A few years ago in Fort Wayne, Indiana, there was a controversy over moving a minor league baseball team from the north side of town to a brand spanking new ball park that the team's ownership wanted to be built smack dab in the middle of downtown Fort Wayne. Many of Fort Wayne's publics were outraged at the idea for a variety of reasons. One such reason was that the team's north side home, Memorial Stadium, which was dedicated in 1993 would be torn down and turned into a parking lot if the team were to move. Many people didn't understand why the team could not just stay at memorial stadium, let alone why they had to demolish it if the team were to leave.
The team and it's ownership indicated that some of their reasons for moving the team downtown were to re-vitalize the relatively "dead" downtown and give the fans a better overall experience by building the new and more modern baseball stadium which would be so much better than the "old" stadium. While those reasons were to some extent true, I am going to try to answer some of the questions of what the Fort Wayne team and it's ownership were really trying to accomplish by switching stadiums.
If you haven't figured this out yet, money is the name of the game. Where is the money in building a new stadium? Nowadays a big chunk of change is tied up in the naming rights. Look at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Colts, future Final 4 games, and this years Super Bowl. (I hope I can use those words w/o getting fined) Lucas Oil's naming rights are huge money. Lucas Oil is paying the Colts over 6 million dollars a year for 20 years for the naming rights. In case you are bad at math, that is over 120 million dollars in guaranteed money for the Colts. Not to shabby. Why would Lucas Oil pay so much to put their name on something? ROI is why. According to an article in Sports Business Journal, Lucas Oil's return on investment over the course of two years (2010/2011) is estimated to be 73 million dollars, just from the stadium naming deal. That's right, essentially they are spending 12 million dollars and getting 73 million in return.
How does this relate to the stadium in Fort Wayne? Well, Memorial Stadium did not have a naming rights deal for one. That means the teams ownership group, Hardball Capital, was losing money every year they kept the team at Memorial Stadium. In my opinion, the owner's desire for a naming rights deal that would guarantee the team more money was one of the key factors in the move.
Enter Parkview Health, a well known and respected hospital and health group in the Fort Wayne area. Heck, my sister and I were both born there so of course I have to speak well of it. Hardball Capital and Parkview made a naming rights deal, the park was built, and Parkview Field was born. The money involved? Well of course a Midwest League Single-A baseball team in Fort Wayne isn't going to pull as much money as the Colts, but they still agreed to a 10 year 3 million dollar deal with Parkview. $3,000,000 they were not getting in the previous ten years. That $300,000/yr should come in handy, especially now that the novelty of the new stadium has worn off and attendance has fallen off with it. Don't get me started on that.
VIDEO: News segment about the brand new Parkview Field
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
How DARE you do what you did before I met you!
Over the past few weeks, there have been many things going on in the sports world that have stood out to me as far as how they pertain to public relations. Let's take a look at this one.
Jim Tressel's 6 game suspension with the Colts
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6932597/ex-ohio-state-buckeyes-coach-jim-tressel-start-indianapolis-colts-job-seventh-game
Jim Tressel, the former head football coach of The Ohio State University who resigned after it was revealed that he had knowledge of NCAA violations involving some of his players, was recently hired by the Indianapolis Colts as a replay-game consultant. Tressel met with Colts management and decided that it would be best for him to sit out six games based on the fact that some of his former players will be suspended a number of games this season in the NFL, namely Terrell Pryor. The commissioner of the NFL, who had a part in handing down Pryor's suspension, said that if the Colts would not have suspended Tressel, the NFL would have.
After learning of this I was left with a couple of questions.
1. Why is the NFL handing down punishment to people for misconduct in a former job?
2. What public relations implications does this have?
I think you will probably find plenty of opinions and answers to the first of these questions out there in the webosphere (it's a word, look it up http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Webosphere).
I'd like to expound upon the second question. The Colts were obviously being proactive in this case. They new about the Pryor situation, pun intended, and knew that by hiring Tressel they would need to make a similar move. What would this do for them from a PR standpoint? Well, I believe that it would show the fans that they are a proactive and well managed team who is in line with the operations of the league of which they are a part. It also shows fans who are questioning the hire that they are aware of the transgressions of their staff, albeit at a previous organization, and they will take appropriate action when action is needed. The Colts, and more so the NFL, are showing that they are the professional sport that will not tolerate misbehavior. I think this fits the clean-cut branding image that they are so strongly trying to put forward.
What do you think? I'd love to hear some of your opinions on the whole NFL/Colts suspension of Pryor and Tressel.
