In sponsorship, an activation is what really brings that sponsorship to life. The sponsoring company and sports organization have come to an agreement. They’ve signed a contract, but then beyond that contract, there are these activities that we call activations. And that’s where the sports property and the sponsor will work together. They say, ‘OK, what can we do creatively to make our consumers aware that this sponsorship exists but also potentially to give our fans and our consumers a sample of the sponsor’s product or the sponsor’s service?

Some examples of that would be signage featuring a Coca-Cola logo that goes all around the entire stadium. Other examples might include names that come up on a board or ‘this is the Halftime show brought to you by AT&T.’ Some of the more intricate activations include Taco Bell’s “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion or when Lucas Oil Stadium had an in-arena store. Those are all examples of activations, and now that you understand that, take a look around the Barclays center and ask, ‘where are there opportunities to activate sponsorships?’ So if you had a sponsor, what would you do in this particular arena to activate it?

New Sports Management Promotional Opportunities

What makes Barclays Center a little bit more unique than any other arena here in the tri-state area is being in literally the center of Brooklyn. Brooklyn did not have a world-class global sports venue of that spectrum or of that size until five years ago when Barclays Center moved. We pick up markets similar to Madison Square Garden as well as a very new kind of Brooklyn market. So besides the shape, which is obviously a unique factor of Barclays Center, I think the location is important from a marketing perspective. From my understanding, the Oculus is supposed to be immediately eye-captivating. So you walk in, and you kind of feel like you’re in a big space even though you’re outdoors. And the Oculus within the circle is just a large LCD television displaying different videos and marketing pieces 24 hours a day, whether it’s the Nets or upcoming concerts. So, even if people are in the nearby mall, they still can glance over and see what’s coming up at Barclays Center.

Sports Management Education and Next Generation Mobile Marketing

An activation is basically interactive marketing. A customer feels like they’re putting their hands on the brand a little bit. And so we have a number of partners, especially here in spirit partners, where a brand will put their name on the label of a bar. Most of our partnerships are on contract years, and as a contract year ends, we might rotate a new partner in. Most of our in-arena activation is constantly full because of a very high demand for the Brooklyn market. A lot of brands love associating themselves with Barclays Center so they can get their name out there. The LED lighting that we have at the arena-not just the Jumbotron, but all the LED lighting around the arena-is just additional marketing collateral. And for our brands, it’s another way for them to associate themselves with Barclays Center. I know a lot of our health partners put their ads on those LCD screens. It’s just a way to highlight a deal they have going on or get their name out there.

Measuring impressions is probably one of the most exciting new data studies I think arenas are doing. There’s so much constantly growing and changing with that. The most obvious is scan, so we know exactly how many people come into the arena. So if it’s something big like the center Jumbotron, we’ll do count scans. Chances are everyone that entered the arena saw the Jumbotron, but if we’re looking at an LED light on the suite level, then we’re only looking at specific suite buyers or specific suite scans. We also have different activations that are just temporary. American Express has their own little box on our concourse, and we’ll have video games and interactive material in that box, and we can actually measure how many people walk in and out. I know a number of arenas are doing other very interesting things with impressions. A lot of people have sensors on the ground so they can feel how hard people step if they’re getting really excited and measure impressions that way. It’s getting very interesting.

Everyone’s phone has a Mac address that’s unique to that cell phone. So, when someone uses their app, it allows us to provide them with a better experience. We can see the concession stands they visit more frequently. We can gauge sentiment off social media pages, and we can also remarket to them very specifically based on what they like. Because BSE is a brick franchise, we have a number of arenas and venues. If they’re simply just a Nets fan, we’ll only market Nets. If they’re just an Islanders fan that only goes to games in Nassau Coliseum, we’ll only market that material. Having Mac IDs and cell phone data makes that a lot easier than just through email. So what we’re doing with the Mac ID is really an immediate remarketing campaign. If you like something on Facebook that’s Nets Team specific, we will then promote a Nets package to you. So it’s a very, very targeted program that uses that cell phone data.

One of the first things that happened in media history was the inclusion of a sports page in the newspaper. This happened in the 1800s when there were penny papers. The newspapers really needed to figure out how they could sell their papers to new audiences and people who weren’t already reading it. Sporting news was a great way to achieve that goal.

So, they began including a page on sports. A new kind of customer base came in and wanted to read about that. It really helped to legitimize sports as a force in society. That’s one of the only things that you can pick up the paper and really know it has its own section.

