Posts Tagged ‘nfl’

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A look at the “Super Bowl effect”

February 18th, 2010

An interesting post from Twitter blogs about the effect showing the effect the Super Bowl had on Twitter traffic.  Twitter is a great outlet for sports fans to share their own special comments.  A great job by NFL in their “Tag it #sb44″ promoting a specific hashtag for all social media platforms.  They got a great response from NFL fans, look at the results from fans at the Tag the Super Bowl site.

I guess my question was answered?

@seancallanan: Can sports pick hashtags? Won’t #superbowl get a good run? RT @NFLprguy: We will be using #sb44 for all things Super Bowl-related. #sb44 4:57 PM Feb 1st from TweetDeck

Graph credit – Twitter Blog

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Posted in Social Media

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Working with League brands

February 8th, 2010

One of the biggest challenges many teams face is differentiating themselves whilst adhering league brand guidelines.  It was a common theme with the teams I met with on #sportsgeektrip.

Many leagues across the globe follow a similar digital model.  League web sites are developed and team web sites are created under the league umbrella.

MLB.com, NBA.com,  NHL.com, AFL.com.au are some examples of these Leagues that follow this “Umbrella model”.
(*edit thanks for comment: Essendon stand alone as an exception running independently of the AFL very successfully with EssendonFC.com.au)

If you take a look at team websites e.g. LA Dodgers Vs New York Yankees or Collingwood Vs Hawthorn you’ll see some team customization but they are locked into a League framework.  The NBA follows a similar model but teams are using custom landing pages (or splash pages like the Mavs do) to offer fans special deals.

Other leagues like the NFL.com & PremierLeague.com have decoupled the League’s web deal from the teams.

What’s better?

The “Umbrella model” makes administration of League branding much easier and sometimes can lead to a better sponsorship deal as it is league-wide.  However, it can be restrictive both creatively and financially to the teams who want to push the Web 2.0 envelope.  From a technical prospective a league wide CMS (content management system) does reduce the need for in-house web staff for teams but many people who use these systems find them too restrictive.  Leagues that abandon the “Umbrella model” face the problem of a potentially creating a tech gap between the have and have-nots.  Some teams like those run by MSG (Knicks, Rangers, Liberty) help promote their teams outside the standard team’s sites through the stadium (TheGarden.com), then again with so many sports properties MSG is a unique business.

What are your thoughts?

  • Does the ability for league’s to secure deals outweigh a team’s desire to innovate?
  • Would teams do a better job if they could go it alone?
  • Would small-market teams struggle maintaining own website?

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Posted in Sports Marketing, Web

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Cowboys Stadium… WOW!

January 16th, 2010

Yesterday I toured Cowboys Stadium, I know they say things are big in Texas but that was ridiculous.

The screen alone cost $40M weighs as much as a full Airbus.  The roof sagged 5 inches when it was first attached.

I was lucky enough to take the tour while the Cowboys were preparing for their playoff encounter against Brett Favre’s Minnesota Vikings.  To simulate the the noise expected by Vikings fans they pumped crowd noise throughout the stadium.  While standing in the end zone I recorded this, have a listen.

Crowd Noise During Cowboys Practice

Unfortunately no video was allowed but check out the Cowboys Stadium photo gallery for some great shots.

I wouldn’t be Sports Geek if I wasn’t impressed with the full-on DataCenter that is the heart of the stadium.  Standard stuff from an IT point of view but everyone seemed very impressed with the Mission-Impossible style description “6 seconds to get out if there’s a fire, as the oxygen is sucked out of the room”.

Additionally Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys spent $1.4B in conjunction with the City of Arlington on the stadium but only 90% suites have been sold so if you can help him out with the other 10% click here.

I jokingly referred to Cowboys Stadium as the “Death Star” which I think Jerry Jones would like.  Little did I know that is one of the names the locals have given it.  Tours have been extremely popular with 150,000 people touring the venue in it’s first 127 days.  It has a staff of 6,200 on game day and will host the 2010 NBA All-Star game and the 2011 Super Bowl.

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Posted in Stadiums

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