How YouTube Direct could change sports broadcasting

Some recent, exciting news – YouTube Direct launched. This post discusses why it’s important for those in the sports world to pay attention to it.

Essentially, YouTube Direct is a platform which allows media sites to permit users to upload videos to YouTube without leaving the media site (see picture to the right). So far, those to take advantage of this new (free) API are mostly traditional news sites – The Huffington Post, NPR, Politico and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Why should people in the sports world care? It all has to do with broadcast media and the diversification of sporting event content.

(First, if you haven’t done so already, read my recent post on NCAA and social media: Friends?.)

Here’s my thinking…

One of my key criticisms of (some, not all) NCAA athletic departments was the fact that many of them aren’t open to the idea of sharing. In particular, I think they don’t broadcast their video content online nearly as much as they should. By limiting themselves to their local markets, they’re limiting their reach to a small, geographic area.

On the national level, let’s face it – not all sports are broadcast on TV. First, there’s just not enough space and licenses. Primary spots are given to “primary” sporting events. Meanwhile, all the others stay within the reach of their local media (which can be quite limiting).

But in both of these situations, there are a few constants – the fans and the athletes.

Read more

NCAA and social media: Friends?

I’d like to extend a huge “welcome!” to NCAA collegiate athletic departments – it seems that this year, you may have finally realized the power of technology in bringing fans into your stadiums. Well, at least some of you have.

What am I talking about? Well, apparently, a panel of [experts?] convened at an NCAA education session and came up with the following finding:

“Programs willing to invest in effective communication can reap far greater support than at any time in their history.”

Couldn’t agree more. I’m just left a little confused as to why it took a panel of experts AND so much time to figure this out. These tools have been around forever. The only thing I can come up with is that there are some weird regulations out there that I don’t know about. Or athletic departments weren’t willing to lose control of their information. But now they don’t have any choice, and control is being relinquished. I guess that’s innovation?

NCAA institutions (especially schools which have strong female programs) should be doing everything they can to get fans, even if that means going online. Free tools exist, starting with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These are ways to connect with people and keep them engaged, and sports fans are some of the most faithful users. Embrace it.

So I have to ask the question -  sports information directors, where the heck have you been?

You’ve got a lot of work to do. You need to show me why my friends and I should care about you. What makes you different and cool? What makes you indispensable?

The NCAA panel was right – unlike any other time in history, there’s a huge opportunity here. But like the millions of Americans who are out of work or suffering in the economic depression, you’ve got some proving to do. Here are a few things to think about:

Read more

Erin Andrews tells peep hole victimization story on Oprah

I Tivo’d Oprah today and got to see a story that I’d been waiting for awhile. ESPN reporter Erin Andrews told the queen of talk television the story of a complete invasion of privacy as a female sports reporter.

This is the first and only interview Erin will conduct with herself as the subject of the story. Now that it’s over, she told Oprah she’s ready for football season to begin and, even more importantly, she’s ready to move on.

What Erin told Oprah was the story of a classic peeping Tom, only today’s peeping Tom lives in the age of a World Wide Web, an environment where anybody can create content and share it with the world.  While the Web is awesome in its own right, it takes no mercy upon sexy female journalists (especially in the sports world).

Read more

Fair pay and athletics: The gender disparities continue to loom

This post is part of an initiative by the National Women’s Law Center in honor of Equal Pay Day — “voices are rising up across the web in support of fair pay for women.” All day, they’ll be promoting blog posts about fair pay and tweets with the hashtag #fairpay.

The reason today is Equal Pay Day: April 28, 2009 marks the day when the average woman’s wages will finally catch up with those paid to the average man in 2008 (note – that was last year). Here’s where you can find state-by-state data on the wage gap.

So what can you to help? Well, if you’re a blogger, register here and blog about it. If you’re not (or you don’t want to), then urge your Senators to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

In keeping with my theme, I wanted to share some interesting information about fair pay in athletics. Some may think that these days, women get paid “very similar” or even “close to” men. But that’s hardly the case, as you can see… Read more

David vs. Goliath: NCAA one step closer to its champion

As of last night, there are now two teams left in the greatest basketball tournament of the year: University of Connecticut Huskies and the Louisville Cardinals.

