JANUARY 13-19, 2020 VOLUME 22 ISSUE 38 • $7.95
Behind the Bright Lights Tag along with the NFL’s secret shoppers as they grade every aspect of the fan experience at a prime-time showdown. PAGE 12 Running up the score: Sports dominates top 100 telecasts.
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Labor negotiations will shape the business of soccer in the U.S.
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Sue Campbell is a tireless advocate for women’s soccer in U.K.
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Future Forward: What it will take to win over the next generation.
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SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
STATE OF PLAY
Star Of The Show With Stephen (left) and Jerry Jones flanking him on the dais, the Dallas Cowboys introduced Mike McCarthy as their new coach at the Star in Frisco, Texas, last week. The longtime Green Bay Packers coach has a pedigree as a Super Bowl champion, but his hiring came amid increased concern around the sport about the lack of minority head coaches, as none of the four such openings that had been filled to date went to African Americans.
“The Argos suck. Can I say that? ” MONEY TALKS
— New CFL Montreal Alouettes co-owner GARY STERN, on his reasoning for not buying into the Toronto Argonauts
2.3
Getty Images (2); @stlouisblues Instagram
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
jan. 15 Netflix debuts a new documentary, “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.”
RATINGS GAME
FASHION SENSE
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The rulebook released by the XFL, which begins play next month, will include a 1- to 3-point system for scoring after touchdowns as well as a running clock.
THE METER NOT TRYING NEW THINGS
MILLION Viewers for Fox’s telecast of Xavier’s win over St. John’s on Jan. 5 — which aired right after the SaintsVikings NFC wild-card game — making it the most-watched college basketball broadcast ever on the network.
TRYING NEW THINGS
The NHL unveiled the jerseys to be worn in the Jan. 25 All-Star Game in St. Louis, receiving mixed reviews on social media.
The NBA is likely to table its plans to re-seed the last four teams standing in the playoffs, as travel concerns would outweigh the desire to have the two best teams meet in the Finals.
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FORUM News, notes and plans from SBJ’s home office
T
ABRAHAM MADKOUR PUBLISHER AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR
THIS WEEK SUPER BOWL 9 FULL-BODIED ACTIVATION Anheuser-Busch InBev showcasing several brands with Super Bowl strategy. By Terry Lefton
MARKETING 15 THE LEFTON REPORT On-field success leads to sponsorship, media and hospitality sales wins for NFL playoff teams. By Terry Lefton
MEDIA 16 TECHNOLOGY COMPANY At 25th anniversary, Golf Channel’s business model moves beyond traditional television. By John Ourand
LABOR 17 TOP 10 PREDICTION Leigh Steinberg: Tua Tagavailoa will be ready for the NFL draft. By Liz Mullen
OPINION
HIS IS THE FINAL WEEK to submit nominations for the 2020 Sports Business Awards. A couple of key elements to please keep in mind: As you prepare to submit your entries, please make sure you carefully review all the criteria and answer the questions as specifically as you can. There are two parts to this request that can significantly enhance or hurt your submission: One, please do your best to answer when we ask about business results, impact and comprehensive data on ROO or ROI and corresponding sales. This information is strictly off-the-record, and a failure to provide such insight could greatly affect both internal and external review of your submission. Over the years, I’ve sat in a number of meetings where judges have cited the blatant avoidance of answering the actual questions and the lack of specific details in an otherwise impressive submission as a reason for it being tabled or rejected. Here is a bit on the process: After all entries are received, an internal group of SBJ judges will review the entries and put forth nominations in the 17 categories, which will be announced on March 16. Then a group of outside judges will deliberate in early May and winners will be announced at our gala event on Wednesday, May 20, in New York. It’s always one of the biggest nights in sports business, so plan to be there. Do you have the time and energy to meet the rigors of being a judge for the awards? If so, please let me know — we’re always looking for smart, thoughtful executives who love to discuss and debate around some interesting categories in sports business. Also at the Sports Business Awards, we present our Celebration of Service award, which honors an organization that increases social awareness and imparts positive change through the power of sports. Since 2017, SBJ has recognized three nonprofit organizations that have drastically improved the communities they serve: the Homeless World Cup, which has helped over 1 million homeless people across the world by structuring and building relationships through soccer; PeacePlayers International, which has reached over 75,000 youth with various educational, socioeconomic, and ethnic backgrounds and builds future leaders through sports; and PowerPlay NYC, which affords young girls of color the opportunity to participate in sports while also instilling health and wellness and leadership development programs. Please help us by sharing an organization that you believe is worthy of our consideration. It is one of the most important recognitions we offer all year.
WE’RE GROWING: As you may have noticed, we are embarking on a number of exciting changes here at SBJ. To that end, we are making investments in many areas, and looking to bring on more and more talent. We currently have openings for more than 10 positions across our organization — in sales, marketing, event activation and planning, digital production and in our newsroom. All of our openings are posted on our LinkedIn page as well as our website, and we encourage you to check them out and spread the word in your network. We’re growing and are looking for dynamic and smart self-starters to join us. FUTURE FORWARD: Our 2020 editorial calendar has been posted, so please download it for future planning. One of our editorial efforts — a four-part series looking at the future of sports — kicks off this week. We are constantly asked about what the future sports experience will look like and what the future of fandom and engagement will be, so we are talking to a lot of smart people who spend a lot of time studying the future in putting together a compelling package. I really enjoyed our first installment this week on the future fan and welcome your questions, thoughts and comments as we continue looking at the opportunities ahead for the sports industry.
By Shira Springer
FEEDBACK WELCOME: A final point — recently in a meeting, a longtime reader was giving me an earful of where they felt we missed the point on a story. It was a serious yet very respectful conversation. At the end, I suggested they share their points with our readers in a letter that we’d run in SBJ. They acted surprised with the offer and hadn’t thought that the opportunity existed. Well, it does. Our pages can serve as a platform for thoughtful, yet direct and pointed discussion, and we encourage all of you to reach out if you want to share a particular point of view on issues in the news.
OPINION . . . . . . . . . 34
Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
34 SPORTS FOR WOMEN National network of campuses for women’s sports would prioritize female athletes.
The entire contents of this magazine are copyrighted by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal 2020 with all rights reserved. Street & Smith’s is a registered trademark of Leaders Group Holdings LLC. Reproduction or use, without permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal (ISSN1098-5972) is published weekly, with the exception of the first week of July and the last two weeks of December, for $306 a year by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, at 120 West Morehead Street, Suite 310, Charlotte, NC 28202. In Canada $371 per year, includes GST and all other countries $471, includes a one-year subscription and expedited air delivery (GST#139794580). Periodicals postage paid at Charlotte, NC, and additional mailing offices. Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal is a publication of Leaders Group Holdings LLC. Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal is an equal opportunity employer. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal — Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 36637, Charlotte, NC 28236-6637 FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL 1-800-829-9839 For article reprints, please contact newuser@ sportsbusinessjournal.com or call customer service at 1-800-829-9839.
FACES & PLACES . . 37 CLOSING SHOT . . . 38 Cover image by Getty Images
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DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE NOMINATIONS CLOSE
JANUARY 17, 2020
• Sports Breakthrough of the Year • Best in Property Consulting, Sales and Client Services
• Best Talent Representation of the Year • Sports Sponsor of the Year
• Best in Digital and Interactive Media
• Best in Mobile Fan Experience
• Athletic Director of the Year
• Best in Sports Media
• Sports Team of the Year • Sports Facility of the Year
• Best in Corporate Consulting, Marketing and Client Services
• Best in Sports Social Media
• Sports Event of the Year
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• Sports League of the Year
• Best in Sports Technology
• Sports Executive of the Year
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upfront The shield’s dominance continues Sports accounted for 92 of the top 100 mostwatched telecasts in 2019, with NFL games taking up 78 spots alone. BY AUSTIN KARP
Super Bowl LIII had the largest viewership last year, as more than 98 million people watched on CBS as the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3.
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Games in 2019, sports rose to record prominence among the 100 most-viewed U.S. television broadcasts for the cal-
endar year. Among the most-viewed broadcasts on TV (excluding any pregame/red carpet shows and the State of the Union address), sports accounted for 92 of the top 100. That figure is up from 88 for sports in both 2018 and 2016 (Olympics years), and up from 81 in 2017. Another uptick for the NFL in 2019 contributed to an even greater presence for the shield, with 78 game windows ranking in the top 100. That is up from 63 in 2018 and 64 in 2017. The NFL accounted for 9 of the top 10 most-watched telecasts on TV — the Oscars ranked No. 9 — and 23 of the top 25. When taking into account college football, the sport had 83 of the top 100. Clemson’s win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff title game (No. 17) was the top non-NFL sports telecast in 2019, aided by ESPN’s megacast approach. Rounding out the top five non-NFL for sports: World Series Game 7 (No. 26 overall); the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl (No. 43); the men’s NCAA tournament championship game (No. 49); and NBA Finals Game 6 (No. 53). Among the sports outliers this year were the Kentucky Derby, which used its best audience since 2010 to come in at No. 78 on the chart. The U.S.’s win over the Netherlands in the FIFA Women’s World Cup final also cracked the list (No. 100). Perhaps more evident than ever was the dearth of scripted TV on the list in 2019. There were seven non-live programs in the top 100 in 2018. That shrank to just three in 2019. Looking forward, the number is likely to get even smaller, with perhaps the post-Super Bowl show the only recorded program to make the list. But live nonsports events continued to have a presence in the top 100, led by the Oscars, the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Grammys, the Golden Globes and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
WWW.SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM
AP Images
D
ESPITE THE ABSENCE of an Olympic
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
2019’S TOP 100-VIEWED TV PROGRAMS RANK/NETWORKS/DATE
comparisonby sport PERCENT OF TOP 100-VIEWED PROGRAMS
8%
1% 2% 2% 3% 5% 78%
■ Other
■ Women’s World Cup ■ Kentucky Derby ■ NBA ■ MLB ■ College basketball ■ College football ■ NFL
sport vs. non sport
VIEWERS (000S)
■ Non-Sport Related Content
RANK/NETWORKS/DATE
TELECAST
VIEWERS (000S)
1
CBS
2/3
SUPER BOWL LIII: PATRIOTS-RAMS
98,477
52 NBC
1/6
2
CBS
1/20 AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: PATRIOTS-CHIEFS
54,157
53 ABC
6/13 NBA FINALS: RAPTORS-WARRIORS: GAME 6
18,591
3
FOX
1/20 NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: RAMS-SAINTS
44,208
54 CBS
5/16 “THE BIG BANG THEORY” (SERIES FINALE)
18,535
4
FOX
1/13 NFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF: SAINTS-EAGLES
38,298
55 FOX
11/3 NFL SINGLEHEADER
18,504
5
NBC
1/6
36,000
56 ABC
6/10 NBA FINALS: RAPTORS-WARRIORS: GAME 5
18,449
6
FOX
1/12 NFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF: RAMS-COWBOYS
33,455
57 NBC
18,419
7
CBS
11/28 BILLS-COWBOYS (THANKSGIVING)
32,643
10/27 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: PACKERSCHIEFS
8
FOX
11/24 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: COWBOYSPATRIOTS
29,897
9
ABC
2/24 “THE OSCARS”
29,641
58 FOX/ 12/5 “THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: COWBOYS-BEARS NFL NET 59 NBC 10/6 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: COLTS-CHIEFS
10 FOX
1/5
29,468
60 NBC
12/15 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: BILLS-STEELERS 18,215
11 CBS
1/13 AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF: PATRIOTS-CHARGERS
29,344
61 FOX
12/8 NFL SINGLEHEADER
18,033
62 NBC
17,961
12 NBC
1/12 AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF: CHIEFS-COLTS
29,238
12/8 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: SEAHAWKS-RAMS
13 CBS
12/8 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: PATRIOTS-CHIEFS
28,253
14 FOX
11/28 BEARS-LIONS (THANKSGIVING)
27,093
15 FOX
12/22 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: COWBOYS-EAGLES
25,695
16 CBS
1/6
25,468
NFC WILD CARD: EAGLES-BEARS
NFC WILD CARD: COWBOYS-SEAHAWKS
AFC WILD CARD: CHARGERS-RAVENS
17 ESPN/ 1/7 CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: ESPN2/ CLEMSON-ALABAMA ESPNU/ESPNEWS
25,280
18 CBS
11/17 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: PATRIOTS-EAGLES
25,011
19 FOX
10/6 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: PACKERS-COWBOYS 24,932
20 FOX
9/8
21 NBC
9/29 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: COWBOYS-SAINTS
24,233
22 FOX
9/15 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: SAINTS-RAMS
23,693
23 FOX
11/10 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: PANTHERSPACKERS
23,452
24 FOX
12/15 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: RAMS-COWBOYS
23,309
25 FOX
10/20 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: SAINTS-BEARS
23,282
26 FOX
10/30 WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS-ASTROS: GAME 7 23,187
27 NBC
11/10 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: VIKINGSCOWBOYS
23,101
28 NBC
12/29 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: 49ERS-SEAHAWKS
22,955
29 ABC/ ESPN
1/5
22,767
30 CBS
9/22 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: SAINTS-SEAHAWKS 22,578
31 CBS
11/3 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: PACKERSCHARGERS
22,385
32 NBC
9/8
“SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: STEELERS-PATRIOTS
22,315
NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: GIANTS-COWBOYS
AFC WILD CARD: COLTS-TEXANS
24,285
“GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS”
18,648
18,226 18,222
9/26 “THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: 63 FOX/ EAGLES-PACKERS NFL NET 64 NBC 9/15 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: EAGLES-FALCONS
17,905
65 FOX
10/27 NFL SINGLEHEADER
17,627
66 ABC
12/31 “NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE”
17,529
17,731
67 ESPN/ 12/28 CFP SEMIFINAL: CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: ESPN2/ LSU-OKLAHOMA ESPNU/ESPNEWS
17,214
68 NBC
12/22 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: CHIEFS-BEARS
17,088
69 FOX
11/17 NFL SINGLEHEADER
17,017
70 NBC
11/17 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: BEARS-RAMS
16,927
71 CBS
12/15 NFL SINGLEHEADER
16,859
72 ESPN/ ESPN2
1/1
16,782
73 FOX
9/29 NFL SINGLEHEADER
16,750
74 ESPN
11/11 “MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: SEAHAWKS-49ERS
16,734
75 CBS
11/9 COLLEGE FOOTBALL: LSU-ALABAMA
16,712
76 FOX
10/13 NFL SINGLEHEADER
16,606
77 FOX
10/29 WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS-ASTROS: GAME 6 16,533
78 NBC
5/4
79 CBS
10/6 NFL SINGLEHEADER
80 CBS
3/31 NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL: REGIONAL FINAL: 16,266 MICHIGAN STATE-DUKE
ROSE BOWL: OHIO STATE-WASHINGTON
KENTUCKY DERBY (RACE SEGMENT)
16,365 16,325
81 FOX/ 10/10 “THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: GIANTS-PATRIOTS NFL NET 82 FOX 10/6 NFL REGIONAL
16,264
83 FOX
9/15 NFL REGIONAL
16,206
16,220
33 CBS
2/3
“THE WORLD’S BEST” (POST-SUPER BOWL)
22,245
84 FOX
12/15 NFL REGIONAL
16,098
34 NBC
9/5
NFL KICKOFF: PACKERS-BEARS
22,242
85 CBS
4/6
15,894
35 NBC
11/3 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: PATRIOTSRAVENS
22,153 86 FOX
11/24 NFL REGIONAL
36 NBC
11/28 “MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE”
22,147
37 CBS
12/1 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: RAIDERS-CHIEFS
21,997
38 NBC
12/1 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: PATRIOTS-TEXANS
21,553
39 NBC
10/20 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: EAGLES-COWBOYS
40 CBS
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL SEMIFINAL: TEXAS TECH-MICHIGAN STATE
15,585
87 FOX/ 11/14 “THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: STEELERS-BROWNS NFL NET 88 CBS 9/8 NFL SINGLEHEADER
15,580
89 CBS
9/15 NFL SINGLEHEADER
15,335
21,550
90 CBS
12/29 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: CHARGERS-CHIEFS; DOLPHINS-PATRIOTS
14,966
10/13 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: JETS-COWBOYS
21,525
91 NBC
14,951
41 FOX
12/1 NFL SINGLEHEADER
21,259
10/13 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: STEELERS-CHARGERS
42 FOX
12/29 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: REDSKINSCOWBOYS
21,224
92 CBS
11/10 NFL SINGLEHEADER
14,920
93 CBS
9/29 NFL REGIONAL
14,745
94 FOX
12/29 NFL REGIONAL
14,598
95 ESPN
11/4 “MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: COWBOYS-GIANTS
14,571
96 ESPN
12/2 “MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: VIKINGS-SEAHAWKS
14,562
43 ESPN/ 12/28 CFP SEMIFINAL: PLAYSTATION FIESTA BOWL: ESPN2/ CLEMSON-OHIO STATE ESPNU/ESPNEWS 8%
92% ■ Sport Related Content
TELECAST
21,151
44 CBS
10/27 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: BROWNS-PATRIOTS 21,126
45 NBC
11/24 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: PACKERS-49ERS 20,932
46 NBC
11/28 SAINTS-FALCONS (THANKSGIVING)
20,808
47 CBS
2/10 “GRAMMY AWARDS”
19,958
48 CBS
9/29 NFL NATIONAL WINDOW: VIKINGS-BEARS
19,900
49 CBS
4/8
19,723
50 FOX
9/22 NFL SINGLEHEADER
51 NBC
9/22 “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: RAMS-BROWNS 18,700
WWW.SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: VIRGINIA-TEXAS TECH
18,827
97 FOX/ 10/3 NFL NET 10/31 98 FOX/ NFL NET 99 CBS 2/7 100 FOX
7/7
15,488
“THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: RAMS-SEAHAWKS
14,407
“THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: 49ERS-CARDINALS
14,205
“THE BIG BANG THEORY”
14,161
FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FINAL: U.S.-NETHERLANDS
14,041
Source: Sports Business Journal research
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UPFRONT runway” for the new venture. Each team will carry six skaters and one goalie, while a group of 10 to 20 reserve players will travel with the regulars from city to city. All told, Johnston said, the league will ask players for an estimated 30- to 35-day commitment for the first season. The plan is to get former NHL and professional hockey players to take part. Salaries will be the same for all coaches and all players. Though the figures weren’t E.J. Johnston specified, Johnston said players would be (left) founded the able to make this their full-time job. Cash league, which will bonuses will be awarded to both groups have Hockey Hall of Famer Craig throughout the season for winning indiPatrick as its vidual tour stops, earning year-end awards commissioner. and making the playoffs, among other benchmarks. The responses from prospective coaches have been overwhelming, Johnston said, saying that the eight who will be announced later this spring will all either be members of the Hall of Fame or U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. CBS is the league’s U.S. media partner, as all regular-season games will air on CBS Sports Network and the championship weekend in August will be televised on CBS. Both TSN and RDS are Canadian media partners. Each Saturday broadcast will be about three hours, including pregame and postgame, along with the 112 minutes of hockey action spread across all seven games. Getty Images is 3ICE’s still imagery provider, and ASM Global will serve as its venue and event management partner. According to Johnston, 3ICE is still considering 15 to 20 different cities for its first season, which will start with a player evaluation camp and a draft in either January or February 2021. Getty Images. Johnston and Williams shared similar sentiments Besides watching the 3-on-3 format when it went about their excitement for how 3ICE could experiinto effect with the NHL’s 2015-16 season, Johnston ment with the on-ice product, game presentation, also got an up-close look at it while sponsor integrations and fan engageattending summer rookie camps for ment. the Pittsburgh Penguins and New “The mantra of our league is fun, BY THE Jersey Devils over the past few years. innovative and snackable,” Johnston NUMBERS Though he was initially skeptical, said. after getting enough exposure he For example, what if fans could became hooked. tap into a voting mechanism within “The oohs and aahs, you get that their smartphone, whether at the in a hockey game, but it was conarena or at home, and pick the secstant,” he said of the in-arena atmoond-round matchups? If there’s a sphere. “You were on the edge of your questionable goal that the two referseat. … It was electric.” ees and instant replay cannot conJohnston founded 3ICE in 2017. He firm, maybe the league displays the spent his own time and money refinplay on the in-arena video board for ing the concept, developing a busifans to vote on whether they think ness plan and speaking with sharp it’s a goal. Are there fan boosts for hockey minds including Penguins teams, similar to the power boosts GM Jim Rutherford and Minnesota in Formula E? Wild GM Bill Guerin, among others. While the league would not reveal Last year, he added a C-suite of exany league partners, the sponsorship ecutives, including naming hockey model allows for a company’s name, hall of famer Craig Patrick as comlogo and marks to be featured across missioner and former NFL executive a team’s jersey. As part of the inteMichael Williams as chief marketing gration, 3ICE will bake content into officer. John Schermerhorn and Steve its relationship with sponsors as it Baker will serve as chief revenue flexes its production muscles. officers. “We’re always going to be wearing Though Johnston declined comthat Hollywood hat,” Johnston said. ment on funding specifics, he did say Added Williams: “It’s a complete that 3ICE has been privately funded white canvas as far as what we’re to date without any corporate inable to do. … The creativity is the volvement and that there’s “ample only thing that will be limiting us.”
