"Policing the social media craze"

From ESPN.com

Review by Jennifer Luck in SRM 334

140 characters. That is the amount of characters the 140 million Twitter users have to
express themselves. College athletes have joined the social media craze. For most,
they’re casual outlets that rarely cause problems. But when the outlets become online
soap boxes for emotional young adults, issues can arise.

In recent years, college coaches and athletic directors have dealt with a variety of
social media challenges. At the Catholic University of America the whole lacrosse
team was suspended because of hazing photographs of new athletes posted on their
“personal” Facebook accounts. Kansas basketball coach Bill Self had to break up a
Twitter fight between former player Tyshawn Taylor and critical fans.

Firms such as Varsity Monitor, UDiligence, and CentrixSocial have capitalized on
the growth of social media and try to help schools control negative Internet behavior.
These firms offer schools a computer application that allows them to filter and identity
problematic social media behavior. Universities are reaching out to these firms
because they want to protect their brands and players.

However, there are times where athletes possess the technology to instantly broadcast
messages and photos before any type of authority can intercept them. For example,
the University of North Carolina. The NCAA cited North Carolina for failing to
monitor their players tweets which led to an investigation and violations. Because of
one tweet posted by former football player Marvin Austin, fifteen scholarships were
revoked and a one year bowl ban was placed.

In the past, student athletes were prepped for only interviews. Now, they must be
reminded that social media is an open forum. Young men and women may think
because they have specific “privacy” settings it won’t reach a media outlet, but most
of the time it does. Student athletes and social media have become big issues on
college campuses over the last few years, but universities are taking steps to prevent
negative images of their programs from being posted and tweeted. Education towards
athletes on what to say on social networking sites has become the leading way to
keep a positive face. How universities face the social media era and their athletes will
be left up to their own discretion until the NCAA develops restrictions.

Social media is here to stay and as future employees in the sports industry we must
learn to embrace it for the way it can connect a fan base and promote a team or player
rather than shun it because of its potential embarrassing and distracting tendencies. If
we do, we will have a leg up in the arms race of college athletics.

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Review by Caroline Snedegar in SRM 334

In the article, “Policing the Social Media Craze” it talks about the recent impact the social media has had on the world of sports, specifically concerning college athletes, coaches, and athletic directors and how they deal with the challenges that the social media brings. With the constant use of social media people now can access it basically 24/7, which means athletes and coaches have to monitor what they say even more closely since the media and audiences have access to this information the second it is published online. Where some coaches see the benefits and actually promote the use of social media like twitter; it can also hurt a program if certain players aren’t careful about what they put out on the web. While most programs rely “on individual teams to inspect social media accounts (Medcalf, 2012),” however, with the immense amount of athletes there is no possible way that everything that gets put out on a social media source can be fully monitored. The majority of athletes have “instruments that allow them to broadcast messages and photos to people around the world before any authority can intercept them (Medcalf, 2012),” which has caused either citations with the NCAA or backlash from the media and fans in general.

This article exemplifies the constant evolution of the Sport’s Media Industry, with the rapid growth of social media it has impacted how people in this field have to deal and adjust by adding another media outlet for delivering information. Guest Speaker for our class, Niki DeSantis, Assistant Commissioner for Creative Services for the CAA, even thought that the increase use of the social media and online media sources has definitely increased her work load and adds another element that has to be constantly updated for the public and is on constant display.

"Cavs rethink scorer’s table with ads in mind"

From SportsBusiness Journal

Review by Jordan Grudko in KIN 332 (section 1)

This article is about NBA team the Cleveland Cavaliers and their idea to make the scorer’s table, where the announcers, statisticians, and scoreboard operator sit, into three separate sections in order to maximize ad time on TV. The design is still pending league approval, but it will eliminate the 40 foot table they had last season and replace it with a 24 foot table in the middle of the court while there will be two eight foot tables near each team beach. The point of this is to allow more TV time to advertisements, and raise the prices for these advertisers to try and maximize profits.