Yesterday, UConn seemed to easily handle Stanford, winning 83-64, and Louisville squeaked by Oklahoma, 61-59.

According to NCAA,

“Connecticut and Louisville have met before with both games coming out in the Huskies’ favor – a 93-65 victory during the regular season and a 75-36 win in the league tournament.”

Mechelle Voepel says Louisville will face the “Godzilla of a team in the national championship game.”

… The perfect way to describe UConn. Tuesday night’s  game is literally a David vs. Goliath match-up.

Of course, I’m rooting for David.

The game is being played tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:30pm in St. Louis, Missouri. ESPN, whom I would call the biggest supporter of the women’s tournament, will be broadcasting the event live (not surprising).

If you’re looking on resources to read up on this game, I’d check out ESPN Women’s Basketball because they have (by far) the best coverage of what’s going on.

Here’s a list of the top online resources:

Web sites:
ESPN Women’s Basketball
NCAA.com women’s basketball March Madness Central
UConn Women’s Basketball
Louisville Women’s Basketball

Blogs:
ESPN Women’s Basketball Blog
NCAA Live Blogs
Women Talk Sports – basketball
Women’s Hoops Blog

Twitter:
@MechelleV
@RebeccaLobo
@WomenTalkSports
@NCAA
If you know of any more great resources, please be sure to comment. I’m happy to add them to my list.

Women’s Tourney Update

down to the wire basketball games, defensive battles to the end, physical battles, gotta love march madness!

just a recap of some impressive victories over the last two days:

• UConn remains undefeated beating Florida 87-59
• California scored a crazy 99 points to defeat UVA
• 2 – #6 seeds advance over #3 seeds: Arizona State edges out Florida State, while UNC is no challenge for Purdue.

Most exciting for me, being a Jersey girl, was Rutgers just absolutely destroying Auburn after coming out to a 22-4 lead early!  Rutgers finished the game 80-52.  I can’t wait for the Purdue-Rutgers match-up!!

Definitely some other exciting games over the course of Monday and Tuesday, and you can find the most updated bracket at ESPN.  The Women’s NCAA Tournament returns on action on Saturday.

March Madness Online: Thank you, ESPN, for promoting women

Ok, so March Madness has officially begun.

It’s my favorite time of the year!!

This year, I actually decided to participate (shocking) by filling out brackets and starting Women Talk Sports groups) for both the Men’s NCAA Championships (via CBS Sports.com Facebook application) and the Women’s NCAA Championships (via ESPN’s women’s tournament challenge).

The great gift of social media is letting us not only track our brackets online, but also participate by challenging our friends – in my case, it’s the Women Talk Sports community, and whoever else wants to join.

The first resource I found was via Facebook – a friend had invited me a few days ago.

The application is created by CBS Sports. It’s actually really neat – it lets you customize your bracket, track how you’re doing via your profile widget, pick your favorite teams, start discussions and

actually “trash talk” others’ brackets. Very interactive and fun.

Except for one thing.

THEY DON’T HAVE A WOMEN’S BRACKET.

Like, are you kidding me?

When you say you have “NCAA Basketball Brackets” you’d think it was for both genders. But I guess the women’s teams aren’t good enough for a Facebook application yet.

Ugh.

As far as I know, the only site that is actively letting fans participate online with the women’s tournament is ESPN, through it’s Women’s Tournament Challenge. Although it’s not as great as the one on Facebook (in that you have to create an account and invite people who also have to create accounts), it’s still pretty good.

In fact, the ESPN bracket challenge is an actual contest, in that you could win a $3,000 gift card from Best Buy if you get the most points.

Here’s a little bit of background information from their Web site:

“Welcome to the 2009 Women’s Tournament Challenge. The March to the Arch has arrived and that means it’s time to become part of the madness.

The next step is easy. Just select which teams you think will win each of the 63 tournament games that tip off March 21. You earn points for each game you correctly predict. The point value for a correct pick increases with each round of the tournament, culminating with the NCAA championship game in St. Louis on April 7. All 63 games are on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN360.com, so follow along as you pull for your picks to survive and advance.”