3ICE bringing NHL’s OT format to new league thusiasts who love the NHL’s wide open 3-on-3 overtime play will now have a pro hockey league to follow that’s built solely around that format. Led by founder and CEO E.J. Johnston, the son of former NHL player, coach and general manager Eddie Johnston, 3ICE is a North American league that will begin after next year’s Stanley Cup playoffs conclude. Eight teams will descend upon a different U.S. or Canadian city for eight consecutive SaturBY MARK J. BURNS days in a bracket-style format that will include seven games per day. The winners of each game advance, picking up one point for a first-round win, two points for a second-round victory and three points for a championship triumph. The points totals determine seeding in future weekends. The ninth weekend of the season will be the championship weekend. Each game will have two eight-minute periods with a running clock that will only stop for injuries or penalties, the latter of which will result in a penalty shot rather than a team playing a man down. “Why does it work?” said Johnston of the 3-on-3 game. “Creativity, speed, tic-tac-toe passing. It’s about improvisation and your hockey IQ.” Johnston’s own playing career ended when he was a teenager, not counting the New York-based roller hockey league he still plays in. 3ICE will combine both his personal interest in the sport with his professional experiences in advertising, television production and media. Johnston has been running his own production company, EJD Productions, and had prior stints at Fox Sports, IMG and
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SKATERS PER SIDE
7
GAMES EACH SATURDAY
8
TEAMS
9
TOTAL WEEKENDS OF COMPETITION
WWW.SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM
Courtesy of 3ICE
STARTING IN JUNE 2021, hockey fans and sports en-
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
A-B InBev’s Super plans on tap for seltzer, music fest FOR ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV, this year’s Super Bowl
Getty Images
activation will be anchored by a familiar tactic, but it also will be implementing a new approach in which the country’s largest brewer will use the nation’s biggest sports event to leverage a handful of its brands, instead of just one or two. Bud Light Hard Seltzer, which officially launches Monday, will be the show pony in and around Miami, with the goal BY TERRY being trial-and-conversion in the rapidly expanding $1 billion-plus LEFTON alcoholic seltzer market. However, A-B InBev also will be activating against its Bud Light, Babe Rosé wine and Stella Artois brands. Artois will even have its own highend activation area with music and food in South Beach. Previously, the Super Bowl had been generally restricted to Bud Light, the brand most closely associated with its NFL rights. However, for larger sponsorships, and the experiential marketing that normally accompanies them, “We’re implementing a full-portfolio strategy now at big events and for experiential, because that just makes sense,” said Nick Kelly, A-B InBev’s vice president, partnerships, beer culture and community. Expect that kind of full-bore activation for all of the brewer’s biggest sports rights. At July’s MLB All-Star Game — which is staged at an important
ing on a new $3 million gondola ride, set to open in time for the game. Within the facility, A-B InBev will leverage its exclusive rights with the host Miami Dolphins. A-B InBev also will be entertaining 600 retailers and wholesalers at a converted “Bud Light Hotel.” The company has been staging a tricked-out hotel at the Super Bowl since it was last in Miami in 2010. Perhaps the most memorable came for Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, when it converted a 1,062-foot Norwegian Cruise Lines ship into a hotel accommodating 3,000 guests for the Bud Light will have branding on a gondola ride outside Hard Rock Stadium. game, played just outside New York City at MetLife Stadium. time of year for any beverage marketer and this For the second consecutive year, A-B InBev is year will be in the important Los Angeles market sponsoring the Super Bowl Music Festival, in con— A-B InBev will undoubtedly still be pushing Bud junction with On Location Experiences. This year, Light Seltzer, but it will also be leveraging as many it will get the benefit of some added content, with a as five other brands, including Budweiser, craft one-hour TV special, featuring some other acts from brew Golden Road and Michelob Ultra. the festival. The show will run for one hour starting Outside of Hard Rock Stadium, which will host at 11 p.m. ET the night before the game on Fox, which the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, Bud Light will get brandwill broadcast the Super Bowl for the ninth time.
WWW.SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM
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A M E AS U R E D LO O K AT T H I S W E E K ’ S HOLDINGS
BUY
FORE-THOUGHT Topgolf is eyeing its potential IPO later this year with a valuation of $4 billion, and it has chosen banks to work with, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. The drivingrange-as-party-destination has seen impressive growth since it opened its first location in 2000 and has become increasingly popular in the U.S.
SELL
SIDE EYED Top WTA players like Sloane Stephens said they were shown a lack of respect by organizers at the ATP Cup and the WTA’s Brisbane International, where most of the women’s matches were pushed to side courts to accommodate the first ATP Cup, a multinational team event. Logistics are complicated, but the problem needed a better solution.
H LD
RED-HANDED? Major League Baseball is investigating the Boston Red Sox for allegedly stealing signs during the 2018 season, a year in which the team won the World Series and one year after it was fined by MLB for using an Apple Watch to steal signs. With punishment due soon related to the Astros’ sign-stealing investigation, MLB may have a widening problem on its hands.
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Research gives NBCUniversal breakdown of Olympic tastes HEADING INTO 2018, executives at the
NBCUniversal-owned cable channel Bravo contemplated how to convince their viewers to watch the Winter Olympics. It’s not that fans of the “Real Housewives“ and “Project Runway” aren’t potentially interested — NBC-comBY BEN missioned research shows that nearly FISCHER nine out of 10 Americans follow the Olympics to one degree or another — it’s a question of how to turn their viewers’ attention to sports. Armed with new audience segmentation research from NBC Sports, Bravo found the trick: A 20-second promo that looked just like a “Real Housewives“ opening, except it was Team USA members sharing their snappy, brash catchphrases. “The only diamonds I need … ” said skier Julia Mancuso with a steely glare and dramatic pause that “Housewives“ fans recognized, “are double black diamonds.” With a mandate to wring every penny of value out of the Olympics to make up the multibilliondollar rights fee, the NBCUniversal promotional machine will soon reach full capacity heading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It’s a massive undertaking, and one in which the Games’ biggest strength — its extraordinarily broad appeal — has also become a challenge in an era when consumers are accustomed to personalized messages. That’s where the segmentation research comes in. “You could go around the room and ask everyone, ‘What’s your connection to the Olympics? Why do you watch?’ and every single person is going to give you a different answer,” said NBC Sports CMO Jennifer Storms. For the second time, NBC hired research firm LRW to help determine what each American wants out the Olympics. About a year before the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, LRW surveyed 3,002 people with 20-minute online interviews. The research revealed that the 88% of Americans who care about the Olympics can be loosely lumped into six categories: Q 16% are purists, who love traditional Olympic sports, follow the best athletes regardless of country, and
usually watch on linear TV. They skew slightly older, liberal and male. Q 12% are “stargazers,” who consider Olympians celebrities and want to know their personal drama. They tend to watch digitally throughout the day and are more likely to post online. These tend to be Gen X, parents, well off financially and highly educated. Q 20% are “torchbearers” — these are the true believers. They consume as much as they can, through all platforms. This group is often younger, and well-earning Gen X or millennial parents. Q 16% are “heartstrings,” who love the behind-the-scenes stories, international connections and mostly follow artistic sports like gymnas-
Next, NBC linked its own research to Nielsen data, giving marketers an idea of what programming each kind of Olympic fan watches (one chart cross-references your Olympic viewing habits with which NBCU cable channels you most likely watch.) About a year ago, they ran the numbers again to prepare for Tokyo, which confirmed the general pattern. That data tells them where to promote which athletes on owned properties, helps them target paid ads more precisely on social media, and also is available to NBCUniversal’s own advertisers. It also helps drive fans to the right viewing destination. One persistent frustration of the “Major League Americans” is that team sports such
tics, diving and figure skating. These skew female and liberal. Q 12% are “Major League Americans” who root for the U.S. exclusively and usually follow mainstream sports like basketball, boxing and hockey that are featured during the Games. These tend to be older, male and white, often with conservative views. Q 11% are “Highlight Heroes,” a mostly younger, more non-white group that follows niche sports, wants the best competition regardless of country, and mostly watches digitally. Researchers then did qualitative interviews with individuals to further test the concept. Later, NBCsports.com ran a sweepstakes that promised a chance to win an Olympics jacket if you answered a 14point questionnaire. One million people responded.
Katie Ledecky checks almost every box from the survey NBC conducted with research firm LRW to determine what Americans are looking for.
as basketball get relegated to cable while the NBC broadcast in prime time focuses on gymnastics, track and swimming. But with sophisticated segmentation research, NBC can steer viewers to the right channels for their interests from the start. That cuts to the core of NBC’s theory: With this level of viewer data — plus a full slate of cable, broadcast, digital and social platforms — the network thinks it can overcome declining TV viewership and keep fans engaged in ways the traditional mass-market broadcast methods can’t. “We can be personalized,” Storms said. “We can get them what they want, when they want it, and get them to the right place.”
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AR problem may be solved in ‘dream it, do it’ decade BY ERIC PRISBELL
interactive arts for Nexus Studios. As long as four years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook predicted that AR use will become as common as “eating three meals a day.” “Imagine a pair of sunglasses that wrap closely to your eyes,” Ritchie said. “You could wear these things all day. You could have an immersive VR or AR experience. I don’t know if that’s what Apple will release, obviously, but it would be the holy grail.” While Davies deemed this decade the age of “dream it and do it,” he noted that even some of the smallest glasses on the CES show floor did not look like something fans would want to wear for long periods of time. When the right eyewear is ultimately unveiled, he added, fans will want to put them on with ease instead of needing to “boot them up or worry about the battery or anything.”
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IF YOU THINK that virtual reality’s failure to catch on means that altered-reality eyewear will never become ubiquitous among sports fans, you may want to think again. A much different notion emerged from the annual CES convention in Las Vegas last week: Revolutionary eyewear is expected to be coming to the fan experience near you — just not tomorrow. Right now, augmented reality and related technology remains ahead of the actual hardware, said Michael Davies, senior vice president of field and technical operations for Fox Sports. The race is on for a company to create eyewear with the ideal design, comfort level, size and price point to make it a necessity for sports fans. The long-term vision is that once 5G — with its promised high bandwidth and low latency — is fully implemented, an experience so immersive for fans will be possible and desired, enabling them to wear non-cumbersome eyewear to enhance their viewing experience with AR displays, an overlay of advanced analytics and any data tailored to their preferences. In short, it will revolutionize how fans watch games at home or in the stadium.
“I was watching the [NFL playoffs] and trying to have a nice glass of wine with friends and my husband and I’m on my phone checking how old Tom Brady is and why he is throwing passes that people don’t catch,” said Alex Wallace, head of news, entertainment and studios for Verizon Media. “It should be in my glasses. Those are knowable facts. I want to watch a sports game with data. You don’t consume a single-screen experience. And your phone is not sociable and it’s not happening in a way I want it to happen.” Wallace joked that VR has not taken off because “it’s bad for my hair any time I put on the ugly headset.” But Apple’s less clunky AR eyewear reportedly expected to be unveiled by 2023 could be a game-changer, “moving everything forward because Apple has the ability to make things desirable,” said Luke Ritchie, the head of XR and
Virtual reality eyewear was on display at the CES convention in Las Vegas.
