Will Olympics Return to States before 2024?

Despite what Sports Illustrated called, “by all accounts, one of the strongest (bids) ever by a U.S. city”, Chicago was trounced by Rio De Janeiro in its efforts to bring the Olympic Games back to the States as IOC members voted Chicago just 18 times out of 96.  Critics and really apologists can point to any and all “factors” in what swayed voters so heavily, but the situation remains, the IOC and U.S. Olympic Committe are still at arms since the USOC forced the departure of  IOC favorite, Jim Scherr, former CEO of the USOC.   Yes, this will be the Olympics first hosting on the continent of South America, yes Brazil has been trying this entire decade to bring the games to its country.  But still…

After losing out on the bid, and not helping relations, Sherr’s interim replacement Stephanie Sheeter, already on wrong side of IOC’s opinions for being one to help force Sherr out,  has just recently stepped down from her position. One that was almost definitely to be forceably lost anyhow.  Not only are inter-organizational relations poor, internally, the USOC is a mess.  No CEO, no prospects (at least none in IOC’s favor)…So, as it is, with money issues still at the heart of these disparages, a “still-unresolved spat over the high percentage of revenues the USOC receives from IOC television contracts and marketing agreements” (Cazeneuve, Brian, SI, Oct 12th Issue, SI.com) and the new Olympic Network being launched by USOC despite the IOC’s request for time before doing so,  one must wonder when we’ll see the great games back on American soil.  What’s more, great and more than capable countries and cities head the bid list for 2020 including  Italy (Rome), Japan (Tokyo), and Canada (Toronto), none of which have seen the games in a half century.

Here’s hoping Chicago can silence these contentions and refine it’s bid for 2020 much like Rio did for 2016.  If not, Americans could be looking at another 2 decades before the Olympics return.

JD

A bold stance for MLS Commish, Don Garber

Since the B’s and Sox left a bad taste in my mouth last night I’m going to steer clear of hockey and baseball today…

But before I head out I’d like to share an article from USA Today that was passed along by my friends over at Football Partnerships (great site for soccer fans & professionals). This is a good quick read for those who follow MLS or European Football, or those who are intrigued by the inner workings of the business of sport.

Enjoy the read… enjoy the weekend. And here’s to hoping Beckett can right the ship tonight!

jb

Best time of year… Right?

NFL kicking off, NHL just dropped the first puck, NBA action hyping up, College football in full fledge with Heisman, BCS, and National Championship debates, and last night, a Play-in game for MLB as the Division Series get under way tonight – Who would’ve thought Minnesota would be the national hotbed for sports on back to back nights in October?

If you’re the guy or gal that enjoys any and all sports, then this is as good as it gets. There’s something exciting every night. Granted, your employer probably isn’t thrilled because productivity is dropping like Eric Mangini’s stock due to the late nights – especially here in Boston where we are once again blessed with a left coast series and 10pm start times – but they’ll need to deal with it for now… Things will be back to normal in a few weeks, at least until those Thursdays and Fridays in March.

Baseball had lost it’s luster for me a bit over the past few weeks with so few teams in contention, but if last nights game is a precursor of what we’ll be getting in the ’09 playoffs, Buckle Up! Hopefully you were able to take in that game last night… An instant classic for sure.

It’ll be interesting, as always, to see how things play out. Will the new Yankee stadium bode well for NY? Will Manny Ramirez return to his old self and tear the cover off the ball?  Will the Rockies make some playoff noise? What type of riot is in store on Lansdowne Street in Boston? Win or lose…

Enjoy what we have at our fingertips now. Use the DVR wisely so you don’t miss a goal or ole fashioned brawl, a Touchdown or pick-six, or a play at the plate in the ninth or tenth. It’s going to be a fun month of intriguing match ups, emotional highs and lows, and some of the best competition you can get.

A quick look forward to this weekend…
Florida and LSU in a mammoth clash with National Championship implications this Saturday night. For the sake of competition, we can all only hope Tim Tebow is healthy and on the field for this one. This will be far more entertaining, and meaningful, than 90% of the bowl games in December and January… Which can once again bring me into a whole new blog topic – BCS! They want games to mean something all season long… They say it’s a money thing… Well, if you can’t find a way to make more money by……… Ahhhh nevermind. Go enjoy what is going on in sports right now. I’ll leave the business banter for another day.

