NBA Season-Ticket Sales Record

Its almost time for another basketball season, and the TakeDown for today will discuss how the NBA is growing and maintaining its fan base from which players are where, to how the league is being managed.

According to Sportsbusinessdaily.com's inside analyst Terry Lefton, the NBA is set to break a new record for their season-ticket sales, due to a variety of marketing strategies.


Corporate Moves: The Executive Vice President of the NBA's marketing and operations division Amy Brooks, says that the league estimates a growth of about 50,000 new full-season tickets, giving the league a new record of over 275,000 tickets for the upcoming season. Marketing the league in such a way has also caused a season-ticket renewal rate of 80-85% for the upcoming season, the fifth consecutive season above 80%.

NBA Fantasy: FanDual is a sports fantasy company who has just made a big impact at the NBA team reaching a $2 million deal with the Orlando Magic. The New York based company has also backed a $70 million deal in new financing to influence a potential league wide deal in the sponsoring fantasy sports category. The league currently discusses the possibility for FanDual as well as competitors to land a league wide deal, as a ban from selling advertisements to league wide fantasy companies was lifted this past September.

Brazil's interest in Orlando: Orlando has been focusing their marketing strategies to Brazilian tourists who consistently travel to Orlando in the winter months. Largely due to the Disney experience, but it is interesting to see if the Magic can capitalize on the city's preexisting tourist attraction. Magic CEO Alex Martins says that the team is now working with Brazilian Management companies in order to sell to the influx of international visitors.

Magic CEO Alex Martins wants include Magic games with Disney for Brazilian visitors
Photo credit: AP IMAGES

Miscellaneous: The league's most well known player and marketing idol LeBron Jame's return to Cleveland and the rebranding of the Charlotte Hornets have also been responsible for an increase of season tickets for the '14-'15 season. Both teams are atop of the list of leaders for the leagues leaders in full-sales, but Brooks also credits the marketing success to more teams using the LinkedIn Sales navigator tool. The navigation tool helps sales it helps find more targeted leads, and gives the opportunity to sell not just in season-tickets, but suits and sponsorships. She say it is a "lead-generation tool" that gives teams a tremendous edge in using social media to boost business.

Cowboys Redskins Pregame Talk 10/27/14

Many say that there is no longer such as an intense rivalry among the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins, but if you have ever spoken to a fan on either side, you can see just how significant a game with the respective divisional rival really is. Tonight they will play in Arlington TX, as the Cowboys look to improve their record to 7-1, with a heated rivalry that players themselves say that still exists.



From espn.com's Todd Archer, Dallas' starting tight end Jason Witten has played 22 games against the Washington Redskins  and summarizes the uniqueness of playing this team specifically:

“I think anybody who comes within each of those organizations understands,” Witten said. “It’s just really hard to explain. But there’s the passion that I think you feel from the fans and both the organizations, the owners and then of course just the game, it just seems like the atmosphere and the tempo is just at a higher level.”

Jason Hatcher speaks on rivalry

Archer also includes a possible element of hate among the two rivals, more so on the side of the Redskins and Redskins fans. Recently added to the Redskin roster in the off season, Jason Hatcher says there is more hate on the Redskins side. After spending eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Hatcher is experiencing the rivalry on the other side, for the first time tonight.

“I’ll tell you what; they hate Dallas more than Dallas hate us over here,” Hatcher said on a conference call Thursday leading into the "Monday Night Football" contest at AT&T Stadium. “They really hate Dallas.”

“Everywhere you go, grocery store or whatever, these guys, they’re hard-nosed fans. They know their players. It’s all you hear wherever you go, man. Facebook, Twitter, whatever you’re on, they hate Dallas. They got signs up everywhere down here. It’ll be great for the fans to experience a great Monday night game with a big rivalry. It’s great for the fans.”

To me, the rivalry is very much alive, and it is something that makes watching the game even more enjoyable (depending on who is wining) and unites fanatics to band together against the other team. having the game be on a Monday night, it adds to the suspense for who is going to win and how intense the game will be with all type of football fans watching. I wish good luck to both teams, and will definitely be tuning in with friends.

Comparing Collegiate Divisions

"The NCAA pays for all of the expenses for travel for teams in Division I, II and III for the post season. At the Division I level, containing costs is not really as big of an issue but at the Division III level it’s a very big issue."


