thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
Tom Van Riper, 04.16.09, 5:25 PM ETWhen Chris Russo began his gig as head of new media for the NFL in 1999, he noticed the league had done little to capture the fantasy football craze on its Web site. With Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's blessing, he built NFL.com's fantasy business into a cadre of 2 million users by 2005, his last year with the league. His secret: Utilizing a handful of small, independent football sites catering to hardcore fans. Sharing stats and other content with micro sites drove the first waves of fans to the league's Web site to play fantasy football, and the push was on. "It made me realize there was a world of niche sites out there," says Russo, who proceeded to jump on that knowledge in building his new business, Fantasy Sports Ventures, kicked off in 2006. Through a buying binge of 30 sports Web sites, along with promotional and revenue sharing agreements with some 400 affiliates, Russo has built FSV into the fifth-most popular sports Web business, with more than 10 million unique viewers a month, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's more than AOL Sports and MLB.com. A year ago, the company forged a deal with USA Today that gave the paper a minority stake along with its sports content on FSV sites. Annual revenue exceeds $10 million (Russo won't get more specific than that), with Russo predicting the company to turn its first operating profit this year. An estimated 25 million Americans play fantasy sports, with the average player spending more than $150 per year on fantasy games and related products. That adds up to a $3.8 billion industry, which, Russo figures, doesn't all have to be ceded to the likes of Yahoo, CBS and ESPN. The FSV stable includes footballguys.com, an all-encompassing site for football fans and fantasy geeks, whose numbers figure to perk up in front of the April 25 NFL draft. The company also owns baseball-reference.com, the go-to spot for current and historical data sought out by baseball nuts. His big bet: Convincing advertisers they'll get bang for their buck by keeping users engaged with games and other interactive fun, which sports freaks tend to eat up. That way, there's no need to charge subscription fees, something he does on just two FSV sites--Baseballhq.com, a fantasy baseball site, and thehuddle.com, popular with fantasy football players. "Fans are used to free content on these sites, and it's hard to start a subscription in this environment," Russo says. Critics have their doubts. Lacking a brand name like Fox Sports or ESPN leaves FSV without valuable promotion. With the rocky economy already making it tough to further grow a sponsorship list, the dual revenue derived from advertisers and subscribers becomes that much more important, says Lee Berke, a sports business consultant who specializes in new media. "A passionate fan should be willing to pay a reasonable price for access to these sites," he says. Russo isn't convinced. He believes that the relative anonymity of his company can be used as an asset to make the business
more about the sponsor's brand than his. That's not going to happen with ESPN. For example, he's partnered with Gillette to create an online car racing game for Nascar aficionados. What Gillette likes is that the game actually lives on its own Web site, with FSV's sites handling the promotion. So far, Russo's strategy of pushing people right onto sponsors' sites in exchange for cash seems to be working, given that traffic and revenue have roughly doubled over the past year. "It suggests our model is very effective," he says.