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UPFRONT
Secret
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Behind the scenes with the NFL’s League Observation Program, which tracks everything that happens at a stadium on game day to better understand — and enhance — the fan experience. BY BEN FISCHER
day Night Football” matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets at M&T Bank Stadium on Dec. 12, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson took the snap and ran 5 yards to the New York 6-yard line. The late-arriving crowd gave a slightly louder than usual cheer, recognizing that the league’s probable MVP had just broken Michael Vick’s 13-year-old record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season. However, there was no mention of the record on either of the 200-by-36-foot video boards that dominate the back of the stadium’s end zones. Nor was there an announcement over the public address system. And that was just the way the NFL — and a couple of league employees sitting in Section 206 — wanted it. Jackson’s achievement — he finished the season with 1,206 rushing yards — would not be noted until after Baltimore capped that drive with a touchdown, when the additional crowd noise would not adversely affect the Ravens offense. That’s the depth of thought the league expects stadium game-day operations staffs to have, and it’s just what Glenn Hyams and Tim Tubito of the League Observation Program were expecting as they took detailed notes on everything happening in and around M&T Bank Stadium on a bitterly cold evening. Hyams’ day-to-day role is as the NFL’s manager of club business development, and Tubito is the league’s director of event presentation and content. Tonight they are known as secret shoppers, and they are performing a task that takes place, usually unseen, at all 256 regular-season games: observe every detail of a stadium’s off-field operations, and file a report for the team in question. Those on assignment often come from the NFL’s New York headquarters, where this year 93 people from a variety of departments volunteered for the role, or sometimes from another NFL team not playing in that particular game. They are given regular tickets, usually for a club seat, as Hyams and Tubito had been on this night. Executives for the home team have been expecting their arrival, but individual staffers in retail, parking and other such areas don’t know that they are being graded. The league’s Club Business Development division aims to evaluate everything, but
the clubs also ask for feedback on specific programs, usually new efforts or known challenges. On this night, I have been invited to tag along with Hyams and Tubito. In all, the two have acted as observers at 51 games over the past four years and would each do so eight times this season, though this is the first time they’ve worked together. The game doesn’t kickoff until 8:20 p.m., but our day will start much sooner. ■ 4:40 P.M. — I enter the lobby at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel, where Hyams and Tubito are waiting for me. We discuss the plan for the evening and what they’ll be looking for. There’s one twist coming that will light up social media, and Hyams and Tubito are already expecting it. ■ 5:18 P.M. — We’re less than a mile from the stadium, but Tubito drives his personal SUV that he had driven down from New York. After the game he will drive the roughly 200 miles back so he can be home for his young daughter’s birthday party the next day. Driving also allows us to test out the parking lots. It’s a latearriving crowd because it’s a work day, which makes parking easier for us but will later raise the stakes for staffers trying to manage the traffic. ■ 5:44 P.M. — We arrive at the Ravens Walk, the outdoor experiential marketing area between M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. On a night in which temperatures drop into the high 20s, some problems are obvious: “I think these heaters aren’t working,” Hyams says, looking into the DiamondBack Resorts activation. A few minutes later, they see that the one employee at the Verizon tent was on his phone, not engaging with passersby. A bright spot: The friendly worker at the bag check booth clearly articulates the stadium’s bag policy and answers Hyams’ questions accurately.
Two league employees are performing a task that takes place at all 256 regular-season games: observe every detail of a stadium’s off-field operations and file a report for the team in question.
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ITH EIGHT AND A HALF MINUTES REMAINING in the first quarter of a “Thurs-
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Hyams takes his name so he can give him a positive review. Elsewhere: the Bud Light concert stage is too close to activations that also have amplified sound, causing a jarring mix of noise. Also, the Under Armour tent is expertly produced, and the Maryland Zoo earns high praise for offering fans a photo opp with real ravens. ■ 6:10 P.M. — Just outside of the Hamburg Street gate, three men approach us and identify themselves as Baltimore plainclothes police. They are suspicious of our note-taking, photography and close attention to the surroundings. We each prove our identities and are free to move on. ■ 6:15 P.M. — Hyams asks an employee for an explanation on mobile ticketing. She wrongly says fans can use a screenshot of a ticket for entry. Another worker is unsure of the answer and describes the clothing of someone who might. Ravens officials want feedback on worker knowledge, which Hyams and Tubito later report is good overall. “We’ve got 2,500 people here, for all those people to be on the same page is a huge challenge,” said Roy Sommerhof, the team’s senior vice president of stadium operations. ■ 6:25 P.M. — We line up to enter the stadium and have to wait about five minutes, mostly because the gates are just opening. Mobile ticketing works fine, and employees make sure every fan receives a purple Styrofoam light stick, to be used during the pregame player introductions. ■ 6:33 P.M. — While surveying the official Ravens store, Hyams notes its cramped space that makes
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movement difficult, even when in line. He praises the labeling on clothing racks, but knows from a previous site visit that Cleveland’s First Energy Stadium has rafter signage that makes it easy to find the appropriate clothes in a very crowded area. ■ 6:45 P.M. — The guest assistant at the the elevator to the club level is in an exceptionally good mood, handing out high fives. “You don’t get that at a lot of stadiums,” Hyams says, noting her name. A few minutes earlier, a worker informs us how to get to the club section, and then chases us down when he sees that we are going the wrong way. Both employees were noted for praise in the final report. ■ 6:50 P.M. — We buy food in the club level. The Ravens lowered food prices in 2018, and a large Chicken Philly sandwich and a water costs me $14. Tubito praises the digital signage above a main bar that displays photos of fans at the game who have used the hashtag #RavensFlock on social media. The staff is friendly and helpful. There are also some unexpected surprises: One worker serving me the sandwich goes off message and tells me she is a Washington Redskins fan. ■ 7:27 P.M. — We enter our section. The seating bowl is still nearly empty as the teams warm up. Tubito says the pregame warmups are an important time for the producers who operate the live audiovisual presentation. “This is when your diehards are in their seats,” he says. “It’s a chance to educate fans and to pump up your own players.” He’d know, having previously been in charge of the Jets’ gameday entertainment and venue presentation.
At times, the stadium video crew focuses on a player, and then shows his stats next to his live image on the two main video boards that hang in both end zones. Jackson has dedicated music playing when he takes the field, helping hype up one of the biggest stars in the league. ■ 8:02 P.M. — Less than 20 minutes until game time, the stands still seems to be at least 85% empty. Tubito and Hyams predict a late rush. “If it’s still like this at 10 minutes out, that’s not good,” Hyams says. ■ 8:05 P.M. — It’s “Champions Day,” on which every high school football state championship team in Maryland is introduced on the field. Earlier Hyams and Tubito had praised a large sign by the field entrance outside the stadium, which clearly told several hundred participants where they The massive scoreneed to report for a timely boards at M&T introduction. “This is a good Bank Stadium didn’t alert fans to way to connect with the comLamar Jackson’s munity,” Hyams says. As game record-setting time approaches, those high run until after schoolers create a tunnel for Baltimore’s offense the player introductions that had left the field. stretches from the corner of one end zone all the way to midfield. It goes smoothly. ■ 8:10 P.M. — As expected, most fans take their seats as the kickoff nears. Ushering people into their seats in time for pregame ceremonies and the start of the game is a persistent challenge at stadiums. The Ravens believe the player-introduction traditions started by legendary linebacker Ray Lewis in the team’s early days have trained fans to consider it important. After the dazzling light and pyrotechnic show that is the player introductions, Tubito is impressed. “That’s as good as it gets,” he says. “Every part of the building was integrated into the show, and everything was so cohesive.” At one point, the stadium lights go down, giving fans the chance to participate by waving their giveaway glowstick. Tubito also praises the purple LED lighting on the Ravens band’s drums as an example of the attention to detail. Video boards show multiple angles of the players taking the field. By game time, the team says 50,000 people are in the stadium. That’s up from the 10,000 who had arrived an hour before kickoff, while about 15,000 more arrived in the first hour after the game started. That still leaves about 6,000 no shows, despite the listed attendance of 70,545 in a 71,008-capacity stadium. Even with the late-arriving crowd, Ravens officials said the ingress speed met expectations. ■ 8:21 P.M. — The Ravens have a new experiment at this game, a “mixed reality” feature on their main video boards: an animated raven is superimposed over live video of the stadium itself, creating the appearance that a bird the size of a commercial plane has flown into the stadium, done a lap and perched on the west goalposts. This is the twist Hyams and Tubito were expecting, but their muted response matches that of the crowd. The raven returns later and, says Tubito, “It seemed like they found better ways to utilize it, that combined with fans getting used to it made it a real positive.” ■ 8:22 P.M. — The game starts. For the next three hours, Hyams and Tubito observe all of the sound and images used to enhance the game, and watch CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
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UPFRONT The latearriving crowd causes some logistical headaches, but the team says the ingress speed meets expectations. below: Tubito (left) and Hyams each went to eight games this year as observers, but this was their first time teaming up together.
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how the fans around them respond to video and public-address prompts, which entertainment features work, which don’t and why. ■ 8:36 P.M. — After the Ravens open the scoring with Mark Ingram’s 6-yard touchdown run, Tubito and Hyams note that replay footage from NFL Network looks “stretched” on the rectangular video board at the back of the west end zone. Also, they note the lack of audio on the highlights, which made it so some fans didn’t realize what was being shown. Later, their report will read, “Consider implementing the radio call over the highlights.” ■ 8:42 P.M. — The Ravens devote a media timeout to the “Hometown Heroes” content feature on the big video board. “The footage was clearly framed and having the hero close off with a ‘Go Ravens, Beat the Jets’ shout was a nice touch,” the report would later say. ■ 8:44 P.M. — Just before New York’s Sam Ficken attempts a 49-yard field goal, the stadium video board flashes a sign: All fans win a free six-piece McNuggets order from McDonald’s when opponents miss a field goal. Then Baltimore’s Patrick Ricard blocks the kick. The main video board and the ring boards light up in McDonald’s red and yellow: Free McNuggets! Even better, another positive review from Hyams and Tubito. ■ 9:33 P.M. — With the Ravens leading 21-7 just before halftime, the Jets are driving into Baltimore territory and video boards flash: “Visitors want quiet. Please respond accordingly.” In their report, Hyams and Tubito will call that “Very unique and effective fan prompts that always seem to rile up the crowd.” The crowd has another reason to cheer when safety Chuck Clark intercepts a Sam Darnold pass. ■ 9:44 P.M. — On such a cold night, the official halftime show — including the All-Star Stunt Dogs — doesn’t keep many people in their seats. Most go to the concourse to get out of the wind. M&T Bank Stadium isn’t alone among NFL venues in that the seats are still mostly empty when play resumes. ■ 10:16 P.M. — With the Ravens leading comfortably, Hyams notes the shift in tone from
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the game entertainment: “They front-load a lot of the sponsor obligations, and just play to the crowd in the second half.” This means less programming and more long music breaks and casual crowd shots. ■ 10:53 P.M. — The video board shows Lyftbranded content explaining how to find rideshares after the game. “Rideshare pickup is something no team has really solved yet,” Hyams says. ■ 11:25 P.M. — The Ravens win, 42-21. A stadium employee hands out pre-printed Baltimore Sun covers celebrating the team’s second straight AFC North title. Hyams praises the move because many fans miss having the physical memento a ticket stub used to provide. Hyams and I walk back to our hotels.
Although it wasn’t due until later in the week, Hyams and Tubito submit their written report to the Ravens. It has two parts, one on stadium operations and a 12-page section on game entertainment. ■ THURSDAY, DEC. 19: Hyams and Tubito join a conference call with Ravens officials to go over their reports. Not all of the feedback is accepted. For instance, the team decides to not follow Hyams’ suggestion to add publicaddress voiceover to a “sizzling stats” feature, because they’ve had fan feedback about too much PA. But another note in the report was immediately acted upon. They noted that fans really engaged with the TV timeout feature “Pass 4 Cash,” but couldn’t see the action well because of a high, wide camera angle. Two weeks later against the Steelers, the Ravens switched to hand-held cameras on the field for the feature. ■ MONDAY, DEC. 16:
Shoppers help NFL tackle issue THE NFL may be singularly dominant in television viewer-
ship, but it is nevertheless facing a problem that is vexing leagues across the country: declining attendance. Leaguewide average ticket sales for the NFL hit a 15-year low in 2019, and no-shows plague even the most beloved, successful franchises. Many experts consider this to be the unavoidable result of the growth in home entertainment quality and the escalating cost of attending games. The NFL, however, does not cede the point. “A fundamental tenet of the NFL is to ensure that the best place to watch NFL football is in-stadium,” said Bobby Gallo, senior vice president of club business development. Since the 2013 season, the NFL has been sending secret shoppers to every game, having them evaluate every aspect of the fan experience without oversight from the club. This year, 93 NFL employees acted as observers. After the game, they produce a report that is then shared with team officials and includes praise where warranted and suggests changes as applicable. In 2018, the league added a voluntary peer review process, and now every game is reviewed by either a league or different club’s officials. Teams use those re- Average ticket sales for the league’s ports, along with games reached a 15-year low in 2019. the Voice of the Fan surveys fans get after they attend, to score customer service and game operations/entertainment performance. While the reviews do not cover things such as cost of attendance — the primary reason people don’t attend more live sports events, according to SBJ’s most recent Reader Survey — it does include everything from the parking lot experience to the graphics and replays on video boards. Even if a club’s usual practice isn’t wrong, exactly, it might be updated or tweaked to better serve the different kinds of fans coming to the game. Sometimes teams cater too much to the casual fan over the diehard, or vice versa. Fan expectations about football production are driven by broadcast innovations, so the stadium has to keep up. “Since I’ve started doing this, the fan has evolved so much, and they are evolving so quickly, so part of what we’re doing is keeping up with how they’re evolving and what they’re looking for in the game,” said Tim Tubito, director of event presentation and content at the NFL, who is a regular secret shopper. Teams don’t have to take the feedback but they always appreciate it, said Jay O’Brien, vice president of broadcasting and game-day production for the Baltimore Ravens. Tubito and Glenn Hyams, manager of club business development, were the two league observers at the Ravens’ Dec. 12 game against the Jets. “Since [Hyams] travels to a lot of other NFL games, his report is pretty valuable,” O’Brien said. “He compares us to the Lions at one place, he says, ‘Here’s something the Lions do that may work for you.’ That’s completely different feedback from what our own fans give us.” — B.F.
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THE INSIDERS MARKETING AND SPONSORSHIP said Kevin Rochlitz, the Ravens’ senior vice president and chief sales officer. Suites in Baltimore were already sold out, but the team’s success catalyzed early renewals there also, meaning “we’ll sell out again, but much earlier,” said Rochlitz. “When you have two losses and it’s already December, you’re just better organized to have a jump on all of next year.” The Green Bay Packers totaled 13 wins this season for only the third time in the The 49ers’ strong team’s storied history — six more vicplay boosted ticket tories than in 2018. revenue at Levi’s “We don’t sell results,” said Chad WatStadium. son, the team’s director of sales and business development. “In real time, we don’t have much inventory remaining, but this kind of season just gives us sales momentum we wouldn’t have otherwise.” As with any team, a lot depends on when and which prior deals are expiring. Many of the 49ers’ biggest went for five years from the stadium’s opening, so they had already been renewed or replaced. No huge renewals are pending for the Ravens or Packers, either.
