Article from CBSSports.com
Review by Sky Powell in KIN 332 (Section 2)
The University of Texas recently launched the Longhorn Network, which provides 24-hour coverage of all sporting events the university is involved in. One of the plans the network has is to start televising high school games. After word started to spread about them doing so, the NCAA, the Big 12 and other universities became concerned with their intentions behind televising these games. One allegation is that the university may only broadcast the games of high profile recruits hoping to lure them towards committing to Texas.
For right now, the commissioner of the Big 12 has put a hold on the network televising high school games until they can make a decision about whether or not it will be beneficial for the entire conference or just the University of Texas. Issues other schools in the conference have is that this will be a major disadvantage for their recruiting programs because they will be over looked when it comes time for players to commit to colleges.
The Big 12 conference is not what it once was and there have been rumors of certain schools leaving the conference in search of rebuilding their teams. Schools such as Texas A&M and Oklahoma have reportedly considered departure and if the Longhorn Network’s intentions are in the wrong place, then they may be more intrigued to switch conferences which would be detrimental to the conference as a whole. The athletic director of the University of Texas states that they will cooperate with any rules stated by the NCAA and that they are acting with the best intentions for the conference. I believe that promoting high school sports at that level could be beneficial to everyone involved and has the potential to open up an entirely new segment of marketing and publicity for high school athletes.
As long as the University of Texas’ intentions are to help promote high school athletics as a whole and not solely to help bring in better recruits, this is an opportunity to create a new, successful division of sports. If the network is approved to broadcast the games, then I feel that more universities should attempt to do the same in different regions all over the country.
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Review by Matt Tucker in KIN 332 (Section 2)
BIG 12 commissioner Dan Beebe put a hold on the Texas Longhorn University’s new television network. The purpose of the network is to display all of the Longhorn’s athletics on all local Texas cable networks, however they are also looking to make deals with DirecTV for those Longhorn fans that have moved away. The problem however does not lay with airing Longhorn athletics, however there was a clause talking about videotaping local high school football games. Once the public found out about the media coverage for the high school teams there was a sour taste in competitors mouth. The advantage from a marketing standpoint, when it comes to recruiting top-level athletes, is the idea of being exposed on a national level. Not every school in the nation, not even the top programs would be able to compete in recruiting. Athletes in Texas would be greatly influenced because athletes are looking to transition into the NFL. Due to talks with the network, teams in the BIG 12 like Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Nebraska are all in discussions for leaving and joining a new league. Texas A&M is the only school so far to move out of the BIG 12 and join the SEC. If most teams decide to leave the BIG 12 Texas will have one of the biggest monopolies on marketing athletes. Sponsorships will come in the bucket loads to Texas asking to be apart of the national network giving the university money to put back into the football program creating a continuous cycle of improvement. I recently looked at the progress of the network and the Longhorn’s were approved for videotaping Texas Longhorn athletes but the jury is still not decided on whether or not to allow high school sports. The university has stated that they will do everything to comply with NCAA rules. In my opinion however I think it would be a big mistake from a marketing standpoint to let the Longhorns videotape high school athletes. The network would give Texas an advantage in recruiting, sponsorships, and revenue.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
"Owning Orange"
From Athletic Management
Review by Jordan Fields in KIN 332 (Section 1)
Syracuse University has been known for both their athletic and academic standards. Though lately their athletics have been less productive then what the school has been use to in the past, Syracuse University is still making headlines. Like every college in the nation with a sports program, SU has trademarked many different aspects of their proud school. SU has trademarked everything from their famous mascot Otto the Orange to the nicknames of their players the “Orangemen” and “Orangewomen”, they even trademarked their stadium names. Now SU is going through a legal debate on whether or not they can trademark the word “Orange” as it deals with clothing and other merchandise. The issue here is that the word orange is so vastly used in other major and minor collegiate programs. For instance a few schools that were discussed in the journal I found were programs such as, Boise State University, University of Florida, and the University of Tennessee. These programs were discussed in the article due to how intertwined they are with the color orange. These teams were worried and I believe rightfully so, if SU was to be successful in acquiring the desired trademark then it could drastically affect the marketing of these teams. These teams use the word orange a lot in retail and in promotions. The answer to this problem was a co-existence agreement. Though the details of the agreement are uncertain, they are currently being worked out. The idea of a trademark is to insure that there is no confusion on the origin of an idea or object. Syracuse’s main reason for the trademarking of the word “Orange” is solely to prevent the sale of unlicensed or unofficial products using the schools nickname. This trademark, however, would not stop other schools from being able to use it in accordance with their own programs. This was one of the terms agreed upon due to how unlikely it would be that customers would mistake Syracuse for their school. George McGuire, who is the attorney handling legal issues with the school’s case, states that this agreement only re-affirms each school’s rights to use the word “Orange” as it had before and that colleges which are not part of the agreement will also be able to continue to use the word as it relates to their programs. This agreement will also apply to high school programs, as long as no connection to Syracuse is made through the word “Orange”. I think it should be passed in favor for SU, the only people being harmed by this are people selling the unlicensed products. It has no real affect on any other schools and it will help generate more revenue for Syracuse. They are only looking to stop the unlicensed sale of items with the school’s nickname. Being that it is their nickname, I feel as though they should have the right to protect it.
