Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Theory in Action

This example about Staples Center in Los Angeles presents the relationship between sports, business and media.

With the construction of a stadium or arena comes the opportunity for massive advertising and other revenue streams. “The Staples Center in Los Angeles is home to three major pro sports franchises: the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. The owner of the Staples, Philip Anschutz “is able to command top prices for advertising and sponsorships [because of this]” (7). Office supplies chain, Staples has naming rights and other major sponsors include Southwest Airlines, Miller Brewing, Toyota Motor, Verizon Communications and Carl’s Jr.

While Staples Center in unique because of the three franchises, it also has a media deal with Fox Sports, which owns a stake in the arena. Because of this, almost all of the teams home games are broadcast on a Fox Sports cable network.

Fox Sports Network (FSN) has been able to build itself around solid regional coverage. When FOX purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998, it did not do it to build a contender and win a World Series. Instead, it used the Dodgers to start what would become a series of regional networks by broadcasting most of the team’s games on FSN West. FSN West grew to FSN West 2 and then networks began sprouting across the country. Today, Fox Sports reaches from coast to coast with 25 networks such as FSN Northwest, North, Rocky Moutain, South, Southwest, Detroit, Chicago, Ohio and Pittsburgh (4).

However effective FOX is with regional coverage, it lags behind ESPN on a national scale. In college basketball, the Pacific Ten Conference along with the Atlantic Coast Conference have contracts with FOX. Unfortunately, the Pac-10 is for the most part exclusively on FOX, while the ACC also has a contract with ESPN. Aside from being on the west coast, the FOX Sports deal is one of the reasons why the Pac-10 does not receive as much acclaim as the other schools. As a recent article in the Arizona Star states:

'“The best part about the FSN deal is that the network is not ESPN; the Pac-10 does not have to fight as many conferences for time slots, and does not have to budge from its traditional game days and times...The worst part about the FSN deal is that it is not ESPN...."In recruiting kids nowadays, all they want to talk about is exposure," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "They want to play on television. That's big. For us, on the East Coast, sometimes they don't get to see us" (4).

While the Fox Sports TV deal with the Pac-10 could have an effect on recruiting, it also has its advantages because it does not have to stray from a given schedule due to extensive quantities of games. Since ESPN has contracts with many different conferences, it has to schedule games at strange times during the week. Conversely, most Pac-10 games fall on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Recently, the Pac-10 agreed to extend the contract of its postseason basketball tournament at Staples Center through 2012. Since FOX is contracted with the Pac-10, and also owns the tournament, it has exclusive rights televise the first three rounds on FSN. It only makes sense that FOX would also hold the tournament in the very building that it partially owns. (2)

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Position for Paper 3

Sports is a multi-billion dollar industry, fueled by advertising, ticket sales, memorabilia sales, TV contracts and other revenue streams. Sports can also have a major economic impact on a city. The professional athlete is paid millions of dollars because of the earning potential that he creates for his franchise and the companies that he endorses. In the end the athlete is expected to produce much more in revenue than he is paid.

However, behind earning potential in professional sports lies the news media, the public's source for anything they could hope to know about an emerging star player. The media builds the hype and influences how people perceive a player. It can build a player up and it can also shut a player down. Media drives all professional and college sports. The players receive an enormous amount of attention and fame in the public eye. However, with celebrity and fame comes an increasing sense of invincibility among some players. They may commit a crime or another wrongdoing and a judge might let them slide because they have a big game, and the judge wants to see his beloved team win. Since even the earliest times, sports have always played a key role in society. People are drawn to them. However, when the athletes are held to lower standards in regards to the law and feel that they can get away with anything, the games that so many watch and love, have gone too far.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Comment on Source for Paper 3

This comment is in response to a Forbes article from 2004 on the impact of NBA player Lebron James on his team and the estimated amount of money that would receive from his sponsors during his first five years in the NBA. It discusses immediate impact that James would have on his franchise, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in terms of ticket sales, attendance and the overall value of the team. The numbers are staggering and make James seem like a "steal" for what the Cavaliers were paying him.

However, without the media hype surrounding James going into the NBA, it is doubtful that he would have had as much of an impact on his team. He was one of the first high school basketball players to have some of his games nationally televised. In these televised games, James put on a show and lived up to the hype. Consequently, by the time he got to the league, people had seen him and couldn't wait for another chance to watch him play. This might have all changed if he had mediocre performances in those televised games. Because he played well the media attention boosted his stock to monumental levels. If he had just played his high school games in Ohio in front of the sold-out gyms, without the TV coverage, he would just have been known as this great high school basketball player. The media made note of his nickname "King James." By the time James came into the league, he was already "King." He was on top and there was no where else to go but down. But, James lived up to his billing and his stock remained top notch.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Wikipedia Entry- Sports, Media and Society

The world has a love of sports as people fill arenas and stadiums to watch their favorite athletes play. The sports industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, fueled by components such as advertising, TV deals, ticket sales, merchandise sales and other revenue streams. However, sports would not be as huge in society if it were not for the constant coverage and analysis by the news media. The media can boost or hurt an athlete's image, which can then in a way affect his or her marketability. With the increased coverage of the media, comes the increased awareness of the person to the public. However, this popularity, awareness, and celebrity can have its price as well.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Post Season Awards, March Madness, and the Media

With the NCAA men’s basketball tournament beginning a little more than a week, the post-season awards are beginning to flutter in. As with the majority of awards, there are many deserving players and someone always gets snubbed. This year has been no exception.

