This week’s post was inspired in part by David Beckham’s quote last week and also from a post a few weeks ago regarding the business of sports (”this is a business…”).

Last week, David Beckham commented that he has never played soccer for the money. Specifically, he said “People say that’s easy for you to say because you’ve got the money. To be honest…the game is important to me. I’d play for free.” Keep in mind the soccer superstar signed a $250 million contract with Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy last summer.

Around the time of the signing, President and CEO…

I know we typically feature predominately sports business and marketing related stories on our blog, but at the request of many teachers, we will try to integrate more entertainment business and marketing news into our posts.  Here is one such example…

Starbucks announced last week that they partnered with Apple in a joint promotional effort.  Starbucks purchased 50 million downloads from the iTunes store and will be giving away free song downloads every day through early November.  The downloads will be available on a first come, first served basis in stores throughout the country (click here to view the complete…

Hello and welcome back to school…we look forward to another exciting year of sports and entertainment business/marketing education in the classroom! 

Jim Delaney, Big Ten Commissioner, appeared on an interview with ESPN radio this afternoon.  It was an interesting discussion, certainly one that relates to your business, marketing or sports marketing class.  We all know that sports business in today’s competitive marketplace is all about the almighty dollar.  The business and marketing principles that support that infrastructure is reflected in the core content of our curriculum.  One great advantage teachers today have is access to media outlets all over the country.  As such,…

Amid swirling accusations of animal cruelty and an indictment on dog fighting charges, Atlanta Falcons superstar quarterback Michael Vick’s endorsement potential is dropping faster than Enron’s stock price in 2001.  Any sports marketing executive can tell you that Vick’s existing sponsors are in for a rough ride as the controversy continues to escalate while Vick’s name remains under scrutiny in the public eye. 

I was in Albuquerque last month and read an interesting article in the Albuquerque Journal.  The headline read ‘Lobos Head to Bahamas Minus J.R.’, a reference to new University of New Mexico men’s basketball head coach Steve Alford’s decision to travel without one of their top players because he is behind in his school work.  I had forgotten that UNM had recently tabbed Alford as coach, news that made waves in the world of collegiate men’s basketball.  After reading the article, I took a moment to analyze the situation and realized that UNM and Alford were charting the perfect course for establishing the…

By now, most of our members are either working through the unit on careers in sports and entertainment or have already completed it.  (Some of you are lucky enough to be enjoying your summer already!)  With that in mind, an article in this week’s Charlotte Business Journal caught my attention.

Here’s the intro:

“The voice of the Charlotte Bobcats won’t be returning, one of at least six staffers dismissed this week as the team continues to shuffle employees under the new management team brought in last year.

Matt Devlin, the Bobcats’ play-by-play announcer since the team’s inception, was told this week the team wanted…

An interesting (and slightly comedic) story in the news last week was printed on Britain’s The Observer Review Website (The Guardian) regarding a certain director and a certain American airport.

Certain phrases seem like they would be common sense to avoid in an airport, especially in today’s age of intense security.  For example, I would imagine walking into an airport and saying “I’m here to shoot a pilot” might get one in a little trouble.  Hollywood director Mike Figgis unfortunately had to learn that lesson the hard way. 

According to The Guardian, Figgis, (director of the Nicolas Cage hit, “Leaving Las Vegas”) was reportedly…

Although beating the odds and securing the number one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft (they had a 5% chance of winning) was certainly a reversal of fortunes for the downtrodden Blazers franchise, I really believe the real winners of the NBA Draft lottery are the Seattle Sonics.  The Sonics ended up with the second overall pick.

Although I was pulling for my former employer (Portland Trail Blazers), I firmly believe the Seattle Sonics coming up with the second pick will make a bigger impact on their franchise…and that is saying a lot.  I spoke with several Blazers employees right after the…

Last weekend, I read an absolutely stunning statistic in the weekend edition of the USA Today.  In a USA Today/Gallup poll, only 8% of the nearly 500 fans interviewed felt Bonds deserved the title of greatest home run hitter of all-time.  On the contrary, nearly 75% of his peers (current Major Leaguers) thought he deserved to be recognized as the greatest slugger ever.

If timing is any indication of corporate luck, perhaps now would be a good time to invest in Oracle stock.  In just their second season as proud owners of the naming rights to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors home building (the former Oakland arena), the company has received an awful lot of valuable exposure throughout this year’s NBA playoffs.