Andy Boyer

What's Next?

Category: Sports (Page 15 of 18)

LeBron James Wants to Play in Europe? Why the NBA Should Make it Happen

August 7, 2008 /

The caveat:  I think the NBA is kind of boring these days.  I don’t hate basketball, but the NBA just under-achieves in my book.  Now, if you only speak English and have never traveled outside the US, I can understand why the NBA might seem cool. Similarly, if you’ve never been to a city with more than 200,000 people,  I can see why Appleby’s seems like a real culinary treat.  But I’m not here to bash.  I’m here to push forward a ridiculous notion.

Some background: In European soccer, something called UEFA governs European football. Independent leagues in England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc… participate in two European tourneys – the UEFA Cup and Champions League. – which make dump trucks full of money. So in the middle of their regular seasons, Italy’s best teams also play England’s best teams, etc….  It’s pretty cool – and more importantly it makes huge amounts of cash for the teams and leagues.  Now this works for European soccer because there are 3 dominant leagues, 2 or 3 second-tier leagues and about 20 third tier leagues that sneak someone into the later rounds from time to time. 

The ridiculous notion: You could not replicate this in basketball today, because the NBA teams would win almost every game.  But this kind of International tourney could happen in just a few years if some recognizable US players headed to Europe.  Imagine this scenario:

Your favorite team is the New Orleans Hornets.  Towards the end of last season,  with a playoff birth locked up, you had to keep battling to finish in 4th place, and a birth in next season’s Champions League.  You qualified, so several times next season, instead of hosting the Jazz or Bobcats, you are hosting teams from Greece, Spain, Russia or Italy.   Twice per year, the Hornets head out to Europe for a 3-4 game swing.  As a fan, you may even travel with them to Madrid or Rome.

Now to make this happen, a few stars need to be playing for Olympiakos or Moscow or whoever.  If you are a true basketball junkie, what would be better than players and games that you care about playing across the globe starting at 9am your time?  There could literally be basketball on TV morning, noon and night.

The rivalries could be intense.  And because of the extra games, you’d see more players on your own team playing important minutes.  Teams would really have to ration how many minutes they give their old guys versus how many to give their developing players, the same way Ronaldo and Rooney occasionally have to skip Manchester United games.

So if LeBron wants to go to Europe, as this article implies, I think the NBA needs to gather the international basketball powers that be and figure out how to exploit it.  Prop up the Euro leagues and build an international championship that everyone owns a piece of.   Imagine  Lakers vs Moscow – Kobe vs LeBron – in Paris for the World Championship, with a TV audience of 100 million.   That’s real money. 

Geek Out With Cool Sports Technology

July 23, 2008 /

So, this “marketing” web site is about as cool as it gets if you are into sports and technology.

Supporting their Olympic effort, Nike has launched NikeLab.com, a place to see all the latest gizmos and gadgets their athletes will be using at the games.In addition to product specs, you see interviews with the actual product designer.It’s a place you could get lost for a while in, so save your viewing for the evening.

Some technologies you may want to check out include the following:

  • Precool Vest
  • Basketball Uniforms
  • Volleyball Zesti

  • Rowing Omada

In a related story, signups for rugby leagues rose 143%

July 7, 2008 /

You gotta wonder how a TV company can make this kind of blunder…According to the BBC:

New Zealand rugby fans watching a regular sports programme found themselves viewing hardcore pornography instead on Sunday afternoon.

Four minutes of pornography interrupted sports coverage on the Prime Television channel, after what a spokesman described as a distribution mix up.

The pornographic footage was meant for an adult pay-per-view channel. Instead, it found its way onto a regular free-to-air programme called "Grassroots Rugby".

Rival television channels reported that some viewers were angry about the broadcast, which may have been seen by children.

 

And yes, I am fully aware that when I run for public office someday, some crackpot reporter will Google my name and the word "pornography" and momentarily think he hit the jackpot…

Seattle Loses A Piece of Itself, What Does a Fan Do Next?