- jb

USA & The FIFA World Cup

Love or hate the beautiful game (not getting into comparing sports at this point), all sports fans can appreciate the World Cup and should be excited at the possibility of it once again returning to the United States.

Currently the U.S. is in the running to win the bid for 2018 or 2022. Imagine the possibilities of what would be available and the upgrades to cities and stadiums over the course of 9-13 more years before we’re graced with the absolute best sporting event in the world. Perhaps more venues like Cowboys Stadium (that’s a blog in and of itself.. I can’t wait to see it in person).

The entire bid process is quite elaborate and extensive and after the third stage only 27 cities and 32 venues remain in the running. I’m happy to know that Boston/Foxboro are among these candidates. The City of Boston has teamed up with Kraft Group (solid combo) to ensure that the World Cup travels to Mass. if the US is awarded the competition in 2018 or ’22.

As a lifelong soccer player and fan I can only hope to once again attend a World Cup game on US soil. I remain optimistic on this front, as The World Cup in ’94 here in the states far exceeded expectations and was dubbed one of the most successful Cups of all time. Any sports fan out there should be logging on to www.gousabid.com to sign the electronic petition and do their part in securing the USA’s bid!

From a professional/business standpoint…. Where do I begin? The opportunities are endless and beyond intriguing. The thoughts of what could be done locally and regionally to ignite excitement around this bid run through my head day and night. Solo brainstorming sessions on marketing and promotional campaigns to prove New England’s desire to host the World Cup once again. Thoughts of possibly getting involved in bringing the Cup back to the States…  Hopefully, this becomes reality for Boston & New England. Hopefully we’ll get our chance to have a hand in creating the ultimate soccer fan experience and secure Boston’s Bid.

cheers,

Josh

B’s Set to Open ’09-’10 With Return of Unheralded Leader

It felt a little like 2005 two weeks ago, when the Bruins traded arguably their greatest offensive force and most marketable name away catching a collective city far off its guard.  Only this time, they received nothing in the way of immediate return.  While pundits and fans alike can scrutinize and speculate what the ’05 Joe Thornton deal that sent the Captain and All-Star Center to San Jose did for the Black and Gold for the remainder of ’05-’06 and ’06-’07, the B’s were already in a tailspin that ’05 season (having lost 9 of 10), and it was blatant (regardless of what ownership and management was saying) they were re-building the following year (76 pts) with homegrown guns such as the afore-referenced Phil Kessel, David Krecji, and Milan Lucic  waiting in the wings.  As the puck sets to drop on the ’09-’10 season pressurized by expectations not felt on this franchise since the days of Bourque and Neely, one cog in that Thornton deal will be a vital barometer in the Bruins hopeful defense of their regular season Eastern Conference supremacy.

While one can argue both Wayne Premieu and Brad Stuart were relative busts, Marco Sturm has emerged as one of the Bruins most consistent goal producers on a team now known for its bruising style of play.  And with nothing but draft picks coming back to the franchise for Kessel (two 1sts and a 2nd Rounder), the organization will certainly need him to come back from injury continuing to do so.  In the 51 games to close out the ’05-’06 season in which he was traded to Causeway Street, he amassed 43 pts (23g, 20a) in just 51 games.  The following 2 seasons he scored 27 goals in each and averaged 50 points overall.  Heck, in only 19 games last year before a knee injury sent him to season-ending surgery, he had already put 7 behind opposing goalies and dished out 6 helpers.  If Sturm is 100% recovered from his knee issue, his 25+ goals would fill an enormous portion of the void left by Kessel’s departing 36 goals.  What’s more, Sturm’s power skating, two-way play,  and forecheck is something still severely lacking in Kessel’s game and more in tune with Claude Julien’s mantra.  And lets not forget, Sturm scored arguably the most famous goal of this generation’s Bruins following wristing one home off a Carey Price rebound in that epic 3rd Period (6 goals exchanged) in Game 6 against the Canadiens of the ’07-’08 playoffs sending the series to a Game 7 and Cam Neely and Peter Chiarelli into owner’s box elation.

