Review Erika Grimm in SRM 334 Interviews, press conferences, YouTube videos, and sports talk radio all have been deliberately used by both parties in the current NHL Lockout. Daly himself, the NHL Deputy Commissioner, said that he would use every place he could that had a microphone to sway the media and fans. The players made a YouTube video that was directed just towards the fans that pleaded their case. Both sides are using different sources of media to persuade interested fans that they are doing everything they can to have a peaceful outcome and this lockout is the opposing parties fault.
From the side of the owners, they simply want more money. They believe the players receive too much and want to cut the revenue split closer to 50-50. During one of the sports talk radio sessions Bill Daly partook in, he claimed that he knows the NHLPA has been thinking of numbers; why don’t they just make an offer already. With this statement and others from the owners’ point of view, they put all the blame on the NHLPA. They are using their sources of media to gain the trust of the fans.
The players on the other hand, used a more direct form of communication to build a relationship with the media and fans. They made a YouTube video literally titled, A message from Players to Fans about the NHL Lockout. In this video, the players speak directly into a camera portraying a personal, intimate message stating they just want to play and the agreement they and the owners are working on will eventually work out for both parties. This video is the NHLPA’s way of persuading fans that the lockout is not their fault, and rather the owners’. They simply went about passing the buck with a heartfelt video instead of literally stating it on air.
Both parties are using different sources of media to build and sustain a good relationship with the fans. Regardless of the reason, the lockout is ultimately no good for the NHL program as a whole. In order to keep their frustrated fans dedicated customers, media must now be used by both parties. As a fan myself, I just hope to see the season start sooner rather than later regardless of the owners and players disputes.
---Review by James Daniel in SRM 334 The NHL Lockout started officially on September 15. Leading up to the lockout, coverage in terms of neutral sports networks was constant. What I mean by that is that of course NHL.com or NHL Network is going to cover the lockout constantly due to the face it really has nothing else to talk about. However since the league announced that it would cancel the first two weeks of the season totaling 82 games, there really has not been much coverage of the lockout from stations such as ESPN, ESPN 2 or the NBC Sports Network. With the NFL season already underway & the MLB postseason in full gear, it has been a topic of little coverage. That fact in my eyes makes the lockout more prone to drag out. With the NFL lockout, watching ESPN every day I saw coverage of it for hours. Likewise with the NBA lockout, who missed 16 games per team just a year ago. This was due in large part to the fact nothing else was on other than regular season baseball games & WNBA games. Being in the spotlight constantly by major network stations coverage puts more pressure on both sides to strike a deal. I saw a statistic that NHL attendance grew a small amount from the last lockout till now. Wondering why, it is simple now. No one is watching too many NHL games at this times of year anyhow. The first big game fans pay attention to other than Sidney Crosby playing Alex Ovechkin is the Winter Classic. That is why the urgency is not to miss that game, because the money the league receives from it is substantial. Looking at two years ago, it was the most watched event on NBC that year (the Superbowl was broadcasted on FOX in the 2010-2011 season). Even hockey great Wayne Gretzky hoped & was optimistic a deal could be done before the Winter Classic. That is the pressure, because if there are no games played through January 2, (The Winter Classic is schedule to be played on New Year’s Day) I think it is safe to say that there would be zero hockey played this year. So the key to ending this lockout may be more coverage.
The article that we decided to do for our presentation was an article in the Sports Business Journal that talked about the recruiting company berecruited. Its recent business deals have made it one of the top recruiting companies in the U.S. This company uses their website to connect non-elite high school athletes with collegiate athletic programs. Currently there are 1.5 million student athletes registered. Berecruited enlarged and enhanced their company by recently agreeing to distribution and marketing deals with USA Today High School Sports, Kaplan Test Prep and the National Collegiate Scouting Association. Also they acquired fanvibe 14 months ago, which is a social sports streaming website. What berecruited wants to accomplish with these deals are benefits that will help their athletes gain recognition in the ultra competitive and crazy recruiting world. Some of the benefits include offering prospecting athletes free recruiting analysis from a NCSA scout, discounts on Kaplan test preparation products, as well as personalized highlight films. The article states that you can become a premium member for only $299. These types of sites along with the over the top media coverage have made recruiting so competitive that coaches and schools have resulted to breaking NCAA rules to land recruits. The media coverage now on college football recruiting has allowed fans to follow their team’s recruiting year round which puts enormous amounts of pressure on coaches to land big time recruits. These big-named recruits get celebrity like media coverage during the entire recruiting process up until National Signing Day. In conclusion, this article shows how much recruiting has changed in college athletics, especially in football to where it has now become a cut-throat business. ---
Review by Connor Butler in SRM 334 Recently, I read an article entitled: BeRecruited Links to USA Today Brand, Others. The article was about a website entitled BeRecruited, a social media website high school athletes use to promote themselves to college programs.
