In the past, we used to have regular “Five for Friday” columns that featured five interesting links for the week. I’m going to start bringing this back more often with all different types of lists. Today, in honor of Twitter’s #FF (Follow Friday) hashtag, here are five great sports business folks to follow on Twitter.

(NOTE: there are clearly WAY MORE than five great sports business folks to follow on Twitter, and since this is a recurring column, you will meet many more of them over time, so please do not be offended if you aren’t on the list).

• Brian Gainor (@BrianGainor) – The founder of PartnershipActivation.com and account supervisor at GMR Marketing, Brian is a constant source of best practices and new ideas in consumer and corporate sports marketing.
• Lou Imbriano (@LouImbriano) – Former CMO of the New England Patriots, current CEO of TrinityOne and author of Winning the Customer, Lou offers a great blend of business insights that span sports, sales, marketing and customer service.
• J.W. Cannon (@cannonjw) – Senior Project Lead for Sponsorships at UPS and co-founder of #sbchat (with Lou), J.W. is never one to shy away from an opinion and always shares excellent and entertaining sports business knowledge.
• Mike Mahoney (@mahoney) – Sponsorship Sales Executive for the Carolina Panthers, Mike is one of my earliest Twitter friends and is an active, expert participant in all sponsorship-related discussions.
• Tariq Ahmad (@tariq_ahmad) – A Ph.D candidate at Northern Colorado studying the intersection of sports and social media, Tariq has quickly become a go-to person on emerging trends in social media marketing.

Yesterday I sat down with Justin Cener, Founder of Crowd Seats, to discuss how sports organizations can use group-buying deal sites as part of their sales efforts and what’s unique about the Crowd Seats product compared to other options.

Justin, give us a brief overview of Crowd Seats?

Crowd Seats is the first and only daily deals site for sports tickets. We offer amazing sports ticket deals for 50-90% off face value with no added ticket fees. Consumers love us because we offer great tickets for great games at unbelievable prices. Teams and events love working with us because we’ve created a medium to generate revenue on distressed and last-minute ticket inventories. We focus on one niche – sports, and our business is built to meet the needs of sports teams.

In general, how do you see discount and group-buying sites adding value to sports organizations? What trends have you seen in this area?

Sports tickets are the ideal match for the daily deals model. Sports ticket inventory is perishable – if you don’t sell it, you lose it. Teams have an incentive to offer discounts in order to salvage this perishable inventory.

Further, the nature of attending a sporting event solves the issue of overage spending. Deal sites have had to battle a lack of overage spending as customers would buy a deal and not spend a dime extra. For each ticket sold, teams can count on additional per-cap revenues in the forms of parking, concessions, and souvenirs. $20 parking, $8 beers, and $6 hot dogs add up quick and represent a significant revenue stream for teams.

How should teams best manage the risks associated with discounting tickets? Are there any best practices you recommend?

Teams know they need to discount to salvage distressed/last-minute inventory, but they hate offering discounts to their full-price-paying customers. Teams can alleviate this risk by utilizing services like deal sites to promote the offer to their own user bases. We do recommend that the team provides as big of a discount as possible without going too far past their season ticket price.

How important is the group/social component of these sites in driving sales?

Going to a sports game is a social event, a group event. Further, getting a great deal is a social event as well so the two mesh nicely together. In order for these deals to be really successful, there needs to be a social element to it. That means social media needs to play a huge role in both increasing deal exposure and driving sales from social proof. There is no better advertisement than one that comes from a customer that is sharing his/her purchase. As an example, with Crowd Seats, over 1/3 of our sales come directly from Facebook or Twitter.

What is different about Crowd Seats compared to other non-sports-specific sites like Groupon and LivingSocial?

As a niche daily deal site focusing on sports tickets. we’re able to build our business to meet the needs of sports teams. We’ve spoken to over 50 teams and events nationwide and listened to what they were and were not happy with when working with deal sites. Armed with this data, we built Crowd Seats to give teams another avenue to move inventory on their terms.