Jim Tressel's 6 game suspension with the Colts
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6932597/ex-ohio-state-buckeyes-coach-jim-tressel-start-indianapolis-colts-job-seventh-game
Jim Tressel, the former head football coach of The Ohio State University who resigned after it was revealed that he had knowledge of NCAA violations involving some of his players, was recently hired by the Indianapolis Colts as a replay-game consultant. Tressel met with Colts management and decided that it would be best for him to sit out six games based on the fact that some of his former players will be suspended a number of games this season in the NFL, namely Terrell Pryor. The commissioner of the NFL, who had a part in handing down Pryor's suspension, said that if the Colts would not have suspended Tressel, the NFL would have.
After learning of this I was left with a couple of questions.
1. Why is the NFL handing down punishment to people for misconduct in a former job?
2. What public relations implications does this have?
I think you will probably find plenty of opinions and answers to the first of these questions out there in the webosphere (it's a word, look it up http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Webosphere).
I'd like to expound upon the second question. The Colts were obviously being proactive in this case. They new about the Pryor situation, pun intended, and knew that by hiring Tressel they would need to make a similar move. What would this do for them from a PR standpoint? Well, I believe that it would show the fans that they are a proactive and well managed team who is in line with the operations of the league of which they are a part. It also shows fans who are questioning the hire that they are aware of the transgressions of their staff, albeit at a previous organization, and they will take appropriate action when action is needed. The Colts, and more so the NFL, are showing that they are the professional sport that will not tolerate misbehavior. I think this fits the clean-cut branding image that they are so strongly trying to put forward.
What do you think? I'd love to hear some of your opinions on the whole NFL/Colts suspension of Pryor and Tressel.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Fight!...For Your Right!...To Play Sports in China?
So can I just tell you that I have really lucked out on the list of text books I have to buy and read this semester? I have!
My Intro to PR class used to have a text book, but as soon as the price of the text book hit $125, the professor decided not to use it anymore. SCORE! Notes, lectures, and topical current event assignments are a great way to replace the text book.
One of the current events that we had to relate to public relations was that of the brawl between the Georgetown men's basketball team, and a professional Chinese basketball team. In case you didn't hear about it, here is the gist of what happened...
A brawl broke out in the fourth quarter of the highly physical contest. The fight was triggered when a Chinese player fouled a Georgetown player and the officials did not call the foul. Georgetown, by the way, had been called for over 20 fouls at this point in the game. The Chinese team had been called for somewhere around 10 fouls. The Georgetown player, in a moment of frustration, shoved the Chinese player. The Chinese player then retaliated by throwing kicks and punches which caused both team’s benches to clear and then chaos ensued. At one point a Chinese player was seen in the video sitting on top of a Georgetown player and unleashing right handed jabs to his face. Another Chinese player, channeling his inner Bobby Knight, was seen throwing a chair into the back of another Georgetown player. When some order was restored, Georgetown's team exited the court while spectators threw litter at them. Video and reports of the fight made their way onto the World Wide Web. Check out the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk9dNsfDhYs
This incident could be considered an international PR nightmare. Originally meant to be a good will game between two countries trying to maintain good relations, it turned into an international relations headache for some of the active public involved. China, in an attempt to avoid embarrassment from the incident, blocked any video of the event from being seen in their country. That's pretty much their MO on matters like this. "NOTHING TO SEE HERE! PLEASE MOVE ALONG!" That's another subject I will leave for the political blogs.
Have a nice three day weekend.
Cheers!
My Intro to PR class used to have a text book, but as soon as the price of the text book hit $125, the professor decided not to use it anymore. SCORE! Notes, lectures, and topical current event assignments are a great way to replace the text book.
One of the current events that we had to relate to public relations was that of the brawl between the Georgetown men's basketball team, and a professional Chinese basketball team. In case you didn't hear about it, here is the gist of what happened...
A brawl broke out in the fourth quarter of the highly physical contest. The fight was triggered when a Chinese player fouled a Georgetown player and the officials did not call the foul. Georgetown, by the way, had been called for over 20 fouls at this point in the game. The Chinese team had been called for somewhere around 10 fouls. The Georgetown player, in a moment of frustration, shoved the Chinese player. The Chinese player then retaliated by throwing kicks and punches which caused both team’s benches to clear and then chaos ensued. At one point a Chinese player was seen in the video sitting on top of a Georgetown player and unleashing right handed jabs to his face. Another Chinese player, channeling his inner Bobby Knight, was seen throwing a chair into the back of another Georgetown player. When some order was restored, Georgetown's team exited the court while spectators threw litter at them. Video and reports of the fight made their way onto the World Wide Web. Check out the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk9dNsfDhYs
This incident could be considered an international PR nightmare. Originally meant to be a good will game between two countries trying to maintain good relations, it turned into an international relations headache for some of the active public involved. China, in an attempt to avoid embarrassment from the incident, blocked any video of the event from being seen in their country. That's pretty much their MO on matters like this. "NOTHING TO SEE HERE! PLEASE MOVE ALONG!" That's another subject I will leave for the political blogs.
Have a nice three day weekend.
Cheers!
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