In class, social media has been a talking point many times. This article is representative of the role social media has begun to play in sports. The website allows high school athletes to create a profile or connect to the website through facebook, and use that profile to make connections with 25,000 coaches in 31 different sports. The website, through social media, provides more opportunities to players that may not be heavily recruited coming out of high school to receive some form of recruitment.
Recently, BeRecruited signed distribution and marketing deals with USA Today High School Sports, Kaplan Test Prep, and the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), in attempts to reach out to more athletes and boost memberships. Specifically, premium members will receive free Kaplan Test Prep products, as well as free personalized highlight films, and every new member receives a free recruiting analysis by a NCSA scout. BeRecruited currently has 1.5 million users, and expects that number to grow with the new deals that have been agreed on.
My partner and I in addition to the article, decided to look deeper into recruiting and the media other than what is mentioned in the article. While websites like BeRecruited provide opportunities to lower level high school athletes, some athletes do not need the help. Today, media coverage of high school recruiting is through the roof. Media outlets such as ESPN, USA Today, and local television networks have regular coverage of the top ranked athletes and the schools they are choosing from throughout the season. Recently, there was a media frenzy over Jadaveon Clowney, and his indecision on where he wanted to play. Also, on signing day, camera crews are sent to the high schools of the top recruits in the nation, just for them to reveal where they are going to be playing. Do high school players need that much attention?
The article, as well as our extra research, shed a lot of light on the role of the media in recruiting today. Whether it is a social media outlet providing opportunities to lesser known athletes or the media putting players on a pedestal, there is a prominent, and growing, media presence in high school recruiting.
From NFL.com and a NFL press release Review by Amber Bolen in KIN 332 (section 1) The NFL teamed up with the American Cancer Society four years ago to create “The Crucial Catch Campaign.” From then on, it has done nothing but expand to other brands and not only the NFL but colleges as well. This campaign shows that it is perfectly acceptable for men to wear pink to support a great cause.
During the month of October, we see athletes wearing pink to accentuate their normal game-day attire. Personally, I thought they just wore the pink for the cause and support. I did not know that it was an actual campaign that raised a lot of money. The following brands assist in taking Breast Cancer Awareness month and the Crucial Catch Campaign to a whole other level. Barclays has an NFL Extra Point credit card and during the month of October, depending on how much people use their Extra Point card, they will donate up to $100,000. Ticket Master is donating ten cents on every game ticket sold in the month of October including printing pink tickets of these games to raise awareness. Gatorade is sponsoring the pink sideline towels at every “A Crucial Catch” game as well as created “A Crucial Catch” G Series special edition bottles sold at Kroger throughout October 12th. The following brands are the brands that are sponsoring the athletic pink apparel for the athletes: New Era (Breast Cancer Awareness hats), Under Armour (gloves), Nike (cleats and gloves), Riddell (pink helmet chin cups), Wilson (Breast Cancer Awareness footballs and quarterback towels), and Pro Specialties Group (pink shoelaces and Breast Cancer Awareness pins.)
I think the idea of many different brands to partner up and make the month of October something special for not only people that are battling this horrific disease but for families who have lost someone or have someone fighting breast cancer is such an amazing idea. My grandmother is a survivor of breast cancer and to see how many people can come together to find a cause truly warms my heart. I could only imagine how people that have lost someone and read this article felt. As a James Madison University student, I saw it carry over into a football game of our own. October 6th James Madison athletes dressed out wearing certain assets pink instead of the normal purple and gold. And the fans decked out in JMU apparel that was pink that also sponsored Breast Cancer Awareness. The NFL is a huge corporation and it shows how one small idea of creating a campaign to raise money for a cause can become a world-wide program.
Overall, the article touched me in ways I never thought a simple article could. It showed that even though these brands bring in millions of money, they are more than willing to reach out a helping hand. Not only did it show what brands helped in making Breast Cancer Awareness month more known, it showed that wearing pink was not just a show. It was a campaign that not only raised awareness but raised money to help find a cure for a deadly, world-wide issue.
