Here are three quick thoughts on sports business storylines for the 2009 NBA Finals.

• What happens to the Kobe/LeBron ads?  Whether it’s Vitamin Water, Nike or the NBA itself, there was a lot of hype focused on Kobe vs. LeBron.  Now that the Magic have eliminated the Cavaliers, will these ads disappear?  Maybe Nike can add a puppet for Dwight Howard, since those commercials had done so well.
• Speaking of Mr. Howard, how will he be used in the NBA’s marketing efforts, or in the marketing from league partners?  Off the top of my head, I’ve only seen him in the T-Mobile ads where he plays second fiddle to Wade and Barkley.  Howard is a funny, charismatic athlete and should be easy to promote.  When I asked people on Twitter what stories they were following, this was definitely the most common response.
• The ratings for both conference finals were excellent, but will any disappointment about the match-up impact the rating for the finals?  I think there will be a small hit, but they still have the power of the L.A. market.  I think one early win from the Magic would reassure people that it will be a good series and keep the viewers tuned in

And of course, I cannot forget the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, even if I’m two games late!

• How will the declining auto industry and specifically the recent bankruptcy filing by GM affect ticket sales for the games in Detroit.  The Red Wings do a great job drawing fans in, especially in the playoffs, but the fans still need money to buy the tickets.
• Is the rematch from last year’s finals a good thing or a bad thing for the league? Since we’re two games in, we already know some of this answer.  The ratings are upfrom games 1 and 2 last year (which were on Versus) and from NBC’s first two games last year (games 3 and 4).  I would think the league is happy to see the Penguins come out of the East, but it might have been a great opportunity to strengthen the NHL’s presence in Chicago (top 5 media market) if they had advanced over Detroit.
• Does the NHL need to worry about over-marketing Crosby?  Clearly he’s one of the most talented players in the game (arguably #1), but his team is already down 2-0.  Is there a risk to pushing Crosby if his team fails to win again this year?  Maybe there is too much pressure on him to succeed.

Finally, here are the results of the poll that I’ve been running the past two weeks:

While more readers said they were paying closer attention to the NBA playoffs, the numbers are pretty close!  

So what other stories are you following?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!

UPDATE:  Well, it didn’t take Vitamin Water long to get their Dwight Howard ad together! Check out this post from Darren Rovell of CNBC, complete with the commercial video clip.

I recently interviewed Dani Muccio (also know as @dani3boyz on Twitter) regarding all of the NHL Tweetup events (www.nhltweetup.com) that have been taking place throughout this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

How did the idea for organized NHL Tweetups start and how did you get involved?

It all started with a single tweet. Even in that first tweet, I tagged it #NHLtweetup. After getting my first taste of networking outside of Twitter’s 140 character limit at a tweetup in my area, I thought it would be great to try and gather some of our “Hockey Tweeps” for a gathering in a central location (NYC). Getting like-minded people together is something that I’ve always enjoyed doing through my volunteer work in my community. The idea really took off and quickly evolved into an international event with 23 locations planning events for the first playoff games  The experience of coordinating these events on an international level, revolving around a sport that I love, has really been incredible. The best explanation of what happened after that first tweet was put together by Angela Robson (@goaliegirl) in her blog post which can be found here. I have continued to be the contact person/coordinator for NHLtweetup events. I monitor Twitter for mentions of NHLtweetup and reach out to people who are interested in hosting an event in their area. I supply them the info they need to get started and gather information I need from them in order to help them promote their event via nhltweetup.com and @nhltweetup. Angela Robson created and hosts nhltweetup.com and continues to serve as the site’s administrator.

What has the attendance been like at the various locations?

Attendance varied greatly from location to location. The smallest was in Belfast, Ireland which was dubbed “The Littlest NHLtweetup” with two very enthusiastic attendees. The largest were the first round events  in NYC at the NHL Store and in Nashville, which topped off at about 100 people. All over the US and Canada you could find events that had anywhere from 10-30 attendees.

Have the events grown in popularity as the playoffs progress?

Yes, they have been extremely successful in getting hockey fans together and have gotten quite a bit of media attention. The most exciting, was a mention in USA Today. A quick Google News search of NHLtweetup brings up pages and pages of articles. Each write up touts NHL fans as the most tech-savvy of any major league sport with these events as an example of how social media is being used to connect with and extend its fan fan base.
 