Review by Jordan Fields in KIN 332 (Section 1)
Syracuse University has been known for both their athletic and academic standards. Though lately their athletics have been less productive then what the school has been use to in the past, Syracuse University is still making headlines. Like every college in the nation with a sports program, SU has trademarked many different aspects of their proud school. SU has trademarked everything from their famous mascot Otto the Orange to the nicknames of their players the “Orangemen” and “Orangewomen”, they even trademarked their stadium names. Now SU is going through a legal debate on whether or not they can trademark the word “Orange” as it deals with clothing and other merchandise. The issue here is that the word orange is so vastly used in other major and minor collegiate programs. For instance a few schools that were discussed in the journal I found were programs such as, Boise State University, University of Florida, and the University of Tennessee. These programs were discussed in the article due to how intertwined they are with the color orange. These teams were worried and I believe rightfully so, if SU was to be successful in acquiring the desired trademark then it could drastically affect the marketing of these teams. These teams use the word orange a lot in retail and in promotions. The answer to this problem was a co-existence agreement. Though the details of the agreement are uncertain, they are currently being worked out. The idea of a trademark is to insure that there is no confusion on the origin of an idea or object. Syracuse’s main reason for the trademarking of the word “Orange” is solely to prevent the sale of unlicensed or unofficial products using the schools nickname. This trademark, however, would not stop other schools from being able to use it in accordance with their own programs. This was one of the terms agreed upon due to how unlikely it would be that customers would mistake Syracuse for their school. George McGuire, who is the attorney handling legal issues with the school’s case, states that this agreement only re-affirms each school’s rights to use the word “Orange” as it had before and that colleges which are not part of the agreement will also be able to continue to use the word as it relates to their programs. This agreement will also apply to high school programs, as long as no connection to Syracuse is made through the word “Orange”. I think it should be passed in favor for SU, the only people being harmed by this are people selling the unlicensed products. It has no real affect on any other schools and it will help generate more revenue for Syracuse. They are only looking to stop the unlicensed sale of items with the school’s nickname. Being that it is their nickname, I feel as though they should have the right to protect it.
"Conference realignment: An ESPN conference?"
From ksl.com
Review by Chad Byers in KIN 332 (Section 1)
The uncertainty in college football has caused a giant conference realignment and has showed what college football has become—a giant cash-cow where every party has a substantial amount of greed.
This greed stems primarily off of multi-million dollar tv contracts which is split throughout the conference. The foreseeable end of the Big 12 shows the obvious problem with uneven revenue shares in a conference. The creation of the Longhorn Network angered so many of its members that the conference will most likely split in the near future.
But the Longhorn Network has opened up doors to ESPN that few have realized. This ESPN affiliate network has essentially taken out the middle man (conferences) and now there is a direct revenue line between ESPN and Texas. If this tool was used correctly it could mean an increased profit stream for both parties to gain from. The article Conference realignment: An ESPN conference? tells of the behind the scenes conversations that are going on with ESPN and universities that have the capabilities of sustaining their own private network. This network would enable the universities to get more national recognition through coverage on ESPN networks. Also would generate more revenue because they would not have to split TV contracts throughout a 12-team conference.
Furthermore this would generate a higher profit line for ESPN because they would lose a substantial part of overhead costs by essentially outsourcing their network to each universities own network. There are 5 premiere BCS schools that already have a network or capabilities to operate on on campus. Texas of course has already created one. Oklahoma just spent 5 million dollars creating an HD soonervision facility, with HD and fiber optic cords. Penn State, Notre Damn, and BYU all have small satellite networks that could easily be adapted into an ESPN affiliate. Many schools have these small in house networks; Liberty University even has one at the FCS level.
The combination of ESPN and independent schools united together could eventually be the end of the BCS. It would destroy the formula of the BCS—since the formula of the BCS is primarily predicated off of conference structures. The strength of conference is very important, notice that an SEC team has been in the national championship for the last 5 years.
Just as every other scenario trying to predict what is going on this is just a scenario but a very realistic scenario that no one is thinking about. The reason that this theory is not more prevalent is simple—why would ESPN (the only source of sporting information) talk about this possibility until it actually comes to fruition.
Review by Chad Byers in KIN 332 (Section 1)
The uncertainty in college football has caused a giant conference realignment and has showed what college football has become—a giant cash-cow where every party has a substantial amount of greed.
This greed stems primarily off of multi-million dollar tv contracts which is split throughout the conference. The foreseeable end of the Big 12 shows the obvious problem with uneven revenue shares in a conference. The creation of the Longhorn Network angered so many of its members that the conference will most likely split in the near future.
But the Longhorn Network has opened up doors to ESPN that few have realized. This ESPN affiliate network has essentially taken out the middle man (conferences) and now there is a direct revenue line between ESPN and Texas. If this tool was used correctly it could mean an increased profit stream for both parties to gain from. The article Conference realignment: An ESPN conference? tells of the behind the scenes conversations that are going on with ESPN and universities that have the capabilities of sustaining their own private network. This network would enable the universities to get more national recognition through coverage on ESPN networks. Also would generate more revenue because they would not have to split TV contracts throughout a 12-team conference.
Furthermore this would generate a higher profit line for ESPN because they would lose a substantial part of overhead costs by essentially outsourcing their network to each universities own network. There are 5 premiere BCS schools that already have a network or capabilities to operate on on campus. Texas of course has already created one. Oklahoma just spent 5 million dollars creating an HD soonervision facility, with HD and fiber optic cords. Penn State, Notre Damn, and BYU all have small satellite networks that could easily be adapted into an ESPN affiliate. Many schools have these small in house networks; Liberty University even has one at the FCS level.
The combination of ESPN and independent schools united together could eventually be the end of the BCS. It would destroy the formula of the BCS—since the formula of the BCS is primarily predicated off of conference structures. The strength of conference is very important, notice that an SEC team has been in the national championship for the last 5 years.
Just as every other scenario trying to predict what is going on this is just a scenario but a very realistic scenario that no one is thinking about. The reason that this theory is not more prevalent is simple—why would ESPN (the only source of sporting information) talk about this possibility until it actually comes to fruition.
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