Radio’s Role in Global Sports Media History and the Need for Sports Management Education

That’s one piece of sports media history. Obviously, following newspapers, we had radio, where people could sit at home and listen to broadcasts of games. Even if they weren’t in that city, they could still feel like they knew what was happening in the game, and they didn’t have to wait until the next day’s newspaper came out to read about it.

Television Contributes to Media and Online Sports Management Education

From there, the evolution goes into television. One of the unique aspects of sports is that nobody really wants to watch a game that has already happened because it’s too easy to find out what the outcome was, especially today with the internet. There was one monumental game that in 1997 was actually voted the most popular network broadcast of a sporting event ever.

The Golden State Warriors are known for a couple of things. For one, they’ve been an excellent basketball team in recent years and have boasted some of the most recognizable players in all of sports. Additionally, they’re located right in the heart of Silicon Valley, so they represent a lot of technology and advanced media, which they love using to re-emphasize their relationship with their fans.

In this vein, there was one really neat example in which a fan was caught on the “dance cam,” a common feature at sporting events. The camera scans the crowd at the stadium in an attempt to catch people dancing. At one game, there happened to be this mother in the crowd who was dancing, and she got caught on that camera. When the shot of her was up on the big screen, instead of backing down, she really went at it. She kept dancing, and the video became a sort of viral Internet classic.

Afterwards, the Warriors not only pushed this video and interacted with their fans by tweeting it out, putting it on Instagram and circulating it through the various social media platforms, but this woman also became such a hot topic for fans of the team that they actually created a bobblehead of her. However, it wasn’t technically a bobblehead—more like a bobble-body—and these were then handed out to the fans.

This is just one great example of how you can engage with consumers. Once you start to engage with these consumers, they start to feel as if they are actually part of the brand. And once they feel that way, they will go out and become an ambassador for it.

With sports management education, you can learn more about these concepts and how they tie in with sports management, global sports, and building a brand. Online sports management education allows you to learn without the cost or stress of attending class in person.

In today’s world of global sports and sports management, sponsorships are changing in new and exciting ways. Learning about these interactive sponsorship agreements is essential to anyone wanting to pursue sports management education or online sports management education.

Sports organizations and sponsors will work together in terms of how they want their sponsorship. While we’ve been talking a lot about the fact that sponsorships can often come in terms of announcements or signs, there can also be interactive sponsorship agreements.

Verizon could, for example, be offering a virtual reality experience within a soccer match. Soccer fans would not only go to the sporting event, but they would step aside and go into a fan tent created by Verizon for a virtual reality experience. While Verizon may not have a sign up, they still do have a partnership agreement with said soccer team that not only offers Verizon’s exclusive agreement. Verizon is being seen by the consumers, but the consumers are now interacting with a particular Verizon device.

Needless to say, sponsorship organization and sports organizations work hand-in-hand in terms of how they deal with and how they implement each and every sponsorship. Sponsorships are getting unique. They’re not only signage or advertisements in terms of announcements. What they’re offering is unique experiences where consumers can interact with the given sponsor.

For example, Florida State had a tailgating event where they offered consumers the ability to play the new Nintendo Switch Super Smash Brothers game. This was an event that was partnered with and sponsored by Nintendo. It wasn’t just signage. Consumers were able to go up to the tailgate and have the ability to play with the new video game.

In today’s sports world, customer relationship management systems or CRM systems, as they’re referred to, play a big role. One of the things CRM systems do is give us a 360-degree view of the fan. What does that mean? According to online sports management education, it means that it triangulates data from all different data sources.

Every time a contact is made by a salesperson from a global sports organization, it’s entered into a database. Data is pulled from other public data sources, such as surveys that are done in the field, and it’s all aggregated into one spot. It means, at any point in time, sports management or an employee who has authorization can go into the system and learn everything that is known about an individual ticket holder or prospect.

ESPN’s strategy on streaming is very interesting. They’ve had to contend with declining cable TV subscriptions by cord-cutters. So they’ve launched ESPN Plus as their streaming service.

They’re using a modest monthly subscription rate model, similar to what Netflix and Amazon Prime are doing. They’ve included specific properties on the ESPN platform and things like their impressive stable of 30 for 30 documentaries. It’s a renowned award-winning series.

Following ESPN strategy for students of Sports Management Education

For ESPN, this is a way to go after the segment of super avid fans of multiple sports-sports junkies who will try anything sports-related. You can make the case that these fans are not served by today’s TV offerings. But there are different strategies out there.

A Different Approach to Media Sports Management

For example, Bleacher Report, a Turner Sports brand, has tried to price specific properties in an a la carte model, like the Champions League games or the pay-per-view Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson golf matches. There are really different approaches. You’re seeing different media companies experiment with alternatives.