On-field success leads to sales wins for NFL teams
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Getty Images; Fanatics
BY TERRY LEFTON
N ONGOING MISSION during our 35-plus years at the intersection of sports and commerce has been correlating — or at least attempting to correlate — professional teams’ on-field performance with off-field sales success, whether through sponsorships, media or hospitality. It’s doubtful that anyone selling those assets is so unenlightened as to attempt doing so primarily on the basis of wins and losses, but those certainly don’t hurt, as we learned by canvassing sales-types at NFL teams with the best records in the league. For the San Francisco 49ers, the top seed in the NFC playoffs, sales have never been more robust. The team’s 13 wins this season have only been exceeded once in the franchise’s golden history. Add the power of a legacy brand located in one of America’s most affluent areas, as well as the creature comfort of a home stadium that is still relatively new, and the result is a fertile sales ground even in underperforming on-field years. What 49ers CRO Brent Schoeb defines as “core local revenues” — the combination of tickets, suites and sponsorships — is the best since the team moved into Levi’s Stadium in 2014 and “the highest in our 74year history,” he said. That’s even before a playoff game (or two) is added. A strong onfield performance is described by Schoeb as the “best fuel to stoke an already-burning fire.” As is often the case, sales get moved up. “Multiple” 10-year leases on suites have been renewed earlier, Schoeb said. And there have also been early sponsorship renewals, including ones with Black Oak Casino Resort, Mountain Mike’s Pizza and Vivid Seats. “Our stretch goals have become our goals now,” he said with a laugh. The 49ers started the season with two road games, which turned out to be an advantage. After winning both, en route to an 8-0 start, the team was able to dynamically price the less than 10% of home game tickets that were still generally available. The result was a seven-figure bump in ticketing revenue buoyed by the three largest crowds in team history, including a record 71,500 for a 37-8 win over the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 24, a figure which may be eclipsed in this year’s playoffs. Similar to the 49ers, a great season in Baltimore, where the Ravens set a franchise record by winning a league-high 14 games, has led to a boost in interest. “It’s all about new business and we have a lot of them knocking on our door now,”
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SportsNet New York is sidelighting in the event business with the first “Connecticut Ice” hockey festival Jan. 25 and 26 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. Cadillac, Nissan, the Hospital for Special Surgery, Travelers, PC Richards and Town Fair Tire are among the principal sponsors for the event, which will include youth and prep games clinics, and a tournament matching four local collegiate hockey powers: Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, UConn and Yale. All four of those games will be televised on SNY. ■ NUTMEG ON ICE:
Fanatics has named Gina Sprenger its first chief strategic retail officer. In this role, Sprenger will lead all merchandising, inventory management and field operations for the company’s strategic retail division, which includes flagship stores, stadium and in-venue retail locations as well as special events, including the Kentucky Derby and the NHL Winter Classic. Sprenger, who joined Fanatics in 2016 as senior vice president and general merchandise manager, will oversee 175 flagship, venue and event properties across professional and college sports, which also includes oversight of merchandising, field opGina erations, and inventory Sprenger will management. be the first She will continue rechief strategic porting to Jack Boyle, retail officer at Fanatics. global co-president of direct-to-consumer retail. Sprenger also joins the executive leadership team of CEO Doug Mack. She replaces Mike Martin, executive vice president of retail, the former head of retail at Staples, who left Fanatics in December after a little more than three years. … Andrew Fishkin joins Connect Partnership Group, Dallas, as director of corporate partnerships, after five years with Navigate. He’ll continue to be based in Chicago. ■ COMINGS & GOINGS:
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
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THE INSIDERS
As Golf Channel celebrates 25th anniversary, moves beyond traditional TV come into focus
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ORY MCILROY traveled to Golf Channel’s
Orlando headquarters Dec. 13 for two days of meetings that had nothing to do with television as the golfer conducted some interviews and cut promos for the network. As co-founder of GolfPass, which NBC Sports Group launched last February, McIlroy was more interested in Golf Channel’s subscription businesses — everything from setting up tee times to booking travel. As Golf Channel celebrates its 25th anniversary this week, McIlroy’s visit offered a window to how network executives view their overall business. No longer is Golf Channel simply a BY JOHN television network. “It’s a technology company more than anything,” said Mike McCarley, president of golf for NBC Sports Group. McCarley sees McIIroy taking a similar ambassador role with the Golf Channel’s digital businesses as Arnold Palmer did with the channel. “Rory looks at the next 25 years as, ‘What is Golf Channel 2.0?’ He talks about the digitization of golf,” McCarley said.
A ho-hum CES? Fox Sports’ Davies sees little groundbreaking tech at this year’s show.
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The channel’s last 25 years were dominated by the transition from analog to digital, McCarley said. “But the next 25 years is going to be how the overall game — not just the media and technology part — gets advanced by digital media and technology.” Golf Channel has embraced golf businesses that have little, if anything, to do with television. It manages Golf Business Solutions, which has relationships with around 10,000 golf courses in 40 countries and provides the technical platforms that run and operate golf courses — everyOURAND thing from booking tee times to monitoring employee time cards. “Because of the way technology and media have evolved in the last 25 years, and really the last 10 years has been the most significant of it, there’s ways that people engage with golf that they’ve never contemplated before,” McCarley said. “Golf Channel launched as the first single-sport television network. It’s grown to be so much more than that.
FOX SPORTS’ MIKE DAVIES attended CES last week. I asked the senior vice president of technical and field operations for his thoughts. He seemed more pessimistic than other reports I’ve seen. DAVIES:
Q “It’s again a year of overarching buzzwords at CES. Artificial intelligence is one of the most used and, perhaps, the most ambiguous: from human imagery in the form of Neon’s chatbot AI’s to the AI
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John Ourand can be reached at jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ Ourand_SBJ and read his twice weekly newsletter.
allegedly installed in a rolling dog toy. AI is a necessary and useful moniker for an easily measurable cross-section of the show.” Q “Virtually every display manufacturer showing 8K televisions truly looks impressive — at least with 8K demo content as there isn’t any real content available right now since producers still are migrating to lesser forms of UHD. Sony was a true standout. Other displays continue evolving the trend of impossibly
thin, cleverly roll-able, and, in some cases, transparent televisions.” Q “The promise (if not the actuality) of 5G was in every corner of the show.” Q “While some of these enhancements at CES 2020 were improvements on things we saw in 2019, little was truly groundbreaking. The huge exception is the robotic cat (with AI), which is a marked improvement over the real thing in every single way.” — J.O.
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Golf Channel
SPORTS M E D I A
More people work other businesses than traditional television than those who work on television.” When McCarley started nine years ago, Golf Channel had 330 Rory McIlroy visited the employees. Today, it has close channel’s to 1,200. Golf Channel has jobs Orlando today that didn’t exist a few headquarters years ago. last month and “We like to talk about being had plenty of questions about at the intersection of golf and its other lines of technology,” McCarley said. business. “Anyone who’s been in this business for the last five years completely changed and transformed the way they operate a business. They had to.” McCarley said Golf Channel adopted the strategy to embrace digital businesses early on. “Those are the types of things that you’re hearing and reading about every day,” he said. “You can’t just hear about it and read about it. You have to be doing it. It’s better to be leading the way than being led.” McCarley described the Golf Channel culture as more entrepreneurial, which helps employees embrace change more than others. “We’re working at a startup that happens to be backed by one of the most powerful media companies in the world, in Comcast,” McCarley said. “There’s a risk-taking and entrepreneurial spirit that has led to a lot of these ancillary digital businesses.” Even as Golf Channel pursues digital businesses, the television network continues to grow. During its first week in 1995, the channel had 15.5 hours of live programming. Next week, it will have 102.5 hours of live programming — 61% of the network’s schedule. “We put a real emphasis on creating an influential voice in the game,” McCarley said, citing news coverage and on-air commentators. “It takes time to build credibility. We’ve got a platform that starts with news and a slate of live tournaments that are surrounded by news. But it also has instruction, high-quality storytelling and high-end documentaries.”
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
LABOR AND AGENTS
Steinberg: Tua will be ready for NFL draft
A
LABAMA QUARTERBACK Tua Tagovailoa
Leigh Steinberg (right) and agent Chris Cabott will represent Tua Tagovailoa. Steinberg said the quarterback is recovering well from a hip injury.
this again, like we did with Mahomes?” referring to Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, who was picked No. 10 overall in the 2017 draft. In January 2017, Steinberg was telling people he was a first-round pick, but few people, including draft analysts, believed him. But Tagovailoa is a different story. “[He] comes with obvious medical questions but the tape shows a highly accurate passer with the physical tools and intangibles to project as a long-term NFL starter, warranting first-round consideration,” said Rob Rang, veteran NFL analyst who now heads up draft coverage for Field Level Media. ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay had Tagovailoa ranked No. 4 on his mock draft last week. Steinberg Sports & Entertainment also signed Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. Cabott and Steinberg are also representing him. McShay had Jeudy ranked No. 3 on his mock draft. “He should be a top-10 pick, also,” Steinberg said of Jeudy. “He might well be the first player picked.”
the first.” BeGreat Sports has signed Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor and Temple linebacker Shaun Bradley for representation in the NFL draft. Barry Gardner, a former NFL linebacker and current NFL agent, launched BeGreat in 2018 and he is representing the players. ■ BEGREAT SIGNS NFL DRAFT CLASS:
Sports has signed Arizona Diamondbacks right-handed pitcher Jon Duplantier in all areas. A team of agents, led by Ryan Hamill, Ollie Linton, Matt Brownstein, Evan Green and Marissa Dishaw, are representing him. He was formerly represented by SSG Baseball. ■ CAA SIGNS DUPLANTIER: CAA
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@ sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
Steinberg Sports & Entertainment
should be able to work out for clubs before this April’s NFL draft and will be picked at the top of the board despite recovering from injury, his agent, Leigh Steinberg, said last week. “We certainly expect he’ll be able to do a pro passing day and individual team visits — enough for draft evaluation,” Steinberg said. “It may not be Alabama’s Pro Scouting Day, right? It may be a later date.” Steinberg Sports & Entertainment last week signed Tagovailoa, who had been projected as the potential No.1 pick prior to suffering a hip injury that required surgery. NFL agents Chris Cabott and Steinberg will represent him. Tagovailoa was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery after suffering the injury in a Nov. 16 game BY LIZ MULLEN against Mississippi State. Although the news looked grim initially — he was screaming in pain as he was carted off the field — doctors expect him to make a full recovery. “He was already walking around without crutches today … which puts him way ahead of schedule,” Steinberg said last week. “So here’s the thing. This is not croquet that they play. It’s not chess. It’s football.” Steinberg said they would follow doctors’ orders, but they expect Tagovailoa to attend the NFL combine, which starts Feb. 23. Steinberg said he doesn’t expect Tagovailoa to work out there, but he can go through interviews and participate in chalkboard sessions, and clubs already have his game film. “Everyone will look at the medical reports but that’s the same thing that happens with every player and there is virtually no football player that doesn’t have some form of injury and that all comes out at the combine,” Steinberg said. Asked if Tagovailoa was a top-10 pick, Steinberg said, “Absolutely.” He added, “Are we going to do
Steinberg has been representing players since the 1975 NFL draft and has represented eight overall No. 1 picks, but was out of the business for several years in the early part of the 2010s while he battled legal and financial troubles and alcoholism. Since relaunching in 2015, he’s represented two first rounders — Mahomes and Paxton Lynch in 2016. Steinberg will celebrate 10 years of sobriety in March. “My comeback was maintaining my sobriety and being a good father,” Steinberg said. “But it’s been fun and maybe it provides inspiration to anyone out there having tough times to realize a second act can be just as fun as
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PORTFOLIO LABOR TALKS
Soccer’s next big moves Virtually every level of soccer in the U.S. is negotiating new labor deals. Will the sport’s recent growth pay off for players? BY BRET MCCORMICK AND MARK J. BURNS to have enjoyed his short stay in MLS with D.C. United, particularly the relative anonymity with which he could enjoy a pint or walk down the street with his family. But Rooney openly disdained one aspect of MLS life: the travel. He publicly highlighted the issue several times during his 13 months in the league, particularly how MLS teams require players to fly across the country like regular passengers and not professional athletes. The lack of charter flying is exacerbated by MLS’s enormous geographic footprint, and the players view it as symbolic of the fundamental issues underlying the ongoing collective-bargaining agreement negotiations between MLS and the MLS Players Association. “Talk about the league trying to become one of the better ones and increase the quality, this would help that,” said Alejandro Bedoya, a veteran Philadelphia Union player and an active MLSPA member. “That is something that I believe needs to change. Taking care of the players, the players become a priority.” MLS’s CBA negotiations with its players union is one of several active labor situations in America’s professional soccer scene. The United Soccer League Championship and the USL Players Association are negotiating what could become the league’s first CBA, while the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association is proceeding cautiously, knowing that overly aggressive action could bury its fledgling league. No group of American pro soccer players more aggressively pursued its demands in 2019 than the U.S. women’s national soccer team, which is tangled in a lawsuit with the U.S. Soccer Federation over not only equal pay but equal investment. The USWNT Players Association’s lawsuit could have far-reaching implications throughout women’s
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MLS PLAYER COMPENSATION GROWTH 2019
2009
Avg. annual salary
$371,538
$120,874
Avg. guaranteed compensation
$411,996
$133,706
% of players making $100,000 or less (base salary)
38.1
67.8
% of players making $200,000 or less (base salary)
55.8
91
% of players making $1 million or more (base salary)
6.8
1
% of players making $1 million or more (guaranteed compensation)
8.3
1
Source: MLS Players Association
sports, not just soccer. SBJ spoke to people with knowledge of or direct involvement in all of these situations. They agreed that the concurrent labor activity represents a moment of necessary maturation for pro soccer in the U.S., though some thought the timing could also be merely coincidental. Whether it’s coincidence or something bigger, what happens in these scenarios over the next year will have an immense effect on the sport’s near-term future in America. “The soccer industry in the United States has seen historic growth in the last decade, and we expect that growth to continue through and after we host the 2026 World Cup,” said MLS Players Asso-
ciation Executive Director Bob Foose. “We have also seen a dramatic increase in the organization and sophistication of professional players, who have demonstrated that they are committed to working to secure the rights that they deserve both on and off the field.”
USWNT EQUAL PAY FIGHT In November, just four months after the U.S. women’s national soccer team won its record fourth World Cup, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled in a California courtroom that the team’s players, who filed a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer charging violations of the Civil Rights Act, were worthy of three class statuses. One class status would require U.S. Soccer to pay its women players equally under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and means any player who was even called into a national team camp by the U.S. since 2015 — let alone played in a match — was eligible for inclusion in the players’ lawsuit. Another class seeks damages, including back pay, and the third class seeks the prevention of future discrimination. The national team players — not the USWNT players union — filed the lawsuit last March seeking relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits gender discrimination by employers and speaks to the players’ experience as a whole, not just compensation. Court documents highlighted, for example, a lack of charter flights for the women’s team compared with its male counterpart. Two issues are at the heart of U.S. Soccer’s defense.
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NGLISH SOCCER STAR WAYNE ROONEY seems
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
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Norway, Australia and New Zealand already offer equal pay to their women’s and men’s national teams. Whether the U.S. joins that group through a settlement with its female players or a May trial remains to be seen.
four more additions on deck in the coming years. Growth in MLS spurred soaring team valuations — LA Galaxy was the most valuable team in 2008 at $100 million, while the Colorado Rapids were the least valuable in 2019, at $190 million — and equally One is that the USWNT enormous fees for expansion teams. The league’s MLS PLAYERS WANT players union collectively most recent addition, Charlotte, reportedly paid $325 MORE INVESTMENT bargained its current commillion to join. Standing before reporters in November ahead of pensation system, ending Recent reporting from various outlets has made the MLS Cup final in Seattle, MLS Commissioner up with a different deal clear that, while many MLS owners don’t turn profDon Garber said, “MLS has transformed from a league than the men’s team playits, they all receive substantial cuts of profits from on the rise to a league that has arrived as one of the ers, who are paid in boSoccer United Marketing, MLS’s marketing arm, great major leagues in our country, and I think, exists nuses. In a unique deal, offsetting some of their losses. And players know as one of the top leagues in the world.” U.S. Soccer, which is heavthat because they’ve done a deep study of the Members of the league’s players union don’t fully ily involved with the league’s finances as part of the CBA negotiating agree. During the MLSPA’s 90-minute conference call NWSL, pays women’s naprocess. with reporters in November, Foose and players Jeff tional team members who “We just feel we need more of that revenue share Larentowicz, Diego Rubio and Bedoya made clear also play professionally in among the players, to see the increased investment that the players’ demands are focused on the league the NWSL base salaries of into our players, our teams,” said Bedoya. truly becoming what Garber said it already is — a between $167,500 and The league’s media rights will be up for bid in destination league for players, whether American or $172,500. That payment the middle of the next CBA’s duration, throwing a international. covers their play for both challenging wrinkle into current negotiations. MLS players hold up the charentities. “We are continuing our disUSL CHAMPIONSHIP ter flight issue as an example U.S. Soccer’s second cussions with the MLS Players CONTINUES SPAN OF of changes needed to reach the argument is that any difAssociation to finalize a new STRONG GROWTH next echelon. MLS teams can ference in compensation Collective Bargaining Agreetake up to four charter flights stems primarily from the ment,” MLS President and No. Teams Teams Year teams added lost per season, but many teams vastly dif ferent prize Deputy Commissioner Mark don’t use any of their four, acmoney FIFA offers men Abbott said last week following 2011 12 0 0 cording to Foose. and women players in its meetings with the union. “We 2012 11 0 1 “It isn’t a CBA issue in the tour naments. Taking have had many productive meet2013 13 2 0 other sports and shouldn’t be those two points together, ings and are scheduled to meet in ours,” said Foose, who has U.S. Soccer argued that regularly during the coming 2014 14 4 3 been with the players union some of its female players weeks. We view these discus2015 24 13 3 since its 2003 launch. “It is an earned more than their sions not merely as transac2016 29 6 1 infrastructure issue that is tied male counterparts over tional, but also as an 2017 30 3 2 to player performance, and, if the course of the last five opportunity to spend time with 2018 33 7 4 we’re going to say that we have years, meaning they players to talk about ways we all these aspirations, then this couldn’t be discriminated against. can together make our league 2019 36 7 4 goes directly to whether or not But Klausner wrote that U.S. Soccer cited no case stronger. Although there are Source: Sports Business Journal those are true statements.” law to support its premise and said that players’ open issues, both the league and research MLS players also want true “injury is concrete.” The players claim the only the players association are workfree agency — currently they reason they were paid more during that period is ing hard to reach agreement.” must be 28 years old and have played eight years because they played 19 more games than their male USL SEEKS FIRST CBA in the league to be eligible for free agency — and a counterparts. The USL’s voluntary recognition of the newly less complicated player acquisition and compensaAcross the globe, women’s sports entities — esformed players union in late 2018 was an encouragtion system. The players association wants MLS to pecially those that operate under governing bodies ing initial gesture, according to attorney Steve Gans. begin taking the guardrails off its competition, alongside male teams — will be closely watching “Both sides recognized the need to work togethallowing clubs to put their teams together howthe results of the USWNT players’ action. Finland, er in establishing the league’s first ever collectiveever they see fit and forcing them bargaining agreement,” said Gans, who represents to compete against each other for the USLPA, “and that the implementation of a CBA player signings more than they would be mutually beneficial progress for both parcurrently do. ties and for soccer in this country.” “We need to stop being a league The dissolution of NASL in 2017 left the 33-yearwhere there is over-centralizaold USL as king of America’s minor league soccer tion, where there is over-tinkerhill, and, in January 2019, the USL was recognized ing and where there is this notion by U.S. Soccer as the country’s official second-tier that you design a competitive league. It was a seminal moment for an organizafootball league in a boardroom tion that in the last eight years has grown from a or by an accounting system,” said 12-team outfit to its current 36 teams. The USL’s Foose. “It needs to be done by the increased numbers are impressive given that 18 people who know the game and teams left the league’s top division during that same know their franchises.” eight-year stretch. Further club additions and subMLS’s organizational choices tractions are currently in the works. in pursuit of stability have paid The players’ push for unionization and improveoff. The league’s strategy has ments in their working conditions, likely including prioritized growth over profit, a minimum salary floor, and the USL willingly sitting evinced in its expansion from 16 down with them speaks to the league’s increasingly teams in 2010 to the 26 clubs that A fan of the U.S. women’s national team used a World Cup victory celebraCONTINUED ON PAGE 20 will start the 2020 season, with tion in New York City last summer to call for equal pay in the sport. Alejandro Bedoya (center) is among the MLS players who have called for better travel options.