So, who do you have going all the way?

You can see my women’s brackets on the ESPN Women Talk Sports group via the ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge. (Yes, I picked Maryland to upset UConn in the championship – that would be exciting).

You can see my men’s brackets on the Women Talk Sports Facebook group via the CBS Sports Application. (I picked North Carolina beating Memphis for the championship).

If either of these applications had an embeddable widget (which would make sense), you know I’d have it up here. If you find any, please let me know!

ESPN features “The Selling of Candace Parker:” Can she transcend women’s sports?

Today, ESPN released a cover story with Candace Parker as part of their complete package of features for Women’s History Month 2009.

The story is well written, clear, inspiring and balanced. What’s great about it is the focus – a story about how Candace Parker is going to be marketed in the WNBA.

Parker is demanding a different kind of attention… the kind that focuses on her talent and her story, not her sex appeal. And that is the most promising thing I’ve heard about the future of women’s sports in a long, long time.

ESPN’s Allison Glock features Parker as one of the best, which is the attention that Parker deserves, as she’s set some serious milestones for women’s basketball over the past decade.

Glock says that Parker will “will transcend her sport:”

She will be a bigger Mia Hamm, a more accomplished Danica Patrick. Patrick is nowhere near the best in her field, but she doesn’t need to be, because she is hot enough to pose for Maxim. While that works for her, Parker wants more. She wants to be a champion, too, like Maria Sharapova, who earns upward of $25 million a year — the most of any female athlete — of which only a small fraction comes from playing tennis. Parker won’t be satisfied until she is a household name. “I wouldn’t mind being the female MJ,” she concedes. “I want to have major crossover appeal.”

What Parker doesn’t deserve is a focus on her sex appeal, which is something that’s started to happen. The focus on sex appeal has to do with female athletes appearing in Playboy and other like-minded disgraceful publications, largely due to the fact that those publications are willing to pay up.

Playboy-like publicity has serious repercussions for female athletes, as it promotes a focus body image. We learned that surfer Layne Beachle frequently suffered chronic fatigue and depression due to the focus on her body image in her career. We’ve also heard stories of female gymnists and volleyball players suffering the same kinds of symptoms as the result of their portrayal in the public eye.

So the question becomes, if Parker really is the next “female Jordan” who will transform athletics, will a “sex appeal” be necessary to get the attention of sports fans?

In my opinion, as a society, we should say no. Because we can do better than that. The athletes themselves should speak up and demand more than that, and Candace Parker is the first “big name” to do this.

Glock says:

“Team Parker has so far avoided the cheesecake route. They have higher aims. They want the all-American money, and the all-American money comes to the athletes people love, not the athletes people want to sleep with.”

What’s incredible about Parker is her story. How she got here. What she’s accomplished. Her personality (I’d love to follow her on Twitter). Her attitude. Her dedication. And most important, her talent.

Just the other day, social media guru Seth Godin (who I love to read) wrote about a difference between PR and publicity. He said the best way to get sustained attention is to communicate the stories of the clients, not simply generate publicity (which anyone can do). The stories, he said, are the ones that sell – they’re the ones that keep people coming back, because they’re real, meaningful and lasting.

And that’s the direction where women’s sports needs to head, and it looks like Parker is going to take them there.

It’s going to be great to hear stories about her baby traveling around with her to games, etc. Because that is new, different and real.

My absolute favorite quote by Parker is how she will deal with the new baby, which she is expecting in July.

“Basketball is calming to me. Whenever anything goes on in my life, I go shoot. As long as I can shoot, I’m okay.” And the baby? “The baby will be along for the ride, with me on trips, at the court.” She sighs. “You don’t hear about male players doing that, do you? Women, we just have to balance more things. It’s harder for us. That’s just the way it is.” She offers a weary smile before adding, “For now.”

Great attitude to take, Candace. I love it.

