MLB Advanced Media Every Detail Available to Fans

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) has taken a huge step into the sports statistical world.  Each year MLBAM tracks every pitch, hit and out in about 17,400 games.  These statistics are easily sortable and quickly sent out to any fan, player or coach at any given time.
The biggest change has been in the tracking of pitches.
MLBAM uses Pitchf/x, which is a tracking technology developed by Sportvision.  It captures 36 data points on every pitch of every game.  It is then used to calculate and sort pitches according to speed, location, type and trajectory.
This information is extremely valuable to scouts, coaches and general managers when they are evaluating players for the future of their organization.

Media Giants Convergence

With a crowded field of sports networks currently engaged in the broadcasting world, Fox Sports 1is not altering their strategy.  ABC's ESPN, who currently owns the majority of the sports broadcasting market, might be in for a bit of a rivalry should the CBS Sports Network and Fox Sports 1 converge.  The two companies all but left the door closed on the possibility that they may merge to try to take down the sports giant ESPN.
With CBS and Fox taking technological steps to challenging ESPN, especially with extra game-time features for watching games live online, there could soon be a shift in the leaders in sports coverage.  CBS sports chairman Sean McManus has not closed the door on the possibility at all.
He said that it may be that in the future there is a merger with NBC, Fox Sports 1 or the NBC Sports Network.
  

Roc Nation Sports Official

Roc Nation, the newly-founded sports agency by rapper Jay-Z, is ready to take on NBA and NFL clients.  Jay-Z, who was a partial owner of the Nets and one of the main motivating factors for their move to Brooklyn, has now been cleared to move forward in signing players from the NBA, MLB, and NFL.

The convergence of the sports and music industry that Roc Nation illustrates the same thing as what is going on with companies such as Google and Facebook.  Each industry is slowly turning into one large industry in which the main competitors are all technological giants.  

Roc Nation is just the first of what will probably be many music/sports agencies.  Soon enough artists will align themselves with other sports superstars and new teams will form.  

Sports Tracking Camera

Researchers at the University of Tokyo are currently in the midst of creating a camera that can track fast moving objects by itself.  The camera would revolutionize the way sports coverage is broadcasted to its audience.  The camera has the ability to keep the main object or ball in the center of the screen at all times.



After successful tests inside the lab, researchers will be moving the tests outside to see if it is still successful.  Should the tests succeed the technology would be broadcast ready in two years.
This poses a real problem to sports cameramen, as this technology would make the majority of them obsolete.
While the elimination of human cameramen due to the new technology seems inevitable, sports companies should still hold on to cameramen to cover everything but actual gameplay.  

Media Conversion Through Video Games

The multimedia world is slowly colliding into one big clump of companies trying to compete with one another.  EA Sports is no exception.
Teaming up DirecTV and Amazon.com Madden's 25th anniversary game, set to release in August, will be one of the first games to offer more than just the game.  Offered exclusively through Amazon.com, the 25th anniversary edition fo Madden will be $99.99 retail and will include rare Madden Cards, the game and a subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket.  This media conversion makes this deal a must-buy for football fans that do not have DirecTV.  Sunday ticket which is valued at $299.99 already pays for itself when buying Madden.
More and more companies are seeking partnerships in order to complete on three levels: internet, mobile and television.  EA Sports, DirecTV and Amazon are the first companies to begin this trend.  It is only a matter of time before more companies begin to do this.

Students Develops New Speed Skating Technology

According to an article on indianasnewscenter.com, a student invention has lead to speed skaters to obtain more accurate readings on their lap times.  

The IPFW students partnered with local speed skaters and developed a radio frequency timing system.  Here is an excerpt from the article on how the technology works:

"Here’s how it works: each racer wears a chip that can be read by the "reader,” so every time the racer crosses the start and finish line, the system picks up their times and stores them automatically."—Rachel Martin and Emily Dwire

The technology chips stores every single time that the skater records per lap.  It allows the speed skaters to look back on every single lap they did in the past and obtain an accurate reading to base their performance off of.  The new technology would allow skaters to see where they rank nationally and if they were able to qualify for nationals.  