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PORTFOLIO LABOR TALKS solid footing. Expansion fees now reportedly cost between $5 million and $7 million, a huge jump from the Forbesreported $250,000 it cost to join the league in 2012. “The stability of the lower leagues is stronger than it’s ever been,” said Jeremy Alumbaugh, a former executive with the USL’s Saint Louis FC and current managing director for Chattanooga FC. For the USL, Alumbaugh said a CBA “wasn’t a priority 10 to 15 years ago; the priority was stability and longevity of clubs.” Unlike MLS, the USL gives its owners more freedom in how they operate, which helps explain the varying degrees of success and failure in the league over the last decade. A USL CBA could establish baseline standards for business operations and player compensation and conditions, forcing the weakest franchises to improve. “Anything that’s going to add stability to lower leagues of play is a positive,” Alumbaugh said. “I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be good for the game.” It’s appropriate that USL and MLS are engaged in CBA negotiations at the same time, because their futures are intertwined after signing a player development
agreement in 2013. Nine MLS clubs’ reserve teams play in the USL Championship, including Real Salt Lake’s affiliate, Real Monarchs, which won the USL Championship title in November. Three more MLS reserve sides play in USL’s League One. MLS reserve players competing in the USL are still members of the MLS Players Association and covered under the MLS CBA. As for USL players, their demands haven’t been fully expressed publicly. Gans said only that “the USL is currently in receipt of a proposal from the USLPA addressing the issues most important to players across the USL Championship.” “We’re excited about the progress being made,” USL spokesperson Ryan Madden told SBJ. “The negotiations have been collaborative and communicative throughout and we’re very much looking forward to the first collective-bargaining agreement in league history.”
NWSL SEEKS STABILITY Yael Averbuch, co-executive director of the NWSL Players Association, said her group takes a nontraditional approach to labor relations. That’s in large part because no American professional women’s soccer league has lasted longer than three years until the NWSL, which just completed its seventh season. The league had a successful 2019, growing its average
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attendance by more than 20% and bringing major new sponsors into the fold, including Budweiser, following the FIFA Women’s World Cup win during the summer. It’s currently without a figurehead after league President Amanda Duffy announced last week that she’s joining the Orlando Pride’s front office. The NWSLPA, which represents the league’s nonnational team players (USWNT players have their own union), formed in 2017 and officially unionized in late 2018. Balancing the players’ goals and aspirations with the reality of the league’s still shaky financial footing has been one of the group’s biggest challenges. “We understand where the league is and stability is the No. 1 goal for everyone, including us,” said Averbuch, a former NWSL player and U.S. women’s national team member. “We want to work with the league as partners and allies in progress and look out for the experience of the players and make sure it’s continuing to grow in terms of financial compensation, professionalism and all the things surrounding that. “But never at the detriment of the league.” Averbuch said the PA’s input was considered during the crafting of recent changes to player compensation and acquisition rules that the NWSL announced in November, though NWSL players the players were are tempering not represented in their goals for the room when deadded benefits with the reality cisions were made. of the league’s The league raised still shaky maximum salaries finances. to $50,000 (from $46,200) and minimum salaries to $20,000 (from $16,538), while inflating the league salary cap 19.3% to $650,000. The NWSL also introduced allocation money for the first time, funding available beyond the salary cap that teams can use to pay elite foreign players. A representative from the NWSL said “a more flexible cost structure provides teams with fewer financial resources the ability to remain competitive, while at the same time allowing the rules to evolve, which provides time to assess the impact of the changes, and if needed, make appropriate adjustments.” With most American-based women’s soccer players not making the kind of money usually associated with professional sports, the NWSLPA at least wants increased life security for its members. So, the group was pleased to see the NWSL drop its cap on housing and auto expenses that teams can provide players, end one-year limits on contracts, and remove restrictions on the number of guaranteed deals teams can offer. “Focusing on the players’ stability and their ability to plan their lives is really huge,” Averbuch said. Those subtle but important changes become even more critical as the future of U.S. Soccer’s organizational and, more critically, financial support of NWSL — the federation said it had contributed over $18 million to the league — is becoming less certain. U.S. Soccer’s contract to manage and operate NWSL was supposed to wind up by the end of 2019, but the deal has been extended at least another year, according to NWSL. “I think of it as kind of like sending your kid off to college,” Averbuch said. “So, it’s a big transition period for the league to now move into this next phase, whatever that looks like.”
The state of American pro soccer labor movements U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM After 28 USWNT members last year first filed a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer over unequal pay, among other complaints, the governing body contested the allegations, saying that the women’s team collectively bargained its own deal while FIFA’s different payouts for men’s and women’s teams played a role in the pay disparity. The lawsuit remains in the discovery phase and a trial is set for May 5, if mediation fails again. U.S. MEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM In the shadows of the higherprofile women’s equal pay fight, the USMNT has been negotiating a new collective-bargaining agreement for almost a year. The previous CBA expired in 2018, but U.S. National Soccer Team Players Association general manager J Hutcherson said no deal is imminent. USMNT players are operating under the expired 2018 agreement. MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER Of the three soccer leagues with players unions, MLS is the most successful and its players are likely in the strongest position given the league’s interest in sustaining the momentum amid continued expansion. The two parties’ 2015 CBA expires Jan. 31, and the sides were negotiating last week in Washington, D.C. The MLS season is scheduled to begin Feb. 29. UNITED SOCCER LEAGUE The USL and USL Players Association are negotiating what would become the league’s first CBA. The most recent conversations between the two sides occurred less than a week ago, Jan. 8-9, in Tampa. NATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER LEAGUE The NWSL is the most peaceful of the five labor situations in soccer. The NWSL Players Association has taken a nonaggressive approach to dealing with the league, with the common understanding that the NWSL needs to stabilize before its players can take any collective action. — Mark J. Burns
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SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
PORTFOLIO PAGE TURNERS
Covering iconic events and athletes or sports business storylines of the past decade, these new releases can fill out your reading list this winter. By Kody Timmers
No Way But to Fight: George Foreman and the Business of Boxing By Andrew R. M. Smith Publish date: Jan. 10; University of Texas Press
Smith lays out the evolution of the Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight champion’s career, tracing his path from poverty in Houston to worldwide fame.
Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series By Jesse Dougherty Publish date: March 24; Simon & Schuster
The Washington Post’s Nationals beat writer chronicles the team’s stunning and unlikely march to postseason glory, as seen from inside the dugout and front office.
Start By Believing: Larry Nassar’s Crimes, the Institutions that Enabled Him, and the Brave Women Who Stopped a Monster By Jon Barry and Dan Murphy Publish date: Jan. 14; Hachette Books
Barry and Murphy detail the stories of the women who fought to gain justice and reclaim their sport.
Seven Days in Augusta: Behind the Scenes at the Masters By Mark Cannizzaro Publish date: March 10; Triumph Books
Cannizzaro pulls back the curtain on the crown jewel of golf’s major tournaments, giving fans a look at everything ranging from the par-3 contest to green jacket rituals.
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Making of a Miracle: The Untold Story of the Captain of the 1980 Gold Medal-Winning U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
Serena Williams: Tennis Champion, Sports Legend, and Cultural Heroine
An Athletic Director’s Story and the Future of College Sports in America
By Mike Eruzione with Neal Boudette Publish date: Jan. 28; Harper
By Merlisa Lawrence Corbett Publish date: Feb. 15; Roman and Littlefield Publishers
By Robert E. Mulcahy III Publish date: Feb. 14; Rutgers University Press
As the “Miracle on Ice” turns 40, U.S. captain Mike Eruzione, who scored the game-winning goal, recounts the Americans’ legendary upset of the Soviet Union from his perspective.
This account on Williams’ life examines her influence on not only tennis, but on political and cultural issues like feminism, racism in sports and the marketing of female athletes.
In this memoir, Mulcahy dives into his 10 years leading Rutgers University athletics, offering insights along the way on both the history of college athletics and the path ahead.
Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports By Yaron Weitzman Publish date: March 17; Grand Central Publishing
A look at the worst-to-first plan that led the 76ers out of mediocrity and into the NBA’s upper echelon.
The Back Roads to March: The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season By John Feinstein Publish date: March 3; Random House
A deep dive into the lesserknown underdogs, Cinderellas and small-time programs that dream of the NCAA tourney.
Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask By Jon Pessah Publish date: March 24; Little, Brown and Company
Pessah takes a thorough look at the beloved and quotable Yankees legend, shedding more light on the firstgeneration immigrant who won 13 World Series championships while also becoming a war hero and cultural giant.
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PORTFOLIO GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
A Champion For Women’s Sports Sue Campbell is a tireless ambassador for women’s soccer in England. While raising participation rates in the sport is one goal, the ultimate target is seeing the Lionesses bring home a World Cup trophy. BY JOHN REYNOLDS women’s football for England’s Football Association, has presided over a dramatic rise in the popularity of women’s soccer in the United Kingdom and still has one important goal to fulfill: winning a major trophy with the Lionesses. When she took on the challenge in 2016, Campbell was given three goals: double the fan base; double SUE CAMPBELL s o c c e r p a rticipation levels; and win n POSITION: Head of Women’s Football, the Women’s Football Association World Cup in n LOCATION: London 2023. n EDUCATION: Long The first Eaton Grammar School; Bedford College of two have been Physical Education; achieved. University of Leicester Now, Campn EXPERIENCE: CEO, bell hopes the Youth Sport Trust; government adviser; Lionesses can chairman, UK Sport; eclipse the head of women’s semifinal they football, FA reached in n PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL France this ACHIEVEMENT: summer and London 2012 Olympics, win a major hitting Team Great championBritain’s medal target n BEST BUSINESS ship: the ADVICE: Surround Wo rl d C u p, yourself with great the Olympics people and give them (as par t of roots to grow and wings to fly. Team Great Britain) or the European Championships. England will start as one of the favorites for all three. One stumbling block to World Cup and Olympic glory could be Team USA, the 2019 Women’s World Cup champions. Campbell, who spent a year at the University of Maine, is a big fan of the American high school system, which she says “generates great athletes,” contrasting it with the U.K. school sports system that she says is in decline. “They [American girls] come into sport athletic,” she said. Should the Lionesses win a major trophy, it would round out a long career devoted to sports, education and charity for Campbell. The former PE teacher played netball for England at the under-21 level, was chairman of UK Sport (2003-10), has been awarded Commander and Member of the Order of the British Empire honors for her work, and played a crucial role in Team Great Britain winning a record
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haul of medals at the 2012 London Olympics. “Sue was championing the women in sport agenda when it was the right thing to do rather than the fashionable thing to support,” said Andy Sutherden, head of international brand consulting for Creative Artists Agency. “A woman of high intellect, integrity and foresight. Everything running through the veins of female sport has her DNA.” Campbell is enjoying playing a role in raising the profile of women’s soccer. A record crowd of 77,768 watched the Lionesses’ match against Germany on Nov. 9, which Campbell said shows the game is now at a “tipping point.” “To have a crowd of that size com-
ing to watch the women play is a fantastic statement where the game has gotten to,” Campbell said. Campbell chatted recently with U.K. players about equal pay following news that women’s players in Australia had struck a landmark deal to earn the same as their male counterparts. England’s top players, Campbell said, are “very realistic” about what can be achieved, realizing that men’s soccer in Australia and the U.S., where there has also been a push for equal pay, is not the juggernaut it is in England. “Equal pay is not what they are talking about; what they are talking about is equal opportunity,” she said. “They want fairness. They believe their surroundings are just as good as support
Bigger than football BARCLAYS LAST YEAR became the first sponsor of the Women’s Super League in a three-year deal worth more than $13 million, including about $650,000 in prize money. The Football Association called the deal the biggest investment in a U.K. women’s sport by a brand. Sue Campbell said it goes well beyond the financial investment. “I think there is a big difference between sponsoring the men’s and sponsoring the women’s game,” she said. “With the men’s game, you are associating yourself with a very well-established big brand. In the women’s game, you are
Campbell is a former PE teacher and played netball for England.
as the men at the Lioness level, in terms of sports science, sports medicine. “But I think it’s things like commercial rights [where there is an issue]. If a man turns up to do a promotional piece for a partner, they get paid an awful lot more than the women.” The popularity of the women’s game may be on the rise, but Campbell is not standing still. “I am enjoying it, I wouldn’t want to stop,” she said. “I have always said while I have the energy and I can make a sensible and good contribution, I will stay. While I can, I will.” John Reynolds is a writer in London.
associating yourself with a real iconic brand around girls and women. It’s not just about football, it is bigger than that. “For example, Barclays is interested in this in terms of equality in the workplace, helping to develop more women though their business. They are in not just for football. They are in it for a broader and bigger reason. “I think that has made the partnerships we have gotten — and the emerging ones we are getting — really meaningful. It’s not just somebody coming in branding something. It literately is somebody coming in with a joint mission to change things. And that makes it very powerful for us.” — J.R.