July 3, 2008 /

Well there you go. 

A region with Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, Boeing, Washington Mutual, Safeco and Weyerhauser couldn’t find enough tax dollars to keep a piece of history intact.  An international talent pool of software executives, engineers, bankers and real estate moguls, with more college graduates per capita than anywhere in the nation, couldn’t find a few people to hammer out a suitable solution.

So who do you blame?  Sure, you want to blame Clay Bennett.  While he may be a liar, he’s simply a guy who is going to be given a hero’s welcome and key to the city in his hometown.  He never again has to fear taking a wrong turn and running into a homeless heroin addict drinking a latte on Broadway.   Given the chance to take your two-bit town and and make it a major league city, wouldn’t you do the same thing?

So now try to blame Howard Shultz.  He got snookerd into selling to Bennett.  But he didn’t want to sell.  He did everything but beg for some money to renovate Key Arena.  The team was losing money like there was a hole in the bottom of its bank account.  And here’s the dirty secret.  It wasn’t Howard that was getting killed.  His 50+ partners, the guys who retired from Microsoft and thought the stock market would never stop rising, were the ones who needed to stop writing checks every year to cover the losses.  So they went to Olympia, and Olympia gave them the finger.

So is it Olympia’s fault?  The City Council’s?  Well of course, but there is a bigger culprit in all of this.

It’s the fault of the fans who live in and around Seattle. It’s at least partly our fault.

We did the famous passive-aggressive Seattle shuffle.  We complained, but took no action.  How many of us vote regularly, or ever, in a City Council election?  How many of you know your District Rep or State Senator in Olympia?  One day we all looked up and realized some pseudo communist named Nick Licata, who starts meetings about the Police budget with a poem, was in charge of the team’s fate. And even then, we relied on the Save Our Sonics guys. (Great effort guys.  I exempt you from this.  You really did all you could, and we should commend you.)

But scroll through the list of successful executives who live in Seattle, and then match it to the backgrounds of the people on OUR City Council.  It’s a shame.  It’s embarrassing.  We voters have all been asleep at the switch.

Now let’s take it one step further.  It’s just basketball.  There are really WAY more important things than basketball.  Like Schools and  Transportation to name two.  These are complex problems with many variables.  The Sonics situation was a simple problem with a single variable – how do we creatively make a fiscally responsible decision that also helps the owners of the team?  Simple problem.  Give me and 10 friends a night at Dad Watson’s with all of the relevant data and we could come up with something.

But OUR elected officials couldn’t handle something this simple.  Now, what makes you think they can handle Transportation or Education?

The team is gone.  For most of us, it’s the first time we realized our leaders were so inept.  But it’s our fault for not paying attention.  We should have clued in after the Monorail debacle, and we all paid $500 for car tabs for a mode of transportation that didn’t exist.  We should have clued in when our gas tax skyrocketed and the roads got worse.  Now maybe we’ll get it.  Do some research.  Personally, I don’t know much about Drago, Godden, Licata, Curly, Larry and Moe, but I will certainly find out. 

If the loss of basketball in Seattle pains you, then realize this Council, this Governor, and this Legislature, WILL hurt you again.  Blame the first pain on your own naivety, but blame any upcoming pain on being inactive, and not working hard now to correct who is "representing" you.   

The Best Seat in Pro Sports

June 24, 2008 /

This comes to us from the Stanwood division of Andy Boyer.com. 