No More Freezing or Buffering: Seahawks Partner With NetRover

The Seattle Seahawks don't want their fans to suffer anymore.  The Seahawks recently agreed to a partnership with NetRover to use their technology Opanga and integrate it into their mobile app.  Opanaga NetRover technology allows users to see highlights at high resolution with no chance of network traffic tarnishing the experience.
The technology will revolutionize how fast the fan can obtain these video highlights.  Chief Executive of Opanga NetRover, Dave Gibbons spoke about the technology in an article on Sports Pro.
"Now fans can enjoy action video highlights in mobile high resolution, wherever they are and whenever they want it, without all the frustrating stalling and buffering.  Seahawks fans will be surprised by how good this mobile video experience is," Gibbons said.  "It starts instantly, never freezes, and allows them to connect easily with the team and players."
The technology would be a huge step in the streaming video to mobile devices especially in the sports world.  

Inaugural Sports Business and Technology Summit Set to Showcase Tech and Television Improvements

The Inaugural Sports Business and Technology Summit, presented by Broadcasting and Cable, Multichannel News and TV Technology, is set to take place on June 19 in New York.  Top executives from NBC, ESPN, Fox, Turner and NBC will be present to discuss the ways monetize the new media savvy sports fan.
According to the Summits official website the panel will be set to discuss:

• The Sate of the Sports Business—Rights, Technology, Live Sports.
• Multiplatform, Multiscreen Experience—2nd screen and TV Everywhere
• Social TV—How Do You Engage Fans now?
• Sports Advertising
• 4k & Sports—The Future?

The Summit looks to provide a meeting of the minds to discover the best new ways to innovate an untapped internet market.  As technology changes so does the way fans interact with sports and this provides a new way for sports to create revenue.  

LeBron James is Hiring

LeBron James is currently looking to hire college interns for the spring, summer and fall semesters according to Chris Joseph of the Newtimes.  The internship is a real opportunity for college students to work for LeBron James by helping with his website LeBronJames.com.
James is currently seeking interns to work in the online content-development department as well as the digital sports marketing department.
This is a new step in sports technology and branding as James is technically hiring people to work for his own personal company all about himself.  Websites are now a way to help monetize an athlete's own personal brand and James is utilizing that in order to get a step above the competition.  In the ESPN 30 for 30 entitled "Broke," former NBA and NFL players spoke about how athletes compete everywhere even off the court, especially when it comes to money.
While, James may not need to monetize his off-court actions because of his sheer dominance of the game of basketball, he is surely taking every step to try to dominate off the court.

Change in Sports Marketing

As the baby boomers make their way out of the workplace and into retirement, the millenials are slowly sneaking up on the workforce and market area.  Sports teams have already started switching gears by marketing toward this new breed of sports fan.
According to Mandy Niad, a writer for Medill Reports Chicago, sports marketing teams already have targeted social media campaigns, events, promotions and enhanced in-game and at-home experiences.
The San Francisco Giants have managed to stay up with both the boomers and millenials because of the expectancy of crowds at games.  According to the article, the Giants understand that on Friday and Saturday nights they will have a younger, rowdier crowd than on Saturday and Sunday afternoons which tend to be more for the family atmosphere.
As technology continues to develop, there are numerous ways to maintain and monetize the new innovations that come with the sports marketing team.    

Advanced Statistics in the NBA

Ever since the Moneyball era of the Oakland Athletics other teams have tried to find success in Major League Baseball using the same method.  That method is advanced statistics that better show an athlete's worth than based off of traditional statistics.  This has transferred over to the world of professional basketball in the NBA.  Right now, the NBA is going through a 'Moneyball' era of its own trying to find a competitive advantage through adult statistics.  

The annual Sloan Sports Analytics Conference held at M.I.T illustrated the NBA's new advanced statistics era as 31 of the leagues 32 teams attended.  Only the Los Angeles Lakers were not in attendance.  This data-mining conference illustrates how valuable a player is to winning an NBA championship.  The goal of the conference and sports analytics is to come up with a single calculation to determine who is the best player in their respective sport.

Furthermore, the conference and advanced statistics in general increasingly changes how the public views the athletes.  No longer will athletes be looked at as a person but more as a commodity.       

MLB Umpires Need More Eyes

Accuracy has become one of the key principles during this age of technology in America and Major League Baseball is no exception.  Video replay has become more readily available now to viewers and reporters giving them more reasons to hate the umpire for blowing a call.  Tom Haudricourt, a sports writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has called for the umpires to receive a fifth set of eyes. 