This quote is from Chris Blake of businessinsider.com as he compares how division 1- division 3 schools obtain their funding and their level of difficulties. Like most of the college sports fans out there, we pay most of our attention for the big name, D1 sports and that naturally makes it a lot tougher for division 2 and 3 schools to compete in the market. The march madness championship accounts for about 90% of the NCAA's total revenue of $800 million, so it is easy to why division 1 is heavily favored. Few know that just as the march madness insanity begins, the division 2 men's and women's championship games are played, but literally get no attention whatsoever. But is this such a bad thing? Should the NCAA do anything to establish some kind of fairness in the world of athletics, even if it cuts into their profits?




Well the confident answer is no, the NCAA will never change any rules to give division 2 and 3 schools a fighting chance for some recognition. I don't really thing there is anything wrong with that, but then again it is the NCAA that is disguised as a nonprofit organization that really has a hold on college athletics, but that is another story.


Chris Blake Quotes Pat Coleman, the executive editor of D3sports.com as he summarizes the interest of the D1 sports and their fan loyalty:


“Division III has smaller schools so a school like Cabrini or Swarthmore doesn't have 40,000 students at it like Penn State or Michigan does. Your alumni base is smaller at a Division III school; it doesn't have the kind of massive regional identity the way people across a large swath of Pennsylvania might identify with Penn State or someone in Ohio would certainly identify with Ohio State. They don’t really identify with Franklin and Marshall or John Carol University or something quite the same way,”

Marlins Park: A tough one for marlins fans, and the city of Miami

Today's TakeDown will feature a grand investment in the Miami-Dade county area, and an example of a tough sports investment gone wrong.

Improving or building a new stadium for any professional franchise can have its benefits as well as its drawbacks. It is a bit of a gamble because of the uncertainty of how fans will adapt to the new facility, or if it will make a difference in the team’s Win-Loss column. When looking at the Miami Marlin’s new facility that is Marlin’s park, we see a perfect example of how building a new stadium for an MLB team can turn a hopeful investment for the fans into a disaster that sets back the whole city. The new stadiums present failures can be summed up by bad decision making on the owner’s part and a lack of support due to the stadium’s financing.

            In the past, Marlin’s owner Jeffery Loria would depend on having his team benefit from squaring off with richer MLB franchises (Marlins defeating the New York Yankees is 2003 World Series) and rallying support with an extremely low budget strategy, gaining a grand total of $153 million operating income in the 5 year span leading up to the 2011 season (netting $33.3 million ’08 and ’09 seasons combined). It was not much later that this simple, efficient strategy would change at the idea of switching to a $639 million, publically-financed ballpark and parking complex that would throw off the organizations profitability and popularity completely.  It is common for a new sports venue to boost ticket sales, increase attendance at games because of luxury seating and new features of the facility, but this has not been the case thus far for the Marlins, as owner Jeffrey Loria has even slashed the team’s payroll by approximately $50 million due to low attendance at the new ballpark.

This ballpark is an example of a disaster primarily because of it being publically-funded by Miami-Dade county taxpayers. According to forbes.com, when everything is said and done, the marlins will be responsible for a close to $3 billion debt in interest expenses on the construction that will be put on the shoulders of city and county taxpayers. Furthermore, there is not even an incentive for Loria to even try to assemble a good team because the city and county must pay back the bond holders regardless of how the team plays! It is just an overall terrible situation for not only Marlin’s fans, but also to non-baseball fanatics living in the Miami-Dade area. Ozanian of forbes.com further notes that because of the bond financing, a $91 million dollar loan has turned into a $1.2 billion liability for taxpayers, and possibly “the worst shellacking taxpayers have ever gotten from a baseball stadium.”

Best QB's in League Part 2

Aaron Rogers is known as one of the NFL's elite QB's after winning the Superbowl against the steelers. His current in game play stats are: 15 TDs 1 INT 1,419 yards and 111.4 RTG.
 Recetly, Rogers and the packers were able to pull of a very tight road victory against Miami final score 27-24. That game would come down to a fourth and 10, and Rogers would connect with Nelson to make it a first down at the 30. With six seconds remaining on the the Dolphins 4 yard line, Rogers throws the game winning TD to Andrew Quarless, stealing the win in Miami.



Joe Flacco: One of the quietest and most underrated QB's in the league, Joe Flacco is resiliently leading the Baltimore ravens to another successful season despite many of their off the field attention in the media. With a Superbowl victory and MVP award already under his belt, the former Delaware QB is rallying his team to possibly another AFC North division title with season stats of 12 TDs 3 INTs 1,596 yards and 97.8 RTG for the first 6 games. Flacco is also the only QB in NFL history to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons (2008-2012).

