"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.

"His vision of eyeblack company is paying off"

From the SportsBusiness Journal

Review by Brad Harner in KIN 332 (Section 2)

Peter Beveridge decided one night when he was watching baseball, and saw some baseball players wearing eyeblack patches, that he was going to create a company using this idea already created. He thought that he could put a symbol or logo, such as a Nike “swoosh”, on this patch and sell them. Soon after, he followed his vision and became CEO of the recently created eyeblack.com which is increasing revenue by 35 percent annually. The main trick to his company is that he gets a lot of publicity from fans seeing the players wear his product on the field. Mr. Beveridge has recently signed NFL football players Stevie Johnson and Marshawn Lynch to help promote his new product.

The CEO, Peter Beveridge, believes he can get many fans to start wearing these patches below their eyes when they see famous, well known, athletes wearing them. He had to convince MLB and NFL to approve this product for their players to use, which was not an easy task. MLB and NFL were not questioning whether or not the players would wear the product but rather if this product would sell to fans. They finally approved eyeblack.com and have not regretted their decisions thus far. The company sold 5 million pairs in 2010 and hopes to sell upwards of 7 million pairs of eyeblack patches this year. Eyeblack.com decided to test the product out on some universities to see how the players liked the product before the company produced these patches in bulk. Virginia Tech, University of Miami, University of Florida, and University of Maryland were the schools selected by the company to test out the product. The players gave valuable feedback to the company and the patches have caught on like wildfire since.

I am interested to see if this company will eventually get big deals with sponsors like Allstate or AT&T and get players to wear these products. In my mind there is no better spot to advertise than on a professional athlete’s face while they are playing the game. Player’s faces are shown on television very often throughout a game which could be a very desirable spot for an advertisement.

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Review by Erik Norquist in KIN 332 (Section 2)

EyeBlack.com is a company/website that sells customized eye black for athletes and fans. The designs on the eye black range from team logos, to phrases, to Eyeblack.com’s most recent idea – company logos. Eye black has been around since about the 1920’s when Babe Ruth was the first player ever officially reported to use it. His purpose to wearing the eye black was to reduce the glare, and he used pure grease. This was common, as the first eye black consisted of burnt chalk or grease. Eye black as since then evolved into black tape patches.

CEO Peter Beveridge came up with the idea for EyeBlack.com when he was watching a baseball game about 8 years ago and saw all the players wearing eye black patches. He realized that this could be a profitable opportunity to customize the eye black with designs. He founded EyeBlack.com in 2003 and since then, profits have risen 30-40% per year. Peter estimates that half of all NFL teams, 90% of major college teams, and many MLB teams are using EyeBlack.com products. In addition to that many fans, high school athletes, and middle school athletes are using their products.

EyeBlack.com has tremendous marketing implications. The company’s most recent products have aimed at putting company logos on the eye black. A Nike swoosh or the AT&T logo are just a couple examples of what the designs could be. This means that corporate sponsors will have another opportunity to put their logo on players and advertise their product. Another marketing implication of EyeBlack.com is teams being able to market themselves in a new way. As fans see more and more athletes wearing the eye black, they will become interested in doing the same. There is already a strong EyeBlack.com retail market for fans, according to Peter Beveridge. EyeBlack.com seems to have a very high ceiling for growth, and I have a feeling we will be hearing a lot about them in the years to come.

            

"EA Sports to North America: ‘Even if you don’t necessarily love soccer, ‘you’ll still love new ‘FIFA 12’ game"

From the SportsBusiness Journal


Review by Phillip Offman in KIN 332 (Section 1)

FIFA is looking to expand their marketing strategy, and aim it towards North America. EA Sports has seen much success with the sales of FIFA overseas and are looking to do the same in North America with FIFA 12. With sales up still the game in the US is at the bottom of the totem pole. Its low sales in the US market is related to the low popularity soccer has here in the US. Madden, NHL, and NBA 2k sports games dominate the market due to the fact that these are the sports that’s what most of the people who live in the US like to play. EA sports is marketing the game to attract new users, not only soccer fans but fans of all sports. FIFA has gained exposure through a variety of TV media sources both in entertainment and sports. With its attempt to bring in fans from our country, EA has coined the slogan “United States of FIFA.”

EA Sports is doing well with their launch of FIFA 12 in North America. With EA Sports trying to get their game off they have aired TV commercials on different networks which will give them all the exposure they are looking for. Getting star athletes such as Landon Donovan, Hope Solo, Steve Nash and Tim Lincecum for their TV commercials is smart because it branches out to more fans in different sports which are what EA is looking to do. These stars are also making appearances at retail stores in LA and NY; this will be good for advertising the game and will give fans a chance to interact with their favorite stars creating a buzz for the game. Airing the commercials on other entertainment networks not just sports gives them a better chance of advertising the game to a more diverse group of people. From marketing view the more sources of advertising the better chances for sales. With the popularity of soccer on the rise and their use of marketing FIFA as they did EA Sports should have much success in North America and should only continue over the years.