Conference Tug-O-War

With College Football’s Conference Championship games fast approaching and the College Basketball season heating up, it feels so wrong that all of the attention is being paid to what is happening off the field, in board rooms and offices throughout the nation.

Louisville, Rutgers, Maryland, UConn, and Cincinnati would have been thrilled to know that in late November, their sports programs are headline stories on national news networks.

However, none of the above programs are competing for a BCS National Championship or winning early-season hoops tournaments. Rather, they are the universities that are engaged in the ongoing tug-o-war between conferences. In other words, they are relevant for all of the wrong reasons.

If nothing else, all of the conference realignment is an affirmation that college sports are now big business. Rutgers and Maryland are merely the two newest beneficiaries of the ever-growing Big Ten Network cash cow.

Traditionalists may blame the Terrapins for leaving the ACC, but who can blame them? The University of Maryland Athletic Department will now earn a rumored $10 million more a year, making them financially sustainable and preventing the termination of any of their non-revenue athletic teams. For those that will miss the rivalries with Duke and North Carolina, don’t rule out those two programs from jumping ship in the coming years. It will hurt Maryland fans that they will no longer have the opportunity to hassle the hated Blue Devils. But hey, there is always the increasingly lop-sided Big Ten-ACC challenge to maintain that rivalry.

At the end of the day, the decision for these universities is a financial one, one that will benefit their school’s brand. Something Under Armour Founder Kevin Plank, a reported proponent of Maryland’s move to the Big Ten, knows a thing or two about.

For the Big Ten, the additions of Rutgers and Maryland make perfect sense. In extending “Big Ten Country” to New York and Washington, D.C., the Big Ten Network will open the door to almost 20 million additional subscribers. This would lead to what many are estimating to be a $100 million gain for the conference as a whole. It also brings the league just two schools away from creating what would be the first true SuperConference.

Rumored candidates for the final two spots include North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, and Vanderbilt. How will Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and the schools’ Presidents choose whom to invite?

Whoever will boost the brand, of course.

Pepsi NFL Anthems

Anyone watching NFL football this Fall would be hard pressed to miss one of Pepsi’s NFL Anthems.

Aerosmith’s “Legendary Child” (New England Patriots) and Kid Rock’s “In Detroit” (Detroit Lions) are two of the seven original songs that have been showcased by Pepsi as part of their NFL Anthems marketing campaign.

The television commercials have directed viewers to pepsianthems.com, where fans can download the content in its entirety. A clear attempt to tap into the 15-34 demographic, this campaign has received strong support from both Facebook and Twitter. Links to the video, audio, as well as links to some behind-the-scenes footage, have been promoted by not only the musicians, but also the teams and players themselves.

The NFL Anthems campaign is definitely consistent with Pepsi’s efforts to connect with young people through music. Just six months ago, Pepsi announced a global partnership with Twitter, through which the brand will live-stream concerts and offer weekly audio downloads.

While the seven clips have received significant attention, Pepsi could have been creative in their method for ensuring that the other 25 teams are represented. It makes perfect sense that Pepsi would only sponsor the production of anthems for 7 of the NFL’s more visible teams. There is little doubt, however, that there are artists around the country that would have interest in appearing in videos featured on a Pepsi-sponsored website, if not national commercials.

Why not then sponsor a competition for fans to write their own anthems for those 25 teams that remain? In an era where American Idol, the X Factor, and The Voice all bring in over 10 million viewers nightly, there is little question that this program would garner significant attention. All anthem auditions could be entered via a Pepsi microsite and then funneled through YouTube, with all voting ultimately left to the public.

To encourage voting and website traffic, all votes would earn fans a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to Super Bowl 47. As a cherry-on-top, the two artists that write the anthems for the NFC and AFC Champions, would be invited to New Orleans to perform the songs live during Super Bowl weekend.

This added component would enable Pepsi to tap even deeper into their target demographic for more than the 4-5 minutes it takes to watch a music video on their website. Instead, it would encourage fans to share their favorite anthems via social media, extending the reach of their already-successful marketing campaign without any real substantial costs.

Welcome

As a young professional in the sports industry, I have always been interested in the happenings beyond the playing surface. Unlike so many others, however, my intrigue lies not in player development or the execution of game strategy, but rather in the development of brands and the execution of sponsor activations.

 

As a result, this blog will focus exclusively on the brands that have already achieved, or are seeking to gain, relevancy in the sports world. This is not limited to corporate partners, but also includes the leagues, teams, and even players themselves. As all sports fans are so readily aware, each of these parties are constantly developing their own brands.

 

In writing the blog, I will analyze new partnerships, endorsement deals, marketing campaigns, and relevant PR issues across the sports industry.

 

 

In all of my writings, please keep in mind that any opinions are mine alone, and do not represent the thoughts or feelings of any other individuals. I do, however, always welcome the opinions of my readers and hope that everyone will share their own comments. If anyone is ever interested, I would absolutely welcome guest bloggers to create their own content.
 

Thanks for reading and please also follow me on Twitter at @BrandScoring