Sports that Tweet

The hottest new Web 2.0 site isn’t really that new at all. Twitter—the subject of recent adulation from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times and more—started as former Blogger creator Jack Dorsey’s side project in March 2006. Now this stripped-down, not-for-profit social networking site has an avid group of followers, estimated at around 7 million. Not so much compared with Facebook’s 132 million unique users, or Myspace’s 117 million users, but a rapidly-growing vanguard of early adopters that Web 2.0-savvy sports properties shouldn’t overlook.

So far, an impressive collection of sports apparel manufacturers, teams, sports media, and athletes have staked out virtual territories on Twitter. The NFL has 600 followers (and no posts), while ESPN has 36,000 followers and Lance Armstrong has 150,000 followers.

Among sports video games, EA Sports has some of the best content. About two dozen employees, developers, producers, and community managers actively tweet, including Will Kinsler (Raczilla), who has 1,300 eyes reading his Madden and NCAA series posts. Sports game publishers Activision, 2K Sports, SEGA, and Sony Computer Entertainment also have Twitter accounts.

At minimum, a Twitter presence can help communicate with customers and fans. At best, Twitter can build a brand by engaging a pre-segmented market of tech-hungry loyalists, sharing insights into upcoming products, pointing fans to a Web site or other forum, and relating with consumers in a non-corporate setting.

The white hot risk with Twitter seems clear, though. Even at 7 or 8 million unique users, Twitter has a lot of catching up to do before it can compete with its larger Web 2.0 kin, let alone traditional media giants. But, like Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams, many companies are betting that if they build it, fans will come.

The Top-Paid US athletes

Sports Illustrated released its annual listing of top-paid athletes today. For some, the findings are no surprise. For example, Tiger Woods holds on to the top spot, raking in more money than Phil Mickelson, LeBron James, and Floyd Mayweather Jr (ranked second, third, and fourth) combined. Also, NBA players made up 26 of the top earners (counting Amaré Stoudemire who was mistakenly listed as a baseball player).

However, the data leads to some interesting findings. Here are three observations:

The difference between low salary and high salary was small ($24.7 million, with a mean average of about $16.1 million and a standard deviation of $5.1 million) compared to the differences between endorsements (with a range of $104.9 million, a mean average of about $9 million and a standard deviation of $16.8 million). So while these top athletes’ salaries are relatively uniform, the amount of endorsement money they get is not.

This is illustrated more clearly in the following table.

The range in players’ endorsement money isn’t that surprising. What is more interesting is the relationship between race and endorsement. In a 1996 New York Times article David Falk, Michael Jordan’s agent, said “Very few companies call for athletes, and even fewer call for black athletes.” To see if that still held true, I divided the top 50 earners into two categories: Caucasian in appearance or not Caucasian (the second category includes Hispanic athletes like Alex Rodriguez). What I found was good news for those of us who hope for racial equality in sports: the mean salary for the Caucasian group was smaller than that of the non-Caucasian group. ($8.7 million vs $9.2 million). Moreover, when the top-sponsored athlete was removed from each category (Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson) the sponsorship dollars still favored the non-Caucasian group ($5.9 million vs $6.1 million).

The above numbers seem to show that the business of sports has lost some of its racial baggage, since endorsements and salaries are higher for non-Caucasian athletes. But that’s not the whole story. If we start with the premise that salaries are a good indication of a player’s worth to a team, at least within his league (and I use “his” because a woman hasn’t yet broken the top 50 mark for earnings), then it should follow that the more talented athletes should rake in the greater share of endorsement dollars. But a closer look at the numbers shows that Caucasian and light-skinned athletes make more sponsorship money as a ratio of their salaries than non-Caucasians. Just look at the chart.

The ratio here is endorsements/salary, so a higher ratio indicates a greater amount of endorsement money over salary money. What we see is that, on average, a greater percentage of the Caucasian group’s total earnings come from endorsements. For an example of this, take two NBA players: Jason Kidd (white) and Jermaine O'Neal (black). Both make an identical salary, yet Kidd pulls in exactly twice as much money in endorsements.

Fifty data points is still a relatively small sample size, and the salary indicators point to an equal playing field, but these numbers should be a reminder to sponsors who use athletes in their marketing that the disparities that David Falk bemoaned may not have disappeared.

Negotiation Tips from a Sports Agent

Last week I sat down with a sports agent who represents top-level players from the NFL, NBA and MLB. In the midst of our conversation, he shared some outstanding tips on how to score big for a client, while also maintaining the personal relationships with leagues and owners that buttress his reputation.