Most importantly, we differentiate ourselves from Groupon, Living Social, etc in two major ways. First, we offer the most aggressive revenue split in the industry – by far. Our revenue split gives the team a much larger share, leaving them with far more revenue per ticket than they would receive with other sites. Second, we provide full customer contact information to our partner teams so they can build their customer base. So, we’re not only generating revenue, we’re driving highly targeted leads to teams. This has been extremely well received by teams and has been a driving force behind a lot of our relationships. As a niche site, users who sign up show a pre-determined interest in our partner’s products and we consider them to be highly targeted leads for teams.

What’s next for Crowd Seats?

Currently, we’re live in two markets, New York and Los Angeles. We’ve sold over 250 tickets to date and we’re aggressively targeting new markets to enter. In total, we see 16 potential markets nationwide and we’ve already begun to build relationships with many teams in those regions.

You can connect with Justin Cener on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @CrowdSeats.

My condolences to the Paterno family on the passing of Joe Paterno.

While there is no arguing his accomplishments as a football coach, may his final legacy be allowing the world to learn from his mistakes and the mistakes of others involved so that the situation at Penn State never happens again.

In case you didn’t know, I’m a big social media advocate. I love what it can do for people and business alike, creating content, conversation and active communities. In turn, when I see unique opportunities and promotions based around this space, I love to share them here, which bring me to the “Ultimate Sports Social Media Job” program created by Xfinity.

Here is a quick summary of the contest and what the winner can receive:

“Comcast’s Xfinity Service is launching a contest to hire an individual who will serve as the new voice of Xfinity in the sports social media space and go behind-the-scenes at some of the biggest nationwide sporting events in 2012, sharing exclusive insights and updates with fans. The contest, entitled “Xfinity Presents: The Ultimate Sports Social Media Job,” runs from January 13 through March 25 in search of the next sports social media star.”

“The winner will receive a one-year salary and will be responsible for tweeting from the @XFINITYSports Twitter handle on continual basis,  reporting live from premier sporting events throughout 2012, and educating and engaging avid sports fans in social media communities. In addition to live event access, the winner will also receive all the electronics for the ultimate sports pad, including televisions, home audio/video equipment, etc.”

Anyone who is interested can apply through their Facebook page at Facebook.com/Xfinity. You have to share a video (up to 2 minutes) pitching why you’re the perfect person for this role based on your knowledge and passion for sports, social media and Comcast (after all, the winner will be working for them!). The top entries will be featured on this page and voted on by fans, with the top 5 advancing to the finals. These lucky five will get a trial run covering a premier sporting event in early March, and then a panel of celebrity judges will make the final decision on a winner who will get to travel to and cover some of the biggest sporting events for an entire year.

So, if this is your ultimate sports and social media dream job, make sure to enter ASAP. Also, if you are a reader of this blog and decide to apply, please let us know in the comments so we can check out your entries. I’d love to throw my support behind one of our fans, sharing your entry on the site and in the newsletter. Good luck!

My full-time roles in the sports industry have been focused on the CRM and database space, and these positions can have lots of fun and interesting responsibilities, such as:

• Consolidating data to build a complete picture of each fan and customer
• Building distinct customer segments for targeted marketing campaigns
• Managing digital communications using email, web, PURLs, social media and more
• Creating detailed customer profiles to understand who are fans are
• Measuring the results of sales and marketing initiatives
• Generating new leads and building models to predict sales and renewals
• Using marketing automation to generate incremental revenue
• Analyzing ticket sales and survey research data to identify trends and opportunities
• Leveraging technology to build efficient sales, service and marketing departments

In case you haven’t checked out the Event Calendar, we have two more sports networking events scheduled for this month!

The Business of Sports – New York Networking Event

• Wednesday, January 11 at Slattery’s Midtown Pub
• Open networking from 6:00 to 9:00PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

The Business of Sports – Atlanta Networking Event

• Tuesday, January 17 at Buckhead Bottle Bar
• Open networking from 5:30 to 8:00PM
• Free to attend, all backgrounds welcome (No resumes please!)
• Details and RSVP here!

