"ESPN to televise college playoff"

From ESPN.com and Sports Media Watch

Review by Will Taylor in SRM 334 (section 3)

The BCS has always been criticized for how it picks the teams for the National Championship Game and people used to think that the teams that weren’t in the game didn’t receive a fair chance to prove themselves. Finally, they implemented a culture change in college football; the BCS playoff system. Now there is a much fairer shot for all the teams represented by the BCS to reach the championship. ESPN of course was the one to sign the media deal with the BCS to cover all the playoff games, the national championship, as well as other bowl games. It was a twelve year deal, from the 2014 season on to the 2025 season.The deal was worth over $7 billion dollars, and it covered all facets of media; TV, radio, mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, as well as all international media outlets of the game. The deal is huge, and could bring over $1 billion dollars in revenue. Another way that the BCS playoff system affects mass media is in the advertising before, during, and at each event. The amount of ways to advertise around this event is sure to bring ESPN as well as the BCS a huge amount of revenue. This topic is relevant to this class because it deals with stakeholders; like the universities, the BCS, and the fans. It also deals with mass media outlets, like television, the internet, and radio. It also deals with this class because we’re all avid sports fans, and this deal could revolutionize how we view college football, and sports in general.

---

Review by Ben Edsall in SRM 334 (section 3)

The current event Will and I chose to present to the class was the new college football playoff system. It has been talked about for years and will finally be implemented for the 2014 season. The playoffs will consist of four teams that are chosen from a 15 member committee. This eliminates the old system of the computers calculating what two teams would be in the championship. Hopefully the new system will diminish a majority of complaints from the old system, which made some controversial decisions of which teams played in the championship. There will now be six major bowl games which consist of two groups, the contract bowls and the host bowls.

One major influence for the new system was the potential revenue from media rights. ESPN signed a 12 year deal worth $470 million which gives them rights for TV, radio, mobile TV, games in 3D, ESPN Deportes, and internationally. This contract is projected to generate annual revenues ranging from $600 million - $1.5 billion. That amount of revenue will attract other networks to join the contract which will raise the bidding price. The increase in revenue is a positive impact, but there are also other pros and cons.

Additional pros to the new playoff system are that it provides more advertising opportunities, teams that are not powerhouses now have a shot at reaching the championship, and it removes an easy schedule that forces teams to make the championship based on performance. A few cons are that there could be some preferential treatment towards the bigger conferences, other bowl games will be viewed as less important, and it takes away revenue for teams that do not reach the playoffs. Even though this system is not perfect it is a step in the right direction and hopefully will continue to improve in the future.

This topic is relevant to the class because it plays a major role within the broadcast media. We discussed in class how television is the most dominant way of providing content to the public, and this is clearly demonstrated by ESPN signing a huge contract to control the market. Another investment was in social media to help them expand and generate revenues from other areas. Social media is taking over society and with major investments into the market it will benefit the networks and companies tremendously.

"Clothes make the brand"

From the Sports Business Journal: http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/22/In-Depth/Branding

Review by Renard Robinson in Kin 332 (Section 2)

In Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, I chose the article “Clothes Make the Brand” to write my critique on. In the section, it discusses how the idea came about of being different in designing new uniforms and the importance of having unique uniforms to attract top level recruits to their universities. With some traditional powers succumbing to modern day styles; it seems the only option to go is with the evolution of new uniforms.

It all started in 1996 following a disappointing bowl loss. Nike chairman and Oregon alum, Phil Knight, had asked his design team a simple question: “How can we help the University of Oregon attract better students and student athletes?” In order to help get Oregon on the college football map, its simplest decision was to create uniforms that were out of the norm. Like always, with change comes controversy. Many sports writers despised the uniforms, but it was all part of the grand scheme of things. Over the past 5 years, the University of Oregon has been a perennial top 25 caliber team. Prior to that, they were arguably the laughing stock of the Pac – 10. What helped them attract the recruits they needed to compete in the Pac – 10 and nationally was the best uniforms in college football.

The success of their uniforms has spread throughout the country. In 2009, Nike released the Pro Combat Uniforms featuring 10 universities; Miami, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Ohio State, Texas, TCU, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech. Over the past few years, they’ve expanded to include West Virginia, Arizona State, and Boise State among others. With the popularity of these uniforms, top teams are annually at an advantage from a recruiting standpoint because these uniforms are a high commodity to high school athletes. It’s evident considering all of the universities sponsored by these uniforms are traditional powers or have been relevant within the past few years since unveiling new uniforms.

---

Review by Cathleen Crouch in Kin 332 (Section 2)

This article which appeared in the Sports Business Journal, written by Michael Smith, is about how it is becoming more prevalent for schools to alter their looks by changing their uniforms in hopes of gaining more exposure and attention. In the article’s introduction it discusses how the University of Oregon revamped their football team that had no recognition with a new look and now has one of the best known football organizations in the country. This was all possible due to the use of smart decision making with their marketing and branding. Oregon’s athletic director, Rob Mullens said, “We had not had much success, so why not be bold and try something new. We used to be ridiculed for being out there, but now you look across college football and it’s the trend”. Other colleges around the country are now starting to see the success that Oregon has had with being edgy and daring with their branding and merchandise. Many more universities are now starting to follow in Oregon’s footsteps hoping for the same successful results. But for some schools, tradition over flashy merchandise is what gains recognition respect, with teams such as Penn State, Auburn and Alabama. These schools don’t need to rebrand their look to be successful. Instead, they have a tradition of being successful on the field.

Although rebranding a team in some cases proves to be more successful, universities must keep in mind that while finding a new marketing strategy can prove to be a worthwhile. However, it is also a good idea to spend time focusing on teamwork.