From Sports Networker Review by Eric Southard in KIN 332 One of the most talked about topics going on in collegiate athletics today is conference realignment. Conference realignment has been going on for over twenty years, but not until recently has it been such a controversial topic. The past five years or so, collegiate athletics has been filled with universities and colleges exiting and entering conferences. The idea of conference realignment has a big impact on the Sports Marketing Industry in many ways. In the article, “Significance and Ramifications of Conference Realignment in College Athletics”, Porsche Farr focused on three implications conference realignment has on the Sports Marketing Industry. Those three implications Farr mentioned were the loss of identity for conferences, the rivalries between schools and the financial impact involved.
The loss of conference identity affects sports marketing in that fans and players associate certain schools with certain conferences. One conference that is in shambles today is the Big East Conference. The Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament, held at Madison Square Garden, is one of the most exciting and recognizable events in all of sports. For years, this tournament has consisted of power basketball programs such as Syracuse, Louisville, and Pittsburgh. However, as of 2014, the Big East will no longer have these three schools, as they will join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Marketing wise, this hurts the Big East Conference majorly because Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse consist of some of the conference’s biggest fan markets. The second implication conference realignment has on sports marketing is that it causes rivalries to be ruined, rivalries which date back as far as the 1800s. For instance, the “Backyard Brawl”, one of the most famous college football rivalries between Pittsburgh and West Virginia University, was ended in 2011 due to West Virginia leaving the Big East and joining the Big 12. Another example is “The Missouri-Kansas Border War” rivalry which dates back to the 1890s. This rivalry ended in 2012 when Missouri left the Big 12 for the South Eastern Conference. Rivalries are used as great marketing tools for the fans, as well as for the players. The rivalry game is usually the biggest game of the year, and as a marketer, you want your product to be known and seen by all the fans. Coaches use rivalries to market and recruit players to come to their university. With the loss of these traditional rivalries, marketers and coaches are going to have a harder time selling their product. Also, “Rivalry Week” in college basketball is a huge marketing week for ESPN. Without these long-established rivalries, “Rivalry Week” will not be the same, or even exist, and ESPN could possibly lose one of its biggest weeks for the network. Last, the financial impact caused by conference realignment has an impact on sports marketing in one major way, and that being television contracts. One important aspect to know in all of this conference realignment is that TV contracts rule everything, and for some conferences, such as the Big Ten and the SEC, conference realignment will provide a huge boost to their revenue. A perfect example of this is the Big Ten and their recent additions of the University of Maryland and Rutgers University. By adding these two universities, the Big Ten’s television network, Big Ten Network, will acquire more viewers from the Washington D.C./Baltimore and New York/New Jersey television markets. New television markets equals new revenue and not only will this help the conferences, it will also provide revenue for the individual universities as well.
Although there are a few negative implications to the Sports Marketing Industry, conference realignment provides one big, positive implication, and that being money. And in the end, isn’t that what college sports all comes down to?
From Bleacher Report Review by Chris Lee in SRM 334 (section 1)
For the current event presentation we chose to discuss the new NFL rule changes being made in the 2013 off season. Along with the decision to eliminate the infamous tuck rule, NFL owners also voted to enforce the “crown of helmet rule” in their annual winter meeting held in Phoenix, Arizona on March 20, 2013. The crown of helmet rule basically states that ball carriers are no longer to initiate contact with the crown of their helmets outside the tackle box. There will be a 15 yard penalty for this infraction and incidental contact will be excused by the referees.
The reasoning behind the recent helmet rule change was to reduce concussions, neck damage, and head trauma in an effort to make the game safer. Since the rule has passed, plenty of controversy has surrounded it within the media and many players, coaches, and league affiliates have shown varying opinions about the issue. People like St. Louis Rams’ head coach Jeff Fisher agree with the rule and think that it will have a positive impact on player safety. When asked about the new rule he responded, “We're bringing the shoulder back to the game. The helmet is a protective device, but it's not being used as that as of late. This is to protect the players.”
While there has been some support for the rule change many players, mainly current and former running backs, have been upset with the idea that the league is becoming too soft. Many of these people have turned to social media devices such as twitter to express their dissatisfaction. Marshall Faulk, a football analyst for the NFL network and legendary running back, is among these people and recently tweeted, “The new RB rule is a joke.” Emmitt Smith, Matt Forte, Justin Forsett, and many others have also publicly disagreed with the crown of helmet rule.
This topic is relevant to the class because it deals with sports media outlets such as ESPN and how they have heavily covered mainly the negative reactions to the rule change. Personally I have heard very few analysts stick up for the rule change, and most of Sportscenter’s coverage broadcasts the negative views about how the game will never be the same and how the NFL is turning into “two hand touch football.” Overall I think that it is important for the media to share both sides of the story in order to not come off as being biased about a particular issue. --- Review by Donnie Carroll in SRM 334 (section 1) The NFL recently passed several rule changes to take effect in the upcoming season. Most of which were necessary and improved the game, but the one that stirred up a lot of negative attention was the “crown of the helmet rule.” This rule states that a ballcarrier three or more yards downfield cannot initiate contact leading with the crown of his helmet. Many believe that the passing of this rule has to do with the former NFL player plaintiffs in the concussion related lawsuits toward the NFL not protecting the players enough.