Best QB's in the League Right Now

The most important part in an NFL team's path to long term success is the consistency of the quarterback. The quarterback is the leader of the team that commands the offence to score, and rallies the team in the most critical moments of a game. Today's TakeDown will showcase just a few of the best QB's in the league at the 6-week mark.

Tony Romo: Despite Tony Romo's reputation for not being able to close out games and making critical errors when the Cowboys need them the most (in the biggest games in the season) he has done a phenomenal job this season leading Dallas to a 5-1 start with impressive comeback victories against the rams and titans, with even more impressive dominating performances against former Superbowl champions Seattle seahawks and New Orleans saints. Romo's quick stats for the season:

11 TD 5 INT 1,510 Yards 100.5 RTG

Peyton Manning: Perhaps no top quarterback list would be complete without the legend Peyton Manning. So far this season, Manning has 15 TDs with only 3 INTs with a yard total of 1,530!
Earlier this season Manning became the second QB in NFL history to defeat all 32 teams with his victory over the colts, on Oct 5th 2014 he threw his 500th career TD in a game against the cardinals. He is undoubtedly the most impressive record holder in the league right now, and he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, even at age 38.

Dallas Vs Houston

Of all the excitement football brings on Sundays, a game I particularly found to be interesting is the Cowboys drive against the Texans. The Cowboys were able to contain the Texans in their home stadium even with the overwhelming amount of Houston fans and explosive Houston team. For the first time in his career Tony Romo had to use a silent count for his offense due to noise conditions in their own stadium!
 



Going into this game, one could asses the risk to the cowboys organization not only by losing to a good Texas team, but also by going up against the toughest defensive end in the league, J.J. Watt. Watt is always a factor a team must look out for, but somehow someway the Dallas QB sidesteps a menacing tackle by Watt and throws a miraculous pass to Dez Bryant to gain great field goal range. Luckily, the 34-year old Tony Romo had a great performance against all odds, including his recovery from two back surgeries (324 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT).


After a missed field goal by Dallas, the game went into overtime at 17-17, before the epic throw that led up to the winning field goal by Dallas, ending the game 20-17 Dallas.


"Certainly it's one for the ages with Romo," coach Jason Garrett said. "There's a handful of those he's had throughout his career, and I think you can add that one to the list." (espn.com)


Top Performers:


Passing: T. Romo (DAL) - 324 YDS, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: A. Foster (HOU) - 23 CAR, 157 YDS, 2 TD
Receiving: D. Bryant (DAL) - 9 REC, 85 YDS, 1 TD

Brady Beats The Undefeated Bengals SNF 10/5/14

Yesterday's SNF game was set to be an interesting matchup between an undefeated Bengals team, against Tom Brady and the inconsistent Patriots. Before last night's game, there was speculation that New England had lost a step and was no longer going to be a contender for the post season. Things like losing their first game to the Miami Dolphins, and getting crushed by the Kansas City Chiefs 41-14 six days prior to last night led to criticism that would be silenced after their primetime performance.




1st Quarter: The first quarter was early domination by the New England Patriots as even the analysts suggested the game was over in the first. Stevan Ridley would complete a 1 yard run for NE after a 10 play possession, going 80 yards, lasting 4:47. with Cincinnati providing no offence, New England would score once again in the first quarter, with Brady throwing a 17 yard pass to Tim Wright making the game 14-0.




2nd Quarter: The second quarter was a field goal fest as it was the only form of offence in this game by both teams. Cincinnati's Mike Nugent would make one from 23 yards, and the Patriot's Gostowski would make two, one from 48 yards, and one from 19 yards out.




3rd Quarter: Bengals start rallying for a potential comeback when Andy Dalton throws for a 37 Yard touchdown cutting NE's lead to 10. 3 additional touchdowns would be scored in this quarter, 2 by the Patriots and one by the Bengals making the score 34-17 New England.




4th Quarter: The 4th quarter of this game would be all NE field goals, scoring 9 additional points finishing off the Bengals who had several turnovers and poor defense in this Patriot's home game.


Final Score 43-14.

Top Performers




Passing: T. Brady (NE) - 292 YDS, 2 TD
Rushing: S. Ridley (NE) - 27 CAR, 113 YDS, 1 TD
Receiving: R. Gronkowski (NE) - 6 REC, 100 YDS, 1 TD