Some locations, such as Washington DC, have had 5 or more events since the inaugural night. Other locations like NYC, Pittsburgh, Denver and Chicago just to name a few, went for Round 2 and Round 3 tweetups and are already discussing a NHLtweetup for the final. Currently, there are two more events that I’m directly involved in that I will attend – one in Farmingdale Long Island on 5/27 and another (maybe two) in Montreal for the draft during the weekend of June 26th. Other events in Seattle, Denver and Cincinnati will take place this week. As soon as the final schedules are released, the planning will start for those games as well.

Are there any plans to organize events like this next season?

Absolutely. I’ve been told as soon as the 2009-10 schedule comes out, I better hold onto my BlackBerry very tightly because a number of cities are going to want to have NHLtweetups during their team’s first away game. I expect the beginning of the season to be pretty big. I’m looking forward to it. This is something that I’ve enjoyed doing and will continue to do so as long as the demand is there.

What have you learned from NHL Tweetups that other teams/leagues could benefit from?

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that hockey isn’t “celebrated” the same way in all markets. Whereas some areas, such as NY and NJ, have “social hockey fans” that will get together to watch just about any team play, other areas such as San Jose, Detroit, and most of the Canadian market, are team loyal and are mostly interested in their local teams and not the NHL overall. Identifying these differences and marketing appropriately would be beneficial to the fans as well as the teams and league.

Also, the league and teams should not dismiss social media outlets such as Twitter, or the fans that utilize it. NHLtweetup is proof that this is a powerful tool for for connecting with the fans and bringing them together. These outlets are also a valuable tool in drawing attention to the sport and raising interest in the more passive fans or creating new ones altogether. The events that were supported by the NHL and/or their local teams had the best turnout and were more likely to have follow up events.

If you want more info, you can visit:

• http://delicious.com/angela/nhltweetup (List of links that contain mentions of NHLtweetup)
• http://www.blogtalkradio.com/PredsOnTheGlass/2009/04/28/PredsOnTheGlass-Radio- (A podcast with Dani and Buddy Oakes from PredsOnTheGlass)

Everyone here has most likely seen this classic sports commercial, featuring a very intense game of HORSE between Michael Jordan and Larry Bird:

Why doesn’t the NHL (or one of the NHL’s top sponsors) create a similar commercial featuring Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin?  These two are clearly the most marketable players in the league, and on top of that, they have quite the individual rivalry brewing.  How hard would it be to put the two of them together in a hockey-style HORSE match? 

If I was creating this commercial, I’d even try to make it as close to the commercial above as possible.  In fact, isn’t McDonald’s a league sponsor?  They should be the company to recreate it.  Combining the nostalgia of the original commercial with the top two emerging stars of the NHL would be an instant hit!  Someone get McDonald’s and the NHL on the line!

This year, the NHL is going “big time” with their end of season awards by hosting an all-out awards show next month in Las Vegas.  Take a look at the image below which is from an email I recently received:

I think this is a brilliant idea.  Right now, the only sports awards show in existence is the ESPYs, and that show has gained popularity over time, so if you were the NHL, why not put on your own production? Other leagues handle their awards with little more than some press releases, and maybe a quick trophy presentation before a playoff game.  This is a chance for the NHL to gain more attention for their sport by highlighting the best players and moments from the season.  Hopefully, the event will get the full “awards-show treatment” complete with the red carpet intro and plenty on celebrities from both the sports and entertainment worlds. Another nice touch is that fans can by tickets to attend the actual ceremony at ticketmaster.com/nhlawards, and of course the show will be broadcast on Versus. If this event is a success, I would not be surprised to see other leagues copy the idea for their next season’s awards! You can read more about this event at NHL.com.

On a personal note, this is the 200th post on TheBusinessOfSports.com. Thank you to everyone who reads and follows the site. I really appreciate your support, and I hope you all continue to find the site informative, entertaining and valuable.

By this point, most people know that the Phoenix Coyotes have declared for bankruptcy and the team will end up being sold to someone.  Beyond that, the story gets interesting depending on who you ask and what perspective you’re looking at the situation from.  Here is a quick run down of the parties involved in this dilemma:

Jim Balsille - The Blackberry billionaire has been trying to buy an NHL franchise for a while now (he previously tried to buy the Predators), and he’s made an offer that the current Coyotes owner wants to accept.  However, Balsille will only buy the team if he can move the franchise to Ontario.