1) Be prepared. “I happen to be in a business where you can persuade people. To do it right, we out-prepare anyone.”

2) Control as many aspects of the negotiation as you can. “Sometimes it’s just me, one-on-one at dinner. Sometimes I come with multiple people, guns blazing. You have to know who you’re dealing with and leverage the situation to your advantage.”

3) Know the other side’s priorities. “Lots of times, it’s cash. If you can give a little in one area, you can almost always gain a lot in another.”

4) Use time zones to your advantage. “If we’re on the West Coast talking to guys out East, we start late, order a pizza at 7 p.m., and beat the stamina out of ‘em. On the East Coast calling West, it’s all about the early morning negotiations.”

5) Know your opponent. “For a new negotiator, I’ll get them comfortable, bring them into my office, have my dog nuzzle up.”

6) Make them feel good in the end. “Let the other side win on the last point. You can kill ‘em in the war, let ‘em win the last battle.”

YouTube Sports Channels

Consumers of sports programming are seeking out online video for a number of reasons. Whether they’re looking for Web gems, using videos to find a community, or sharing tastes, these consumers are more likely to visit YouTube than any other online video-sharing site, as shown by the graph below. (YouTube accounts for more than 96% of all videos shown by Google.)

Among sports properties, there is no clear winner in the battle for online video supremacy. Last month, I wrote about Nike and adidas in the online video world, but these aren’t the major sports properties on YouTube. On the contrary, while the Nike Soccer channel boasts 286,000 views and adidas “It Takes 5ive” channel can claim 413,000 views, the NBA channel on YouTube leads the pack with 2.7 million views.

I’ve created a chart with a sampling of sports properties and their respective rankings on YouTube. Some sports properties have no official presence on YouTube, such as Major League Baseball and NASCAR, while some (like the NFL) have made a disappointing effort.

A YouTube channel is a centralized location where other users can see a user’s videos, favorites, bulletins, comments, subscribers and video log. In the case of these sports properties, a YouTube channel is similar to a Web site or a social networking profile page. The sports properties use these landing pages to direct viewers back to their official homepages (“Visit NBA.com for over 15,000 videos”) and to help promote a campaign (“Help decide which NFL player story should be made into a Super Bowl commercial”).

And while the skeptic might point out that none of the 2008 Super Bowl ads pointed to their social media presences on YouTube, the number of Americans viewing online video is encouraging (research indicates that 78.5 million viewers watched 3.25 billion videos on YouTube.com in January). In a market where grabbing a consumer’s attention seems ever more difficult, these numbers are worth a second look.

Facebook Applications

Sports marketers use the popular networking site, Facebook, to promote events, market leagues, advertise media outlets, and generate excitement about sports properties. And while not all sports entities have created a presence on Facebook, those that have can claim real results for a minimal investment.

CBSSports.com has recently created the Official Tournament Brackets application. Roughly 500,000 users have uploaded this app, and most days nearly 5,000 of those users open the application to play around with it. This particular application lets users create a NCAA basketball tournament bracket, register themselves as fans of particular teams, and compare brackets against friends and other users for a chance to win $10,000.

Sports Illustrated has created a more modest application with roughly 10% as many users as the CBS sports app, which allows the user to choose favorite teams from the “Big Four” leagues plus NCAA basketball and football. It then spits out customized SI headlines for those teams.

A third, less-known company, Citizen Sports Network, has created dozens (possibly hundreds) of Facebook applications targeted uniquely to fans. Each page is a forum for fans of a team to congregate, discuss, and cheer with fellow supporters. Citizen Sports Network has highly-downloaded and viewed applications, with names like “Red Sox Nation” and “England Football.”

Many sports properties, such as Nike, haven’t necessarily created their own Facebook applications, yet still maintain a Facebook presence. A search for Nike applications, for example, yields a “Nike+ Running Monitor” app that lets users share Nike+ running progress with friends, and a few other applications designed independently from the company. Searches for “adidas” and “nfl” yield similar results.

Other sports properties have reserved the use of their name in the same way that someone might buy a domain name for future use. The difference with Facebook is that application names are free and must be at least 7 characters (thus “nike” would be unacceptable, but “niketennis” would work). Callaway Golf has reserved their name without actually creating an application, as have EA Sports and adidas. However, some companies have clearly failed to reserve the use of their names, as “IMGWorld” and “Daktronics” are still available for anyone to snatch up.