May 27, 2009 By KEN BELSON Jason Martin entered the University of South Carolinas sport and entertainment management program hoping to become the next Jerry Maguire, the mythical superagent. Instead, like most people trying to break into the sports industry, he is looking at years of low-paying, unglamorous jobs like selling ads, tickets and hot dogs. That, of course, assumes he can find a job. In January, he started a four-month unpaid internship at the Family Circle Cup, a womens tennis tournament, helping sponsors place their ads. He hoped his internship would lead to a salaried job. Not this year. Because of the recession, Martin, who graduated this month with thousands of other sports management majors across the country, is continuing his job search at home in Virginia. If no full-time work turns up by September, he will enroll in a masters degree program. Graduate school is definitely Plan B, said Martin, 21, who is working this summer as a swimming coach. My original intention was to get a job, but with the economy, theres so many people who just graduated who cant even get a cup of coffee with a prospective employer. For decades, the sports industry has been largely impervious to the economic cycle. Through booms and busts, leagues and tournaments expanded, stadiums were built and attendance and television viewership set records. Revenue from suite sales, naming rights and television contracts boomed. But Martin and other graduates are finding that the industrys growth is slowing, if not reversing. Students are receiving fewer job offers this spring or are accepting internships instead of salaried positions. Many of those internships are unpaid. The worry, their professors say, is that austerity may become the norm, forcing students to scale down or abandon their ESPN-fueled dreams. I used to teach that sport was recession-proof, but this recession proved me wrong, said Gary Sailes, who runs the undergraduate program in sports marketing and management at Indiana. I tell students that this is a good time to stay in school. The number of jobs related to spectator sports has risen steadily during the last few decades. According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 138,700 people work in the spectator sports industry, 9.8 percent more than in 2002. There is no accurate tally of how many jobs have been lost in the last year or so, but the anecdotal evidence is grim. The N.F.L. has cut nearly 200 jobs. The N.B.A. has eliminated 10 percent of its staff, and the United States Olympic Committee laid off more than 50 workers. The L.P.G.A. dropped several tournaments, and Honda ended its Formula One sponsorship. The Jets will furlough some employees for two weeks, and the Cleveland Browns, the Denver Broncos and the Washington Redskins have cut jobs. Many other teams and tournaments, stung by declines in attendance and sponsorship dollars, have stopped hiring. ESPN will not fill 200 vacant jobs. The Arena Football League canceled its season. This is bad news for the 300 or so universities that offer sport management degrees. Every year, they churn out
thousands of graduates who, even in good times, are willing to work for low pay in return for the chance to work around athletes and arenas. The teams, leagues and others in the sports industry have taken advantage of their willingness to make financial sacrifices, and may continue to do so. Sport management is one of the sexy industries, and its very hard to discourage students from joining the industry, said Mark McDonald, the director of internships at the University of Massachusettss sport management program. I feel for the students who havent done the preparation. Going to college to prepare for a job in sports is relatively new. Years ago, many jobs were filled through word of mouth or serendipitously. Marty Appel, the Yankees assistant public-relations director in the early 1970s, wrote to the team in 1967 asking for a summer job. He was lucky; someone was needed to answer Mickey Mantles mail. It was very much like a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation, said Appel, who estimated there were only 40 people working in the teams front office then. By the late 1970s, Appel interviewed graduates of some of the first sport management programs who, he said, were better prepared to handle the growing list of demands on ball clubs. Walter OMalley, who owned the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles and who foresaw the need for better-trained employees, helped persuade Ohio University to start the first degree-granting sport management program in 1966. The number of programs jumped fourfold in the 1980s as the industry grew along with ESPN and Title IX, according to Jacquelyn Cuneen, who teaches sport management at Bowling Green. Dozens of universities, looking to increase enrollment, rebranded their physical education departments. Sport management programs have also been broadened to teach fitness, tourism, recreation and hospitality, prompting critics to claim that many programs do not provide students with the skills to succeed at anything other than the lowest-level jobs. More worrisome is the realization that even at rigorous programs, students are getting about half as many job offers this year compared with other years, according to Dallas Branch, who teaches sport management at West Virginia. Yeomans work is demanded of graduates even from the most prestigious universities like Columbia, which started a masters level program for midcareer students in 2006. While attending classes there, Sean Mysel is working this summer as a stadium manager for the Sussex Skyhawks, a minor league baseball team in New Jersey. But he has spent about $25,000 on tuition and $75,000 on living expenses to attend Columbia, which he hopes will help him reach his goal of running a major league ballpark. I know the job market is difficult for a while, but I dont feel I have to hit the panic button, said Mysel, 31. At a minimum, it will take 10 or 15 years. Graduate students, though, are in a better position than undergraduates because they often have several years of work experience. Kati Karottki, who graduated last weekend from Massachusetts with a bachelors degree in sport management, did well in college and worked
as a research analyst at a company that measures sponsorships. But as her senior year began, she planned to single out several companies as potential employers. Then Lehman Brothers collapsed in September. I really had to redo everything, she said. She reached out to alumni and had half a dozen interviews. But over and over, she heard the same thing: there are other candidates with masters degrees with more experience who are willing to work for little. This week, she is traveling to Bristol, Conn., to interview at ESPN for an analysts job focused on audience research. She is not getting ahead of herself. They have so many applicants and people to choose from, just getting to an in-person interview, thats a big achievement, she said. My classmates have resigned themselves to doing another internship or taking time off to travel.