It’s very promising to hear that Parker’s sponsor (Adidas) seems to understand that Parker has a great story to tell:

Jim Gatto, head of global sports marketing for Adidas — which is releasing Parker’s player-edition shoe, the TS Ace Commander, in 2010 — sees her as an athlete who inspires women at all levels. “She was in our ‘Me, Myself’ campaign,” he says of the all-us-girls-are-in-this-together promotion. “We thought we could build stories around her. She has global reach.” Gatto says Adidas has been tracking Parker her whole career. “She always fit the brand values: authentic, inspirational. And not just from a basketball standpoint.”

With increased attention to her story (her inspiration), she’ll go far, and she just might take the rest of women’s professional sports along with her. In only one year, she has already done great things for women’s professional basketball.

“Candace is already delivering for the Sparks. LA’s season ticket sales were its highest since 2005; twice as many were sold after draft day as before. Home attendance was up 10% for the season, and road crowds were three times bigger for the Sparks than for other WNBA teams. The WNBA’s TV ratings finished up 19%, and Parker’s jersey is by far the league’s best seller.”

That’s awesome to hear.

Parker is the future of women’s basketball, and if she demands attention in the right ways, she just might transcend her sport, and set a precedence for women’s sports in general. Parker is incredibly marketable, she’s got a great story, and she’s not going to sell her body for money.

I wish the WNBA, Parker’s agent and Adidas the best of luck in generating some much-needed publicity to an awesome sport and its most promising chance at creating a new era of marketing for female athletes.

LPGA signs 10-year deal with Golf Channel

Interesting development.

The LPGA announced last week a 10-year TV deal with Golf Channel.

According to an article in Golf Week, this deal makes the tour the first stand-alone women’s sports organization to receive a rights fee agreement for domestic broadcast coverage.

“We’re not going to talk about any of the details about that,” Carolyn Bivens (LPGA commissioner, pictured above) said, “but it is ground-breaking.”

They’re not sure on specifics of the deal, but they do know that individual television production costs will increase for most events due to the structure of the new deal.

According to Golf Week, beginning in 2010, Golf Channel will provide fans virtual one-stop shopping for domestic events. It will broadcast start-to-finish coverage of most domestic events, including one major championship, and international feeds of LPGA global events.

In addition, Golf Channel will show early-round coverage of tournaments that will have weekend coverage on other networks. It also will continue to broadcast the Solheim Cup.

According to The Sports Business Journal (SBJ), it’s leaving tournament operators wondering whether or not they will get much ROI.

However, Golf Week quoted Paula Creamer, LPGA pro golfer, as thrilled.

““To be able to be on a network week in, week out is very important. It’s good for the game of women’s golf,” said Creamer.

According to Jon Show at SBJ,

“Events now pay in the low to mid-six figures to cover production costs under separate five-year deals with ESPN and Golf Channel. Two-thirds of domestic LPGA events pay about $250,000 for production on Golf Channel, while the others on ESPN pay $350,000 or more.”

I’m not incredibly knowledgeable about the golf industry, so if you have any valuable details to add to these, please feel free to comment.

In particular, I’m interested in hearing  what this means (if anything) for the league.

Kay Yow battles cancer, steps away from coaching NC State

Check out the ESPN video, below. Apparently, Kay Yow is stepping away for a bit, as she battles stage four breast cancer. Kay Yow is one of the best coaches in women’s basketball, so this is a big loss for NC State.

Candace Parker is expecting…

…not another national championship, or WNBA title. Instead, she’s expecting a baby.

According to ESPN:

Candace Parker is expecting her first child this spring, and the WNBA star will keep working out leading to the 2009 season.

The announcement was made Wednesday by the University of Tennessee, where Parker starred before going on to the Los Angeles Sparks. Her husband is Shelden Williams of the Sacramento Kings.

Hat tip to Jane from Pretty Tough for the story…

Mechelle Voepel, renown sportswriter, welcome to the blogosphere

Late last night, by accident, in searching for women’s basketball blogs, I came across a name I recognized. Mechelle Voepel. I was thrilled to discover that in October of 08, she started her own blog.

For those of you who don’t know her, Mechelle Voepel can likely be considered the voice of women’s sports, particularly in the realm of women’s basketball.

Voepel has a longstanding column on Espn.com, and (until this year) had a popular women’s sports column at the Kansas City Star.