Also being slightly overlooked, and most likely just by media and fans, is what Sturm will bring to the locker room to Krecji, Wheeler, Bitz, Hamill, and even Lucic and Bergeron, who is searching to regain his goal-scoring touch.  Breakout years aside, these are still young players continually refining their games and Sturm will be a very positive catalyst in doing so with a full, healthy year in which to interact, practice, play, and yes, score with them.

With a goal-tending tandem that stacks up as well as any other in the NHL in Thomas and Rask, as stingy, organized, and tough a Blue Line as ever, a continued evolution of younger talent, and a very stout and timely offensive scoring attack anchored by a return to reliable  form of Marco Sturm, the Bruins should win the Northeast Division for the 2nd consecutive year and garner a Top 3 Eastern Conference seed heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Go B’s!!!!

JD

PUMA and BOLT

Quick post today as we’re just starting to get back into this and making it a blog worth reading.

From here on out, new posts will happen every Tuesday and Thursday.

For today, I wanted to share a great post from the website: www.ativaesporte.com

They brought up the way Puma decided to utilize sprinter Usain Bolt and his famous lightning bolt pose.

Check their site out if you have a chance.

My quick thoughts… great work by Puma. Forget foam fingers!

New Season – First Series

How fitting that Spring has finally arrived in full force today with the Yankees coming to town for the first Red Sox vs. Yankees series of the season.

With beautiful weather in the forecast for the entire weekend, the drama should be just as heated.  New players, lost signings (Teixeira), Lowell back and playing strong, A Rod hurt and a tight AL East is sure to make this weekend’s series the start of a long battle all year long.

The Yankees have a new stadium and the Sox have… umm… new seats??

But who cares about aesthetics, baseball is in full swing.

Friday: Lester takes on Chamberlain

Saturday: Beckett takes on Burnett

Sunday: Masterson takes on Pettitte

It’s definitely a great weekend for Boston sports.  Celtics and Bruins are in the playoffs, Pats adding to their stacked roster through the draft and the Sox taking on the Yanks.

Enjoy it everyone!  Let’s keep riding this wave!!!

Talk to you soon,

Derek

Boston Bruins – Athlete Marketing

So as I watched the B’s game last night, I started to wonder what will happen, in regards to marketing and endorsement deals, for the players on the team.

There’s no doubt that Boston has been riding a strong wave of sports supremacy over the past few years.  And there’s no denying the fact that our company has taken full advantage of that.  When we started Sports Identity in 2003, it was a time of great local sports success and economic freedom.  Companies were lining up to associate themselves with all of our local champions.  Even the more unknown athletes were suddenly relevant and able to pocket some extra cash through appearances, speaking engagements and endorsements.  Winning a championship in Boston meant much more than just pride.  Not that athletes these days don’t make a lot of money, but a professional career doesn’t last that long and every penny helps.

Well fast forward to today.  The economy is in shambles and employees are getting laid off at record rates.  So how can a company justify spending large portions of their ever shrinking marketing budgets?  Even if they have a large budget to spend, companies have been holding off because of fear of public and employee backlash.

So what does this mean for the players on the Bruins?  I know this very premature since they’ve only won one game so far, but it’s worth thinking about.

Look at the Celtics of last year.  When they won their 17th Championship, the economy was still somewhat stable, but was definitely showing some signs of weakness.  But where were all the commercials and appearance by the players after they won?  They were certainly few and far between.

So in this economic climate, will companies even consider aligning with any of the Bruins?  The Bruins have been in the shadows of the success of the Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics for years now.  But they have their chance.  And they certainly have their fans.  Hockey fans are of the most loyal fan base in sports.  Smart companies will notice that.  Or at least they should.   There’s no reason a company, even on a limited budget can’t align with an athlete.  There are ways.  They just need to be smart!  Play it safe – use BrandMatch Score.

With the Boston Marathon just a few days away, I’ll leave you with an inspirational quote:  “Don’t look back.  Something might be gaining on you.” – Satchel Paige

Have a great weekend everyone.

Derek

Welcome to Sports Identity’s Blog

Let me get this started by saying we’re totally new to this.  But one reason we wanted to start our own blog was to discuss many of the things happening in the sports world today as it relates to marketing of athletes and properties.

As we get the hang of things, we hope you’ll leave comments and communicate with us.  We’d love to hear about what you’d like us to write about.

Not only will we talk about what’s on our minds but we’ll also let you know about events we have coming up.

Stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Sports Identity, Inc.