Our goal is to create a regular series of sports business networking events in as many major markets as we can. These events provide opportunities for sports professionals on all levels to connect with other like-minded individuals and build up their professional network. Our feedback from these events continues to be tremendous, so we will keep seeking out new locations and new ways to help support this wonderful community. We hope to see as many of you as we can at one of these events very soon!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Dave Fogelson.

In all likelihood, people aspiring to “work in sports” are over-looking the sporting goods industry, particularly the retail end of the business, as the starting point for a career path. Retail is where people seeking entry-level jobs can find the most opportunities to apply their sports interest and knowledge and acquire invaluable, real world experience.

The $52 billion sporting goods industry is home to some of the most recognizable and iconic consumer brands and biggest names in retailing. National chains like Dick’s and Sports Authority, regional stores such as Modell’s and Hibbett, specialty retailers in the team sports, golf, running and outdoor segments and many other brick and mortar and on-line outlets have an on-going need for people who either have or can acquire product knowledge and possess a commitment to customer service.

Working the past two years as a retail sales associate at a sporting goods chain, I’ve influenced more sales than during the combined 13 years I spent as the head of public relations for two athletic footwear and apparel companies. I oftentimes think about how much more effective I (and most of my corporate colleagues) would have been in our brand marketing positions had we possessed some of the insight that comes from working retail.

So, what knowledge, experience and skills can you expect to acquire at retail that can help you land that “dream job” in sports?

-  Selling and business development:  Every organization in every industry needs people oriented to generating business. Sporting goods retail associates play the critical role in the space known as “the last three feet of the sale.” It’s the epitome of missionary salesmanship and not merely order-taking.

- Product knowledge:  Having the capacity to understand and embrace the features and benefits of the products/services you represent is essential to any job you’re likely to perform in sports marketing. A product or service’s unique selling proposition is the foundation of an effective marketing campaign.

- Listening and communicating:  Having acquired product knowledge, the ability to apply it by listening to customers, understanding their needs and clearly and concisely communicating the features and benefits of products that meet their requirements creates more business for your employer now and in the future. Aren’t the majority of (if not all) sports marketing programs predicated on building and sustaining customer/fan loyalty to the sponsor’s brand and products?

- Prioritizing and working the plan:  In addition to dealing with customers, retail associates handle a myriad of responsibilities. From organizing inventory to merchandising product displays, many balls must be kept in the air simultaneously. The ability to take on and handle multiple assignments is one of the hallmarks of a successful sports marketer.

- Working (well) with others:  Working retail requires flexibility, a willingness to pitch-in whenever and wherever situations demand and a thick skin. Among managers and sales associates, retail’s “we’re in this together” mentality is comparable to the work environment and expectations you’ll encounter throughout the sports industry.

- Understanding what truly resonates with customers:  Retail (the Place) is where the rubber meets the road for the other three “Ps” – Product, Promotion and Price. Working retail provides insights into what truly motivates consumers to part (or not part) with their cash for products and services. People with this insight are better able to create and conduct more targeted sports marketing campaigns that utilize brand resources more efficiently and effectively.

With this knowledge and experience, in tandem with your educational background and special interests, aspiring sports business executives are in a much better position to pursue and secure more rewarding positions of greater responsibility.

• If your heart is in retailing, there are corporate level positions as a buyer, in merchandising, operations and marketing.
• If retailing isn’t for you, brands across the spectrum of the sporting goods industry need people in product development, marketing and sales who’ve experienced first-hand how consumers and retail sales associates respond to product features, advertising and promotional campaigns and price promotions.
• Non-sports brands that sponsor sports along with their agency partners need people who’ve experienced at the retail level how event sponsorships and athlete endorsers can be leveraged with the consumer to generate sales and create brand loyalty.

The retail environment isn’t glamorous and can be down-right difficult. The challenges you’re likely to encounter at retail, coupled with the modest compensation, are best surmounted by taking a broader view and looking at the time and energy you’re spending on the sales floor as a means to a greater end.

In the majority of instances, the investments brands make in product development and marketing are greatly diminished absent the sales associate creating connections for the product and brand with consumers. Creating these connections is the stuff with which attention-getting resumes are built.