New CRM software will improve data management and analysis for marketing and campaign business intelligence. By Miya Knights, 2 Nov 2008 at 16:15 Premier League team Manchester United is developing a better understanding of its growing fan base by updating its customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities to handle new, international data sources. The club sees developing a better understanding of its supporters as a key component of its business growth strategy and has taken on marketing software and services from multichannel marketing software company, smartFOCUS. Steven Falk, Manchester United commercial services director said: "We constantly strive to improve the relationships we enjoy with our fans and sponsors to ensure they get exemplary customer service and stay connected to the club. The new investment will provide campaign management and marketing analytics technology, alongside consulting services to help the club build a single view of the supporter across all Man Utd related transactions. "Our fans represent a growing and vibrant global community and with smartFOCUS we can better communicate and cement relationships with them, keeping them at the very heart of our success both on and off the field," added Falk. A key element of the system, for instance, is the management of international data and in particular double-byte characters for data sourced in Asia. The vendor said the evaluation process put particular stress on seeking a long-term business partner that could assist the cub in meeting its CRM objectives. The club wants to centralise its CRM systems to manage and enhance relationships with supporters on a global basis. It said the information about supporters and how they interact with the club will act as cornerstone in achieving these objectives. The Camp Nou has a capacity of nearly 99,000 so for most matches, so getting FC Barcelona tickets at a reasonable price is not so difficult. As long as you're prepared to put in a little time and energy, there's no reason why you shouldn't pay the same as the locals. The public can buy Barcelona tickets from the official FC Barcelona website a month before a home game or fifteen days before the match from the ground. Tourist Information offices in Barcelona, FNAC and Carrefour shops throughout Spain act as ticket sales outlets. Furthermore, the Barcelona bank - La Caixa - sells tickets on-line through its website and you can pick your tickets up in most Spanish cities from a ServiCaixa ATM with the credit card you used to book. In this article, I'll provide you with all the information you need to get hold of Barca tickets without having to pay through the nose . . . These recommendations are appropriate for the majority of Liga and cup matches, but if you want to go to a particularly important game . . . Click Here To Buy Your FC Barcelona Tickets from my recommended on-line ticket agency. FC Barcelona Ticket Prices And AvailabilityThe price and availability of tickets varies depending on the category of the match (D, C, B, A or A+) and where you want to sit. The majority of matches
fall into the categories D, C and B and during the 2008-09 season prices ranged from as low as 14 for a category D match sitting in the highest tier of the stadium to 110 for a category B match sitting in the Grandstand. Sitting in the Grandstand is too expensive for me and sitting in the Third Tier is like watching a game of football played by ants, so I generally sit in the First or Second Tier of the Lateral and have never had any problems getting tickets either from the website where you print them off yourself - or from the ServiCaixa ATMs, and expect to pay anything from 50 to 90 depending on the game. Category A matches, include the Barcelona-Espanyol derby and the last three matches of the season and as tickets are much more difficult to get hold of, it's a good idea to book them as soon as they go on sale. I permit myself the luxury of one of these games a season as I expect to pay about 100. For Category A+ games Barcelona-Real Madrid and the later stages of the Champions League I resign myself to going down to my local bar and watching the match on their big screen with my mates. If you can get a ticket, prices start at about 80 and go up to 180 - I'd expect to pay about 150 to sit where I like. It's only for these games that it's worth booking on-line through on-line ticket agency DO NOT BUY FROM TICKET TOUTS if your ticket