This is what happens when your marketing team doesn’t check things out with the legal team. Or maybe they couldn’t reach the lawyers, since the whole legal team was in court trying to make sure the Seattle based Marketing team would be out of a job in a few weeks….

bestseat.jpg 

Fan Friendly Ticketing

June 18, 2008 /

I promise, if the Seattle Sounders do something like try to move to Oklahoma City, or spend $117 million on players I wouldn’t add to a Fantasy baseball team, I’ll complain about it.  But as long as they keep doing things that impress me as a marketing professional, I’m going to keep sharing how impressed I am.

sounders.jpgThis week, I went through the pleasurable and fun process of selecting my 2009 season ticket package.  In comparison, I’ve completely given up on using Ticketmaster.com due to its inflexibility and 75% Convenience charge.  It’s amazing that you can’t choose your seats on that site, but instead are held hostage to a weak algorithm that supposedly gives you "Best Available" in a certain section.  Plus, I honestly don’t understand how I can order 5 books from Amazon Marketplace from 5 different people and pay like $15.00 total in shipping, but if I try to use Ticketmaster to buy 4 concert tickets, they want to charge something like $50 just to print out a couple of ducats and stick them at will call.  Why?  Are my tickets taking a limo from TM HQ to the arena? Is the paper laced with gold?  What could command $50 in service charges?  Anyway, now I just take the time to go to the stadium, pick out seats I want and leave happy.

But I digress.

The Sounders experience was as close to "Anti-Ticketmaster" as I can find.  Even if you don’t care about soccer, I encourage you to go through the process at http://tickets.soundersfc.com/   .  Choose whether you want to sit or stand during the game.  Or if you want to be in a section that sings or not.  Take a virtual tour of every row in every section.  It’s a very fan friendly experience, and trust me, the fans appreciate it. 

Let me know if you have found any other ticket places with convenient tools such as this. 

 

5 (or so) Reasons Everyone Should Attend Monday’s Sonics Rally

June 12, 2008 /

This Monday at 4:30pm, the Save Our Sonics Organization is hosting a rally on the courthouse steps  (700 Stewart St., Seattle). Sonics legends Gary Payton and Xavier McDaniel are confirmed to attend and speak at 4:30 pm. Other Sonics Legends have been invited and are expected to appear.

Now whether you are a die-hard fan, casual observer or don’t even care and just live and work in Seattle, here are 5 (or 7) reasons you should show support.

  1. For the first time ever, a city and state did not bow down to a league that demanded a new tax-payer funded stadium.  You should show that a league should not punish a city for this appropriate action.
  2. Over 41 years, more than 20,000,000 people have watched Sonics games in person.  That’s a piece of history that should stay – and I bet it’s more than have watched the symphony, opera and ballet combined.
  3. You cannot idly sit by and watch an Oklahoma Oil Baron (who is also a Republican) come rob the eco-friendly Pacific Northwest of one of its assets.
  4. At least some of your friends care about this, so you should support them.  They contribute to your Sierra Club, Humane Society and kid’s school’s auctions.  This doesn’t even cost you anything.
  5. It’s happy hour in Seattle – what an excuse to kill an hour off your work day on a Monday?  
  6. David Stern is proving to be an arrogant, very bad man.  Don’t let him get away with this without Seattle making some noise.
  7. There’s about a 1% chance the team survives.  If that miracle occurs, 34 years from now on the Sonics 75th anniversary, don’t you want to tell your grand-kids, "I was at the rally that proved to be the turning point."

 Get there – do your part.  Make it a huge rally that gets on the national news. 

More NBA Image Problems

June 11, 2008 /

Ok, if you are the NBA, how do you address this PR nightmare?  You already have an NBA official who has admitted to taking money to throw games.  Now this official is naming other refs and other games that have been fixed – playoff games at that.

Anyone who has ever watched an NBA Playoff game has walked away wondering, "There were some weird calls in that game…"  In fact, I believe Mark Cuban even hired his own stats guys to chart how refs called games, and which ones were more inconsistent than others.

Contrary to opinion, it really would be easy to fix a game.  Consider that each team has the ball about two times per minute.  And you figure almost every player touches the ball at least once per possession.  And maybe 1/2 the touches result in some sort of light contact from the defender.  A couple of quick innocuous foul calls in the 1st quarter put a player on the bench.  A couple more in the second half keep him on the bench.  And most teams can’t compete when they have a starter on the bench all game.