Within this context and keeping in mind your career aspirations, every retail floor assignment, no matter how mundane, every customer interaction and sale you generate have greater significance. Leverage this experience and the insights you’ve gained in your ongoing communications with the organizations you’ve identified as prospective employers and networking with industry contacts.

Dave Fogelson is the former head of public relations for adidas USA and Reebok. He’s also held public relations positions with The Miller Brewing Company, Pan-american Sports Network and Sharp Electronics. For the past 2-1/2 years, he’s served as an athletic footwear and golf sales associate at a major sporting goods retail chain.

When I talk about my various non-sports experience, people tend to laugh when I tell them that my time working at McDonald’s as a teenager was one of the most positive experiences I’ve ever had. I learned so much from that position that applies to any business, so it seems only fitting to share some of those key lessons here in the context of sports business.

1.  No one knows the customer better than your front-line staff.

This is rule number one because I don’t think enough organizations realize the power that their customer-facing staff truly has. Our McDonald’s was a particularly busy location, so our cashiers and floor staff engaged with thousands of customers every week. Through these interactions, we knew what items people wanted, how long they were willing to wait, how much prices mattered, and the general sentiment of our store’s patrons. This information was used each day by managers and staff alike to make sure we were running efficiently and reacting to the needs and preferences of our particular customers.

In sports, the front-line staff includes a wide range of roles, such as sales reps, service reps, box office, concessionaires, ushers, receptionists, gameday interns, guest relations, security, merchandise sales, custodians and more. These are the employees that interact directly with your fans and customers every single day. They know what the fans are saying and feeling. As such, these staff members have very well-educated opinions that can be used to help shape important decisions. Senior management has to set ticket prices, decide on gameday entertainment, select food and merchandise options and build communication strategies. While market research can be used to help influence these decisions, I feel strongly that asking your front-line staff about what the fans want is an important resource that can be just as, if not more valuable that survey results.

2.  Discounts help in the short-term, but value wins in the long-term.

I remember when McDonald’s first came out with the “Dollar Menu” and it was huge!  How can you beat a $1 cheeseburger or $1 french fries? But then Burger King released a “Value Menu”, and then Wendy’s, then Taco Bell. It didn’t take long for everyone to try this approach. This strategy was easily duplicated and in turn, it moved the focus from the product to the price. The same problem exists with coupons and other discount programs. These tactics focus on a quick, immediate transaction – get them in the door and then hope they decide to stay. The problem is that the quality of the product and the product’s value relative to the price have much more of an impact on long-term success.

This concept is very important when it comes to all prices, from tickets to hot dogs. Offering discounts, whether its direct from the team or via a site like Groupon can definitely generate a quick spike in sales, but that revenue is not sustainable. A better approach would be to take a more sophisticated look at your prices to make sure the value proposition is there for the customers, perhaps through variable or dynamic pricing. In addition, we know that customers are very sensitive to food prices in the stadium, but most of the time, it’s actually the combination of price AND quality that they are upset about. Dropping the price of a hot dog won’t help if the hot dog isn’t hot or tasty. Just like the actual tickets, concession items need to have value for the consumer, and that comes from quality as much as, if not more than price.

3.  Don’t underestimate the value of a clean bathroom.

Hopefully you just laughed a little, but when you stop to think about it, this statement is very true. Cleanliness in general is a very important factor when it comes to feeling comfortable and welcome in any venue, and the location where people tend to notice this most is the bathroom. At our McDonald’s, we cleaned the bathroom at least once an hour, and usually even more often than that. Even if we were in the middle of dinner rush, we never skipped this task because we wanted the entire dining experience (which often involves a trip to the restroom) to be a positive one.

No one likes a dirty bathroom, whether it’s at a restaurant or at a stadium. That feeling of being disgusted by something can be a surprisingly “sticky” memory, even if the rest of the game experience is quite positive. Meanwhile, fans have come to expect dirty bathrooms and port-a-johns at sporting event, that when you enter one that’s clean, it can create a surprisingly positive reaction (or at least avoids creating a negative one). Keeping stadium bathrooms clean on a gameday is quite challenging, but even if it means a few extra workers on gameday, I would argue it’s well worth it.

