SFC Sports Business reporter Kelty Carpenter shares her experience from this year’s SSAC in Boston:

This past weekend, I attended the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. ESPN and MIT joined together to host the one day event devoted to the business of sports.

While much of the day was spent discussing the science of statistics in sports (i.e. how the number of blocked shots in a basketball game directly correlates to the outcome, how to develop consistently good pitchers, etc), the fans were not ignored. The first panel of the day included a wide range of heavy hitters from the industry: President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs Brian Burke, Managing Partner and Executive Committee Member of the Boston Celtics Stephen Pagliuca, NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, President of the Tampa Bay Rays Matt Silverman, and President of Game Plan LLC Randy Vataha.

What struck me about this insightful discussion about the best practices of management in the sports industry was not that of the analytical or crunching numbers necessarily. Rather, the message that resonated was the importance of the fan experience.

The first thing any student learns in a sports management program is that selling tickets to a sporting event is just like selling a concert ticket — it is about an entertainment experience. Success on the court/field/ice is not an element of the experience that the management can control. What each team must do is make the experience enjoyable for the fan regardless of a win or loss.

Brian Burke described his managerial style as making the fans’ investment worthwhile. He wants his team to play hard, hit, and score as often as possible. Burke referenced that NFL offenses that let the clock run down almost to zero prior to snapping the ball as a tangible negative. Burke’s contention was that it wasted the fans’ time.

Any fan that pays $100 to see an NFL game should have the benefit of seeing as many plays run as possible. Its a refreshing perspective from a GM who understands fans can spend their hard-earned money on a variety of entertainment options in Toronto, but choose instead to spend it on a Maple Leafs ticket for that live game experience.

The most interesting panel of the day was the discussion amongst David Holland of Cisco, Peter Moore of EA Sports, Tim Romani of ICON Venture, David Samson of the Florida Marlins and Alec Scheiner of the Dallas Cowboys.

The Marlins and Cowboys are at opposite ends of the financial spectrum. Alec Scheiner extolled the virtues of the new Cowboys Stadium, which David Samson explained was the investment equivalent of 3 new Marlins parks.

The bells and whistles of the new stadiums were dramatically different as it relates to the fan experience. Scheiner described the enormity of the new structure in Dallas as a way to accommodate the number of fans who want tickets. Samson explained the reasoning behind the intimacy of the Marlins field as a way to drive up demand for tickets.

While Scheiner believes the technological improvements such as televisions on the backs of seats are clearly fan-friendly, Samson countered that they pull the fan away from the live event they are attending. Samson wants fans to spend as much time watching the product on the field as possible.

At the new Marlins structure, lines for parking, restrooms and ATMs have been designed in the same manner as Disney properties — the fan always feels as though he or she is moving. The debate was healthy and provided proof that every market has different fan demands teams seek to accommodate.

How do sports organizations best attract our money? While winning is the great equalizer, sports is a zero-sum game. Every win means another team has to lose. By putting together a top notch fan experience, teams are able to obtain and retain the fans that will stick with them no matter the final score.

What does one take away from all of this? The bottom line is that these organizations need us to survive. Due to the economic downturn, what was already stiff competition for the fan dollar has become more rampant. It is up to sports fans to organize their efforts to demand results from the sports industry or this fierce competition ends up harming fans rather than helping the group.

[Kelty Carpenter is a graduate of Wake Forest University and soon-to-be graduate of Georgetown University's Sports Industry Management program.  She currently serves as Sports Business reporter for SFC. She loves Red Sox baseball and Deacon hoops.]

Despite the FCC’s ruling that no local sports exclusives should exist providing both standard and HD sports to competitors of cable and, in turn, fans who subscribe to alternate providers, Cablevision, Comcast, and Cox (to name the big players) haven’t moved a muscle to straighten up their act.  Rather, they’ve taken the FCC to court appealing the decision – making false promises to U.S. Representatives- continuing to abuse sports fans across the country by withholding access to games.

Below is a note from one of our intelligent members about the seemingly endless struggle to supply fans with their sports on TV:

The on-going story of Cablevision holding back its High Definition sports channel MSG-HD from some providers (Verizon) while giving it to others (Time Warner) still seems to be dragging in the courts.

Despite the ruling by the FCC on January 20, 2010,  stating that “incumbent cable television providers that control unique, regional sports programming can no longer unilaterally refuse to provide access to that programming, including high-definition feeds, to competing providers.”, it seems that the ruling means very little until the appeal process runs its course. 

Unfortunately, it seems there is little that can be done to speed this process up – after all, it’s been going on for years now.  Perhaps the FCC should enforce the new ruling NOW.  Let the appeal process proceed – perhaps it will move faster when Cablevision isn’t dragging their feet.  Should the ruling be overturned (unlikely), then and only then can Cablevision refuse to provide its HD feed. 