It’s obvious that the blog I came across is Voepel’s personal blog, as she writes in first person and describes her experiences first-hand.  We get to hear , how she feels about major events in women’s sports, as well as personal views about the industry in general.

This perception is perhaps the first of its kind for women’s sports journalists, and her insight can be appreciated by every sports fan, especially those with a love for women’s basketball.

In reading Voepel’s blog, you get to hear about her experience and opinions of the industry from her point of view. She’s no longer talking in third person. Instead, she’s giving her own perception and recounting her experiences.

So I invite you… all of you out there who see this… to read her blog.

If you choose to do so, you will be acquainted with the following:

You can read about what it’s like to be given the opportunity to cover women’s sports:

“For The Star, I have covered events such as the Women’s Final Four, the Women’s World Cup, the U.S. Women’s Open and the Solheim Cup. The newspaper took a leadership role in its commitment to women’s sports. There were so many times over the last dozen years I felt immense gratitude that The Star didn’t just give lip service to diversity of coverage. The paper consistently made it happen _ when plenty of bigger papers didn’t. It made me very proud to work for a place like that.”

You can also read Voepel paying tribute to her heroine – suffragist Susan B. Anthony – on election day:

“I rode my bicycle to a church just a couple of minutes from my house and voted in a national, state and local election. I was wearing the first thing I grabbed out of my dresser – not an uncommon occurrence – which happened to be my 2002 Women’s Final Four T-shirt and blue shorts.

In other words, I just did something that I know that my hero and idol never did get to do. She spent her whole life working to give me that right. Susan B. Anthony, how can I ever begin to thank you?”

We get to read her opinion on the economic-stimulated loss of the Houston Comets.

“The WNBA’s Houston Comets are officially gone. I don’t hold the view that this means some kind of impending doom for the WNBA (there’s more on that in my ESPN.com blog). But I know that there are Comets fans feeling pain that I can relate to.”

You can read her opinion about how Tennessee’s comeback against Rutgers was anything but stunning:

“But … instead, let’s talk about why Tennessee won this game. And why it wins games like this year after year after year against teams – including very, very good teams _ from every conference. Sure, Tennessee always has plenty of talent and often dominates foes. However, Tennessee’s “escapes” from games in which it doesn’t play as well throughout have been so numerous and fearless that they make the work of Houdini appear like that of an adolescent who’s practiced with his store-bought magic kit for a couple of weeks before his “gig” at a pre-schooler’s birthday party.”

And there’s much, much more.

I’d like to welcome Mechelle to the world of women’s sports blogging. It’s great to see you here.

However, I have a challenge.

My challenge to Mechelle is to make the below changes to her blog. This will drive traffic, amplify her voice, and establish her presence as a leader in this industry. She has the credentials. She just needs people to hear what she has to say.

1) Encourage colleagues in her network to blog. I’m sure has an internal network who is knowledgeable about a wide range of women’s sports. We need more voices, more opinions, and more links. We need people like Mechelle to encourage them to start writing.

2) Link to existing women’s sports bloggers. Linking to us, reading us and engaging with us will create a community that will amplify her voice. Where’s her blogroll? Why am I (and other bloggers) not on it? Take a look at my blogroll – it’s a great place to start.

3) She needs to join Twitter and start using it. There aren’t enough people in Twitter discussing women’s sports. We need voices like hers to join, network, and share short, quick thoughts about games and results.

4) Get her own URL. Mechelle needs to purchase MechelleVoepel.com and redirect her blog to that address. This is an easy thing to do. It will help with branding and search optimization.

5) Promote her blog on ESPN. I’m sure ESPN would not mind getting some links every once and awhile. By promoting her personal blog on ESPN, she will drive some traffic, again, amplifying her voice.

6) Register on Technorati. It’s easy. This will help other bloggers get to know who (and where) she is.

7) Register on Blogher. Don’t you think it’s time that other women (besides those who area already acquainted with women’s sports) get to hear Mechelle’s commentary? I’d love to see her content syndicated on the women’s sports page.

Again, Mechelle – it’s great to see you here, and congratulations. Can’t wait to keep reading your posts.

Next Page »