Jerry Boyes - The current Coyotes owner has lost millions on the team (as much as $100M depending on what reports you look at). The team has filed for bankruptcy, and Boyes wants to sell the team to Balsille because it is currently the best offer.  However, the NHL feels that Boyes does not have the authority to accept the offer, because…

Gary Bettman and the NHL - According to sources, the NHL has actually been in control of the team for some period time, possibly dating back to the fall when they loaned the franchise a lot of money. They want to help Moyes sell the team, but not to Balsille.

The City of Glendale – The city wants to keep the team in town and force them to honor the 30 year lease with Jobing.com Arena that was signed.  They are taking the team to court over this – the only way the team could get out of their lease would be through the bankruptcy process.

The Canadian Public - There is an online/grassroots movement to support Balsille’s bid and bring a 7th team to Canada.  They have created the website www.makeitseven.ca, and you can also find them on Twitter and Facebook. It’s too early to tell what type of impact this support could have.

There are lots of moving parts to this situation, and I have no idea how they will all play out.  This is definitely a story to watch closely!

I’m watching the Rangers/Capitals playoff game this afternoon (which is quite a fun game to watch), and on the bottom of the screen, they mention the NHL Star Cam.  Apparently, NHL.com is offering a live stream that follows around the star player of the game, which for this game is clearly Alexander Ovechkin (when Ovechkin is off the ice, the camera follows a different star player).  If you visit NHL.com during the game, you can play the stream right from the home page.

This is an interesting way to promote and market hockey.  Normally, teams and leagues are hesitant to focus their marketing around specific players.  This approach can backfire if a player is traded, gets hurt, or simply under-performs.  Also, most sports believe that marketing the team or the game itself is enough to generate interest from their fans and potential fans.  However, since the NHL has had some trouble generating as much public interest over the past couple of years, I like that they are trying new things.  In particularly, the league has two very marketable players in Crosby and Ovechkin, and they should find new ways to leverage these superstars wherever possible.  The star cam also offers a unique way of viewing the game that existing fans will appreciate.

There is a fun tradition among many NHL teams where the players do not shave at all during the playoffs.  Some players end up with very impressive facial hair, especially if their team makes a deep playoff run. 

Recognizing this tradition and the opportunity it presents, several NHL teams have partnered with the website www.Beardathon.com to help raise money for their team charity.  Their slogan is “Grow One for the Team” and the concept is very simple and fun.  Fans can sign up and volunteer to grow a beard during the playoffs.  Then they can encourage their friends and family (or anyone really) to pledge an amount per day that they grow their beard (the length of time corresponds to how long their team is in the playoffs), or simply make a flat donation.  The participating teams have gotten their own players to participate, so fans can pledge money on their favorite player beards as well.  Fans can also view the beard-of-the-day, vote on fan and player beards, or build a virtual beard that they can send to their friends.  Finally, Beard-a-thon is also using Facebook and Twitter to help promote the program.

This is a great initiative, connecting a fun tradition and the excitement of playoff hockey with a wonderful charitable program.  I couldn’t resist signing up myself, so you can click here to see my Beard-a-thon profile and make a pledge!  Thanks!

Last night, Martin Brodeur set the NHL goaltending record for most career victories with 552, one more than Patrick Roy.  This was an incredible accomplishment by one of the most talented and respected athletes in NHL history. 

The NHL, recognizing the rarity of this type of record-breaking event, is doing a great job in embracing Brodeur’s accomplishment and getting fans directly involved in the celebration by launching a “digital celebration” on NHL.com, NHL Mobile, and across the Internet.  This includes:

• Extensive coverage and video from yesterday’s win, including reaction from teammates, opponents and fans
• Exclusive video retrospectives on Brodeur’s career
• A dedicated section on Shop.NHL.com called that includes new products to commemorate the record
• Asking fans to e-mail a congratulatory note or favorite memory of Brodeur to CongratsMarty@NHL.com, with the top entries displayed on www.NHL.com/brodeur and shared directly with Brodeur himself
• Encouraging fans to visit the NHL’s YouTube site (www.YouTube.com/NHL) and submit their own video or text message to Brodeur
• Encouraging fan conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #Brodeur

This is a very comprehensive “digital celebration,” finding ways to integrate both fan-generated and league-generated content across multiple platforms.  These types of strategies can be implemented by any team or league to celebrate a significant event or milestone, and they are pretty easy to manage.  Congrats Martin, and nice job by the NHL.

