NCAA Scholarly Colloquium on tap next week

Now that vacation is nearly over, it is time to get back at it. A busy spring semester of traveling, teaching, presenting, and writing is in store.

It all kicks off next week from the NCAA’s Scholarly Colloquium on College Sports, Jan. 12-13, in Atlanta. This serves as a sort of appetizer for the larger NCAA annual convention, Jan. 13-16. This year’s colloquium theme is “College Sports in Recessionary Times: Assessing Challenges and Opportunities”.

Unlike CSRI’s Scholarly Conference on College Sport hosted by UNC-Chapel Hill each April, the NCAA’s colloquium does not include many practitioner points of view. The panel discussions are largely made up of academics and the free paper sessions are almost exclusively academics.

Still, this is an important year for the NCAA as it chooses a new president (Interim President Jim Isch will open the colloquium), wrestles with growing financial inequities, attempts to resolve the issue of what is Division II, and deals with growing congressional unrest about a college football playoff system. It should be an interesting event.

Assuming good reception on my iPhone inside the Marriott Marquis, and assuming no travel snafus on US Airways through Charlotte, I will attempt to Tweet from the colloquium with the hashtag #ncaasc. If not, I’ll try to post updates each day on this blog (using either Posterous or my WordPress iPhone app – assuming I can master these technologies).

One last thing, or zing, is why am I flying XNA to ATL through CLT when Delta flies direct from XNA to ATL? Funny story. I began looking at flights months ago and Delta priced the flight at $1,100 during my desired travel times. US Airways had a similar schedule for less than $300. So… despite my years of Delta loyalty and nearly 200k miles, I am on US Airways. PS – the flight today is $1,400 on Delta. WHAT?!

Congress, the BCS, and Glass Houses

Photo by Jef Poskanzer. Shared through flickr, Creative Commons license 2.0.

I’m working on a paper which examines the history of Congressional involvement with the BCS and while I don’t wish to spoil the substance of it, here are some interesting, if not ironic, facts.

1) Presently, there are two bills in the U.S. House dealing with the BCS. H.R. 390, the “College Football Playoff Act of 2009″, was introduced in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on January 9, 2009. That bill was amended and approved by the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, and was forwarded on December 9, 2009 to the full Energy and Commerce Committee. I wrote about this last week.

In addition, H.R. 599, the “Championship Fairness Act of 2009″, was introduced in the House Committee on Education and Labor on January 16, 2009. It has not moved.

2) Simultaneous to this, H. Res. 153 EH passed the House on March 5, 2009. It commends the University of Southern California Trojan football team for its many historic accomplishments during the 2008 regular season. Full text here.

3) In addition to aforementioned House Resolution, the Senate passed S. Res. 13 ATS on January 14, 2009 which congratulates the University of Florida for winning the 2008 BCS national championship. Full text here.

Now, who am I to throw stones in a glass house, but doesn’t this smack with irony?

HR 390 College Football Playoff Act – what you need to know

On Wednesday, Dec. 9, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will markup HR 390, the College Football Playoff Act. It sounds impressive, but what does it mean? And, should we care?

The answers are: very little, and no. It means very little because, as govtrack.us points out, “the majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee.” We should not care at this point because, as Bill on Schoolhouse Rock taught us “I’m stuck in committee and I sit here and wait while a few key Congressmen discuss and debate.” Even if it does make it to a vote and the House approves it, it needs to go to the Senate. And, as illustrated below, the key members of the House and the Senate seem split as to what the problem with the BCS really is.

Finally, the President needs to sign into law. We know President Obama favors a playoff because he told it to 60 Minutes last year.

So what is it that is being discussed tomorrow? HR 390 was introduced by Joe Barton (R-TX6) on Jan. 9, 2009 in 1st session of the 111th Congress. It is the same as HR 7330 which was introduced by Barton on Dec. 10, 2008, one of the last days of the 2nd session of the 110th Congress.

Essentially, HR 390 makes it illegal for anyone (business or person) to promote, market or advertise “any post-season NCAA Division I football game as a national championship unless such game is the culmination of a fair and equitable playoff system.” What makes that interesting is the bill targets commerce rather than antitrust.