But the question is, how does the NBA respond?  Do you believe the guy who admitted to being guilty?  Or do you believe the guy who is moving a basketball team from Seattle to Oklahoma City for what he says is in the "best interest of the league."   Who really has more to lose at this point? One guy who has no hope at ever getting his job back is trying to cut down the number of years he’ll be in jail.  The other guy is trying to maintain the image and value of his billion dollar enterprise.  Who do you think would be more willing to stretch the truth to protect their interests?

And just a side note – is there a coincidence that this allegation comes as the Lakers play the Celtics, a revival of when the NBA was great, and a chance to showcase the NBA’s heir apparent to Michael Jordan and coach of the century.  Plus, many people wonder how a GM who was vilified by press and fans for being inept, managed to get Kevin Garnett from his buddy Kevin McHale and Ray Allen from an owner who wanted to move his team to Oklahoma City.   Did the league orchestrate the move to bring power back to Boston?  Maybe that’s the next revelation….

Watch Great Soccer – Support Seattle’s All Nations Cup

June 4, 2008 /

2008%20ANC%20Poster%20Final%20Web.jpgIf you have not booked out every  Saturday or Sunday for the next 3 weeks, try to book some time to check out the All Nations Cup 2008. This is truly one of the most unique events in Seattle, and a great example of what makes the city a pretty cool place to live.

The All Nations Cup is an amateur soccer tournament where every player competes for their home country.  It’s like the World Cup, but for amateurs.  (This weekend’s schedule here.)

I’ve been sporadically over the last few years, and the soccer is always of high quality.  But the real fun is seeing the fans.  You have these small communities of people from Ethiopia, Bosnia, Gambia, etc….There may only be a few hundred in the whole city, but most of them come out to support this group of amateur players.  Everyone has their flags, songs, drums, etc…

All games are at Starfire down in Tukwila and it’s like $10 or $15 or something per day.   With 4 games going on at once, you can shift from field to field and see some pretty strong players.

If you get down there, let me know. 

Sounders Show Off New Microsoft Uniforms

May 30, 2008 /

sounders.jpgThere will be no jokes about the Sounders having to restart the game every 30 minutes to reboot.  Nor will anyone talk about them having a bloated team of 476 players.  And certainly no one will complain that every MLS team must have 10 players from the Sounders roster included with every installation.

No, we won’t make those jokes because despite getting Microsoft money, the Sounders now have the coolest sponsor in the MLS and the best uniforms in the league.

In fact, I may go as far as to say that the MLS has the coolest sponsor in all of Professional soccer, with the announcement of Xbox 360 deciding to be the face (or chest as it were) of Seattle soccer.

Think about the great teams in Euro soccer and then think about their sponsors:

  • Manchester United: AIG Insurance (On a scale of 1 to 100, they score 130 on the boring meter)
  • Arsenal: Emirates Air (borrrrring)
  • Chelsea: Samsung (boring, but at least they are technology)
  • RealMadrid:  BenQ Siemens (more technology, but from Taiwan)
  • Bayern Munich: T-Mobile (yawn)
  • Inter Milan: Pirelli Tires (ok, that’s pretty cool I guess.)
  • AC Milan: Bwin.com (online betting is pretty cool too I suppose)

But until I see Sony, Gucci, Rolex, Ferrari, Gulfstream, Prada, or BMW on the front of a jersey, I’ll take Xbox 360 as the coolest sponsor in soccer.  (How does Apple not get that they need to do this…) 

Even better, the sponsorship and company are here in Seattle.  And tell me it’s not a great looking jersey.  Just tell me how to order and I’m in.

(This photo was taken by Courtney Blethen of the Seattle Times, and I grabbed it from this article. Seattle Times: If you need me to take it down, please just let me know.)   

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 Andy Boyer

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