An alternate interim solution might be to prevent Cablevision from providing their HD content to anybody else (including other cable providers like Time Warner).  This would then force these other cable providers to join the battle against Cablevision.

SFC loves the educated suggestions. Let’s start this process by signing the petition stating that the FCC should enforce their rule immediately. Letting Cablevision get away with this white collar crime is unacceptable. Let the FCC know you want your games, and you want them now!

When the Tiger Woods scandal broke, many were shocked while some were unfazed by the news that another hero had fallen from grace. Woods, the first billion-dollar athlete, had chiseled out of gold his pristine image for sponsors and fans to embrace wholeheartedly.

Charles Barkley once famously asked the question, ”A million guys can dunk a basketball in jail; should they be role models?”. Shortly thereafter in 1993, he wrote the text for his “I am not a role model” Nike commercial which garnered national media attention. The concept rings true although society will always idolize successful athletes. USA Today found that close to 66% of fans say athletes will influence kids more in the years to come.

It all seems rather inevitable. Sports Marketing companies like Octagon help their clients (both leagues and superstars) sell sports to fans. These organizations target our sports fan dollars with whatever means is available to them.

SFC argues that the real heroes are the fans. Those who speak up against the powers that be to make it better for their fellow sports fans. Tiger Woods sold out a long time ago, but more recently his actions have disappointed his fans to the extent that even Gatorade has dropped him. While it would be nice to believe that professional athletes are professional off the field and heroes on the field are worth that hero worship when they shed their sweaty jerseys and throw them into the crowd, it’s just not worth it.

Rather, it’s worth our time and energy supporting our own collective cause. Our cause is holding our representatives and favorite teams accountable for their actions. If they take tax money, we should be able to find affordable seats in stadiums, we should be able watch the game on TV, and we should see the college champion decided on the field. Nothing less.  That’s worth our attention and support.

Testimony of Brad Blakeman

Sports Fans Coalition

before the

Oregon State House Committee on
Consumer Protection and Government Accountability

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Chairman Holvey, Vice-Chairman Gilliam, Vice-Chairman Riley, Members of the Consumer Protection and Government Accountability Committee: 

The question that brings me before you is a simple one:  should Oregon sports fans be able to watch on TV their home town team play home games in the comfort of their homes or at their favorite restaurant or bar?  When the taxpayers of Oregon help to make sports here a reality, the answer is clearly, yes they should!   

My name is Brad Blakeman and I am a member of the Sports Fans Coalition Board of Directors.  Like a lot of Oregonians, I am an avid sports fan.  I also have lived and breathed politics and public policy for decades, serving on the senior White House staff for President George W. Bush and, today, teaching political science at Georgetown University.  I also am a regular political contributor to Fox News, MSNBC, and other television networks.

Sports Fans Coalition is a non-profit advocacy group with a single mission:  to give the sports fan a seat at the table whenever public policy impacting sports is being made.  We have a bi-partisan board of directors.  In addition to myself, a Republican from the Bush White House, our Chairman, David Goodfriend, is a Democrat and former Clinton White House staffer.  Our board also includes a sports writer, a public interest advocate, and a former CEO.  Our members are sports fans from around the United States.  But we all have one thing in common:  we love sports and think that fans should be better represented before the government.

We are proud to announce that just this week, Sarah Moon of Portland became the Chair of Sports Fans Coalition’s new Portland, Oregon chapter.  Sarah is a die-hard Trail Blazers fan, season-ticket holder, and all-around Oregon sports fan.

Here in Oregon, Portland Trail Blazers fans have been shut out from watching their own games.  In 2007, the Trail Blazers apparently entered into a ten-year deal with Comcast, worth about $120 million, to carry Trail Blazers games on Comcast SportsNet.  At the time, fans in Oregon were told that they eventually would be able to view their home games regardless of who provided their TV. 

Oregon sports fans rightfully expected to be able to watch their Trail Blazers playing home games in Portland.  After all, the fans helped pay for the arena.  Press accounts state that the City of Portland contributed $34.5 million to help build the Rose Garden. 

Today, however, almost three years after the Comcast/Blazers deal, only Comcast cable subscribers and a few subscribers to small cable systems can watch every game the Blazers play at home.  This year, for example, of the over 80 home games, 60 will be available only to Comcast and a few other subscribers via Comcast Sports Net.

So, if you live in a neighborhood that is served by Charter cable, you cannot watch your Trail Blazers playing a home game.  If you live in a rural area where the only pay-TV providers are DISH Network or DIRECTV, you cannot watch your Trail Blazers playing a home game. 

