Any Ideas?

Is it possible to replicate football fan atmosphere from league or European matches to England national team games? Will Wembley ever enjoy the same consistent, vibrant, exciting environment around and at matches as Liverpool do at Anfield? Or United at Old Trafford? Or Newcastle at St. James' Park?

The thought occurred following BSM's most recent leg of the world tour, which saw the (brief) return to England, and matches at both Wembley and Anfield in the span of one week. Having seen England comfortably beat Belarus in front of a loud, eagerly participative crowd, followed by a disappointing Liverpool getting booed off the pitch following an added-time loss to Lyon, the question of fan atmosphere seems an important one to restoring Wembley's mystique and importance in the England football fan's heart.

Despite Liverpool's loss, and generally lackluster performance, the difference between the two venues is undeniable: while Wembley is a massive, open, imposing stadium which awes fans and players alike for its imposing size and dominance on the North London skyline, the atmosphere inside the stadium pales in comparison to the country's smaller, more intimate, more established league stadia. So what can be done to translate what many see as a defining characteristic of English football, the singing, cheering, deeply passionate fans, to the national stage?

Would converting the home end into the equivalent of a season ticket holders end for the most involved England fans, ala Liverpool's Kop stand, or United's Stretford End, make for a greater aura at England games? Is there some way to balance the lottery system used for England match tickets with building a more consistent, regular fanbase?

Could more be done to stimulate fan interest and excitement through the sign boarding and multi-media features within the stadium? Would a greater drive on behalf of the in-stadium entertainment crews make any difference in coaxing greater response?

Could sponsors do more to activate their partnerships with the FA and focus on making Wembley a more exciting, imposing venue? Could Nationwide take a page out of the old Winnipeg Jet's playbook and give away white England-branded t-shirts to every fan in the stadium to create a white-wash effect in the stadium?

What impact do the cheerleaders have on fan atmosphere at NFL matches? The NFL's annual appearance at Wembley rarely seems lacking for excitement and atmosphere, would England fans respond to such tactics?

The answers to most of these are almost certainly "no", or at the very least, "not without some serious negotiations/compromises/changes"... but the question remains the same, and we're certainly not the only ones asking it: what can The FA do to create a better fan experience at Wembley?

The Best Yet?

The London Olympics are less than three years away, and (in theory) Olympic sponsorship programmes should be well underway by now. How many of the brands associated with the Games, either as TOP sponsors or national level sponsors, can say they're doing as much as EDF Energy at this stage??

Olympic sponsorship is a four year entitlement to tie your brand, your company, your organization to the Olympic Games; unfortunately, more often than not, sponsors wait until the Games begin to properly leverage their investments, focusing largely on the massive broadcast audiences and event spectators. EDF's efforts thus far are merely the tip of the iceberg of what Olympic sponsorship could and should be, and have set the bar for other sponsors.

Here's hoping the rest of the IOC and LOCOG (and more closely to home, VANOC) answer the call and step up their game...

A New Direction in Athlete Endorsements??

Credit Darren Rovell over at CNNBC's SportsBiz for bringing this story to light this week.

MARKETERS have been playing a new, more cautious game when it comes to signing athletes as endorsers, winnowing their rosters of jocks peddling products to proven performers with national — or international — profiles like LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Serena Williams and Derek Jeter.

The rising costs of signing athletic talent to build brands — not to mention deals gone sour because of shortcomings in the professional or personal arena — have made advertisers wary of rookies, single-game sensations, one-season stars or even talents with local appeal.

So what is a player like Drew Brees, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, to do? He is no slacker, to be sure, but neither is his surname Manning.

Mr. Brees and his representative, Chris Stuart of Encore Sports and Entertainment, have signed with a company called Brand Affinity Technologies, which offers a Web site (brandaffinity.net) as a one-stop-shopping opportunity for advertisers seeking star power in more efficient, and affordable, forms.

Rovell makes a couple of key arguments about this new strategy - particularly questioning if short, small-pay endorsement deals are worth the risk to these athletes?? While they may open the door to more lucrative, meaningful commercial activities in the future, the risks certainly outweigh the potential for athletes earning above and beyond anything these endorsements can promise.

That said, there is nevertheless something behind this model. As the company argues, many valuable, marketable athletes are being overlooked both in regional and national markets, with the majority of athlete endorsement contracts going to the elite commercially-viable athletes. This is a chance for new partnerships to be formed, new athletes to come to light and test their brand value, and a new direction in sports marketing, away from the traditional reliance on only a select few. What remains to be seen, however, is how athletes and their representatives approach these opportunities: will they be seen as merely cash-grabs, a chance to earn some pocket change on their days off? Or rather, will athletes take a more strategic approach, and attempt to build their images and brands through the connections made by Brand Affinity Technologies?