turns out to be a forgery, it serves you right.The Advantages Of FC Barcelona Membership There are two ways of showing your love for Barca and guaranteeing your seat. You can either become a season-ticket holder or become a member (soci) of the club. If you want a season ticket, you'd better think about re-mortgaging the house but for about 120 a season, it's probably worth becoming a member especially if you plan to go to a lot of games. You get a 20% discount on tickets and priority over the general public. This means that you can book two tickets per game at the beginning of the season, and as soon as tickets goon sale to the general public 15 days before the match you can buy as many as six. Also the club has a system called Seient Lliure Free Seat where season-ticket holders can put their seat up for sale through La Caixa. If your a member and prepared to take the risk, you might be able to get hold of a reasonably priced ticket for a Category A+ match.Ticket Sales Points Internet: via the club website Telephone: 902 1899 00 o +34 93 496 36 00 (from outside Spain) Servicaixa: website and Servicaixa ATMs (only in Spain) FNAC and Carrefour stores in Spain FC Barcelona General Ticket Office (access 14): Monday to Thursday, from 9.00 to 13.30 and 15.30 to 18.00 Friday, from 9.00 to 14.30 Saturday from 9.00 to 13.30 on weekends of
matches played at the Camp NouFC Barcelona Boulevard Ticket Office (access 7/9): Monday to Thursday from 10.00 to 18.00 Sundays from 10.00 to 14.15 FC Barcelona Gol Nord and Gol Sud Ticket Offices:on Match days: from 11.00 until kick off booths Gol Nord (North Goal) and Gol Sud (South Goal). Or on-line from WorldTicketShop
Many clubs are hurting financially, and Borussia could go under These have been tough times for fans of Borussia Dortmund, who have watched the onetime international football powerhouse sink to 11th place among the 18 teams in the Bundesliga, Germany's top league. But it's Borussia investors who are really crying into their plastic cups of Pils. Shares in Germany's only publicly listed football club are trading for just $3.46, 76% below its offering price in 2000.It gets worse. In February the team's corporate managers reported a loss of $74 million on sales of $54 million for its fiscal first half. The team, which paid too much for players who failed to perform, like forward Marcio Amoroso, is desperately trying to avoid insolvency. Creditors have temporarily suspended interest payments, and management has pledged to cut 15% from the player budget.Borussia Dortmund is a basket case, but it's hardly the only troubled team in Germany, which is scheduled to host soccer's World Cup in a year. Just 19 of 36 first- and second-league teams are profitable, according to the German Football League (DFL). Worst hit are the teams that don't qualify for the UEFA Champions League or other international contests, which bring millions in TV revenue. "For the teams that don't play internationally, it's hard to break even," says Bernd Schiphorst, president of Berlin's Hertha BSC club, which lost $7.6 million on sales of $65 million for the latest fiscal year.Borussia's problems are causing shock waves in financial circles. The most recent example came on Mar. 14 at a hastily called meeting of shareholders in Molsiris, a real estate fund managed by Commerzbank (CRZBY ) that owns Borussia's stadium under a sale-leaseback agreement. Fearing that Borussia could not pay its rent, Molsiris shareholders agreed to a plan that will cut the team's payments.Borussia's situation also looks tricky for hedge-fund manager Florian Homm, a German who operates from the Spanish island of Majorca. Homm's FM Fund Management Ltd. bought a 26% stake in the Borussia corporation last year. Homm could make money if Borussia recovers, but insolvency would be a disaster for equity investors.The Borussia crisis is having a sobering effect as well on international investment in European football. It's unlikely that more teams will go public anytime soon. "I hope it happens again, but there has been an awful lot of scorched earth," says Peter Thilo Hasler, an analyst at Munich bank HVB Group who follows the football industry. In addition, institutional investors are hesitating to buy football bonds. "Dortmund has put a black cloud over the whole industry," says Stephen L. Schechter, owner of London-based Schechter & Co., which helps European teams issue debt.LACKING A CREDIBLE PLANUnder pressure to polish the sport's image before World Cup comes to 12 German cities beginning in June, 2006, the DFL is leaning on teams to clean up their finances. Teams faced a Mar. 15 deadline to present detailed information. In the worst case, the DFL can withhold licenses from teams that lack a credible plan for becoming profitable. More likely, it will impose conditions on troubled