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Getty Images
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If you are 50 years old, you were among the first to grow up with dozens of cable channels. If you are 40, you came of age alongside the internet. If you are 30, you saw the emergence of the cellphone. If you are 20, your cellphone T@n @]x@zn HMM` @ n_@mqjTb`M£ R zbr @mM zbr½]] nbb`¿rnM qT@q n_@mqjTb`M¿qb nqmM@_ zbrm R@wbmUqM U`R]rM`IMmn£ 2MIT`b]bSz Mwb]wMn lrUI\]z£ q IT@`SMn Tbx xM Ib`nr_M njbmqn @`K MwM` xTb Ib`nr_Mn njbmqn ± U` nq@KUr_n @`K arenas, at home and in our palms. The only thing constant is
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DEMOGRAPHICS, PAGE 24 The future audience for sports is diverse, faced with economic challenges and willing to ask for what it wants. By Bret McCormick
DELIVER
PAGE 2
Higher expectations will drive innovation and customization of the fan experience, both in-venue and on-screen. By Eric Prisbell
DEMAND PAGE 31 Millennial and Gen Z fans create their own game-day experiences and are loyal to teams that support and simplify that process. By Bill King
FUTURE FORWARD FANS DEMOGRAPHICS
chasing the next generation of fans
2040
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American generations — X, millennial, Z and Alpha — will be in, or entering, their prime adult spending years. Gen Zers and millennials in particular will be between the ages of 31 and 59. Together, those two groups will make up 41% of the U.S. population; only one-third of Americans will be older than millennials. What impact will these generations have on the sports industry in the next 20 years? Looking at their formative experiences and generally shared behaviors gives clues to some possible answers. By 2040, Gen Xers will be between the ages of 60 and 75. Sports industry pollster Chad Menefee thinks
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that group, many of whom will be empty nesters, is the safest bet for traditional sports fan spending. But the three generations that follow will consume most of the sports industry’s attention and resources in the next two decades. In Menefee’s opinion, one fear should bounce around the sports industry’s collective thoughts late at night: its struggle to make lasting connections with young fans. He shared SSRS/Luker on Trends polling data that shows, among 12- to 34-yearolds, the percentage of avid fans of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football, college basketball and pro soccer all dropped in the past 20 years, as much as 7% for some sports. Fewer young people developing avid fandom means there are likely to be fewer people in the
sports tent going forward. And it means that the sports industry needs to start winning the fight for young people’s shorter attention spans. Now. “People don’t just become sports fans when they’re adults,” said Menefee, SSRS/Luker on Trends’ executive vice president of strategic intelligence. Millennials and Gen Zers’ unprecedented racial and ethnic diversity, the unique reasons behind their time and resource allocation, and their technology-centric existences will challenge, and shape, sports business. “This Gen Z is going to upend sports,” said Todd Merry, chief marketing officer for Delaware North. “Some [in the industry] are going to prosper, and others are going to have a tougher time.”
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Getty Images / Photo illustraion by Liz Spangler
By Bret McCormick
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
generational dna A generation is a group of individuals born in a similar period of time that experienced a shared set of formative life experiences. Sports Business Journal used widely accepted definitions of the five most recent generations to look at each generation’s unique DNA. — Bret McCormick
BABY BOOMERS Born in the years 1946 to 1964, baby boomers are named for the period of 18 straight years with elevated birth rates that followed World War II. Boomers were the first generation to grow up natively with television and rock ’n’ roll, and their childhoods coincided with America’s huge postwar economic growth. Many boomers came of age during the politically tumultuous 1960s and ’70s, experiencing Civil Rights, assassinations of key political figures, feminism and the Vietnam War.
MILLENNIALS Born between 1981 and 1996, millennial childhoods occurred during the economically successful 1990s, but the generation came of age during 9/11, lengthy and costly Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the Great Recession. Millennials were the first to grow up with the internet. They also were the first to feel the effects of Title IX legislation — millennial girls embraced sports participation from the earliest ages like never before.
GENERATION Z
GENERATION X
Gen Zers were born between 1997 and 2009. Gen Zers are complete digital natives and most can’t remember life without smartphones, social media, fantasy sports, mobile purchasing or streaming. They’re more comfortable communicating digitally than in person. Gen Zers grew up with America’s first black president, constitutionally backed same-sex marriage and increasingly legal marijuana.
Gen Xers were born between 1965 and 1980 and were the first natives of personal computers, video games, cable TV and the automated teller machine. They’re also the first generation to grow up with both parents working. Gen X experienced key 20th century moments of world peace and reconciliation, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the end of South African apartheid. But economically, Gen X became the first generation less well off than the preceding one.
Born in 2010 or later, this is the first generation entirely born in the 21st century. The oldest Alphas will turn 10 years old in 2020, so there isn’t much information about them yet. But they are the first generation in history whose parents widely used mobile device screens as pacifiers. The long-term effects of that are unknown. Expect Alphas to continue accelerating many of the diversity, education and technology trends that started with millennials and Gen Z.
GENERATION ALPHA
CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA d v r y o the generations at or approaching adulthood will change America during the next two decades. Nearly half of Gen Z is a racial or ethnic minority (48%), at least 9% more than any other American generation in history. U.S. Census Bureau statistics from 2017 showed that every age of Generation Alpha is composed of more minority children than white children, a generational milestone in the nation’s history. According to the Brookings Institution, at least a quarter of millennials speak a foreign language at home (compared with 11% of baby boomers in 1980), and millennials are three times as likely as boomers to marry across racial lines. Many millennials and Gen Zers have a foot in two cultures. Even those who don’t still seem comfortable trying different things because they have world views broadened by increasing diversity and internet and social media. Sports business is responding to that willingness. Merry said that Delaware North changes menus at its stadiums on a weekly basis, almost always including new offerings from around the globe. Ticketing is another area where younger generations’ willingness to try new things can pay off for sports properties. Atlanta-based company Inwego offers monthly subscriptions in each of seven select cities that pro-
vide tickets to a variety of sporting events, concerts and festivals in the chosen city. Inwego general manager Chris LeCraw said that 80% of the company’s subscribers are millennials or Gen Zers. “One hundred percent of them tell us they tried something new that they would never have otherwise done before,” LeCraw said. “They tell us that’s what they love about it.” The increased diversity and global exposure of these generations contribute to their liberal leanings, according to Brookings’ William Frey. Fiftynine percent of registered millennial voters are, or lean, Democratic, according to Pew Research Center, and even conservative Gen Zers are more centrist than older Republicans. Millennials came of age as same-sex marriage, marijuana and gambling became increasingly accepted or legalized. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
GEN Z’S DIVERSITY Generation Z will be the most diverse generation in American history, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections. The bureau’s population projections for 2060 say that the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S. during the next four decades will be people who identify as “two or more races,” with a growth rate of 200%. 1968 BABY BOOMERS 2002 MILLENNIALS
1986 GENERATION X 2018 GENERATION Z
39% 48%
30%
18% 40%
30%
20%
10%
Source: Pew Research Center
Sports-anchored Mixed-use How-to
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Younger generations are also causemotivated. A Nielsen report on millennial shopping habits showed that 70% of respondents were more likely to buy from a company that was perceived to handle a social issue well. What that means in 20 years for sports properties, leagues and broadcasters could make “sticking to sports” a less appealing option in 2040. “I think how sports institutions react and interact with these very racially diverse millennials will say not just how well the sports industry is doing but a good barometer of how the country will be dealing with its diversity,” Frey said.
CHANGING VIEWS Millennials and Generation Z continue to liberalize America. Among registered millennial voters, 59% are, or lean, Democratic. And even conservative members of Gen Z appear more centrist than their Republican counterparts in older generations, according to Pew research. As the NFL, NBA and MLS were reminded during the last few years, political and social issues are often unavoidable. How sports deal with those issues — and what sports fans expect from their reactions — will be very different by 2040. GENERATIONAL VIEWS ON THE NFL ANTHEM KNEELING PROTESTS APPROVE DISAPPROVE
38% 36% GENERATION X 53% BABY BOOMER 61% SILENT 68% GENERATION Z MILLENNIAL
61% 62% 44% 37% 29%
Note: Share of respondents who didn’t answer not shown. Source: Pew Research Center
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n qu s on could have a big say in the sports industry’s 2040 health: What impact will the Great Recession and student loan crisis have on millennials’ future financial security and decision-making? That’s especially important for black and Hispanic millennials, who were disproportionately affected by both, according to Brookings research. The Great Recession contributed to what’s been called millennials’ “slow start.” For much of the last decade, millennials showed either a reluctance or an inability to engage in the big purchases connected to adulthood. But the slow start hasn’t stopped them from spending altogether. Charles Schwab’s 2019 Modern Wealth Report indicated that 48% of millennials have spent more money than they can afford to participate in an experience with friends, while 49% are influenced by social media to spend money on experiences. Both figures were higher than Gen Z or the general population. The Schwab report also indicated that 61% of Gen Zers pay more attention to how their friends are spending versus their own saving, and that they’re heavily swayed by social media influencers. Expect the sports industry to increasingly play up the experiential and social aspect of offerings over the next two decades. The Atlanta Braves hosted several “Selfie Sundays” this season where fans were allowed onto the playing field to take selfies with Braves players, and they also let Braves players take turns playing DJ during batting practice sessions. The players’ music playlists were then posted on Spotify for fans to access. As the Braves have found, most Gen Zers would rather take a selfie with a pro athlete and share on social media than get an autograph. That’s a good trend for sports, which is full of social influencers, whether star players or the celebrities sitting (or standing) courtside. “Sports are going to have to keep up with that trend,” said Doug Watson, Riot Games head of esports insights, “otherwise alternative forms of entertainment and influencers are going to start cutting away at the underlying business models.”
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship opening ceremony included team introductions, the unveiling of a five-sided Louis Vuitton trophy case, and a concert featuring holograms.
THE MARRIAGE EQUATION A Nielsen report on millennials’ consumption habits listed four key life milestones: having a job, living away from parents, marrying, and living with a child. In 1975, 45% of adults ages 25 to 34 had reached all four of those milestones. In 2016, only 24% of 25- to 34-year-olds had reached all four. Great Recession-related economic pressures are often credited with the biggest contribution to millennials’ later starts to adult life. AVERAGE AGE OF FIRST MARRIAGE 2019 MILLENNIALS 1968 BABY BOOMERS MALE FEMALE
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Source: Pew Research Center
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FOMO FINANCES
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n y of Gen Z is the defining generational characteristic that will most affect sports. Gen Xers and millennials are digitally savvy, but Gen Zers have only known a world abundant with digital convenience and entertainment options. A Pew report from 2018 noted that 95% of teenagers had a smartphone and that 45% of them said they were online almost constantly. Accordingly, the competition for Gen Z’s attention is unprecedented. A 2017 Think with Google report on the group said that 71% of 13- to 17-year-olds spent three or more hours per day online watching video, and nine out of 10 teens play video games on either their computers, smartphones or game consoles, according to Pew. “This is an audience, which is probably the most highly educated that we’ve seen, that has the most information at their hands, that has a number of alternative options for their leisure time available to them,” Watson said. “And they demand innovation.” Winning the attention of millennials and Gen Zers is the challenge for the sports industry. But because their phones are always in their hands, LeCraw said they’re easier for sports marketers to reach than previous generations. If done well, that could lead to increased brand exposure over the next 20 years, crucial for reaching a group of people motivated by their digital lives to spend money. Those same phones can also potentially provide properties with valuable data on fans that can be used to tailor their experience. The ever-faster pace of change will make those kinds of business insights invaluable. “You can’t stop learning about these people. This is a constantly changing, fluid group,” said Delaware North’s Merry. “We know we have to continually take the temperature of this group, understand what they want.”
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
No part of the sports industry is more closely linked to Gen Z than esports. Esports offers unprecedented access to its stars, streams everything, and uses cutting edge technology for viral moments during big events. In pursuit of younger fans, traditional sports will continue to borrow ideas like those from competitive video gaming. Esports was well positioned to ascend because of millennials and Gen Zers’ affinity for video games — 97% of male teens play video games, according to the Think with Google report — but it will likely grow its position as a cultural force in the coming decades because of how it resonates with millennials and Gen Zers in key ways: an innovative digital-first product that is accessible on demand, on any device, and inexpensively; that’s full of culturally influential star players; and that’s played/watched/discussed by a diverse and global audience. So, recent news that the U.S. Navy, just two years removed from spending $20.2 million on TV advertising, cut
TV out of its 2020 advertising budget entirely shouldn’t come as a surprise. Instead, the Navy will spend 97% of its advertising dollars — about $33 million — online. The bulk of that will be shifted into esports, in which the Navy will become a prominent sponsor and field a team. Research showed that the Navy could find its target audience — 17- to 28-year-olds — in the digital realm. Lou DePaoli, the New York Mets’ executive vice president and CRO, knows that Generation Alpha, whose members have grown up with screens as pacifiers, are well on their way to joining that digital realm, too. “I have a granddaughter who is 2 1/2, and I’ve seen her — this was at a year and a half — pick up my daughter’s iPhone and she knows instinctively when a notification comes in, to flick it up to get it off the screen,” DePaoli said. “So, 20 years from now, when she’s maybe working in professional sports, or is an athlete or just a fan, what’s it going to be for her?”
SMARTPHONE GENERATION Generation Z is the first digital native generation in American history. As such, many of the generation’s members have never known life without smartphones, social media and mobile purchasing. Gen Z’s ability to quickly learn and understand new technology, a skill shared by millennials and many in Generation X, should encourage the sports industry to hit the gas on tech and digital innovation during the coming decades.
A Think With Google report looked at three different age brackets in 2017; at what average age did each group receive their first smartphone? AGE BRACKET IN 2017 AGE WHEN FIRST SMARTPHONE ACQUIRED
13 to 17 12
18 to 24 13
14
15
16
25 to 34 17
18
Source: Think With Google report on Generation Z from 2017
Los Bravos, launched in 2017, has helped spur Spanishlanguage engagment across the Braves’ social media accounts.
Atlanta Braves (2)
Merchandise around the Braves’ Los Bravos Hispanicfocused sub-brand is among the MLB club’s bestsellers.
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‘This is what america is’: Will sports teams and leagues still be holding heritage months — celebrations of specific ethnicities, races or countries — by 2040? If they are serious about reaching America’s increasingly diverse audiences over the next two decades, the answer will be no. Heritage months are already out the window at Major League Soccer. The league prides itself on what it calls cultural fluency, evident in its 2019 “Our Soccer” campaign. The campaign featured pop singer Prince Royce and was voiced in English, Spanish, French and Spanglish (a mix of Spanish and English). “The way we look at it comes from this idea of what North America is becoming,” said David Bruce, MLS’s senior vice president of brand and integrated marketing. “It is younger, it is more diverse, it is more connected to the world. As a result of that, our sport and our league is a reflection of where America and Canada are going.” MLS intentionally picked culturally fluid influencers like Prince Royce, born in the Bronx and of Dominican descent, and Miguel, who is African American with a Mexican parent. Those choices show the kinds of people that MLS wants to include in its tent. “This is what America is,” Bruce said. “We pitched a position to build our brand so that it’s able to speak to these
people all of the time, and not just a certain time of year. They will recognize themselves, connect their values and who they are, and they will see that in how we talk about the league and our clubs.” Bruce said cultural fluidity begins with language. English and Spanish live alongside each other in many American households, and in the stands at MLS matches. “Spanglish has been connected to contrived marketing,” Bruce said. “But if you go into any of our stadiums, any of our dressing rooms, you will hear Spanish and English being thrown together in the same sentences. So, we’re able to weave the two languages together.” Soccer’s global appeal positions it to thrive in a more diverse America. The same could be true for a sport like baseball, which has a hugely international player pool, but a fan base that hasn’t reflected that diversity. Adrian Williams is trying to change that in Atlanta. He’s the Braves’ senior director of diversity and community marketing, becoming the first person in MLB with such a job title when he was hired three years ago. Of all Williams’ projects, the Braves’ Hispanicfocused sub-brand “Los Bravos,” launched in 2017, has been especially successful. The Braves’ Spanish-language social media accounts led all of MLB in growth and engagement since last May, according to Williams, and Los Bravos merchandise is among the club’s top-sellers, thanks to interest from all types of people, not just Hispanics. Ticket packages for 2019 games with Los Bravos activations were some of the organization’s top sellers. “You saw this true embrace of culture and people coming together to learn and understand about the Latino community,” Williams said. “Why? Because their favorite players are Latino, they see their favorite players wearing Los Bravos gear and so it became kind of this safe space for connections between cultures and communities.” — B.M.