Twitter absolutely blew up with outrage once this rule was passed, with former and current NFL players in opposition to the rule. All of this negative attention towards this rule caused fans to also express their opinions on the rule and believe that the NFL is taking the protection issue way too far. ESPN has conducted several interviews with players who oppose the new rule on Sportscenter. It seems as if both media and social media have accomplished associating a negative connotation with the new rule change. A few coaches and former players have stressed the “safety first,” aspect but not much positive attention has come with this new rule. If only negativity is coming from all angles of the media, the fans will react the same was as the players who are expressing their opinions through the different channels of media.
The media has a reputation for putting a negative spin on stories, but it seems a bit too much when regarding entertainment purposes being more important that players’ safety. It is evident that the fans will follow the players’ reactions but it does not help that the media is not giving an ample amount of coverage to the other side of the story.
From AL.com Review by Ethan Miller in SRM 334 (section 2) When I was graduating 8th grade, the only thing I had on my mind was what summer camp I was going to attend or how to avoid getting shoved in lockers my first day of high school. I was not at a stage in my life where I could make one of the biggest decisions of my life and choose where I would attend college. That’s why I believe that there should be an age limit on when college recruitment can begin. Dylan Moses is currently an 8th grade student, who next Fall will be attending University Lab High School, which happens to be 2 miles away from LSU’s football stadium. Moses has received scholarship offers from both Alabama and LSU, two bitter rivals, but has not signed a letter of intent for either. For now, he has only given a verbal commitment, which allows him to change his mind if he chooses later on.
This whole system is wrong. It is wrong to recruit an 8th grader. It’s wrong to put a 14 year old under that kind of pressure. It’s wrong to expose a child to the media scrutiny that Dylan Moses is now going to face. Moses is being forced to choose between the two best schools in the SEC. He’s going to be playing for a high school that is within walking distance to the LSU football stadium. Do you really think there won’t be any backlash if he chooses to play for Alabama? Do you really think that people in the community aren’t going to try to persuade him to choose one school over the other? Through their recruitment of Moses, these college programs have forced Moses under a microscope from the media that could change his life forever. One thing that increased media attention could bring would be more exposure for Moses and possibly lead him to getting more offers from other schools. If he has the proper support system that is able to help advise him amongst his newfound fame, then he will be able to benefit from the media exposure. However, it seems to rarely happen that way. The majority of the stories that we hear about are how kids’ lives are ruined because of the increased media coverage. Often, the kids turn into celebrities within their communities and it ends up ruining them as a person. 14 year olds aren’t supposed to supposed to be making the decisions that Dylan Moses is now forced to make, and I believe that the NCAA needs to step in to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.
Within college recruitment right now, early recruitment is a growing problem. I think that the NCAA needs to be proactive in facing this problem rather than being reactive as they normally are. The recruitment process is beginning earlier and earlier, but we need to make sure that these athletes are still able to have a childhood instead of being forced into the spotlight. The focus needs to remain on the well being of the athlete, rather than the well being of the universities. --- Review by Jonathan Parker in SRM 334 (section 2)
Dylan Moses is a 6 foot 1 inch, 215 pound eighth grader from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dylan plays both running back and linebacker in football. He was invited to the University of Alabama’s Junior Day, which is a day where Alabama offers scholarships to rising seniors in high school who were personally invited. Dylan met the whole coaching staff and personally sat down with Nick Saban, the head coach. Coach Saban informed Dylan and his parents that he would like to offer Dylan a scholarship to play football at the University of Alabama. He told Dylan and his parents that he could be the best player in the class of 2017 and that Alabama wanted to reach out. LSU had already reached out to Dylan earlier by offering him a scholarship, after attending LSU’s football camp for the last couple of years. Dylan will be attending University Lab High School, which is an ear shot away from the LSU stadium and where a recent signee to Alabama attended. This situation could lead to the media following this rising star from now to where ever his career might take him.
Sports Media and Communications should find something like this as an extraordinary opportunity for a story. There are not a lot of eighth graders, or really anyone, that get offers from two of the best football schools in the nation. I feel the media could make it or break it for Dylan because the media could start highlighting him and putting his name out to the nation to follow. This could lead to more scholarship offers for football from other universities. The media could also over hype Dylan, which could put more pressure on Dylan to perform. This could also make him play off his game which could lead to offers being taken away for bad performances. It is possible that it could force so much pressure that it might lead to a career ending injury and ruin Dylan’s plans for his future in football. The media might also ruin Dylan’s parents by the added pressure of being nationally recognized. This in turn could cause the parents to put even more pressure on Dylan to perform better. The parents might cause Dylan to burn out of football by sending him to too many camps and having him completely focused on football instead of life as a 14 year old. The pressures from the media could also affect Dylan’s parents by not allowing their son to participate in any other sports or events that might lead to an injury damaging any chances for other scholarships. Sports Media and Communications in sports are so important because they bring us stories about scholarship offers for sports about young rising stars.
This article is relevant to SRM 334 because it deals with an unusual eighth grader getting scholarship offers from two of the best football school in the country and some of the media attention it has drawn. Since it deals with how the media handles a story, there are certain ways the media could affect a person’s life. One way is that the media could just highlight the player with his play, awards, and his sports career, which could lead to more college offers of scholarships. The other way is that the media could ruin a young rising star by all of the publicity they would implement on this star. Young Dylan would receive and feel the added pressures that come with the territory. So again, this article is relevant for this course because we are not sure how the media will take this young man and shape the rest of his football career. Dylan Moses, a 14 year old just trying to live a normal life, will no longer. This would be due to the media putting the spot light on him at such a young age.
