DON’T LET ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS SEVER THE BOND BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM

Recession forces fans to find new ways to keep in touch with their favorite athlete

Initially when reading about the economic downfall, the term “recession proof” was synonymous with professional sports. Now the headlines are reading that the pro leagues will indeed be affected by the recession. Brandweek recently reported that Ad sales were down 15 percent. The NFL has said that they are lowering the cost of playoff tickets this year by 10 percent. According to the SportsBusiness Journal, the Cowboys, recently looked to borrow $350 million during the worst credit environment in history, this after a $126 million loan that they acquired last year.

The NFL, MLB, and NBA are not going to see any real drastic changes- they are still doing really well. Sports players make some of the largest salaries in the country-without a doubt. (The average MLB player’s salary was $3 million in 2007.) But from the consumer end, it is nice to see that something is being done to ease the blow of soaring ticket prices. To pawn a phrase from Sarah Palin, “The Joe Six Packs” are having a hard time keeping up with their favorite teams.

Us regular Joes welcome the big whigs down to our level. League executives are beginning to understand that times are tough, and keeping their products affordable is going to help out everyone. They are learning that if they don’t become flexible during this hardship they could potentially risk severing bonds between their fans and teams. Ending relationships that have taken years to build.

While we are waiting on all of the team execs to jump on the bandwagon, here is what I suggest… take advantage of social media. There is a whole world of interactivity at your fingertips. Relationships are waiting to be made and strengthened. Not just for fans like you and me, but for everyone.

Have you heard? Shaq is on twitter? The big Aristotle is out there building relationships that will long surpass that of his tenure with the Suns. This is the perfect time to take advantage of  what is an opportunity to interact with your team, favorite athlete, or fellow fans without any direct involvement of an organization. Just you and whomever you choose to communicate with. What an awesome opportunity! Share information, opinions, statistics all in a matter of seconds- and it is free. Chances are someone will talk back, which would be way sweeter than an autograph. If you are like one lucky Shaq fan, you could even land a phone call call from your favorite athlete.

Shaq greets Pheonix Suns fans

Tiger’s Family to Replace Buick

After Nine Years Woods and Buick Part Ways

Tiger Woods has won 14 championships under the sponsorship of Buick in the last nine years, and still had one year left on his contract. It was announced today that the partnership would be parting ways a year early.

With a second child on the way, Tiger recently acknowledged that he wanted more time for his family. General Motors Corporation was looking for ways to cut costs during the economic downturn, so this just made sense. Woods expects to spend less time marketing his new endorser than he did for Buick and more time with his wife and family. No one expected anything less of the world class athlete, glad to hear that he can let go of 7 million dollars for his loved ones.

According to the Associate Press, Larry Peck, golf marketing manager for Buick said, “Timing is everything, we’ve had such a great partnership with Tiger. It’s hard for us to walk away from that. But this frees up time for him. And it sure frees up a lot of money for us.”  (In a recent ESPN article.)  Sure it frees up a mere $7 million a year. Which is petty cash for the automobile manufacturing giant that is pursuing about $12 BILLION in U.S. aid to survive.

Woods’ agent Steinberg said he would “expect there to be some exposure on the bag” when Woods next plays.  Don’t get me wrong, I think Tiger will survive without the sponsorship dollars… but just for fun, what are some possibilities of future endorsers? Seems like any automobile manufacturer would like to step into the shoes of Buick. He did wonders for the company over the past 9 years, regardless of their decline in sales. They wanted to use Woods as a tool to get younger buyers of the car, and that he did.

The superstar athlete is of Asian decent so maybe an Asian automaker would be a profitable fit.  Regardless of what brand gets the infamous spot on Tiger’s golf bag, rest assured it will be for less money.

I am just happy to see him putting his family first.

Shaq on Twitter Becomes Viral

Sports Media Challenge’s (SMC) proprietary search engine, Buzz Manager™, discovered that Shaquille O’Neal had an account on a social network called Twitter. SMC contacted Shaq to verify that this was really him. As it turned out, the Twitter name “ShaquilleONeal” wasn’t actually Shaq. Sports Media Challenge encouraged him to counter the impersonator by creating his own Twitter account under the name “The_Real_Shaq.” After creating this account, SMC contacted major mainstream media outlets and social media websites to alert influential content providers to the situation. There were dramatic changes within 24 hours. It is safe to say that this story has become viral in nature.

Something as simple as creating a profile on a social network has extended the reach of Shaq’s brand and helped to turn casual fans into strong brand advocates. This type of interactivity and openness ties fans to Shaq on a mass scale in a way that can’t be matched using any other method.

Where the story has spread:

The story was discussed in the New York Times, as well as many of the most influential blogs and blogs networks on the internet:

Deadspin: The most influential sports blog on the web (as ranked by SMC’s Sports Blog Index). It has over 350,000 visitors to the site per day.

 SportsbyBrooks: The second most influential sports blog on the web, with well over 100,000 visitors per day.

The Big Lead: The third most influential sports blog on the web, with over 80,000 visitors per day.

Ballhype: Arguably the most influential network for sports blogger on the web. The story about Shaq has remained the top, “most hyped” and most discussed story since being posted 24 hours ago.

Yardbarker: Also one of the largest and most influential networks for sports bloggers. Many websites actually linked back to an original post on Yardbarker as their source.

Other influential sites discussing the Shaq Twitter feed include: Yahoo Sports Blog, Fan Nation (a property of Sports Illustrated), Slam Magazine, Dime Magazine, Sportaphile, Sport Crackle Pop, Give me the Rock, Bright Side of the Sun (most influential Phoenix Suns blog) and many more.