Even the mother of Sarah Moon, our Oregon chapter chair, is impacted:  a huge Trail Blazers fan, she lives in a rural area south of Portland.  She does not have access to Comcast, which means she has zero access to Blazers games.  As you can imagine, this is extremely disappointing for her.

Oregon sports fans, you deserve better.

Now, it just so happens that Comcast wants something from you at the moment.

On January 28, 2010, Comcast, GE, and NBC-Universal filed papers in Washington, D.C. asking the government to approve Comcast acquiring NBC-Universal. 

The federal government is not the only one who can weigh in on this transaction, however.  The State of Oregon, through the office of the Attorney General, can weigh in on the proposed merger under Oregon anti-trust laws.  Oregon could even move to block the deal.

In other words, Oregon, Comcast right now is asking you for permission to acquire NBC-Universal.

Sports Fans Coalition would like to pose a simple question:  if Comcast is asking the Oregon state government and the federal government for permission to acquire NBC-Universal, why can’t Trail Blazers fans in Oregon ask to see their home games first?

Comcast might make a number of arguments against us even posing this question.  For example, they might say that theirs is a private contract negotiated between Comcast and the Trail Blazers. 

True, and no one wants to interfere with that contract, especially not a free-market conservative Republican like me.  But right now, Comcast is asking the people of Oregon for something it wants—approval of its merger.  Oregonians have every right to ask Comcast for something they want in return, especially when Comcast apparently promised it to them almost three years ago.

Comcast also has been known to bring up DIRECTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket as an example of a sports exclusive that somehow justifies Comcast’s behavior in Oregon and elsewhere.

Not so.  In Oregon, local fans are not able to watch, from the comfort of their own home, their home-town team playing home games.  Sunday Ticket is for out-of-market games.  It has nothing to do with watching your home town team playing home games.  Sports  Fans Coalition believes that local fans should be able to watch their local team play its home games, regardless of how a fan gets his or her TV.

Finally, let me just point out that there are people who think that sports issues are too frivolous for legislatures to take up.  Sports Fans Coalition disagrees.  The government already is heavily involved in sports.  As I mentioned, government funds were used to build the Rose Garden here in Oregon.  Federal statutes include sweeping exemptions for professional sports leagues.  Clearly, legislatures and governments historically have found sports to be fair game.

It is about time that fans get off the bench and take the field to fight for their rights to enjoy America’s favorite pastimes, whether in their homes or at their local stadiums.  When issues have an impact on fans, the fans should be heard.

Also, let’s face it.  The sports media economy is one of the largest of all private industry sectors.  It is larger than the U.S. automobile industry.  Sports represents tens of billions of dollars annually to the U.S. economy. 

Americans these days want to see their government, at the local, state, and federal levels, give them their money’s worth.  If taxpayer dollars and public laws go into sustaining the sports economy –which they do—then fans and citizens have every right to make their wishes known to their elected officials, and to expect results.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.

According to The Washington Post, the two current stake holders of NBC Universal, Vivendi SA and General Electric, Co., are playing hardball with respect to the price of shares sold to Comcast in the proposed merger deal. Vivendi which holds a 20% stake in NBC says the current figure is ’several hundred million dollars off. While this news on the surface would appear to be a sign of some relief to consumers and sports fans, it’s really only delaying the inevitable. 

While the big players in the $30 million deal will walk away with smiles on their faces, this level of consolidation will surely bring more pain and suffering to sports fans across the country. As SFC has reported, a merged Comcast NBC giant would flex its muscles as owner of programming, distribution on the local station, and broadband in more than 11 TV markets including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami, Denver, Hartford and Fresno. 

Furthermore, that list fails to include the harm Comcast currently poses to Trail Blazer fans across the state of Oregon. Fans of Portland’s NBA team are forced to pay Comcast’s ransom to watch their games.  What’s even worse is that entire regions of the state, and locals across state lines in Washington are unable to subscribe to Comcast even if they could afford to do so.

Comcast has claimed repeatedly that they would make the games available to competitors so that all Oregon could watch the games, but at what price? If Comcast is pricing out the competition, what’s the difference between this and a ‘local sports exclusive’ in which the media giant just says, ‘no’?

It’s these types of examples that spawn the action the SFC has taken in petitioning the FCC and joining a coalition, as it did on Friday, to write and send a letter directly to Comcast President and CEO Brian Roberts urging the company to withdraw it’s litigation seeking to overturn the FCC’s pro-sports fan ruling to close the ‘terrestrial loophole’.

At some point, the greed needs to stop. Sports Fans Coalition will not count on these media giants to act in the best interests of sports fans. SFC will not rest on the laurels of a positive decision by the FCC.

A delayed merger approval process does not build confidence in the company to act more socially responsible when business practices and behavior of the past will surely dictate how it will act in the future. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.