Now Is the Time for an Online Sports Management Education

The media landscape is changing dramatically. It’s one of the biggest areas of change within the whole sports ecosystem. We’re seeing big changes in the way linear TV is perceived. Linear TV viewing is down. Cord cutters are prevalent. We’re seeing direct-to-consumer, over-the-top networks proliferating. Whether they emerge in a specific sports league, or they’re banded together by legacy media companies, like ESPN with their ESPN Plus brand. It’s a very exciting time right now. It provides a wonderful opportunity for those who want to enter the sports media business.

In this module, sports data and analytics, we’ll be covering a wide range of topics, all of which are very important in today’s global sports business and sports management world. We’ll be talking about analytics in the field. How are teams looking at information and data to improve their performance on the field and to provide a winning product to their fans? We’ll also be looking at analytics off the field.

How are they used in the sales and marketing suite? How are they used by front offices and business people at sports organizations, leagues and teams, and even athlete management organizations to build brands, sell tickets, fill stadiums, and monetize sponsorships and broadcast revenues? We’ll also talk about the way some of the new technologies and data-capture devices have impacted sports analytics today.

These are helpful tips from our online sports management education course.

One of the biggest milestones in athlete-driven media was when Derek Jeter started the Players Tribune, which is a hugely successful website and business now. But, it started as just a way to give athletes a voice and to give them the opportunity to tell their stories in their own voice rather than relying on traditional media to do an interview, tell the story, maybe chop it up into a way that wasn’t fully what the athlete had intended.

Since he founded it in 2014, it’s become hugely successful. It has allowed several different athletes to tell their own stories about sometimes very, very emotional topics. But, they’re able to present it when they’re comfortable and in their own way.

Aside from traditional media and aside from social media, there are so many different sports news outlets that now exist. And ESPN has always been a leader in this regard. But now you see Bleacher Report and Deadspin and some of these that take maybe a little bit more of a comical view or slant on the way that they present the news.

I think one of the big differences we’re seeing now is that instead of relying so much on the written word, organizations are really doing these short snippets, short broadcasts, short highlight clips. That’s really what the younger generations of fans want, and that’s how they prefer to get their news rather than reading 1,000-word news articles.

How would the issue of naming rights for a stadium be addressed ten years ago? According to online sports management education lecturer Chris Lencheski, maintaining regional clout and pride might have been the answers.

“10 years ago where it would have been was, we are a regional company. We are the largest. Maybe to take a US strategy approach, might be Bank of America and Bank of America Field in Charlotte.” he explains.

Charlotte-based Bank of America was making loans to and investments in the National Football League to build a charter program. Teams could go to the bank and get loans for their stadiums and team needs. Hugh McColl, the bank’s CEO at the time, was a strong supporter of the business of the NFL and the ownership group.

Indeed, there was an element of regional pride. There was also an ability to have measured media, with every game televised nationally and distributed internationally to global sports networks.

Bank of America and many other super-regional companies look at stadium naming as a corporate good citizenship strategy. It is a way to get their name in front of somebody. “And that’s where the strategy was very top line and top-level, but not a lot of analytics behind it. Just hey, it’s the right thing to do,” Lencheski says.

Data analytics is exploding. Sponsors want deeper information about how data is going to connect to a specific sport or region. In Lencheski’s time with Comcast, he evaluated data on behalf of commercial rights clients that the company might engage for naming rights on stadiums.

Questions he needed to answer were “What was the value of the stadium worth relative to its international media?” “What would the name look like on a signage standpoint from localized media?” “What would the impact for consumer brand-facing sides?” Each question represented a wide-ranging topic. The deal-making side is where the rubber met the road.

The Case of Reebok

Reebok Stadium was undergoing a transformation to being owned by Adidas, who wanted to move off of the stadium’s naming rights. Lencheski sold the rights to Macron, an Italian sportswear company.

One of the reasons Macron looked at acquiring naming rights was a deep-dive analysis. Macron accounts, particularly in the UK and with football fans, were not as well-known as Adidas or Reebok. It was an opportunity for Macron to actually put their name on the stadium.

Reebok was prepared to finance some of the rights because, in moving into participatory sports and away from team sports, they wanted to remove their name. Each aspect of the deal came about by taking a deep dive into social media, television values, and most of all, what would happen to the consumption of products.

“I know you would agree that, despite the fact we can go deeper on the analytics, we always will have those kinds of considerations, such as the community impact and so forth as part of a broader decision,” adds NYU sports management education dean Vince Gennaro.