I reserved the use of some excellent application names that might someday have value just as domain names in the early 21st century came to be valuable. Perhaps years from now “icehockey,” “softball,” and “wrestling” will all be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And even if these names aren’t worth anything, it seems prudent for any corporation to grab up their own name. I just registered “NorthFace” and it didn’t cost me a penny.

Accepted to the UO Sports Marketing MBA program

Today I was accepted to the University of Oregon Warsaw Sports Marketing Center’s MBA program, class of 2010. The Sports Marketing program at the U of O places graduates in sports leagues, sports franchises, sports media, and sports products companies. Nike hires more UO MBA graduates than any other company, and more UO MBAs intern at Nike than at any other company. Other top firms to hire UO Sports Marketing MBA graduates include adidas North America, the NBA, the WNBA, the NFL, Visa, Octagon, Wieden + Kennedy, Columbia Sportswear, and many more.

Warsaw Guest Speakers

The sports marketing program at the University of Oregon had a strong group of guest speakers this winter. Below is a list of the industry professionals who recently shared their insights with students. Source: Lundquist College of Business biannual magazine, Business. (Volume 5, Number 11, Winter 2008)

Rick Alessandri, ESPN

Grant Armbruster, Columbia Sportswear Company

Marc Badain, Oakland Raiders

David Baker, Arena Football League

Scott Bedbury, Brandstream

Jeff Benjamin, Printroom.com

Malcolm Bordelon, San Jose Sharks

Renee Brown, WNBA

Carter Carnegie, National Thoroughbred Racing Association

Arjun Chowdri, Genesco, Inc

Michelle Collins, IMG

Ron Coverson, Stanford Athletics

Bob Cramer, Genesco, Inc

Jarrod Dillon, Oakland Raiders

Andy Dolich, Memphis Grizzlies

Kelly Dredge, IMG

Jarrett Dube, ESPN Andrew Fink, NFL

Evan Frankel, NASCAR, Inc.

Tom Fritz, Marmot Mountain, LLC

Mary Pat Gillin, NBA

David Haney, Arena Football League

Chris Heck, NBA

Stephanie Heidrich, Columbia Sportswear Company

Mike Herst, Electronic Arts, Inc.

Calen Higgins, Columbia Sportswear Company

Heather Higgins, National Thoroughbred Racing Association

Gregory C. Houser, Marmot Mountain, LLC

Stu Jackson, NBA

Akash Jain, NBA

Brian Jennings, NHL

Ilana Kloss, World Team Tennis

Katie Lacey, ESPN

Amy Lasky, National Thoroughbred Racing Association

Michael Leming, Nike, Inc.

Dana Lent, NASCAR, Inc.

Hunter Lochmann, New York Knicks

Mike Lopono, Arena Football League

Marc, Lowitz, Arena Football League

Julie Malmberg, Nike, Inc.

Mark Martin, Marmot Mountain, LLC

Donovan Mattole, Nautilus, Inc.

Chris McCloskey, Arena Football League

Tom McDonald, San Francisco Giants

David Murrell, Columbia Sportswear Company

Darrin Nelson, Stanford Athletics

Kim Nelson, Nike, Inc.

Jim Noel, ESPN

Jolynn Ovington, nau inc.

Steve Patterson, Portland Trailblazers

Andi Poch, WNBA

Jeff Price, Sports Illustrated

Craig Purcell, Oakland Raiders

Dan Reed, NBA

Andrew Rentmeester, Oakland Raiders

Michael Rooney, ESPN

Peter Rotondo, Jr., National Thoroughbred Racing Association

Peter Rotondo, Sr., National Thoroughbred Racing Association

Robert Rowell, Golden State Warriors

Jennifer Rowland, Visa International

Norris Scott, NASCAR, Inc.

Adam Silver, NBA

David Stern, NBA

Jimmy Su, NBA

Aaron Taylor, ESPN Bob Thompson, Fox Sports

Gary Treagen, Electronic Arts Inc.

Donna Tripiano, IMG

Jeff Tucker, San Francisco Giants

Jim Tucker, NASCAR, Inc.

Steve Tseng, IMG

Heidi Ueberroth, NBA

Matthieu Van Veen, NBA

Ted Van Zelst, NASCAR, Inc.

Tyler Vaught, Electronic Arts Inc.

Pamela White, National Thoroughbred Racing Association