Indianapolis Pacers Hire Marketing Firm

One of the NBA's recently successful yet devastated teams, the Indianapolis pacers have hired Shamrock sports & entertainment to attract national sponsors outside of the Indianapolis market.


The Pacers did reach some level of success last season as they made the NBA playoffs, beat the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, defeated the Washington Wizards in the second, and lost to the Miami Heat in the semi-finals. For an NBA team returning from a championship run the season before, it is still disappointing to fall short after going so far the season before. Despite all the in-game success, the Indianapolis Pacers are also victims to devastating injuries to some of their starters. Their main star Paul George is expected to miss the entire season with an open tibia-fibula fracture, C.J. Watson is out of the line up with an injured right foot, David West has missed 3 games and counting because of a sprained ankle, and Rodney Stucky is the latest Pacer on the injured list because of a sore foot. With this giant list of injuries varying in severity, how does this impact the organizations sponsors? are people less interested in the Pacers with their star athlete on the shelf?

 When I think Pacer and gaining sponsorship through ads I think of the Paul George Gatorade Fierce ad where he cuts through a defender and leaps up for the slam dunk as Gatorade is seemingly coming out of him in mid air. With that image alone, if it where to air on TV now, it would just remind me how the Pacers have done well in the past few seasons, and how it is most likely all over.



According to sportsbusinessdaily.com the pacers have 130 sponsors when the average NBA team has about 75-80. Shamrock and the Pacers are aiming to get more national brands in nine separate categories including foreign automotive, tires, house hold products, and home improvement. The deal these two organizations have made will last for 18 months, and the renewal will depend on Shamrock's size of clients at the the conclusion of the 18 month period. It will be interesting to see all the variables in the situation including if Shamrock can successfully gain national sponsors for the team, level of fan interest, and how far the Pacers actually get this season when everything is said and done.

The NFC East Free-for-All

After another great week of football today's TakeDown will review how the teams in the NFC East are looking at this point after week nine. The NFC East has always been an unpredictable division, and it has been known to come down to the last game in the season to decide its champion. The following will be a quick rundown of each team, their recent activity, and what inside analysts Herm Edwards and Merril Hoge believe they should do via espn.com.



Eagles (6-2 1st in NCF East) Nick Foles and the eagle had a scare against the Texans on Sunday, ans Foles went down on a hard sack fracturing his collar bone. Foles will be out indefinitely, a cracked clavicle means being out for at least one month depending on the severity of the injury. Coming in for Foles as a backup QB was former Jet Mark Sanchez.
Sanchez's offensive style is a bit quicker than Foles' at the same time it would be more beneficial to run the ball more often using Mccoy instead of relying on Sanchez  to throw the ball despite 202 yards and 2 touchdowns yesterday against Houston. Foles is set to get an MRI on Monday, and it will be interesting to see how long he will be out for, and if Sanchez can step up for the first place team in the division.

Tony Romo

Cowboys (6-3 2nd in NFC East) Romo- fractured back on Monday night against Redskins, Weeden came in but couldn't get the win against the 'skins on Monday or against the Cardinals on Sunday. They go to London to face the jags this up coming week, before having a bye the week after. The 'boys should be able to beat the jags without Romo, as they should run the ball more often. Murry is the key to winning for the Cowboys. in games he has run the ball 20+ times is 17-1.

Robert Griffin III

Redskins (3-6 4th in NFC East)- lost to vikings this past Sunday,  and remain in last place in NFC East with no sign of improving. This team has gone through a lots of distractions recently due to the constant change at the quarterback position with the overall team record at 3-6. Analysts still believe RGIII is the best option to win games, Griffin played well on Sunday despite the 29-26 loss to Minnestoa. A banged up RG3 is still better option than Colt McCoy for the Washington Redskins.

Giants (3-4 3rd in NFC East); play tonight on mnf against the Andrew Luck and the Colts. Andrew Luck is 0-2 on Monday night football games, Eli Manning and the Giants have a great opportunity to improve in the division and capitalize on other teams injuries. The Giants are 8th in total defense, but only 13 sacks in seven games. They need to get pressure on luck up front and set the pace for the rest of the game as they too face several injuries hindering Manning from taking the Giants to a better record.

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).