Owners planning to have players miked up

From ESPN.com and Wall Street Journal

Review by Steve Robertson III in SRM 435 (section 1)

Over the past few years, the NFL, believe it or not, has been struggling to fill its stadiums. Fan turnout to games is nowhere near as high as they have been in years past; in fact over the past 6 years the a average fan attendance has dropped by 4.5%. Why is this? Some would say the economy, why others believe the prices that are being charged not only for tickets but concession are absurd, but also the advances in the at-home viewing experience has improved immensely too. My group decided to do our presentation on the changes that the NFL plans to make in the coming season and beyond through the use of two articles we found. The first is by Kevin Clark of the Wall Street Journal, whose article is titled, “Game Changer: NFL Scrambles to Fill Seats.” The second article is by Daniel Kaplan, writer for the Sports Business Journal, whose article is titled, “Listen Up: NFL Moving to Mike Players.”

The NFL is pushing out new perks for season ticket holders and well as fan that attend the game at their respected stadium. Some of these new features include, a free NFL RedZone Subscription, In-Booth Camera review (aka Challenge Camera), locker room camera access, Wifi, and now installing microphones on the players! These a drastic improvements that have really caught the fans attention because of all of this up-to-date technology being executed. The only issue is that if the fans can get/or have access to this perks at home, has the NFL really won the competition. I would think not.

If you think about why an average fan would want to watch a game at their own home, typically it is because they enjoy the own comfort of their home. Think about it, you can have people over, you have an unlimited number of snacks that costs a quarter of what you would be charge to eat at the game, and you have some many more options of games to watch, whether it is live streaming of a game or another game being shown on a different network, and let’s not forget you can drink as much as you want and not have to worry about getting home because you are already there! It is insane! Why would a fan ever want to give up an opportunity like that?

I feel it’s because of two reasons, fan loyalty and tradition. If you were to think about it, season ticket holders for fans who have been apart of the Green Bay Packers and Redskins whose seat are on the 50 yard line and 3 rows back from the field, I can guarantee those tickets have been past down for nearly 3 generations. That is where tradition plays a huge role. It is a big way to bring a family together and have them all share an amazing game day atmosphere whether it is 90 degrees outside or even 10 degrees. The fact of the matter is that the loyalty that they have for their team is one that doesn’t truly need all the perks to keep them coming back for more. I mean sure it might help, but the fact of the matter is that a true die-hard fan will attend these football games because these football games impact their lives in so many ways.So in conclusion, I feel with the additions that the NFL has/plan to implement in the coming seasons, I do think it will work but not forever. I feel more fans will begin to get pulled back to the stadiums because of these new perks and I think these new traditions and fan loyalties will grow again among a new generation. If the NFL can keep up with the in-game home experience for the most part, with integrated technology at these games that fans can relate to, I feel the NFL will be just fine!

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Review by Connor Butler in SRM 435 (section 1)

Having players get mic’d up for a game is a promotional concept the NFL has used for years. Now, NFL teams are attempting to mike players for in-stadium use to go along with many other promotions. Recently, I read two articles: One from the Wall Street Journal article entitled Game Changer: NFL Scrambles to Fill Seats, and one entitled Listen Up: NFL Moving to Mike Players from the Sports Business Journal. This brief review will give a brief summary of both articles, a critical analysis of each article from a marketing and promotional standpoint, and discuss how this is all relevant to our class, SRM 435. 

The first article, Game Changer: NFL Scrambles to Fill Seats, written by Kevin Clark, gives a broad overview of the issues currently affecting the NFL, and the many steps, including miking players, that the NFL is taking to address it. After bluntly stating the issue, the writer offers out many ways in which the NFL is attempting to address the issue, such as miking players and coaches for in-stadium use, stadium wifi, watering down the blackout rule, and “liberalizing” restraints on crowd noise to give stadiums college like atmospheres. As the article wraps up, the article states that some developments in using these new technologies as vehicles may be a long way off.

Fast forward a little over one year when Listen Up: NFL Moving to Mike Players written by Daniel Kaplan, a staff writer for the sports business journal was released. The article, in support of the previous article, begins by stating the NFL is moving to put microphones on players and coaches as another step in the leagues ongoing push to improve fans’ in-stadium experience. The article continues on to compare the situation to NASCAR, stating that the professional racing league has never hesitated to let fans hear the conversation between spotters and drivers, and that multiple teams are equally enthused by the idea. Towards the end of the article, the writer discusses the censorship, or lack of, of the miking. The current debate in player miking is over whether audio should be exclusive stadium use, and whether the audio would be broadly available, or available on an individual basis, like using an online app.