4.  Failures can be your best opportunities.

Who hasn’t had a negative experience at a fast food restaurant at some point, whether it’s receiving the wrong order, sitting at a dirty table or finding a hair in your food? The most important thing to do at this point is to listen first, apologize, fix the issue as quickly as possible and try to replace the bad feeling with a good experience. A single service recovery opportunity can have even more impact on long-term customer satisfaction than hundreds of regular, uneventful visits. As a McDonald’s employee, I was taught to go out of my way to make a situation right whenever a customer has a problem, and 99% of the time, I was able to turn that negative situation into a positive touchpoint with our restaurant.

As much as we try to prepare for every situation, we are faced with failures and mistakes all the time in sports – it is the nature of any service-based industry. The tickets get lost in the mail, the hot chocolate isn’t hot, the shirt is the wrong size, a fan slips on a spilled drink – there are thousand of things that can go wrong. In fact, many times the “failure” isn’t even our fault, such as when a customer loses their tickets or mistakenly purchases counterfeit tickets. Heck, we also get blamed for bad weather or poor team performance! Whenever these situations arise, rather than get frustrated, we need to remember that we are being presented with opportunities to build a better relationship with the fans. We must listen to what they’re saying, even if they just want to vent about the team. We should make sure problems are resolved, maybe even with a refund or complimentary tickets. You might be interacting with the most passionate fan who only comes to one game a year, and if that fan walks away unhappy, it could be the last game they ever come to.

5.  Reward loyalty.

I still remember several of the “regulars” that came to my McDonald’s, and I haven’t worked there in almost 15 years. These customers were regulars because of how we made them feel when they came to our store. We knew their names, how often they came in, and what they always ordered. In fact, when we saw them come in the front door, we started making their meal before they placed their order. If they decided to treat themselves to an additional dessert, we just gave it to them without thinking about the extra $1-2 we could have made. Around the holidays, we gave them a thank you card. and above all, we talked to them and listened to them. As this happened, we started realizing that other customers saw how we treated them, and sure enough, these customers often became regulars themselves. We loved our loyal customers, and did everything we could to make them happy.

In sports, we have an amazing luxury in that our customers are fans of our brand and product, something that many industries don’t experience. But unfortunately, this fact is often taken for granted, when it clearly shouldn’t be. The most time, effort and money should be dedicated to those fans and customers that have shown their loyalty over the years as season ticket holders, suite buyers and corporate partners. These are the audiences that you want to reward with the best value, the best experiences and the best level of service. Some teams try to do this with loyalty or rewards programs, and while those programs can succeed, they aren’t necessary to truly reward loyalty. Visit your best customer in the stands and bring them a small gift or upgrade their tickets. Send out thank you card or birthday emails. Call them to ask how the game was, even if you don’t have anything to sell them. These are all simple ways to reward loyal fans that will have a lasting impact on their relationship with the team.

Last week, Coyle Media released a great infographic on how sports fans use various social media check-in services. It’s interesting to see how the results vary by sport (unfortunately, there’s no data on MLB), how sports venues compare to other types of check-in locations, and the most effective ways to drive check-ins.

Personally, I have concerns about the long-term success of geolocation-based services, but the poll does show that there is definite value in this service when it comes to sporting events. So even if the overall adoption rate in these services lags behind other social media channels, it shouldn’t be overlooked by sports organizations.

Sports Marketing from Coyle Media, LLC.

In light of yesterday’s trade/non-trade of Chris Paul from the Hornets to the Lakers, I feel the need to re-publish my take on the inherent conflicts of interest that arise from having a franchise owned and operated by a league. I’ve heard and read several different arguments over the merits of this trade and why it should have been allowed, including:

• The Hornets got back a lot of talent and it was a fair package for Paul.
• The Hornets have a GM in place that is keeping the best interests of the team in mind.
• Paul wasn’t going to sign an extension with the team, so it’s best for them to make a trade.