When Sen Orrin Hatch of Utah requested that President Obama review the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in October, he asked the review be led by the Justice Department, a clear nod toward the antitrust issues associated with the BCS. Heck, even the title of Hatch’s summer Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee hearing on the BCS was titled, “The Bowl Championshp Series: Is it Fain and In Compliance with Antitrust Law?”

So while Barton appears concerned with the dollars associated with the BCS, Hatch appears concerned with the exclusionary nature of the BCS.

HR 390 is altogether different than H. Res. 68 supporting the establishment of an NCAA Division I FBS playoff.  It was introduced Jan. 15, 2009 in the House Education and Labor committee and referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness on March 6, 2009. It has not been heard from since. It’s sponsor is Neil Abercrombie (D-HI1) and is co-sponsored by Barton, a Republican. (Hey bipartisan cooperation on the BCS!)

It is also different from H.Res. 68’s predecessor, H. Res. 1120, which was introduced April 17, 2008 in the 110 Congress, and died in subcommittee.

Point is this… Politicians love to jump on someone when they are down. The BCS is drawing the ire of a lot fans and media right now, so it is the perfect time for this debate to surface. The only thing working in favor of those opposed to the BCS is that this Session of Congress has another year to go. It is possible something could get to a vote before the midterm elections next November. If not, as Bill says… I might die.

Airlines Add ‘Super Bowl’ Tax

So, if this boils down ECON 101 supply and demand issues, why won’t airlines discount that Sunday afternoon flight to Fayetteville that is half empty?

 

 

 

via Sports Biz with Darren Rovell on 11/18/09

If you’ve been dreaming about heading down to Miami in February, crossing your fingers that your team will make it to the Super Bowl, you just might want to check the airfare.

Celtics See Success in Competitive Facebook App – ClickZ

Celtics See Success in Competitive Facebook App

By Fred Aun, ClickZ, Nov 17, 2009

 

A Facebook application created for The Boston Celtics by Boston-based interactive agency Moleculargrabbed more than 7,000 users in less than three weeks with no publicity, said agency reps.

The <a href=”http://facebook.com/celtics http://www.facebook.com/celtics” target=”blank”>app, called “3-Point Play,” allows competitive Celtics fans to challenge each other to predict the points, rebounds and assists of their favorite players during each game. It was launched Oct. 27, just before the Celtics’ season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“So far, we have over 7,000 users registered and we just started our marketing for it,” said Maura Nagle, engagement director at Molecular. “So we are pretty pleased with the way things are going so far. We’re also seeing a lot of success in the viral nature, with friends encouraging friends to play.”

To drive participation, The Celtics are awarding prizes throughout the season. Fans that are most adept at predicting the “statistical output” of their chosen players get a shot at playoff tickets. For the team’s marketers, the Facebook application provides insight into the online behavior and preferences of Celtics fans, said Nagle and Molecular Senior VP Scott Savitt. This data should be helpful in crafting the team’s digital marketing strategy. Savitt suggested the Celtics could send tailored product offers, perhaps a special edition jersey with a player’s number to fans who indicate the player is their favorite.

The Celtics have about 450,000 Facebook friends, the second-most in the NBA. But Savitt said the team’s marketing staff wanted the online involvement with fans to be more reciprocal. “There wasn’t any conversation or dialogue happening,” he said. “We wanted to provide value and fun for fans in this statistical fantasy game. While doing that, we are to get them over to Celtics.com and then we start to learn about their preferences…have a more one-on-one engagement platform and start to collect appropriate information for targeted communication.”

Savitt and Nagle pointed out the team is involved in many forms of digital interaction, including Twitter, e-mail and a YouTube channel. The Celtics were the first team to rollout the NBA’s Game Time Live application on their Web site. IT allows fans to chat during games with other fans, two Celtics employees and an NBA representative.

Molecular, part of the Isobar network of digital agencies, also wanted to make a participatory social network application that would not only grab the attention of Celtics fans but also keep them engaged through the long NBA season, Savitt said.

via clickz.com

Good example of NBA team (Celtics) using social media to drive fan relationships. My favorite line is in fifth paragraph, referring to fan involvement as being “reciprocal”. Dialogue is the future of sport communication, if not it isn’t already the present.