Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"More College Athletic Departments Partner With State Lotteries"

From Athletic Business


Review by Logan Klooster in KIN 332 (Section 2)


The article we selected “More College Athletic Departments Partner With State Lotteries” was written by Paul Steinbach for the October Issue of the Athletic Business journal in 2011. This article focuses on the College athletics and allowing the images of different universities branding on lottery tickets. The first two universities the article talks about are Oregon and Oregon State. Oregon refuses to put there emblem and mascot on the lottery tickets yet, Oregon State has no problem allowing their emblem on the scratch off ticket. Both Universities are publicly owned so both universities are state funded therefore both universities receive money from the lottery ticket. “Since 1990, the University of Oregon has received more than $11.3 million in lottery proceeds, while Oregon State has received $10.9 million, according to Chuck Baumann, the Oregon Lottery's senior communications specialist.”(Steinbach, 2011) Oregon’s IMG general manager Brian Movalson says, "It would be hypocritical, I think, to accept those dollars and not participate in something like this." (Steinbach, 2011) As for the second university mentioned in this article, Iowa doesn’t want to participate in the lottery because the lottery used a parody of their fight song and used unauthorized video of the inside of the stadium. These are not the only reasons why Iowa doesn’t want to get involved with the lottery. Iowa also doesn’t want to associate college athletics with gambling. Which brings up another question. Is it ethical to predict the scores on the scores on scratch off lottery tickets? In my opinion, I think it is ethical because it is merely a hypothesis of the outcome of the game and most people do this in their head. As for the Marketing implications in this article, they mention things such as branding of universities on lottery tickets, promotions for entering lottery, sales of lottery tickets, revenues earned from lottery tickets, and fan appeal. In my opinion if the university wants to receive funds from the lottery then they must be willing to use their emblem on the lottery tickets.

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Review by Brandon Schroth in KIN 332 (Section 2)

This article deals with college sports and the lottery. In particular, the controversy between Oregon and Oregon State. Oregon state decided to lend its trademarks to the new lottery promotion celebrating the “Civil War”, which is traditionally the last regular season game between the two teams. Oregon decided to offer the lottery a promotional presence at all seven of their home games, while Orgeon State allowed the lottery to have a presence on two gamedays. Over the years, the two schools have accepted millions of dollars in lottery proceeds. Oregon IMG general manager Brian Movalson said, "It would be hypocritical, I think, to accept those dollars and not participate in something like this." While some support these lottery proceeds, others think the issue of gambling can be a problem, especially in college sports. As the NCAA currently stands, championship events are prohibited from associating with state lotteries. However, individual schools and conferences are free to participate with state lotteries. Forty-three states now offer lotteries, and those that partner with college athletic departments do so as a means to communicate the gaming industry's contributions to their respective state societies. Like any successful sports marketing campaign, fan affinity is the key, and the same goes for promotions launched by state lotteries.

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