From a sports marketing, promotion, and sales standpoint, I believe that these many new promotions would be a great idea for encouraging the average fan to come spend money in your stadium. Often times, the average fan is a much harder sell than your hardcore follower and is going to need much more promotionally to attract them to an event. These many new features could provide the extra push to help increase ticket sales. This all, of course, hinges on all of these features staying free. If they are not free or will cost extra, I think it serves no purpose in attracting the average fan. When it comes to your hardcore fans, I think that these many new promotions serve no purpose. A team’s hardcore fans will be there no matter what and often times won’t need a promotion to get them there. While the incentives could serve as a cool addition to their experience, I don’t see these things being deal breakers.

When I think of how this relates to class, the first thing I think of is my experience working the St. Francis game with the marketing department. Before the game, some students were going around passing out promotional items, and inside of the gate before kickoff we were all passing out thunder sticks as even more promotional items. Obviously what the NFL is attempting to do is on a much larger scale, but I feel as though it’s a similar concept. Promotions are a very large part of marketing, which helps increase sales; the two main subjects of our course.These articles were two very well written articles that were fun to review and enjoyable to read. Because of these articles, I am now hooked to see where the NFL goes when it comes to the in-stadium experience.

"Eagles receiver Riley Cooper uses racial slur at a Kenny Chesney concert"

(Disclaimer: this video contains a sensitive subject matter)

From USA Today

Analysis by Sean Wheeler in SRM 334 (section 2)

On June 9th, 2013, Riley Cooper, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, alone with his coach and some of his teammates attended a Kenny Chesney concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cooper, teammate Jason Kelch, and coach Chip Kelly were invited on stage by Kenny Chesney to perform his song, “Boys of Fall.” Cooper then, after a security guard did not allow him to go backstage, said a racial slur regarding African-Americans. On top of that, Cooper also got into a verbal altercation with people outside of the concert. After all of this hit the fan, Cooper released a serious of tweets apologizes for the incident, as well as, personally apologizing to his black teammates. He was eventually fined and sentenced to three days of sensitivity training.

From a media standpoint, this was blown way out of proportion. The media has the power to “blow-up” stories and this was exactly the case. The media made it seem like Cooper committed a serious crime and even publically viewed him as someone like Aaron Hernandez, New England Patriots wide receiver who was recently charged with murder. Cooper understandably did and said a horrible thing, but he did not commit a crime and, therefore, should not have made national news.

Another point to be made, regarding the media, is that everything is documented now-a-days. Because of the advancement in technology this past decade, not so important stories like this are being viewed and taken to levels they should not be taken to. For example, without cell phones and cameras this incident never would have been made publically like it did. People in this generation care more about taking a picture or video of something rather than fully enjoying the experience firsthand and not through a lens. Sure, people would talk and a good amount would have found out about it, but it would not have been talked about around the entire world (twitter). Furthermore, because of twitter, it allowed anyone to voice their opinions on Cooper to millions of people, which they absolutely did. Other athletes, like Marcus Vick, and many non-athletes showed their anger and attacked Cooper via twitter. This would have never happened ten years ago before twitter and all of this advanced technology was created. The Riley Cooper incident is relevant to this course because this is a textbook situation that we could be in and might have to deal with in the future. Whether it be working in PR or being an SID, you never know what you might have to deal with or the decisions regarding players’ actions that you are going to have to make, especially due to the fact that athletes are constantly acting as they should not be and doing “stupid” things. Furthermore, this is relevant because we learned about the advancement in technology and how it took over the media; one little slip-up can make national news and really turn someone’s life around.

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Analysis by Brooks Shyman in SRM 334 (section 2)

For our current event Sean and I chose the topic of Riley Cooper and we chose the article “Eagles Receiver Riley Cooper Uses Racial Slur at Kenny Chesney Concert.” The article starts by giving you background on what happened before the event. It tells you that Cooper and some of his teammates were even invited on stage to perform the song “Boys of Fall” with Chesney. Then the article goes on to explain the event behind Cooper using the racial slur. It also tells you that Cooper got into another verbal altercation with a group of people outside the concert, and has videos of both incidents. The article concludes by telling you how the Eagles organization feels about the article and tells whether or not they think the NFL will discipline Cooper.

The media took this story and ran with it. It was major news the second the video became public. This happened in large part to technology improving. Think about it, would this have even been a story 10 years ago in a time before cell phones and cell phone cameras? Now a day for athletes everything you do is documented and can be out in the media within 10 seconds of you doing it. Another media aspect to this story is twitter. Many athletes and celebrities were able to tweet out there opinions to millions of people in an instant. Even Cooper’s teammates were going out on twitter and criticizing him. But not only were people able to tweet their opinions; they could tweet directly to Riley Cooper themselves. And while I did not tweet to him, I can only imagine the kind of messages he was receiving. This story also shows you the power the media holds. This Riley Cooper incident in the media was about as big a story as Aaron Hernandez; and Aaron Hernandez is accused of murder. And of course, what Riley Cooper did was terrible, but to be held on virtually the same level as someone who’s accused and likely guilty of murder really shows you the power the media has over public opinion.

