Let the Games begin…

Inside the Main Press Centre in Vancouver (twitpic from @JulietMacur)

Eight years ago the 2002 Olympic Winter Games were underway in Salt Lake City. I was director of venue press services, meaning it was my job to oversee the media operations at 13 venues – 10 competition sites, the Olympic Medals Plaza, the Olympic Village, and the Ceremonies venue (Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah). Fortunately, I had the most enthusiastic, professional, and competent staff anyone could wish for. I have said to anyone who will listen that the greatest thing about working at the Olympics is the level of competency among employees. It makes life so enjoyable.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and three things in particular I am watching this year.

First, how does Twitter change the game? No way the IOC can control it. What does Twitter do to the content distributed from Olympic venues? Remember, Twitter wasn’t a thing in 2008 during the Beijing Games. I imagine the folks with the checkbooks at FOX and ESPN will be watching carefully how Twitter impacts NBC’s coverage before they recommend writing the IOC offers for the 2014 and 2016 Games.

I can’t follow everyone on Twitter, and I really don’t care too much about following individual athletes, so here is my list of Twitter must-follows for the 2010 Vancouver Games. Admittedly, it is very U.S.-centric:

• @insidethegames – broad-based Olympic coverage from the UK.
• @AroundTheRings - I first met Ed Hula prior to the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He is an Olympic veteran reporter who is well-known worldwide. He already has some tremendous photo gallerys on his site from IOC meetings and behind the scenes stuff.
• @alanabrahamson – Veteran Olympic reporter formerly of the Los Angeles Times, now writes for NBCOlympics.com
• @Olympics – it’s their party…
• @olyphil – Chicago Tribune writer Philip Hersh. Expect lots of figure skating coverage, but the man knows the Olympic movement as well as anyone in the world.
• @JulietMacur – New York Times reporter already has tweeted some good pictures from inside the Main Press Centre (including the one in this blog… thanks, Juliet).
• @USOlympic – my former employer (back when the USSR participated)

And three personal follows:

• @tom_kelly  and @tomkelly_ussa – Longtime U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association public relations person working his seventh Games uses two Twitter accounts. Tom is also a friend and he and his wife Carole are tremendous people (despite their Wisconsin ties J). Tom also blogs here.
• @barbmacd – Barb worked for us in Salt Lake at figure skating and short track speed skating. Canadian native working for Skate Canada as Media Advisor in 2010
• @POLAKOFFCOMM – Susan worked for us in Salt Lake at long track speed skating. She is a self-describe “Media Maven” with a great sense of humor. Don’t ask her about the Super Bowl outcome, though.

The second thing I’m looking forward to is watching European coverage. I travel to Madrid, Spain from 20 February – 26 February to lecture at Instituto de Empresa’s masters in sport management program.  I have never been out of the country during an Olympic Games. Ever. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how Europeans approach the Games. I suspect we’ll have less human interest stories and more actual event action. Plus, I miss the Ladies Free Program, so that’s good.

Finally, I am intrigued to watch NBC’s Meet the Olympic Press show. Alerted to this by Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites, this seems like an intriguing concept as well as a brand-builder for NBC. The influence of shows like This Week and Meet the Press have long influenced ESPN (media interviewing media). Now, it is infiltrating the Olympics as well.

For those of you interested, I am sure I’ll be growing my Twitter list as the Games go on, but right now you can find it here. And, if you’ve made it this far, a photo of me and my two right hands in Salt Lake. Lauren on the left and Rachel on the right. Thanks guys…

Happy 8th Anniversary.

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.