MEDIA AND SPORTS

       Media and Sports go hand in hand due to the fact that they both depend upon each other. They depend upon each other in the sense that the media would not have sports to report on if there was not any, and athletes get recognition from the media after they win a game.  However, there is always positive and negatives about the media reporting on sports.

        The pros of media coverage on sports is that athletes once they win a game they are recognized in the newspapers, T.V., public forums, and blogs.  Thus, media can bring about amazing praise, glorification and expectation. As well, intense national marketing and exposure tends to make any sport very popular and provides top dollar to the top. 

        

Bigggest Sports Conflict 2011

          The biggest sports conflict of this millennium is one of the NFL lockout.  This was huge as it was a major intense negotiation between the owners and the players who wanted a 60/40 split on revenues.  Thus, because the owners desired to make the regular season from 16 to 18 games the players rightfully deserved to be compensated for their extra games.  Therefore, due to the increase of millions of dollars from the cable TV contracts that would go into effect starting with the 14 seasons.  Also, more than just television revenue is in the mix with additional deals in digital and broadband arenas.   The negotiations consisted of how the two sides were to spit the $9 Billion in revenue. 

       

        

TradeMark Battles In Sports

          Sport fan enthusiasts recognize and associate their favorite teams logo, and mascots with certain teams- this is what stands them out and makes them different from the other teams.  Therefore, we need to protect this and not have trademark infringement.  Trademarks protect words, names, sounds, colors, symbols, sports mascots utilized in commerce to distinguish goods and services from one business to another. (Morrow, 2010)  An example of a popular mascot since 1947 is the Cleveland Indians mascot of the “Chief Wahoo.”    Thus, when people infringe upon these, as reproducing a mascot on the Internet this is a trademark infringement. 

            Universities have been fighting trademark infringement costing schools millions of dollars in lost licensing fees-Miami University sued a bookstore for using its Redhawk trademarks in bookstore advertising material. (Morrow, 2010)  I think that this is necessary to protect ones copyrighted works and material from being stolen without paying the rightful owner some money.  If someone comes up with an idea that idea should be protected and the illegal profiting of ones goods should have harsh consequences. 

           

Interview with T.K. Sports Agent

       I interviewed Tsubasa Kee for approximately 40 minutes to gain further insight into the world of being a sports agent.  Tsubasa is very knowledgeable in the world of sports having friends who play in the NFL and the NBA. 

       Tsubasa Kee known as T.K., is currently working at Sports Management Worldwide, in Portland Oregon as an athlete advisor /manager.  As well, he is the founder and President of 1^st class Athletes, a managerial company.   T.K graduated from Washington State University in Pullman, WA and with a Masters degree from Concordia University in Chicago.  (smwwagency, 2011)

         My first question to T.K was, what made him interested in this job as a sports agent?  He told me that a bunch of his friends play in the NFL pro league and they encouraged him to do it. Also, the film Jerry Maguire was an inspiring movie that excited him to pursuing his dream of sports agent.  He said when asked as a little kid what he wanted to be when grows up the answer was always a sports agent.

       

Social Media

        Social Media is a very important if one wants to have a successful business and to expand. Here is my presentation on the WWA and how they can improve upon utilizing social media more.

Facilities Management In Hard Economic Times

       
        This paper will discuss creative ways in which to attract fans to a facility in a down economy. The article begins out by stating that even though we are in a recession, sports still draw crowds to their events.  There still is fan loyalty to the larger collages and pro levels however; smaller teams are not doing so well in this economy.  It is found that Southerners stay passionate about football even during hard times as Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, and LSU brought in a combined $303 million.  Therefore, it appears that these teams and their rivals will continue to be successful in ticket sales, and T.V. contracts. 

         The devotion of the fans still attending events explains why television network ESPN and CBS have agreed to pay the Southwestern Conference $3 billion to broadcast football games over next 15 years.  Thus, ESPN and CBS remain positive that there will be a tremendously huge turnout for all the events still despite a crippling economy because people still need to see their favorite teams play and to support them. 

          

Biggest Sports Story of Past Decade

CNBC VIDEO- "The Biggest Plays in Sports Business"

        Alex Rodriguez was born July 27, 1975. He is a known as the best all around professional Baseball player, and plays third baseman for the NY Yankees. This is the biggest sports business story of decade as Alex, known as A-Rod, secured and finalized a $275 Million dollar deal with the Yankees.  Thus, this makes A-rod the highest paid Baseball player. 
          A-Rod deserves all this money as of Sept. 2010 he hit a home run surpassing Sosa's mark of 604 home runs.  Also, he was the youngest player to hit 50 home runs.  This is a remarkable story as he beat his previous mark or deal that agent Scott Boras helped him achieve with the Texas Rangers of a $252 million dollar deal.  This was due to the fact that A-Rod always wanted to return home to play with the NY Yankees but his agent told A-Rod that the Yankees did not want him back. However, this turned out not to be true and A-Rod found himself negotiating a deal by himself with Steinbrenner and his brother Hal, an executive vice president with the Yankees.  A-Rod knew what he was worth and is a very valuable player even thought never won or reached a World Series yet. He negotiated with the Yankees and after 2 conversations the  deal was made.  The deal was as follows: A-Rod is to receive approx 32 million a year for 10 years, a sign on bonus of 2 million, and 6 million each for five milestones that team designates as historic achievements.  As well, there is a no-trade clause in that A-Rod can not be traded without his permission.  This is a great contract in that it allows A-Rod to earn $30 million more for reaching historic milestones.