Hauricourt argues that it is long over-do for the MLB to put an umpire up in the booth to reverse any call that was made incorrectly on the field.  This could be the first stages of full replacement of human umpires that remain on field level.  The amount of video-coverage and video angles that is readily available at any given moment has moved the umpire blame game from he said, she said to concrete proof of a blown call.
The main reason to keep human umpires involved with the game is to keep the human element involved in the game.  This lack of willingness to change on MLB's part, comes at an inopportune time.  The MLB needs to go with how society goes and what society wants is 100 percent accuracy.

Sports Yapper: Creating an Online Sports Bar

Sports Yapper is one of the first businesses to try to utilize the social internet setting to create a space for sports fans.  In short, Sports Yapper is a place to go where you can talk sports with other sports fans.  The goal of Sports Yapper, according to co-founder Eric Goldstein, was to get away from Facebook, Twitter and texting.
The app, which is for both iPhone and Android, is essentially an online sports bar minus the drinks.  By giving a virtual space to voice an opinion about a sporting event that is on helps build a community where fans can go.
Sports Yapper is the first to harness this idea using the 'Game On' technology to essentially generate an ongoing commentary of a live sporting event.  However, I have yet to see it utilized in that manner yet.  The idea of generating a commentary of a sporting event by fans is one that has yet to be released by the media as a means to tell a story.

    

Building an Online Audience

The Brooklyn Nets' success of re-branding utilized a number of social media marketing strategies as well as the use of technology.  The YES network wisely sponsored a small-startup business called The Brooklyn Game, an online news outlet for everything Brooklyn Nets related.  I had the pleasure to work for this company and it provided Nets fans not only in-depth coverage but a way to see the full Brooklyn Nets fan-base on a regular basis.  

Both the YES Network and The Brooklyn Game utilized Twitter in order to see how far the Nets brand could go.  During Nets live-game broadcasts the announcers would reveal segment called, 'Where Brooklyn At?'  Fans would submit a picture of themselves wear Nets apparel in a remote location such as Europe, Alaska, and even Africa.  As for the Brooklyn Game, they published a series a of tweets, using storify, called 'Rep Your Nets.'  This application gave The Brooklyn Game essentially free content to utilize in their story-telling.  

The Brooklyn Game would collect tweets throughout the game that would develop into a game story with fan commentary.  This helped create a a large online community following The Brooklyn Game as they now became part of the story.          

Value of Re-Branding in the NBA: The Brooklyn Nets

Through the help of a successful 2012 off-season the Brooklyn Nets re-branded its franchise successfully by moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn.  Despite a first round loss in the playoffs to the injury depleted Chicago Bulls, the Nets were able to re-brand themselves from lovable losers to perennial winners.
According to Forbes, the New Jersey Nets were listed as No. 14 in 2012 on the list of highest valued NBA franchises at $357 million.  After the full transformation into the Brooklyn Nets, the team is now ranked No. 9 and is valued at $530 million.
The Nets didn't just create this overnight sensation out of nowhere, they used social media to market their new brand.  Through twitter the Nets began targeting their social media audience with #HelloBrooklyn.  The #HelloBrooklyn campaign stormed the twitter-verse and caused excitement for the city's newest team.  The #HelloBrooklyn campaign was also used to crowd-source a homemade Brooklyn song that would become the Nets new anthem.

      
The use of twitter was able to create the basis for a new-found fan base.

Value of Major League Baseball Brands

This week Sports Monopoly will focus in on the competing businesses within the four major American sports—baseball, basketball, football and hockey.  For the MLB, there is a distinct advantage in which a team can build its brand.  The advantage lies within a limitless salary cap.  

While MLB executives have drastically tried to hinder the act of 'buying' players and leveling the playing field for non-major market teams, the advantage still lies with these big time ball clubs.   

Mike Ozanian, a staff writer for Forbes Magazine, wrote an article realeasing the value of Major League Baseball franchises.  According to the article, of the top ten most valuable franchises only one, the St. Louis Cardinals, were a not in a major market.

The New York Yankees have benefitted the most from the major market and historical accomplishments to create the most valuable brand in baseball at $2300 million.  Through the YES network, being in New York and having a tradition of winning, the Yankees have been able to master the brand.

Teams like the Tampa Bay Rays have converted to a recent winning history, however, still struggle to put fans in the seats at Tropicana Field, due to the lack of the Rays brand.