The actual reason why the trade wasn’t allowed to go through is unclear. The “official” statement was that the Hornets decided against it, but in reality, there has to have been a decision at the league level, which makes sense because…THE LEAGUE OWNS THE TEAM! General managers have to report up to the team owner, and in this case, the team owner is the group of all 29 other team owners. If those team owners do not want the trade to go through, whether or not the reasons are justified or completely selfish in nature, then the trade cannot go through.

Update: For all those people who feel that David Stern either made this decision himself or shouldn’t have “allowed” this veto to happen (cough, cough, Bill Simmons), his bosses are the other 29 team owners. For all of his authority, he still has to listen to them, even if he disagrees with them.

Clearly, this is a gigantic conflict of interest, and it’s a big reason why situations like this should be prevented at all costs. It affects both team decisions (trades, signings, contracts) and business decisions (television contracts, relocations, sponsorships). I wrote about this earlier this year with regards to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and I also include other examples with the Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, and funny enough, the New Orleans Hornets.

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By now, you’ve probably already seen the news that Major League Baseball has taken control of  day to day operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers away from current team owner Frank McCourt. Instead of trying to weigh in on whether MLB’s decision in this case was right or wrong and what McCourt should or shouldn’t do, I’d like to take a philosophical look at the concept of a league-owned or league-operated franchise. This situation has come up a few times in professional sports over the past decade, including the Texas Rangers, the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, the New Orleans Hornets, the Phoenix Coyotes and now the Dodgers. While the circumstance behind each situation is different, there are some fundamental issues at hand any time a league steps in to manage an individual franchise.

If a league owns or operates an individual franchise, in essence the other 30+ owners within that league are now in charge of that team, since the league itself is owned equally by all of the separate team owners. While each owner is primarily concerned with their own franchise, even having a 1/30th stake in another team is a significant investment. This additional “ownership” can represent a unique conflict of interest for those put in charge of the team’s operations.

The owners want this franchise to be run profitably, but what is the best way to do that? Often times, the best way to generate a short-term profit is through reducing costs, whereas long term profit is more sustainable via investing in the team’s operations. If the other owners care more about the short-term, which could easily be the case since they theoretically won’t own the team for long, then those in charge may be forced to cut costs. In addition, the specific approaches the team takes in their operations could be dictated by that league’s revenue sharing system. If more revenue is shared from ticket sales that local media, will those in charge be forced to focus more on that specific revenue stream to the detriment of the other.

This problem is even more significant when looking at the on-field operations of the team. Those in charge should theoretically continue to do what they can to help the team win, since that will in turn lead to more revenue. However, if that team wins more games, logic dictates that other teams will lose more games, which can decrease revenue for those team owners. This question came up last year with the Texas Rangers. The team was doing well, but until new ownership was in place, the team seemed unlikely to make any roster changes. A more recent example took place this year with the Hornets, when those in charge of the team did make a significant trade in an attempt to improve the team. Mark Cuban spoke out vehemently against this trade in particular because the team took on additional salary, which mean as a partial owner of the Hornets, Cuban could end up losing more money. He didn’t seem upset about the team’s attempt to improve (he said that he wouldn’t mind the trade if they hadn’t taken on additional salary), but I wouldn’t be surprised if behind the scenes, other owners were angry about this aspect as well.

Finally, you also need to look at the context under which the league steps in. One of the most unusual arrangements was when MLB decided not only to “purchase” the Expos, but also arrange for the sale of the Marlins to former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria, and in turn the sale of the Red Sox to former Marlins owner John Henry. While I will not attempt to analyze the various motivating factors behind these deals (how often do you see owners “trade” their team?), there’s no doubt that Henry and Loria benefited greatly from the situation, while the “rest” of the league ends up owning the orphaned Expos, which surely had a negative cash flow until the time they were sold as the Nationals. Again, there does seem to be some conflict of interest when other owners end up having to support the operations of an additional team as part of another owner’s franchise purchase and sale.

Even putting that unique situation aside, other events will continue to arise where a league has no choice but to step in and own or operate a franchise. It is clearly in the best interest of any professional sports league to make sure all of its teams can operate successfully. The conflicts that these situations present are real, and must be delicately managed by all parties involved until operations can be turned back over to the team, hopefully as quickly as possible.