of an audience he expects to captivate millions.

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The right side of the helmet was covered in a black and gold diagonal checkerboard pattern. The left side displayed a red and white cross. The patterns extended from the helmet to the shoulders, and some players accentuated them with similarly styled armbands.

The uniform suggested many things: a quilting bee enhanced by Jell-O shots, a team of jesters in the time of Lord George Calvert, a “Project Runway” challenge to make high fashion out of a state flag gone horribly wrong.

It was the University of Maryland’s “Maryland Pride” football uniform, the latest in a trend of bold jersey and helmet designs that, depending on your tastes, can be described as fashion forward, garish or blindness inducing. Perhaps for that reason, the jersey was not put on sale to the general public. No problem, really, for Maryland intends to use at least four different uniforms this season, all of which will be for sale.

For years, professional and college teams have been pushing the boundaries of taste and cynicism with their uniforms, prepared to abandon tradition in pursuit of dollars. But this year the trend has become something of a frenzy, with uniforms changing week to week, and the apparel-makers and schools themselves becoming quite frank about what’s, well, at play.

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Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of sportswear apparel company Under Armour, has been a long-time supporter of the University of Maryland’s football team, the Terrapins, where he was once a special teams captain. But the relationship entered a new phase last week when the Terps’ new, Under Armour-made uniforms were unveiled for the upcoming season—all 32 variations of them.

The over-the-top, mix-and-match approach—there are four different colours of Terps jerseys, four different colours of pants, and two different colours of helmets—is all about marketing buzz and drew immediate comparisons to Nike’s efforts to use football players at the University of Oregon (Nike founder and chair Phil Knight is an alumni) as human billboards. “The sheer number of articles that have appeared last week about the Under Armour jerseys shows that it’s already been a successful marketing campaign,” says Matt Powell, an analyst at Sports­ONESource, which tracks sportswear sales in the United States.

It’s not the first time that Plank has challenged industry giant Nike on its own turf. On the eve of Under Armour’s entry into the Nike-dominated $2.5-billion U.S. basketball shoe market last year, Plank boasted that it was only a matter of time before he owned the category. “I’m 38,” he told Bloomberg news. “I’ve got a long time [to get there].” As for Nike, he said, “those guys are old.”

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After the success of an unauthorized commercial sign outside Lassiter High School in east Cobb, the school system has rewritten its rules to allow advertising at schools across the county.

Lassiter has a computerized panel, erected years ago, that can display the latest information about upcoming plays, games and other events. That technology isn’t the innovation, though. What’s different is the old-tech space below the electronic display: Companies can hang a shingle with their name there.

All they have to do is pay.

So far, the venture has netted thousands of dollars for Lassiter High, with the money paying for new turf for an athletic field.

Educators elsewhere haven’t caught up to the concept that “there’s value to the eyeballs” of those who drive by a school, said Chris Burns, an advertising entrepreneur at the center of the Cobb effort. Although schools have exploited advertising on sports fields and courts for decades, they reach only a small audience of parents and students. The Cobb concept seeks a wider target.

“The school is an asset,” Burns said. “Advertise to the people who drive by rather than to students.”

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It’s brash, bright and one of the first things fans will see at McMahon Stadium when the Edmonton Eskimos face the Calgary Stampeders in the Labour Day Classic on Monday.

The Eskimos have taken out a smack-talking billboard on the back of the McMahon Stadium sign.

In the ad, an Eskimos fan in a Ricky Ray jersey is riding a Calgary fan in a red wig and a red Stampeders jersey like a horse. The Eskimos fan is leading the charge forward, with a blow horn extended into the distance.

“EE-HAWWW! See you Monday Stamps fans,” the billboard says.

It also has a fine print that declares no Stampeders fans were harmed in the making of the billboard.

While there’s no harm intended with the ad, Eskimos vice-president of marketing and brand management Duane Vienneau said that the aim of the project was to stir up emotion in fans for the Battle of Alberta.

“At the end of the day, in sport in general, it’s all about emotion,” he said. “It’s all about emotion on the field and off the field. The fans, that’s why they love sport is because of the emotion of the whole thing, and I think we stirred up emotion.”

Vienneau spent a part of his day on Wednesday talking with Calgary media about the well-placed ad, which is a continuation of the ads that the Saskatchewan Roughriders have taken out in Edmonton over the years. The Eskimos’ retaliatory ad in Regina last year got Vienneau thinking about his team’s long-standing provincial rivalry.