From the New York Times Review by Kirby Burkholder in SRM 334 The death penalty is a term that no college or university ever wants to hear associated with their name. Unfortunately for Penn State University, they are finding out what this term means. The death penalty is when the NCAA imposes penalties resulting in, at the most, a ban on the upcoming seasons. For Penn State, after the big scandal of Coach Sandusky being charged with sexual abuse on children, they were charged with many penalties as well. Penn State was fined 60 million dollars, a 4 year post-season ban was placed on the team, scholarships were reduced significantly from 25 to 15 for incomers, former players could transfer without NCAA transfer regulations, and all of Penn States’ wins from 1998-2011 were stripped. In the article we read, it argues whether or not these punishments are fair or not coming from the NCAA, and if the NCAA should be dealing with the penalties period since the scandal was a criminal scandal from Sandusky’s standpoint, not the actual team.
From an outsider standpoint, you definitely feel for the Penn State community and all the players. It is hard to agree with stripping the teams’ wins from all those years for the players sake because they didn’t do anything to deserve not to have the wins counted. Actions by the NCAA did need to happen though. It was too big of a scandal, especially with other school officials being involved and staying quiet. The article makes a good point in that the NCAA can’t make the penalties too weak and then seem like the situation was handled lightly, but to what extent is enough for this type of situation? The penalties may always be arguable, but punishment definitely needed to happen because of the scandal and in order to set the example for other schools that things won’t just slide by.
This easily relates to our sport media class by the fact that this was huge in the public eye for months and months. When this scandal broke, it was all over the news, ESPN, papers, twitter, etc; all day and every day for a long time. It was the hottest topic in the US and talked about everywhere, sports fan or not. The media was eating this up and all media outlets were trying to be the first to break new information or add to the story. Still to this day it is talked about and the story is still breaking. This will go down as one of the biggest sports scandals of all times.
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Review by Kyle Linn in SRM 334
The Death Penalty, in sports is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a universities sport program. Being banned from sport for a year is the harshest punishment the NCAA can hand out and has done this five times prior. It is the ultimate way to slowly kill a program because of implications that the NCAA can impose on that school. This is what Penn State had been facing when this article was written. The NCAA was in debate over whether they should still force strict punishment on the accused school if the person in question wasn't harming the players or the actual “team.” Yes, what Sandusky has done is absolutely one of the grossest things I have ever heard of, but it is right to punish the whole football team, especially the players who had nothing to do with it?
At the time of this article, the NCAA had not struck Penn State with all of the violations they have received to date. I think that what the NCAA has done is kind of harsh, but in another way they are sending a message to the rest of the universities out there. The NCAA has been under ridicule because of all the negative press, especially college football that has been receiving quite a bit of “off-the-field” problems with players and coaches. They are sending a message out warning everyone else to pretty much keep their noses clean because the integrity of the game is suffering.
The media breaking this story has done it in a number of forms from Twitter to Facebook. The emergence of social media and news feeds has made this story covered from head to toe literally since it broke the public. Sara Ganim was the first to break this story after she was receiving tips and information. She spent much time in the field and would send back video and news through social outlets back to the office for others below her to follow up on. Investigating the story and not giving up eventually led to her uncovering the story and breaking it to the public. Sara’s reporting and investigating shows how reporters receive information and relay it back to their office as fast as possible. I had no clue how fast media can honestly spread until I read this article. In short, Penn State has a long road to recovery to bring their football program back from the depths of where it is now. The NCAA has imposed what I think are very strict and stern penalties and are showing the rest of the schools that they are in-charge and they will continue to hunt for violations among universities throughout the country.
From FoxBusiness Review by Jason Gannon in KIN 332 (section 2) The Fantasy Football industry has become a highly successful industry generating over $1 billion in profits a year. Fantasy football initially started in 1962 and has been growing ever since. The widespread use of the Internet has really made the industry take off.
I’m personally avid fantasy sports player and especially fantasy football. I’m a culprit of checking my phone or computer periodically throughout the week searching for any potential way I can improve my roster or chances of winning. I believe the fantasy sports industry and more specifically fantasy football will only continue to grow. In a recent article from Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimated 75% of the 34 million participants in fantasy sports will be playing fantasy football. This stat shows that fantasy football is the most popular and participated fantasy-sport. Fantasy football isn’t limited to mid aged males who watch sports center everyday; there is a wide array of participants. Both males and females play, and there is essentially no age limit. President of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association Paul Charchian said, “A lot of fantasy football’s growth is coming from the younger generation,” said Charchian. “Parents are playing with their kids. The growth is happening organically. We’re not targeting a specific demographic; rather it’s what families want to happen in their living rooms on Sundays.” As more generations grow up playing fantasy football, the industry growth will continue. As access to the internet and technology continue to improve growth of fantasy football will too.