Sports Betting and Data Analytics

Around the globe, sports betting has become an enormous business. As data analytics has progressed and evolved, it has really begun to change the game. Both analytics and digital technology have the ability to have information flow faster and help customers place bets in a more efficient way.

People who can code, who know analytics, and who can understand datasets about sports have the ability to assist both sides of a betting transaction. “The better, as well as the gaming companies, make the best bets that they can, either to spread their bets out or actually maybe make margin,” says Chris Lencheski.

Right now, those particular skill sets are things that a lot of people are looking at. As betting grows, it will come to the United States in a way that is transformational for many people in the sports business. It will also create vast revenue buckets for not just teams but actual local, state, and federal economies.

When you look at the data and analytics that organizations will need, however, it will really matter as to (for example) what NBA player or how many NBA players could hit for “X” points, and if they’re on the floor the night when the bet has been placed.

“That’s going to be a long algorithm,” Lencheski speculates, but he believes organizations will get to it.

When you’re now talking about taking bets from around the world on a basketball game, or potentially a baseball game, if you will, it will matter incredibly well as to who’s on the court, who’s pitching, and what the combinations are on the field.” People will follow these metrics no different than they do fantasy sports in the United States.

“Everything is a reaffirmation of how important the new data sources, the information explosion, and technology to deliver that information is, and how it’s absolutely changing the sports landscape,” adds Gennaro.

In Arlington, Texas, there’s an interesting example emerging. The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, one of the most recognizable franchises, with its five-point blue star, plays its home games in Arlington, Texas. Right next door, the Texas Rangers (Major League Baseball) play their home games in a current stadium and they’re going to soon move into a new ballpark. That’s interesting enough, just to look at that part of the ecosystem and those relationships. What builds on that is some development called Texas Live, which is really an entertainment complex that’s (in ways) connected to where the Cowboys play and where the Rangers play.

Part of this growing campus of sorts in Arlington, there’s also the city building, which will be the largest Esports stadium in the United States. We start to see the emergence of, not only sports facilities being connected, but the community connected in a different way. It’s sports. It’s entertainment. It’s really the way people live, and these developments signal a real shift. They’re not just about driving the economics of a community, but it’s really overseeing something driving the society and the social aspects – the reasons that you would want to live in a place.

A New Way to Look at Global Sports

The Esports stadium in Arlington, Texas, is a little bit due in part to some work that the NYU Tish Institute did with the United States Conference of Mayors, Professional Sports Alliance, and the city of Arlington. After looking at the Dallas Cowboys calling the city home, the Texas Rangers calling the city home, and other growth and development in terms of sports and entertainment, one of the questions the mayor of Arlington asked, “What’s our next play in sports? What should we do next?” The Tish Institute, in this project partnership with the conference of mayors, was able to send a project team of graduate students in a capstone nearing completion of their program (overseen by faculty), to work through this question that the mayor had. Working directly with the mayor’s office, the city staff, and the Convention Visitors Bureau, what came out, was Esports and video gaming.

In today’s times, especially with online sports management education, it would seem like that would be the obvious thing to do, the next natural thing to do. Esports seems to be so exciting. It’s hot. How could you go wrong with it? It wasn’t quite that simple. Of course, these things have to be thoughtful and thought out. You have to have the infrastructure and the financing as well as willingness and an interest to get involved in emerging activity like Esports. But what the mayor’s office and Convention Visitors Bureau saw, through this relationship between them and NYU Tish Institute and the conference of mayors, was that Arlington was, in fact, primed as a location for Esports. City leaders took that idea and the research behind it and the next thing you know, is the announcement of what will be the largest sports stadium in the United States.

Accessing Electronic Sports Management Education

Esports is actually a number of different activities across a number of different video game titles, across a number of different video game platforms. In a way, Esports and the excitement around it, is everything that we love about sports. Esports is really for everyone. Any city can do it because any business can be involved in it. The reason any business can be involved in it is because any person can be involved in it. Anybody can participate in Esports.

What led Arlington to Esports and to move forward on it is, first and foremost, a willingness by city leadership to ask questions about where they might go next and a willingness to look at the entire sports landscape. They were willing to look at the entire landscape, travel and tourism, and the way businesses work.

We look at it and say, “Well, they must have been taking quite a risk, or at least an educated risk.” But it’s no different than any other decision to do something. In this example, what Arlington has going for it, and the big reason that it went for Esports and to build a large Esports stadium in the United States, is because the leadership there could see how connected it was. They could see how connected Esports is to what people are looking for as residents in the community and as travelers to a community.