Another Winter Olympics has come and gone, generating a lot of news worthy of discussion along the way.  Our interest, as always, is focused on a sports business perspective and the lessons the Games provide that can be shared in the classroom. 

While there are a number of highlights from the Games worth recapping, we will focus specifically on those lessons that will translate to topic areas you are likely covering in class. 

Broadcast rights

NBC paid a record $2.2 billion for U.S. broadcast rights to the Beijing and Vancouver Olympic Games.  Prior to the Vancouver Games, NBC publicly suggested they would lose $250…

It is that time of year again…Super Bowl season!  For educators who teach business and marketing, this is a time of year where you can have a lot of fun in the classroom, all while conveying some powerful messages that support valuable business/marketing lessons.  After all, what better way to validate all your time teaching students about advertising than to point out that companies like Pepsi, CareerBuilder.com, Audi and Bridgestone just invested $3 million each for a 30 second spot during this year’s big game.

Among the topic areas that are relevant in the classroom (many relating specifically to our non-traditional…

There has been an awful lot of banter in the sports talk world of shifting the post-season model in college football from a series of bowl games (all 34 of them) to some type of playoff format.  Personally, I can see the arguments for both scenarios, but I think we all know a major factor in any decision that will be made will relate to dollars.

As many of you will inevitably be dissecting this argument in class, I thought I’d try to provide some resources to help fuel the discussion.  With that, I present to you in this week’s blog…

Watching the telecast of Major League Baseball’s National League Championship Series in which the Philadelphia Phillies clinched a World Series birth offered a little inspiration for this latest blog post.  Late in the fifth inning, Phillies’ outfielder Shane Victorino went crashing into the outfield wall to chase down a long fly ball.  As he crashed into the wall, he bounced into an outfield sign advertising the electronics store Best Buy.

Shortly after the play, the announcer who was calling the game made a comment about the play, making a not-so-subtle reference to the company’s advertisement on the outfield fence.  The reference was to “how…

Like so many American football fans around the country, I was excited last night when the college football season officially kicked off.  I settled in to watch the Oregon State Beavers take on the Stanford Cardinal on ESPN2 in HD on my DVR late last night.  Inevitably, I ended up taking something from the game that could translate to a discussion topic for the classroom. 

Apparently Stanford, whose football team has won just two home games in the last two years, has extended an offer to fans that can hardly be refused.  If Stanford fans purchase a season ticket package and…

When summer rolls around I usually take a brief reprieve from adding any posts to the post but the Beijing Games are nearly upon us and I thought I’d be remiss not to add some quick commentary.  Traditionally, this blog has been dedicated to educators around the country.  Now that we’ve developed an avid readership from a myriad of professional backgrounds, I suppose we should step up our efforts to contribute more regularly…

So, without further delay, here are a few items in the news as it relates to the Olympic Games that have caught my attention over the past few weeks.

Sponsorship

Top sponsors…

Okay, okay.  I admit it.  I am an absolute sucker for statistics and numbers.  But, as they say in American business, knowledge is power…and power is money.  If those worn out cliches are tried AND true, the NCAA is likely rolling in the dough right about now. 

I have spent the last two weeks or so absorbing every possible commentary relating to the business of March Madness.  There have been numerous reports estimating the number of viewers watching the tourney, the cost to American businesses and economic impact in various markets.  I’ve seen numbers identifying the amount of time consumers devote to…

Ahhhh, yes.  It is that time of the year again.  You know, the time of the year when corporate America flings millions of dollars in the direction of the NFL and its broadcast affiliates.  The time of the year when the creative minds of the ad agencies are truly put to the test.  The time of the year where new products are introduced, new brand campaigns launched and new companies attempt to establish a presence on the radar of consumer America.

This is also the time of the year where Monday morning quarterbacks prosper, placing each and every Super Bowl ad…

A lot has been made in sports and entertainment circles about ratings of late.  Why?  Well, a number of factors have contributed, capped off by a few historic events that managed to capture the nation’s attention over the holidays.

Before delving into specifics, let us first address the concept of ratings.  Many automatically associate the term “tv ratings” with Nielsen.  This is understandable given Nielsen Media Research’s evolution as an American brand name, much like kleenex, band-aid, q-tip or scotch tape.  Nielsen has established its service as the industry expert when measuring the number of people watching television shows and makes its data available…

I’ve noticed a disconcerting trend lately as I scan sports and entertainment business related news. As many of you know, particularly our members, I spend a lot of time each week dissecting the various news stories in search of articles to share that relate to our curriculum. Unfortunately, the stories that have dominated recent headlines seem more apt to support discussions about ethics and the impact of publicity on sports and entertainment organizations than other fundamental business and marketing practices. Two nationally syndicated sports radio programs even commented that breaches in ethical conduct within the industry are threatening the very…