If fantasy football is free to play on sites like ESPN and Yahoo, then how are they making $1 billion a year? Sources of profit come from cable deals, advertisements, draft guides, buy-in fees and other forms of endorsements. Last month Cablevision agreed to a deal with the NFL network to carry their channel. It is said that NFL network charges 81 cents per subscriber, per month, making it the fourth most expensive cable channel to carry. Along with cable companies, other small businesses are finding ways to profit off the industry too. Fantasy Sports Insurance (FSI) offers fantasy football owners a disability coverage, which will financially protect you if one of your players were to suffer a “season changing” injury. FSI will reimburse members any money they spent on the league and calculate its costs at a 10% rate of the insured value plus fees. Another small business cashing in on fantasy football is FantasyDispute.com. This website will resolve fantasy sports disagreements for $14.95. This website pledges to “Keep the integrity of each fantasy league at the highest degree.” Another business that could arguably be benefiting the most from fantasy football is NFL RedZone. This channel only shows plays from live games where offensive teams are inside the opponent’s 20 yard line (the red zone). This channel shows you every scoring play live. Paul Charchian chairman of Fantasy Sports Trade said “[NFL RedZone] is crack for fantasy players,” said Charchian. “The NFL RedZone channel is specifically targeting us, the fantasy crowd. It’s a huge program.” All of these business and channels I just mentioned don’t just compliment fantasy football, but they spur its growth.
I think the fantasy football industry is an emerging market. The industry doesn't have a dominant firm or any standards on technology, all of which make it an attractive industry for businesses. The fantasy football industry is still evolving and realizing its potential. The marketing efforts behind fantasy football will be significantly more important in the future as competition grows. I believe we will see more efforts by hosting sites like ESPN and Yahoo to marketing their websites’ league. The importance of television networks offering channels like NFL RedZone or Sunday NFL Ticket will have to become standard in their package offerings. We may also see more fantasy football specific shows on television. The technology and apps that support fantasy owners will continue to improve as well. The fantasy sports industry and especially fantasy football are an attractive industry for business’ to compete in.
From Adweek Review by Jenny Hansberry in KIN 332 (section 2)
Stuart Feil does an outstanding job of proving that social media is a vital way for sports teams to build a better organization amongst players, employers, and fans. Today’s marketers want to take greater advantage of the powerful emotional attachments leagues, teams and athletes have with the fans that follow them. The responses from fans on social media, whether it’s for a specific player or entire team, have showed their loyalty and in return, organizations have been able to make a better understanding of their followers.
Social media is constantly enhancing and the need to consistently be adapting is essential. A perfect example of how a sports team utilized social media to connect with its fan was the New England Patriots decision to host a virtual tailgate. Not only did this allow fans to interact with thousands of others with the same loyalty to the Patriots, but it allowed them to ask questions and speak to the coaches and staff. The most avid fans loved this engagement with the coaches and felt a sense of participation in prepping the NFL superstars for the game. Pat Coyle, the president of Coyle Media, stated that “fans want three things: camaraderie, recognition and access. Camaraderie comes from interacting with other fans. They want recognition from the team for their passion and loyalty. And access means they want to feel close to the team or the athlete. Social relates to all of that”. Fans want to feel as though they are a valued part of a team, and in today’s society that feeling is not hard to come by.
Beyond just the fans having the ability to be more involved, the business side of social media gives insight to fans demographics and psychographics. It’s crucial for an organization to know its fans and be able to deliver what they need in order to make money. Whether a company uses an athlete known across the world to push a product, like McDonald’s did with Dara Torres for the 2012 Olympics, or simply giving a large opportunity to engage with your favorite sports team, everybody wins. Fans feel more passionate about staying a loyal fan and the organizations are striving off of the extra support from its fans.
After Feil explains all the benefits of the social aspect of sports, it is difficult to people that anyone would shy away from it. The results clearly show one thing: everyone wins.