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relying on a tech turning point
n dec
12 more than 70,000 fans at M&T Bank Stadium marveled at what appeared on video screens during a Baltimore Ravens Thursday night home game: a giant digital image of a raven soaring through the air and then sitting atop the goal post crossbar. When shared on social media, the Ravens’ video of the feature amassed nearly 4 million views. Is the Ravens’ mixed-reality display a preview of how sports fans’ world of tomorrow will be transformed? As technology continues to evolve at a rate that accelerates each year, 5G cellular networks — which enable delivery of large amounts of data at astonishing speeds — and artificial intelligence promise to unlock previously unimagined doors for fans to
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enhance their experience in venues, in living rooms and anywhere else they choose to consume sports. Over the next two decades, technology will emerge to fit the habits of what will be the two most important generations in the sports economy: millennials and Generation Z. Through interviews with more than a dozen league and team executives and sports technology innovators, one consensus crystallized about what to expect from sports technology in 2040: Increased personalization and engagement will be at the heart of what fans will seek and receive — all in real time. “The themes are choice and customization,” said Chris Marinak, MLB’s executive vice president of strategy, technology and innovation. “We are going to move away from a world where there is one way to consume the product to a world where there are 10 to 20 ways to consume the product. That’s what
fans are going to come to expect: optionality and customization.” Sports technology of the future will take shape at the same time teams and leagues across almost all sports confront significant headwinds in their ability to attract fans to live events. Amid declining attendance numbers across several sports, namely college football and MLB, technology — and perhaps a giant digitized raven flying around stadiums is a start — is expected to play a large role in countering that trend. “We have to make sure that whatever we are offering on TV for the viewer at home, that we are offering close to that experience in the ballpark,” said Lou DePaoli, the New York Mets’ executive vice president and CRO. “Or you’re just going to see people say, ‘Why would I go when I could just stay home?’”
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NBAE/Getty Images / Photo illustraion by Liz Spangler
By Eric Prisbell
SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
A REASON TO SHOW UP v ra
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especially in baseball, have already begun to think creatively, trying to appeal to younger generations by offering ticket packages that give fans access to more varied social experiences in venues. Offering more communal in-venue experiences is a step in the right direction but likely not enough. Technology for fans in stadiums needs to catch up, and teams know it. The Mets, for instance, have had several discussions the last few years with augmented reality vendors. DePaoli said he watched the Ravens’ animated mixed-reality showcase with great interest. And he noted that in March an augmented reality display of a wyvern — a mythical dragon-like creature — appeared on the world’s largest LED baseball scoreboard in a Korean Baseball Organization stadium. While clearly innovative, it is just the beginning of AR possibilities that will aim to both entertain and inform fans. “The pitcher is doing his thing and the crowd is engaged with the dragon. OK,” DePaoli said. “If that is what it takes to get younger fans involved, I think the key is not just to have a dragon flying in, but at some point, how do you use it to augment the actual experience of the game? I think that will be very important.”
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But there is a fine line separating cool and gimmicky. As Whitney Wagoner, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, succinctly notes: Gen Zers “can see through bull.” “They are really skeptical about brands and hate inauthenticity,” she said. “They are digital first but they have a really sensitive BS meter.” The Dallas Cowboys earned positive reviews for early experimentation with AR potential after AT&T rolled out its 5G wireless network at AT&T Stadium in February. Fans who attended Cowboys home games this season were able to participate in AR scenarios that placed them beside their favorite player by using a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone. 5G, and the technology that it empowers, is going to give fans a reason to return en masse to venues at some point, said Blake Davidson, the founder of Charlotte-based Game Seven Partners, which works with brands on strategy and business development. “You have to make it a really special experience,” Davidson said of executives’ challenge to bolster attendance in the future. “We are going to be in a world where you’re either looking through glasses that are really easy to use, or some other device, and you’re going to see a lot of data and different things that enhance the overall experience.”
ACCESS TO INFORMATION r
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and mobile devices, Gen Zers are not enthused about one-size-fits-all experiences. They already consume sports differently. Jim Cavale, the founder of INFLCR, which helps build brands for college athletes and college athletic programs through social media, added that Gen Z sports fans are much less likely to spend three hours attending or even watching live broadcasts of one entire sporting event. They are much more likely, he said, to follow it in real-time on social media. The younger the generation, the more they seek a one-stop shop for all information needs. Ask Don White, the co-founder of the AI-powered engagement platform Satisfi Labs in New York, whose own children always want to know why virtual assistant Siri doesn’t have every possible answer and why they have to ask any human any question when they attend games. “One comment was, ‘How come when I’m home, I know what’s going on, and how many points that guy has and that he is 10 steals away from a record but when I’m next to you at the game, I don’t know all of that?’” White said. “Why is information pushed to the viewing audience and not to the live audience?” The same applies for instant replay reviews. Fans in the stadium often are the last to see the definitive camera angle that home viewers have access to. CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
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Technology is expected to change that. Imagine a future sports world where a smartphone — even without use of an app — will be capable of providing a multitude of information and video with a simple voice command, and do it immediately, far beyond what virtual assistants can do today. By 2040, Luke Ritchie, head of XR & Interactive Arts for Nexus Studios, believes fans may be accustomed to wearing contact lenses or light eyewear while attending games. The eyewear, he said, would enable fans to not only see enhanced data and graphics, but it will be personalized to their preferences, much like Instagram photo filters. “It will render high-end graphics over a 5G connection — that’s reasonable,” he said. “And there is no reason that as fast as you get a broadcast TV replay, that you can’t project on the left side of your eye the replay that you want to see. The in-home experience will be brought into the stadium experience.” White is looking forward to the day when you can tackle your entire pregame checklist while driving to a game (or relaxing in a self-driving car) with the help of a virtual assistant: Order ahead for your kids to eat at the stadium and have food arrive when they get seated; buy groceries to arrive at your house when you return; upgrade your tickets to club-level suites and even improve your parking spot after receiving an alert that one lot is already full. The virtual assistants, White said, “will be your remote controls for life.”
Through mixed-reality technology, the Baltimore Ravens created the image of a giant raven soaring over M&T Bank Stadium on Dec. 12. The video was a hit on social media.
streaming, here’s a contrarian view. The late iconic former NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a lengthy September interview with Sports Business Journal that, while society’s current focus is on streaming and what’s possible on mobile, innovation will eventually lead to the return of the so-called Big Screen. “Why are we busy with these second-screen experiences — how about the first screen?” Stern said. “8K in a 70-inch LG Samsung, Sony, whatever? My God. Maybe I’m a captive to my history, but why would I want to watch the NBA Finals on my iPhone when I can watch them on my 72-inch, Dolby surround-sound connected TV? It’s going to come back. The pendulum is going to swing.” Regardless of screen preference, one innovation that MLB’s Marinak foresees is artificial intelligence and machine learning taking home-viewing fans from game to game each night. Press a play button and let a computer decide what live action to show you because it knows you’re a New York Yankees fan or a Mike Trout fan or a lover of bases-loaded situations in any game. In the sports world of tomorrow, technology will customize the experience to suit fans’ preferences. “It’s more personalized highlights, more personalized overlays and packages depending on how avid of a fan you are and how much data and information you want when you’re watching a game,” Marinak said. “Viewers can pick what is most compelling for them, and you can extrapolate that over the long run to be a truly personalized experience with dozens and dozens of options so that you can consume the content in a way that’s most compelling for you.”
CUSTOMIZED VIEWING EXPERIENCE
h n fans watch games at home, either streaming
on a secondary screen or on a large primary screen, the key will be personalization. From graphic overlays on telecasts to a seemingly infinite array of camera angles to the ability to choose or even be your own broadcaster and attract a following, the only limitation will be fans’ imagination. Already, NBA TV offers a streaming option to watch games that include commentary by influencers. What’s more, Second Spectrum’s player tracking technology is providing fans with statistical overlays. As the NBA’s director of programming and content strategy, Sara Zuckert believes 5G will unlock a “whole world of opportunity to us related to the telecast.” In the summer of 2019, the NBA for the first time delivered a broadcast provided entirely by smartphone cameras using 5G mobile technology and enabling new camera angles to capture on-court action. As 5G continues to be rolled out, “you’re going to have the incredible ability to create really amazing sports viewing experiences that you can take anywhere,” said Jeff Gerttula, executive vice president and GM of CBS Sports Digital. “It will just be really easy to watch whatever you want to watch wherever you are. The quality of the stream is going to be at a level that we really can’t comprehend.” For those who believe that the future belongs exclusively to
ONLY THIS AND NOTHING MORE Anyone who saw the Baltimore Ravens’ video of a giant bird circling M&T Bank Stadium could be forgiven for hoping the crowd survived the experience unscathed — except that the massive black raven swooping around the venue was a mixed-reality creation and didn’t actually exist. The bird was shown on the stadium’s video boards throughout the Ravens’ Dec. 12 game and in videos posted on the team’s social media accounts that night. The NFL team worked for several months on the project with the California-based fan experience company Famous Group and it made quite the splash once revealed to the wider world.
258,000 23,100
VIEWS
ENGAGEMENTS
Source: Baltimore Ravens
400,000 538,510 3.2 MILLION 210 072
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SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL
DEMAND
fueling interest on their terms
By Bill King Getty Images / Photo illustraion by Liz Spangler
c n
nds behind the goal
at Mercedes-Benz Stadium during an Atlanta United game and you will find the requisite accoutrements of a soccer supporters group — drums, horns and, of course, scarves in various combinations of the club’s red, black and gold, stretched wide and held high. All MLS clubs have at least one recognized supporters group. Most have several. Atlanta has four. Terminus Legion was the first of them, born even before MLS chose the city for expansion. Resurgence prides itself as being the rowdiest and most committed, not only chanting and singing and waving scarves,
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but gathering several nights a week to create the giant tifo artwork that they then raise in the stands. Footie Mob is as much about Atlanta culture — food, drink and social life — as it is soccer, welcoming the casual fan who may be new to the game. The Faction is the family-friendly supporters group, with a pregame tailgate sectioned off from the rest. Chief among the reasons Atlanta United has obliterated MLS attendance records, averaging about 52,000 fans per game since inception, is its appeal among millennials, who make up about 25% of the city’s metro population. They tend to be the club’s most avid fans. For the reason behind that, look no farther than
the 5,000 seats behind the goal, where fans not only choose the supporters group that they most closely identify with, but also have a say in their experience on match days. “That concept of organically generating energy, with the fans leading vs. us telling them what to do, I think that ties back to something that really resonates with that millennial or Gen Z audience,” said Catie Griggs, Atlanta United’s vice president of business operations. “They don’t want to be told what to do. They don’t want to be told when to cheer. They’ve got very strong opinions about that — believe me, they share them. CONTINUED ON PAGE 32
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FUTURE FORWARD FANS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31
“This is something where they have a sense of ownership and pride. They believe this is their team — and not because most of them grew up supporting us, because they didn’t. It’s because they truly believe that they are part of what makes this team special. And I agree with them.” There may be no better example of a sports fan experience built to suit a millennial or Gen Z fan than the way that supporters members buy their season tickets. Of the 5,000 seats reserved for them — the most of any stadium in MLS — 3,400 are general admission. That means friends can sit together, regardless of whether they buy their seats together, whether as a group of four or a dozen. Five hours down I-75 from Atlanta in Gainesville, University of Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin has taken notice of the culture of soccer supporters groups and the ticketing and game operations approach that clubs take with them. Like many major college football programs nationwide, Florida has seen a decline in student attendance, a development that would shock those who remember students packing into every last seat available for decades. Only 20 years ago, the Gators regularly filled 21,500 seats held for students. Now, they hold 18,000 and often end up with 2,500 unsold. And even the sold tickets do not all translate to filled seats: Students arrive late and leave early with increased frequency. With a winning team, a high-caliber opponent, a convenient kickoff time and good weather, they will show up in numbers and on time and stay through the end. But they have little tolerance when those variables are short of ideal. “They may show up in the second quarter and leave in the third quarter,” Stricklin said. “They came. They got scanned. But they’re on to other things. It has not held their attention. They have no fear of missing out and they move on. They don’t feel like they’ve missed anything.” We point out Florida’s dilemma not because it is in worse shape than others in this regard, but because it has become typical, even at the nation’s elite football schools. The alumni and general seating sections remain much as they have been, a product embraced by baby boomers and Generation Xers and at least tolerated by millennials, so long as the Wi-Fi works. But for today’s students, who have never known a time in which they didn’t carry the internet in their palms, expectations have changed. “We need to be creative about how our student section is laid out,” Stricklin said. “The old worst seats in the house, cram them in — I’m not sure that works anymore. You go to a soccer game and they have these cheering sections that have a different vibe. They’ve got something cool there and it’s not the same as where everybody else is sitting. To me, that’s the future of the student sections — those supporters areas at the soccer games.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ATTENDANCE TRENDS Despite the increase in the number of FBS schools from 120 in 2010 to 129 in 2018, and a 7.6% increase in the number of home games over that period, overall attendance decreased by 1.9% and average attendance dropped by 8.9%. TOTAL ATTENDANCE (DOWN 1.9%) 36m 34m 32m 30m
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
AVG. HOME ATTENDANCE (DOWN 8.9%) 46k 44k 42k
l n a s a d g zs together will make up 41% of the U.S. population in 2040, according to census projections. Based on life stage and work stage, they will be expected to drive the majority of the sports economy. To anyone who has paid attention to the progression of millennials and the older cohort of Gen Zs as sports fans and consumers up until now, this may be cause for concern. Social scientist Rich Luker began polling U.S. sports fans on avidity, consumption habits and a range of other matters 25 years ago with what became the ESPN Sports Poll and is now known as SSRS/Luker on Trends Sports Poll, creating what is the deepest treasure trove of fan data available. In 2010, as the internet
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40k
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
NO. OF GAMES PLAYED 850 800 750 700
2009
2010
Note: At home stadiums only (excludes neutral site games). Attendance data separating 2019 neutral-site games from home stadium games had not been released by the NCAA as of press time. Source: SBJ analysis of NCAA data
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INTEREST INTO REVENUE
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Student attendance at Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is not as automatic as it once was. Fewer youngsters are developing a love of sports, leading to questions about how teams and leagues will respond when those children become adults.
began its rapid migration from the home to the palm, Luker began to notice sizable shifts in aspects of fandom that had been relatively consistent previously, particularly among teens. The youngest fans always have migrated from favorite sport to favorite sport, and that continued, with soccer and competitive video games showing increasing popularity. But for the ďŹ rst time, the poll showed a decline in avidity for sports in general. It set off an alarm that Luker has been sounding ever since. “At the most basic level, people tend to start off the most interested they’ll ever be in sports in middle school or late elementary school and then it declines over time,â€? said Chad Menefee, executive vice president of strategic intelligence at SSRS/Luker on Trends. “The fact is, there are fewer people who are interested in sports at the earliest ages. So there are likely to be fewer people in the tent going forward.â€? The consequences of that shift have been increasingly visible. High school sports participation dropped last year for the ďŹ rst time in 30 years, following a pattern of decline in youth sports in the last decade. Those who do become fans are less inclined to watch entire games on TV or show up and stay for entire games when they get to college. A recent McKinsey analysis of Nielsen data showed that while NFL viewership among millennials declined 9% during the 2016-17 season, the number of millennial viewers actually increased by 2%. The decline
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came because they watched 8% fewer games and 6% fewer minutes per game, averaging 1 hour, 12 minutes. That predilection for smaller portions could provide a road map for sports properties as they search for ways to secure their fan bases. Another key may lie in the manner in which the sports and media industries convert interest into revenue, said McKinsey partner Dan Singer. McKinsey found that millennial sports fans reported using streaming sites and apps for sports content almost twice as much as their Gen X predecessors, a trend that has accelerated even more for Gen Z. Both also are more inclined to express their fandom by interacting with content on social media. The fact that they aren’t likely to watch as much sports doesn’t mean they see themselves as less committed fans. “What I’m saying is I think the biggest [question] in the industry is less about how often and how much consumption there will be digitally,â€? Singer said, “and more about how quickly we can monetize that engagement.â€? All of this makes one wonder what will happen as Gen Zs enter the workforce and have children, and millennials advance into the life stage that traditionally has fueled the sports economy and set up the next generations to do the same. As an associate athletic director at Arizona State and the University of Texas and now as a consultant to college programs across the country, Steve Hank developed a practice of segmenting fans in college stadiums, encouraging programs to survey alumni, students and fans and then tailor varied game-day experiences that cater to the different segments. “The experience for the student needs to be different than the experience for the alumni, which needs to be different from the casual fan, and you need to present and program all of those differently,â€? said Hank, who is working with UF to redesign its game-day experience. “We can either adapt and build our experiences to that or stick our heads in the sand and say we don’t understand. If we do the latter, and some of that has occurred, it will have severe consequences for franchises and universities moving forward.â€? Atlanta United has the beneďŹ t of self-identiďŹ ed supporters clubs who help craft the experience at its games. But it also drills down beyond that, conducting surveys after each game, collecting 800 to 2,000 responses. “The reason we are seeing ongoing success is we really do listen to our fans’ feedback,â€? Griggs said. “We’re making changes on that and communicating to them that we’re changing. “Not only pretending to listen to your fans, but truly listening and then closing the circle and letting them know ‘We did this because of you’ goes a long way. Everyone wants to be heard. And with these younger generations, there’s an expectation to be heard in a way that didn’t exist before.â€? Hank pointed to surveys and focus groups as the driving force behind the massive Bevo Blvd. fan fest that updated the game experience at University of Texas home football games. “If you don’t build the relationship and start speaking to each of them in terms that are relevant to them today,â€? Hank said, “you’re going to have a very hard time engaging them in 20 years.â€?