When the Pacific-10 Conference post-season awards were announced yesterday, I was satisfied but not thrilled with the all the results, particularly with the individual honors. The coaches vote on the winners and I’m not exactly sure how the final results are tabulated, but I would assume that each gets a first, a second, and a third place vote.

I’ll start with the two awards that I agree with:

Pac-10 Coach of the Year: Tony Bennett, Washington State.

Absolutely. No Doubter. Start up the plane, help me make the connection in Spokane, warm up the bus, take me on a two-hour drive me past the farmhouses, through the fields and I’ll be the first to shake his hand.

No. The first-year Cougar head coach has no relation to the singer, however he had the people of Pullman rocking. Every Thursday and Saturday they would pack a gym and watch WSU battle legitimately for a Pac-10 title. The Cougars were picked to finish last in the conference and ended up second at 24-6.

A team of no-names, became bunch that hounded their opponents defensively and were able to score just enough to win. Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver were named to the Pac-10 first team as WSU was 8-4 in games decided by six points or fewer.

Pac-10 Freshman of the Year: Chase Budinger, forward, Arizona. Budinger, who was also considered the top volleyball player in America, brought his leaping ability and sweet shooting touch to the Wildcats this season. He ranked 7th in the Pac-10 in scoring (15.8 ppg) and 12th in rebounding (5.9 per game). Possible snubs: Spencer Hawes, center Washington. Hawes averaged 15.2 ppg and 6.3 rebounds, but had health problems in the middle of the season that hindered his performance).

Now, let the rant to begin.

Pac-10 Player of the Year: Arron Affalo, guard, UCLA. If the Pac-10 coaches were casting their vote for the “best player in the Pac-10,” they got it wrong. If the coaches voted for the “most valuable player in the Pac-10” they got it wrong.
However, if they simply voted for the best player on the top team in the Pac-10, well, that’s fine, but it’s no way to decide the player of the year. It should go to the greatest all around player in the Pac-10. That’s not Affalo, it’s USC swingman Nick Young.

Reason one: basic statistics.

Nick Young ranks 2nd in the Pac-10 in scoring (17.5 ppg.) Afflalo is 3rd (17.2). Young is 5th in goal percentage (53%) and the players who are ranked ahead of him are power forwards and centers. Afflalo shoots 47%. Young places 4th in 3-point percentage (44%). Afflalo 12th (39%). Young also averages more rebounds (4.5) to (2.5).

Reason two: game performance and consistency. There is no breakdown of the coaches’ votes just yet. But, I would have to think that they would certainly remember the players that gave their teams a hard time. Granted, Afflalo and Young are just two players and there could have been others, but they are my focus and I’m sticking to it.

Lute Olsen, Arizona head coach, certainly remembered when Young scored 30 points on 13 for 19 shooting in the first meeting of the year between the Trojans and Wildcats. If he wasn’t convinced, perhaps Young’s 26-point effort at the Arizona McHale Center on 9 of 13 shooting got him thinking. Afflalo was also respectable against the Wildcats, scoring 22 and 15 points, but not good enough.

Lorenzo Romar, Washington coach, had to be impressed with Afflalo after his 27 point outburst against the Huskies in December at Pauley Pavilion. However, Lorenzo must have been relieved last week to see Afflalo score 12 points on 4 of 14 shooting against the same Husky team. Young was much more consistent against Washington, scoring 25 points in the first meeting and 26 on 11 for 15 shooting in the second.

In the first head-to-head meeting Afflalo and Young had similar stats, and each made a clutch basket in the closing seconds, with Afflalo getting game winner at the Galen Center. However, in the second match-up at UCLA Young was superior. He scored 20 points on 9 of 12 shooting. Afflalo was 3 for 11 for 16 points, nine of which came from the free-throw line in the closing seconds.

I can keep comparing statistics, but stats can only go so far. I think Nick Young has been short changed this year because the news media doesn’t really focus on USC basketball because they are not yet the a national powerhouse. Awards are somewhat skewed because of media coverage.

For example, UCLA was playing Washington last weekend on CBS. Even though Afflalo was having an awful game, CBS put up a graphic that mentioned Afflalo as a possible Wooden Award Winner (national player of the year). The announcers said “Oh, yeah he’s maybe one of the top five players in the country.” I asked myself, how can Afflalo be considered a top-five player if he is arguably not even the best player in his own conference?

The answer is simple. UCLA gets more national media coverage. People see Afflalo, see that he is a great player, and because he plays for a great team, he is automatically put in the conversation as one the “best in the country.” The argument is the same when talking about USC football. Some USC players are over-hyped because they play for USC.

However, in a little more than a week, the nation will get a glimpse at Nick Young and other players like him who don’t get to show off their skills to the nation on a regular basis. That is the beauty of the NCAA Tournament. “March Madness” is a media spectacle and almost every team receives coverage, regardless of how small they are. In the coming days I will offer more analysis of the exact media coverage.