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…

From California to Maine, many high school athletic and student leadership programs are severely underfunded.  I work with athletic directors, coaches and business/marketing teachers every day who are searching for ideas for generating new revenue to support their programs.  In today’s blog post, I asked sponsorship and sports marketing expert Bob Burris, President of The Burris Group and author of How to Sell Sponsorships, Tickets & Popcorn, to offer a few quick tips on the subject.  Hope this helps to provide some direction as you pursue alternative means for generating revenue at your school.

Bob, in addition to being an incredibly…

In this installment of the new “guest blog” format, we are excited to feature one of my favorite people, Mr. Howard “H” White.   “H” is a seasoned industry vet with an amazing track record of success at Nike, Inc. and Jordan Brand.  In addition to all his accomplishments in business and in life, “H” has mentored and inspired many people over the years (myself included).  To hear more of his stories (and he has a lot of them), I highly recommend picking up a copy of his book, “Believe to Achieve:  See the Invisible, Do the Impossible”. Click here to read…

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…

He’s done it.  The man with a target on his back and a chip on his shoulder has won an Olympic record eight gold medals…but my guess is that you already know that.  Let’s face it.  You can’t turn on the TV without seeing some montage commemorating the achievements of Michael Phelps in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.  In an Olympics where the NBA’s elite re-claimed the basketball throne and a Jamaican sprinter bolted into the record books, Phelps remains the story of these Games.  So what now?  Well, I think we can all say with a certain amount…

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…

All-Star games.  What are they?  What do they mean?  Do fans care about these events that pit the best of the best in each respective sport against one another?  By taking a closer look at the marketing and hype that surrounds the events, I think one could draw the conclusion that fans do indeed care.  The ratings, although in some cases quite modest, would support that notion:  Major League Baseball’s 2007 All-Star Game drew a 16.1 rating, the NFL’s Pro-Bowl a 10.7 and the NBA All-Star a 4.5.  Broadcastingcable.com reported that “TNT’s All-Star Saturday — featuring the Orlando Magic’s Howard strapping on…