TURNKEY SPORTS POLL The following are results of the Turnkey Sports Poll taken in December. The survey covered more than 2,000 senior-level sports industry executives spanning professional and college sports.
What is the biggest challenge for sports leagues as they build strategies to engage the fan of the future? COST OF ATTENDING LIVE SPORTING EVENTS
43% TIME COMMITMENT TO ATTEND LIVE SPORTING EVENTS
27% DECLINE IN LIVE TV VIEWING HABITS
16% RISE OF ESPORTS AND OTHER NONTRADITIONAL SPORTS
7% DECLINING YOUTH SPORTS PARTICIPATION RATES
7% Which of the following mainstream sports leagues is most popular among the following age groups? 13-17
18-34
35-49
50+
NFL 13%
38%
77%
52%
NHL NASCAR MLS
3% 2%
21%
MLB
4%
NBA
6% 3% 9%
5% 40%
3%
2% 5% 9%
57%
41%
7%
3%
Source: Turnkey Intelligence in conjunction with Sports Business Journal. Turnkey Intelligence specializes in research, measurement and lead generation for brands and properties. Visit www.turnkeyintel.com.
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OPINION
New ‘campuses’ would prioritize female athletes
I
F YOU LOOK AT athletic schedules, you’ll probably see a pat-
tern: Boys’ and men’s teams get the most popular time slots. Meanwhile, girls’ and women’s teams often practice and play at earlier, less desirable hours. One more thing you might notice: At the college level, it’s not uncommon for women’s teams to play and practice in smaller, older facilities. Meanwhile, the men get bigger, newer, better equipped facilities. At the pro level, women’s teams often struggle to find homes that fit their fan bases and their budgets. “In most contexts, whether it’s high school, college or professional, girls and women are typically perceived as second-class citizens,” said Nicole LaVoi, co-director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & BY SHIRA Women in Sport at the University of MinSPRINGER nesota. When men’s sports are the priority, it sends a damaging message. And that message perpetuates the culture, system and larger narrative around women’s sports: They’re less important, less worthy of your time and investment. All of this is familiar territory. It happens with the many inequalities in women’s sports, whether you’re talking pay or broadcast schedules or game times or facilities. What can be done about it? Similar to activist investors, can activist women’s sports fans come together and create change? There’s a group in Greater Boston that thinks so. They may be on to something. The group is called Sports for Women. The group’s goal is ambitious: Create a national network of sports campuses purposely built for women’s teams and players. The state-of-the-art facilities will make female athletes the priority. The athletic facilities will be available to athletes of all levels from recreational to high school to college to pro. The planned centerpiece of each campus is a stadium designed to best accommodate women’s pro sports teams. The idea for Sports for Women was inspired by the downfall of the Boston Breakers. The women’s pro soccer team folded in early 2018, in part because it struggled to find a stadium that was the right size and the right price. Kate Painter, the founder and CEO of Sports for Women, was a Breakers fan. Frustrated by what happened with the team, she wanted to do more than mourn its disappearance. Painter has created a small leadership group and an advisory board that includes business and sports executives. The group has lined up supporters, too, ranging from women’s pro leagues to a Boston-area car service. The leaders are looking for 100 or more acres of land where they can build the New England campus. They see the multipurpose campuses generating revenue by charging teams to play, practice and take classes there. “What we see with this campus is an opportunity to potentially build something that derives revenue and creates a sports economy for women,” Painter said. “The whole point is to take that revenue and put it back into women’s sports directly, rather than filter it through someone else who’s driving the bus. We’ve got to drive our own bus. We need to build a different sports economic model for women.” Sports for Women is ambitious. It’s also very early in the concept building process, never mind the actual building process.
It’s too early to judge the group’s business plan. But what about the potential impact of its big idea and its big-swing approach? Facility-related issues in women’s sports are symptoms of a larger cultural and systemic problem. Can you change the system by going after the symptoms and chipping away? LaVoi understandably voiced caution about the plans on those grounds. “The real root of the problem is that sport has been constructed for men, by men, and run by men,” LaVoi said. “Until we address that systemic problem, we could have a lot of great ideas, but they’re not going to get any traction because the system is set up for us to fail.” That’s frustratingly true. But it shouldn’t stop groups from trying different cures. If Sports for Women or any other organization wants to try, then more power to them. Raising awareness, finding a platform, bringing more people into the conversation and creating women-first optics are always important steps toward change. Potentially, Sports for Women can do all that. There are some good examples where symptom-based strategies make an impression, if not a small impact on the larger culture. Think about athletic apparel companies focused exclusively on female athletes (Oiselle) or organizations that work for more
“We’ve got to drive our own bus. We need to build a different sports economic model for women.”
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fan support of women’s teams (SheIS) or sports organizations that equally promote women’s teams under the same ownership (Portland Thorns). Imagine, maybe a decade from now, a dozen campuses dedicated to women’s sports with a variety of fields and state-ofthe-art equipment. The optics alone would be powerful. Then, there’s the potential impact on the field and on revenue. It’s a simple equation: More and better facilities for female athletes lead to more and better training opportunities lead to better athletes lead to better competition lead to a bigger draw for teams and fans lead to more revenue generated. Shorter term, it’s important to recognize the driving force behind Sports for Women. The activist fan, not just the activist athlete, may be the way of the future. Sure, not every fan has the time and resources to start an organization. But the more people coming up with different ideas, trying different tacks, the better. That’s particularly true when it comes to loyal women’s sports fans who are as much on the front lines as the athletes. Or, at least, they should be. Shira Springer (saspring@bu.edu) covers stories at the intersection of sports and society for programs on NPR and WBUR, writes a column on women’s sports for the Boston Globe and teaches journalism at Boston University.
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The coming sports DTC squeeze play C ABLE NETWORKS have provided material,
the NHL, NFL and NBA come up in the next five growing rights fees and mass exposure for years, two things will happen: major sports properties for decades, col1. Recognizing that sports is the linchpin (tenulectively establishing sports’ supremacy within toously) holding pay TV together, the “must-have” day’s programming bundle. However, MVPD major pro leagues will strike especially aggressive subscriber counts continue falling, and despite risrights fee increases from existing media compaing per-subscriber fees to counteract the circulanies. tion decline, the available revenue won’t remain as 2. The pro leagues will morph their offerings, robust as originally anticipated when the current continuing to offer “traditional” linear coverage, slate of deals were consummated. Sports rights while adding co-branded or sport-branded apps, holders therefore will need to reconsider how best packages or platforms, which go beyond the histo deploy their content assets as the “squeeze play” torical one-way delivery mechanism, and create ensues: The most powerful few rights holders take added engagement, social, and business integraan even larger share of rights revenue in upcomtion to new audiences. ing deals; while the media environBut what will be left for remaining ment bifurcates and virtually rights holders, after the powerful BY ED DESSER everyone else finds that neither the few make their next set of deals? AND JOHN KOSNER money they hoped for, nor the full disThe answers might come first localtribution they’re used to, remains. ly. Here, we expect high-level team afCable gained favor over traditional finity, combined with the changing telecasts as it reached majority penetration deeconomics and ownership of RSNs in the Sincades ago, and the “dual revenue stream” enabled clair/Amazon era (Amazon just bought part of it to outbid broadcasters for live sports rights. But YES for a seat at this table), to accelerate adoption as cable’s penetration flags, and broadband coverof new models. For example, imagine if a team age grows, rights holders are confronted with a sold its traditional rights to an RSN (or ironically new choice between revenue and reach. They must a broadcaster), but then also launched (or partseriously consider hybrid approaches to reach nered with its RSN to create) a new team-devoted both traditional viewers and engage younger “capremium OTT product which combines game ble-never” fans. And not just cable, but also the opportunity of wide broadband reach, apps/sites favored by audiences under 30 (like Twitch and YouTube) and direct-to-consumer (DTC) offerings. Yes, feeds, additional cameras/angles/replays, with a today’s 65%-75% cable network penetration of TV live stats feed, integrated betting, social interachomes is still acceptable to most sports properties tion with other under 30-something fans, a special when coupled with superior rights fees, but once team event, merchandise, and game tickets only that drifts closer to half or less over the coming defor these new digital “fan club” subscribers cade, it will become necessary to re-slice the rights across innovative forms of mobile (e.g., a tighter “salami.” play-by-play shot), and direct home video distribuThis has already begun to occur, as the NFL oftion. Though the RSN might pay less (like MVPDs fers “Thursday Night Football” on broadcast do for nonexclusive network affiliates that are (Fox), pay TV (NFLN) and streaming via Yahoo, also available free over-the-air via antenna), it is Amazon Prime, and Twitch platforms. Baseball confronting falling subs and increasing price rehas added a package on YouTube (formerly on sistance from MVPDs, and therefore needs to find Facebook). We believe as national packages like some economies like nonexclusive rights to re-
main relevant — though at the risk of loosening its negotiating leverage. At the same time, teams can attract, and better serve, new-age “never” fans who wouldn’t even consider becoming virtual MVPD subs. The new DTC offering is a differentiated product, which provides the team with a direct business relationship with the majority of fans that aren’t ticket or traditional cable buyers, helps them cement their relationship in a way that is impossible via a three-step intermediated RSN (team/network/distributor/fan). With growing wholesale network pricing, RSNs find attaining high penetration from MVPDs more challenging. As the penetration falls, these new combination opportunities will start to look more attractive to teams, while permitting RSNs to moderate rate growth. Of course, RSNs are loath to allow buy-arounds. This new world will provide significant business opportunity for streaming companies, app developers and performance marketers. Staring into this coming, grinding, fundamental change, rights holders would be wise to start thinking through their new models now. Just as they have had to confront digital ticketing, the secondary market, and demand for new types of in-venue congregating spaces, teams will now face churn and piracy. Making the new economic media
What will be left for remaining rights holders, after the powerful few make their next set of deals? models work will require ongoing marketing, new offers and tailored packaging. In this “new normal” of ADD fans, unlimited quality nonsports competition, and changing fan expectations, that’s the way to still thrive in a world where only the strong survive. Ed Desser is president of consulting firm Desser Sports Media Inc. (www.desser.tv). John Kosner is president of Kosner Media LLC, a sports and digital consulting company (www.kosnermedia.com). Together they ran the NBA’s media operations in the ’80s and ’90s.
Writer’s candid story shines light on kind gestures I RECENTLY READ [staff writer Ben Fischer’s] thank
window where they can take their mind off of their you letter that ran in the Dec. 16-22 issue struggle and enjoy a life experience. of SBJ, and I wanted to thank him for Admittedly, there are times when I have How you sharing his (and Mandy’s) personal story. wondered if this gesture (which seems see it Since 2006, I have worked with the trivial in the grand scheme of things — after Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to all, the battle on the field is only a game invite a family who is dealing with cancer and does not compare to the real world in their life to every Eagles home game. I provide battle of cancer) was meaningful. them with 50-yard-line tickets, two sideline Ben’s thank you letter reminded me that it does passes, and I give them a bag of swag when I matter. His last two paragraphs so eloquently spend a few minutes with them before the game. described the impact that is possible. It not only My goal is to provide them with a three-hour warmed my heart, it also affirmed the privilege of
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being associated with and involved in sports and to have a platform to impact others. His letter touched me by letting me know that creating normalcy for someone may make life a little less scary. It was great to read the news that Mandy is in remission. Please thank Ben, again, for being so open with his readers. His story impacted this one. Don Smolenski President, Philadelphia Eagles
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FACES & PLACES
SOCCER ROYALTY Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles announced that Major League Soccer is coming to the Queen City during an event at the Mint Museum on Dec. 17.
Melissa Key / Charlotte Business Journal; Nicole Lee / NHL; Brian Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images; Kyle Hess Photography; Steinlight Media
#POWERFORWARD The Atlanta Hawks closed out 2019 with a Lady Ballers Holiday Clinic Powered by Georgia Power at Decatur High School on Dec. 31. During an afternoon #PowerForward session ESPN basketball analyst Andraya Carter led a panel discussion with Atlanta Dream head coach Nicki Collen; Pharlone Toussaint, Atlanta program officer at the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA; and NASM Elite Trainer Sondi Carter.
FROM THE BRIDGESTONE NHL WINTER CLASSIC above:
Bridgestone executives Amber Holm, VP, marketing consumer and customer engagement; Christine Karbowiak, EVP, vice chair, chief administrative officer and chief risk officer; CMO Philip Dobbs; and CFO Amanda Mathis attend the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day in Dallas. below: Dallas Stars Foundation President Marty Turco; NHL Chief Brand Officer/ EVP Brian Jennings; Terry Flowers, headmaster, St. Philip’s School & Community Center; Dallas Stars President Brad Alberts; and Dallas Stars players Denis Gurianov, Anton Khudobin, Jamie Oleksiak and Jason Dickinson attend the Winter Classic legacy initiative event at the St. Philip’s School & Community Center in South Dallas for the donation of a new ball hockey court.
IN THE STUDIO WITH BROADWAY JOE 16W Marketing co-founders Frank Vuono and Steve Rosner joined Pro Football hall of famer Joe Namath at a recent studio taping of television program “Game Time with Boomer Esiason.”
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CLOSING SHOT
Tiger Woods made his 2019 debut at the Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, finishing in a tie for 20th place at an event he has won seven times.
Swing States The PGA Tour will get 2020 off to a strong start with its traditional five-week West Coast run that this year marks the return of star players, a new title sponsor and new broadcast voices. THE PGA TOUR’S West Coast swing in-
cludes some of the tour’s longestrunning events on some of the most iconic courses and features the biggest stars, such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory Mcllroy, each of whom will be making his 2020 debut. This year’s five-week run also ushers in some major changes beginning on Jan. 16 with The American Express Pro-Am in La Quinta, Calif. The tour’s newest tournament title sponsor takes over an event that harks back to 1960 and the Bob Hope Classic era. It is the first time AmEx has been a title sponsor since it partnered with the WGCAmerican Express from 1999-2006. “In the FedEx Cup era, there is a new dimension to the parts of the seasons and the fall has gained more prominence, but the West Coast swing is a big deal because it’s got that feel
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to it,” said Tyler Dennis, senior vice president and chief of operations for the PGA Tour. “It’s got a lot of tournaments that have been around for a long time and we see a lot of excitement.” The West Coast swing’s four other events also figure to drive interest. After the American Express comes the
Gone are some of the network’s longtime analysts, including Gary McCord and Peter Kostis, while two-time Ryder Cup captain Davis Love will make his broadcast debut for the network. Trevor Immelman, Frank Nobilo and Michelle Wie will also be part of the CBS golf coverage that begins a new
“In the FedEx Cup era, there is a new dimension to the parts of the seasons and the fall has gained more prominence, but the West Coast swing is a big deal because it’s got that feel to it.” Farmers Insurance Open Jan. 23-26 at Torrey Pines in San Diego, where Tiger Woods traditionally begins his season. Mcllroy will also tee it up for the first time in 2020 at the Farmers. The Farmers will see the debut of a revamped announcing crew for CBS.
look this year following the retirement of lead producer Lance Barrow. The always-raucous Waste Management Phoenix Open follows the Farmers from Jan. 30-Feb. 2, with crowds swarming the TPC Scottsdale course and its iconic stadium holes for “the
Greatest Show on Grass.” The event is often the tournament with highest attendance of the season. Next comes the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am from Feb. 6-9, where golf and celebrity annually meet at the iconic seaside Pebble Beach course. This year’s Pebble Pro Am has a notable twist, as PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan partners with his dad, Joe, for a father-son pairing in the event. The final West Coast event is The Genesis Invitational, to be held in Pacific Palisades, Calif., from Feb. 1316. It will be beefed up with a more selective, invitation-only field of 120 players and a $9.3 million purse, the highest on the West Coast swing. “It is one of my favorite times of the year,” Dennis said. “I love all the places and the history. It is a fun five weeks.”
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BY JOHN LOMBARDO
Coming February 10
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Contact Julie Tuttle by January 24 212.500.0711 / jtuttle@sportsbusinessjournal.com