In my opinion, this is a good idea from the Cavalier’s marketing department. It’s an easy and efficient way to get as much money as possible. Especially since the design will allow them to not only add more courtside seats, but also move them closer therefore charging more for those tickets as well. They can really raise prices a lot because basketball is played in a half-court set meaning the ads will be in view throughout a very large portion of the game. The Cavaliers are not the first team in the NBA to utilize this type of space, teams like the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks have done similar things to maximize advertizing opportunities. Last season, The cavaliers averaged about 4,300 seconds a game of TV exposure for courtside sponsors, this season they are expecting to average around 5,000 seconds of TV exposure. This is important because it really means that courtside sponsorships, not courtside seats, are the biggest moneymakers in the NBA. Therefore, the Cavaliers decision is one that should make them plenty of extra money this season than in seasons past.

"Sponsors extend support to Paralympics"

From SportsBusiness Journal

Review by Ryan Dixon in SRM 334

The Paralympic Games have no been very popular since it first started in 1960. Not many people have known about it. To tell the truth, before having another SRM class this semester I did not even know what the Paralympic Games were. As I learned about it more I became interested in how it first began and what it is like today. With the article I chose it talks mostly about the sponsorship aspect of the organization. Over the past years there has not been much support to the games causing there to not have much money to host events. With the 2012 London Paralympics starting, this year they managed to get more support from many new sponsors. Some include Visa, Coca-Cola, and Samsung. With these sponsors they were able to advertise more and spread the word around about the Paralympics. Communication plays a big deal in this topic because not many people know about the Paralympics and with the sponsors that support the game also comes with advertising. With advertising there comes more recognition of the Paralympic Games. As people watch television there will be Coke commercials or Visa commercials that will say they support the games and then fans will be more informed about the games. Also with the Paralympics not being very popular over the past years they have only been able to air the videos on the Internet. There isn’t much coverage on television and with the games going on around the same time as college football and NFL starting to air on TV most TV stations wont want to cover it because not many people watch it and it will take away from viewers that they get daily. Overall I think the Paralympic games will become bigger over the years and people will be more interested in their stories and they diversity the athletes overcome while training for 4 years.

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Review by Dejor Simmons in SRM 334

Sales have increased in sponsorships for the London Paralympics. Many different sponsors have contributed like Visa, Samsung, McDonalds, Kodak, and Coke and totaled up to twenty-four. These sponsors may be the reason why a record number of two point five million tickets been sold. The enhanced coverage from commercials, print media, and the internet helped allow more viewers to watch Paralympics. Paralympics tickets sold out for most events in London weeks after the Olympics. Coming into the Paralympics, organizers’ goal was to sell more than 2.7 million tickets which would bring them close to 45 million pounds. That’s a big change since tickets in past years were given away if seats weren't filled but most tickets this year sold were 10 pounds or less.

The athletes themselves are also seeing an increase in revenue. Oscar Pistorius can expect 2 million dollars a year in endorsements like Nike and BT. That’s a lot less than Usain Bolt’s twenty million but its more than many able-bodied athletes will get. Businesses sponsoring both Olympics and Paralympics receive more than just logos on running tracks and swimming pools. Paralympics brings emotional connection even more than the connection that Olympics deliver. Mike Sharrock stated, “It’s not about selling more fuel. It’s a deeper, more values-based partnership.” Most demands came from companies trying to associate themselves with Paralympics after the success of the London Olympics. For the first time the Paralympics have a major sponsor in Sainsbury which paid 20 million pounds which did not sponsor the Olympics. IPC’s Greg Hartung said, “The appeal of the Games has grown alongside the public appeal and acceptance of Paralympic sport as a high performance sport.” First time broadcasting rights for Paralympics were sold to countries like Iran, Malaysia, Singapore, and Pakistan.

This relates to this course because Paralympics is a sport that really doesn’t get a lot of publicity or media coverage in the United States. With the enhancement of technology and sport communication there’s no reason why Paralympics shouldn’t be publicized more than what it is and maybe the new sponsors will help enhance it.