News was released today about a new partnership between the NHL and MLB.  Starting next week, fans of both leagues will now have the opportunity to purchase a combined membership to MLB.tv Premium and NHL GameCenter Live, the two streaming video products produced by each league.  The package will be available for purchase at both NHL.com and MLB.com, and will cost $139.95.  This is a very nice price for fans, considering the MLB product costs $109.95 and the NHL’s “Race for the Cup” video package costs $79. 

Along with their typical selection of regular season games, both products have added to their product packages.  MLB.tv will include over 100 spring training games and the first two rounds of the World Baseball Classic, while NHL GameCenter will include select playoff games.  This deal will probably be more beneficial for the NHL in improving adoption of their GameCenter product.  MLB.tv has been around for a few years now and is more well-known by sports consumers, while this is the first year for GameCenter Live.  

“We couldn’t be more excited about this tremendous opportunity to introduce our groundbreaking NHL Game Center LIVE experience to an even bigger audience,” said John Collins, COO for the NHL. “MLB.com has built a great business by engaging their audience with a best-in-breed product. This partnership is all about our mutual commitment to deliver world class digital sports experiences to sports fans everywhere.”

I don’t know what their expectations are in terms of total sales numbers, as I’m sure there are some questions about how much crossover there is between MLB and NHL fans.  But even if the numbers are small, any increase in NHL viewership by sports fans as a whole is a very positive thing.

This post is courtesy of guest blogger Adam Sherlip:

The significance of the USA beating the USSR in 1980 isn’t as impactful today as it was in the 80s.  Many Russians are among the best and most popular players in the NHL.  Alex Ovechkin is a superstar that has singlehandedly made Washington, D.C. into a hockey-crazed town.  Think about that – a Russian athlete is THE star athlete in the capital of the USA.  Wow. 

The New York Times recently featured an article describing how a team that used to be in East Germany, is about to begin playing in an arena built where the Berlin Wall used to stand.  This team has been a source of unification of former adversaries. 

This type of cultural progress is happening all over the world with different initiatives to help connect people.  Non-profits have been established by people from all walks of life, interested in using sports to affect those in less privileged regions.  Roberto’s Kids (robertos-kids.org) is an organization using baseball and the inspiration of Roberto Clemente to positively affect children in third world countries.  Right to Play (rightoplay.com) is another organization using sports and play as a means towards improving health, teaching life skills, and fostering peace in disadvantaged areas of the world.  Sports, it seems, is the common ground we can all start from.

Some professional teams have also invested resources into this outreach.  I had the unique privilege to be heavily involved in Project Hope (nyiprojecthope.com), an initiative of the New York Islanders to develop youth hockey in northeastern China.  Working with Team USA star Angela Ruggiero, Project Hope was uniting children from China with kids from around the world.  In 2006, Project Hope hosted its first youth hockey tournament on Long Island, comprised of a team from Qiqihar, as well as three teams from the New York area.  The tournament was an incredible cultural experience, and a great success! 

A few weeks later, Angela and I went to China to visit each school affiliated with Project Hope.  We spent 45 minutes on the ice showing the players and the coaches the basics, reinforcing the foundation of the game, but more importantly, we preached the culture.

Hockey is a sport that thrives on teamwork, sportsmanship, trust, accountability, and fun.  What we found was that because of the distinct differences in Chinese culture as compared to the Western World, players were being worked too hard, too long, and without an understanding of those virtues that hockey is based upon.  We also noticed that coaches relied on the best players to assume dominance, but in hockey, the best players succeed by being the best teammates, whether it’s Gretzky, Lemieux or Crosby.  To fix this, we showed them drills to enhance creativity, worked on passing, and ran more scrimmages.  It helped!  They were much better the following year at the 2008 tournament!

This is the calling I have been waiting for…to share happiness around the world, one puck at a time, using the sport of ice hockey as the language and culture to bond over.  My first destination is Ladakh, a region in Kashmir, India running on solar energy and ecofriendly practices.  Phey is a rural, Buddhist village in the Himalayas, looking for volunteers to teach the kids hockey before the ice melts in early February.  More information can be found on my website, hockeyvolunteer.blogspot.com.

Adam Sherlip, formerly responsible for digital marketing and amateur hockey development for the New York Islanders, is now heeding his life’s calling.  An idealistic New Yorker, Adam is looking to travel around the world teaching kids hockey, as well as write a variety of books based on the culture of sports.  You can continue to follow Adam at his blog, hockeyvolunteer.blogspot.com.