SPORTS BUSINESS'S FAB FIVE
1) George Bodenheimer
When a certain company says in an advertisement that they’re “the best” or “the most trusted” in their industry, for even the uninterested consumer it instinctively never strikes a credible cord. You simply shrug it off and think, Eh, just marketing jargon, I’ve heard that one before. But ESPN, the “worldwide leader in sports” as the network calls itself, is just that. Since Bodenheimer (pictured) has been at the helm, here are the different ESPN extensions that have launched (in no specific order): ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News, ESPN Deportes, ESPN International, ESPN Original Entertainment, ESPN Mobile, ESPN 360, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. I know I’m forgetting one, probably a few. Bodenheimer branded ESPN like Howard Schultz did with Starbucks. In the same way you can’t pass on a cup of coffee without thinking Starbucks, you can’t consider a sport a sport unless it’s been broadcast on ESPN. What do you think made dorm room poker such a cultural phenomenon?
2) Tiger Woods
Woods is literally in a category all by himself. Yeah, he may lose a tournament here and there. Yeah, he’s sort of a private guy off the course. But, he’s a gentleman golfer and a loyal endorser; get this: he backs up his Buick sponsorship by actually driving the car make to some of his match play rounds. Woods has single-handedly engaged a cross-cultural interest in the PGA Tour and has brought hipness and athleticism to a rather stuffy, white-collar, buttoned-up sport. In the next several years, Woods will become the first sports billionaire (boosted by Nike’s big pitch), unprecedented for an individual player; that fact alone makes him an automatic top five most influential person in the sports business industry.
3) David Stern
Everyone wants to talk to Mr. Stern these days. And Stern is no antagonist. It seems like he’s always doing a live online chat or featured in an interview with a major publication. It’s not that the commissioner is simply a nice, soft-spoken, down-to-earth guy; he’s in a bit of a predicament more than ever to play up the NBA, a league which has been tainted by a “thug” image. For that reason, in addition to Stern’s disregard for player feedback about the composite basketball he introduced at the start of the 2006-07 season, Tiger Woods gets the edge at the No. 2 spot. But there’s no reason to dwell on that slight scar. Stern is a one-man marketing machine. His business sense is ahead of the curve, he innovatively runs the NBA as an entertainment property and he’s begun to master player development (from the dress code to the NBDL), contrary to popular belief. He also knows a thing or two about international expansion, having really been the first commissioner of any major professional sport to envision that opportunity. Since the ripple effect of the '92 Dream Team, there are now around 100 international NBA players; in fact, several teams’ rosters are nearly half represented by foreigners. Stern’s next steps are to grow China and India as strategic basketball markets, which further punctuates that the NBA more than any other league is taking the most advantage of today’s shrinking world. Good luck or bad luck, Stern would tell you that it’s not about luck, but a love for the game.
4) Chad Hurley/Steve Chen
Simply put, there’s not a website out there that doesn’t link back to YouTube in some way. In the sports world, YouTube has become the user-generated ESPN Classic, to the point that actual licensed video content has been alienated. Now, the leagues are finally expressing their discontent with YouTube’s copyright infringements. But without suing, some of them, such as the NBA and NHL, are signing monumental partnership deals with YouTube because they realize that in order to reach their targeted sports consumer, they have to go where they are. That medium is YouTube, which has revolutionized advertising 2.0. Amazingly, Hurley and Chen, the website’s founders, have just sat back and watched users dictate their future business endeavors.
5) Dwyane Wade/LeBron James
When it comes to everyday, mainstream sports, where our attention is mainly, Wade and James are the two most influential athletes. Tiger Woods is a more iconic name because of his global stature, but he’s not on the radar (or the television) screen as regularly as Wade and James. It would be a disservice to discuss either of the NBA superstars separately. Considering the NBA’s supremacy and the league’s individualistic nature, Wade and James have emerged as the go-to guys in any sport for multi-platformed endorsement deals. As the new era Jordan/Bird rivalry, the pair has catapulted player marketing to distances
Who’s your top five? Chime in with your choices.
4 comments:
where's melo? bron is dead. nobody gives a damn about bron.
No talk of the most powerful figure in sports is complete without the NFL Commissioner. Whether it's Paul Tagliabue or Roger Goodell, the man is presiding over a national pastime with reservoirs of cash for each of the 30 franchises (witness $100 million salary cap), exorbitant television contracts, sparkling new facilities around the nation, and the most-watched regular season, postseason, and championship game.
Alot has to do with how often you hear these names or see their faces and how many people are familiar with who these people are. Seems in the world of sports business it also has to do with how often problems arise and who comes to the forefront of cleaning up the acts of athletes and their respective sport just to keep it thriving. It would be interesting to know how long people stay the mostinfluential.
Michael, in regards to your comment, the topic was the top five most influential today. Roger Goodell hasn't been at the NFL's helm long enough to make the list. He hasn't really done anything influential yet -- he's just taken over a powerhouse league. Most of the credit goes to Tagliabue, but he's no longer commissioner. If he was, then I would probably include him in the top five.
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