The NCAA and the Battle of Choice and Rights 

By: Anastasia Banks

The NCAA faced a tough uphill battle this past spring as the 10th Amendment hit close to home and threatened to force the league to relocate one of their top 2 major events of the year to a different State at the last minute.  With all of the planning and money that goes into pulling off an event such as the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four tournament, this is anyones opinion is a public relations nightmare.  Indiana evoked their "Religious Freedom" law which gives business owners the right to refuse service and to sell goods to gay and lesbian individuals.  

So now you see the problem with this?  The NCAA is now trapped in a storm not of their own making with many boycotting the event and coaches such as the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball champion Connecticut Huskies coaching staff declining to attend the finals in response to the law.  The NCAA has prided themselves on providing a sporting experience that is an inclusive environment.  With many college athletes progressively living their lives as openly gay individuals and the NCAA initiative to boost their image when it comes to LGBTQ rights, it's a tough call when as an organization you are pushing equality while having to come to terms of the financial and time restraint ramifications for relocating an event such as this.  

The NCAA went into ultimate damage control with the 4 coaches of the remaining teams joining together to release one statement showing their support of the NCAA but also pointing out their distain for the discrimination that was taking place in the state of Indiana.  So as an organization, what do you do?  The financial investment for this event not just by the NCAA but by the state of Indiana is great.  The 2014 NCAA Men's Final Four cost the state of Texas $10.7 million to hold the event in Dallas.  With that type of money on the line, even the state of Indiana had to utilize their own PR resources to save this ship from sinking.  

Looking into the future and other events that have already been scheduled out to be played in Indianapolis and the state of Indiana's opportunity for future event bids, how could this negatively financially impact the city?  They already had multiple events cancel from conventions to concerts and now the NCAA is taking a look at future events that are suppose to be taking place in the city.  Overall, a legal move such as this can impact sporting events greatly from having to relocate or cancel an event, to having to deal with the PR negative ramifications of the decision made...its the battle between choice and rights.

Citations:

1. Alesia, M. (2015, April 3). NCAA: 'Religious freedom' law creates concern for future events. Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2015/03/26/ncaa-indiana-religious-freedom-law-mike-pence-mark-emmert-final-four-indianapolis/70490096/

 

2. Alesia, M. (2015, April 2). How much does it cost to have the Final Four in Indy? Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/04/01/much-cost-final-four-indy/70806958/

 

3. Howard, A. (2015, April 1). NCAA Final Four coaches come out against Indiana's 'religious freedom' law. Retrieved September 22, 2015.

 

4. Sports, P. (2015, March 27). As Final Four nears, NCAA opposes Indiana religious freedom law. Retrieved September 22, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/03/26/ncaa-tournament-final-four-indiana-religious-freedom-law-gay-rights/70492134/

The New Engine Backing the NFL

The New Engine Backing the NFL

By: Anastasia Banks

September 15, 2015

 I spent the 2014-15 NFL football season watching commercials and advertisements featuring GMC cars and trucks but found that it made me pay attention to a car maker I never really noticed before. So why would GMC give up their sponsorship relationship with the NFL?  The sponsorship roughly cost GMC $25 million a year however, they were spending roughly $150 million a year in activities, events and additional marketing surrounding the league.  

The question is, how big of a jump in revenue did the company experience with this level of investment?  After over 10+ years as one of the major sponsors of the NFL, one would say that it wasn't enough to warrant the bill.  This now has left the door wide open for a Japanese car maker to step into the biggest American sports arena to attract a potential new client base and increased revenue stream.  

Hyundai has signed on to become the new automotive sponsor for the NFL which now gives them the ability to use the NFL name and trademarks in their advertising.  This is huge for a car maker that doesn't carry one of the most American vehicles...the truck.  How will the average NFL react to this new sponsor?  Will Hyundai see a large enough impact on their revenue to validate this large investment and endeavor.  

Personally, I feel this is a great move for Hyundai and a fail for GMC.  GMC now has to compete alongside every other American automotive company without the help of the large NFL truck-driving demographic to draw numbers. I saw the GMC logo at least 100 times during last years Superbowl because it was plastered on every vehicle used by the league for players and executives.  This amount of constant advertising is going to be hard to replace.  Hyundai might just have found their golden ticket.

Check out the article below:

http://www.autonews.com/article/20150629/RETAIL03/150629900/hyundai-snags-nfl-sponsorship-replacing-gm

How to turn your little leaguer into a major leaguer with online branding!

Many parents feel as though their child is destined for greatness however, many may never see what it's like to be a professional athlete.  Even though that may not be your student athletes future, a college scholarship may be very well the goal you have for your budding athlete.

So how do you get your kid out into the public eye of college recruiters?  Sure, they may come to games and club and camp activities, but wouldn't it be convenient to have a website dedicated to their talent for sports?  There is an emergence now of social media and online branding for high school athletes giving them a platform to display videos, upcoming games and meets and the opportunity for the world to connect with them.

How can you achieve this as a parent?  Start by obtaining your child's domain name through websites such as Go Daddy where if you decided to have a website developed for your child, you are already investing in their online brand.  Also, remind your children that goes online, stays online.  Monitor their social media activity so it doesn't come back to haunt them and have their character called into question when they are going for that major athletic scholarship.

 For more information on branding your student athlete and to set up a consultation, visit Sports & Stiletto Heels-Athletic and Sports Branding which is a PR and branding firm that offers web and social media management services to athletes and sports organizations.

The Importance of Wikipedia to a new Professional Athlete

The Importance of Wikipedia to a new Professional Athlete

Anastasia C. Banks

Sports Branding Aficionado

As an athlete you have worked your entire life to get to this moment. You have made sacrifices and you have shed blood and tears to finally reach the big stage of your chosen sport.  You are now about to sign your first professional athletic contract and it is clear to the world that you are someone to watch.  So what happens next?  Sure, the organization you have joined may have a marketing team that is suppose to work with you to get your name and your image out into the community, but what about the world? Have you thought about the average sports fan watching the NFL draft and they see their rival team draft you...a 6'5" 275 pound lineman and think to themselves, who is that?

When they pull out their smart phones, tablets and computers, most will go straight to Google and type in your name.  At this point all control has left your hands and your past, present and future is now in the hands of millions wanting to know who you are.  So how do you take back some of that control?  How do you find a way to manage what people see on page one of their Google search?  It's been said that after search option 10, the traffic to that link falls to less that 1%.  So how can you target your demographic as an athlete and keep them searching in the right areas?  One step that many  ignore is the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Although Wikepedia is seen as an unreliable source when doing research, it still is listed in the top 5 of all Google searches. The beauty of Wikepedia is that it can be self updated and monitored.  This allows you as a professional athlete to monitor the information about you that is out there in the world.  Many use Wikipedia as a source for information whether it is deemed accurate or not, so why leave your page up to whoever creates it first or wants to edit it?

Take your personal athletic brand in your own hands and take control.  This is the first step towards successfully managing your brand.

Citations

1.Lee, J. (2013, June 20). No. 1 Position in Google Gets 33% of Search Traffic [Study]. Retrieved August 9, 2015.