This article/incident is very relevant to us as a class. We all want to go into different jobs in this field, and some of us are bound to end up working in media. Whether its being in PR and having to clean up an incident in, or being a journalist and writing an article; it’s a predicament any one of us can be caught in the middle of. Also the media is changing, and it’s something that we will all have to adjust to. With all different kinds of social media out there, there are a lot more ways to break a story.

"Special Report on Oklahoma State Football: Part 5 -- The Fallout"

From Sports Illustrated

Analysis by Lindsay Butler in SRM 334 (section 2)

The Oklahoma State scandal is something we have seen time and time again in the world of college level sports. Players receiving payments or benefits of some sort as an incentive to push them to do their best and win is not a dirty secret kept by few, but instead a major issue on the rise, specifically in football. Although, Sports Illustrated shocks its audience when in a five-section spread they expose not only cash rewards but also drug use, female hostesses used for sex, and the falsifying of grades. With numerous players coming forward with allegations and accusations made against boosters, professors, and coaches the media became the number one information source for curious readers. 

Sports Illustrated broke the story in a way that would draw reader’s attention and keep them wanting more. Disguising an over talked on issue as something much more they released the story in sections with each headliner completely different from the last and never giving readers a conclusion telling them to wait for the next section. A cleaver marketing strategy that worked just how the SI team planned. Whether you believed the stories being released or thought it was a load of junk you would still read the story upon it being released to judge the information provided. After the fifth section finally hit the public, media sources of every kind began examining the content and looking to interview any party associated with the scandal.

ESPN reacted immediately with an article that questioned the credibility of those quoted in the SI release and pulled facts that disproved multiple claims made within it. With two of the largest sports outlets in the nation touching on the issue Oklahoma all of a sudden became a hot commodity and was receiving media coverage from every angle. If you hadn’t had the opportunity to read the full story on Sports Illustrated you could easily gain access to it through a link posted at the end of the article released in response to it by ESPN. In the modern world we live in today the internet is a powerful source and this scandal was not going to escape from it. Looking toward social outlets such as Twitter we see not only the accused players responding to the article but news sources tweeting quotes from interviews with those affected by its accusations. Potentially one of the most impacting articles in response to SI’s was from Kansas City Sports where they finally said what no one else had, “who cares”. Quotes from this particular article spread like wildfire through short clips posted on YouTube, and once again Twitter. As fans and spectators we crave the most up to date news on our favorite teams and wait for bad exposure for our least. It is the job of members of the media to exploit stories such as the scandal in Oklahoma State. The media touches the lives of nearly every citizen daily and it is their responsibility to find a way to make us stop and look at the stories they provide us with. The headlines chosen by Sports Illustrated were short and to the point so readers knew exactly what that portion of the article would be about before reading the first sentence. By breaking their story into sections SI also ensured that the interest level of readers would stay high until they had all the dirty details and could make a firm opinion of their own. Within the world of sports, communications is critical for the reason that it can either benefit you or you can become victim to its wrath but you can’t escape it. As a student with intentions of working in the field of sports I believe having the knowledge of dealing with media is extremely important for a successful career.

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Analysis by John Boitnott in SRM 334 (section 2)

The five parts series of Sports Illustrated’s investigation into Oklahoma State’s football program included over 60 interviews of former players who talked about their experience while at the school. The five series addressed the money, the academics, the drugs, the sex, and then the fallout faced by many players after they were no longer on the team.

This story was investigated and reported by Sports Illustrated, arguably the nation’s most popular sports magazine. Whether through television channels, websites, social media, or in this case print media, the sports stories we talk about and discuss with the people around us are all influenced by the media and help shape our views of the issue. While these days ESPN seems to always be the ones that come out with the breaking news of what is going on in the sports world, it was interesting that Sports Illustrated (SI) was the first one to reveal the story. Most everyone in our class seemed to think that print media will completely die off within 10-15 years and is becoming less relevant to how we find out information. But with SI being the first to find out and tell us the information on such a huge story it showed that print media may not be as far behind digital and social media as some think. Because of a media source breaking the story the NCAA will most likely conduct their own investigation in the matter soon, and if SI didn’t shed light on the matter it is very possible the NCAA would not have found out about all the infractions and violations.This article was relevant to the course because it focuses on things we have discussed during class, such as how the players were interviewed and also how media loses trust when coaches or administrators do not communicate with the media. Both coaches Miles and Gundy would not talk about the subject when SI asked to interview them about what they knew, which led to the tone of the article having a lack of trust in the coaches due to their non-compliance when asked about the possible infractions their players may have committed.