teams, such as obliging them to trade high-priced players who may account for half of a team's operating costs.The sorry financial state of pro football, which affects clubs in Spain and Italy as well, adds impetus to efforts to bring more financial discipline to the sport. Managers such as Hertha's Schiphorst are pushing the Union of European Football Assns. to impose tighter financial accountability on teams and prevent abuses such as hidden government subsidies. That could help restore sanity to player salaries. Financiers such as Schechter, who says he remains ready to help Borussia work out its $121 million debt, are demanding that teams replace top managers or make other changes in return for access to capital.So far, German fans haven't lost faith, even in Dortmund, which continues to sell out its 69,000-seat stadium. For good reason: European soccer remains the best in the world. It's management that needs to improve its game. By Jack Ewing in Frankfurt
Posted on June 1st, 2009 by Emmett Jones in Series Technology has come a long way since the advent of sports. When basketball was invented, you had zero chance of being able to watch it on television. When the first Super Bowl aired on television, you had zero chance of watching a video clip on your phone, or the internet. The HD came along and gave you every sport in details that you didnt even know you wanted or existed. Technology today allows you to watch your home TV from your phone or computer hundreds of miles away, or catch all the latest highlights while flying in an airplane. Thanks to technology, sport can be found any and everywhere. And that certainly isnt a bad thing, because todays fan is obsessed with their sports; and sitting in front of the television all day isnt always a viable option. Technology has to be not only keep up with the demands of sports fans but show sports fans different things the fan never imagined in the first place. An example of one of the more, cutting edge pieces of technology is the Nintendo-Mariners partnership in Seattle, Nintendo announced Tuesday that Mariners fans can use their DS game players to access the stadiums wireless Nintendo Fan Network free of charge. The network allows DS owners to track player stats, watch stadium video and access other Major League Baseball information. The Nintendo Fan Network, exclusive to Safeco, allows DS owners to experience interactive content that can enhance their ballpark experience, said Mariners spokeswoman Rebecca Hale. Pretty impressive use of a Wi-Fi network, no? My only complaint, when I wrote this article last April, was the requirement that you already needed to have a Nintendo DS in order to access information that was easily ascertainable elsewhere. But still, it was interesting to see how people were beginning to utilize technology to enahnce the fan experience. The Dolphins will continue to create an enhanced experience for fans at LandShark stadium, Franchise owner Steven Ross continued his quest for global lady ogling domination selling tickets today, announcing the arrival of 5,000 handheld wireless devices designed to give fans an unprecedented in-game multimedia experience. The Kangaroo Gen III, a slimmer version of the portable TVs introduced to the NFL a few years ago, has a 4.3-inch high-definition screen that will provide instant replays, field level audio, fantasy team alerts, feeds of other games, and the ability to order food and drinks from the concession stands. Users of the device...will have 11 customizable camera angles at their disposal, including... a cheerleader cam. Another good idea. Decently sized screen, high definition capabilities, instant replays, order drinks from concession stands, etc. The only problem? The price point. The Kangaroo is only available to those with the money to purchase a suite at LandShark stadium, which alienates a large portion of the stadiums fanbase, and fans in general. So...teams are obviously utilizing technology but it doesnt seem like anyone has put it all together yet. What does the future of sports technology look like?