Examining Athlete Brands... Part 4: The Who and Why

Sitting in Anfield last night, bemoaning Liverpool's lack of form, finishing, and fitness, the value of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to Liverpool's fortunes this season could not have been more apparent. Uninventive, unimaginative, and incohesive, Rafa Benitez's side looked confused, disjointed, and unlikely to break their current slump any time soon.

However, as well as the doom and gloom surrounding Liverpool's title chances and hopes of a sixth European cup, the club's reliance on Gerrard and Torres from a marketing perspective struck me equally - dominating Liverpool's marketing and merchandising, and badly overshadowing any of Liverpool's other stars.

As two of the game's biggest stars and brightest talents, their prevalence in Liverpool's marketing strategy comes as no surprise. Moreover, a quick glance through their TOPSTAR traits makes it all the more obvious why the two are highly marketable assets. What we've yet to stress, however, in looking at such athlete brands, is why and how players like Gerrard and Torres become such valuable commercial properties, while other players with similar perceived or potential value, are more often overlooked.

Arguably the greatest difference, and certainly one of the most crucial elements of TOPSTAR not already discussed here, is the effective and strategic management of an athlete's commercial image, and the nurturing and positioning of the athlete within the context of their most valuable TOPSTAR traits and characteristics.

For example, take Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt: a tireless worker and fantastic team player, Kuyt is also one of the club's highest scoring players of all time in European competition, despite of being played out of position. He's become a key leader on the pitch, and has shown over the years to be a caring family man and respected member of the community. Despite his at times unorthodox style of play, and generally un-Dutch skills, he's a much loved member of the Holland national side, and was once the top scorer in the Eredivisie. Few players in today's game represent what Liverpool as a football club stand for, despite his often frustrating first-touch, and occasionally wayward passing.

However, Kuyt's brand and commercial value trails Gerrard and Torres significantly, with little sign of catching up. Even if Kuyt were to score the winning goal in next summer's World Cup, handing Holland it's first major trophy in over 20 years and finally helping the Dutch realize their undoubted potential in world football, it is debatable if his commercial potential would approach that of his more marketable teammates. But why?

While there is no one simple answer, I would argue that underlying any successful or failed athlete brand is the management and positioning of that brand. While the elements of TOPSTAR we've examined here provide the basis for a football player's brand, and are the source of any actual or latent value, it is only through the leveraging and maximization of such characteristic, or combination of characteristics, when a brand achieves any value. Be it of the player's own initiative, that of his representatives, his club, or his sponsors, strategic brand management has been behind every successful athlete brand.

I suppose the next question is, then, who will be next?

Contentious? Controversial? Inspired?

Check out this article in the National Post yesterday, on a new book being released by former NHLer Bob Sirois on the systematic and institutionalized racism against French-Canadian hockey players in the National Hockey League. While I haven't yet had the chance to read the book, it certainly sounds like an interesting, if not controversial, read.

First, the important quotes:

... a book published Monday by former National Hockey League player Bob Sirois, examining four decades of professional drafts, comes to the explosive conclusion that francophone Quebecers are systematically thwarted by an "anti-francophone virus" plaguing the NHL.

Francophone Quebecers are wrongly disparaged as too small, too lax on defence and not suited to the robust "Canadian" style of play, Mr. Sirois writes in the book, published in French and titled Le Québec mis en échec (Quebec Bodychecked). "Myths, prejudices, stereotypes and favoritism make up an integral part of every draft session in the National Hockey League."

He concludes that francophones who are not first-line forwards, starting goalies or top defencemen are rarely drafted, and if they are picked, they do not last long. Looking at francophone Quebecers who played three or more seasons in the NHL, he found they were extraordinarily successful. Of the 176 players in this category, 42% won an NHL trophy or were named to the all-star team during their careers. "Only francophones of the highest level were able to have lasting careers; the other Québécois hockey players were quickly eliminated from the NHL," he writes.

The overall remedy he prescribes is twofold. He believes a return of professional hockey to Quebec City, as the city's mayor Régis Labeaume has been promoting, would increase the pressure on the Canadiens to be more representative of their province. He also proposes that Quebec field its own team at the World Junior Hockey Championship, saying the Canadian team regularly overlooks Quebec talent. A Quebec team would allow "our young elite hockey players to measure themselves against their peers from the other nations of the world," he concludes.

From a researcher's perspective, and even more from an academic perspective, Sirois' findings both intrigue and concern. While the research he's done provides evidence of what many have previously postulated - that Québecois hockey players are being overlooked, both at junior and senior level - the suggestion of causality is flawed. Without reading the book in full it is impossible to say, however based on the findings cited in the National Post, and the quotes attributed to the author and its reviewers, the implication behind the story appears to be that racism is the root cause of the declining numbers and involvement of French-Canadian hockey players in the NHL.

However, the study's results merely indicate that numbers are declining, and that top-level Québecois hockey players are being overlooked in the NHL draft, not WHY. Any number of reasons could be proposed, and indeed should be investigated, before accusing an entire league of institutionalized racism. The import of European and international players has directly coincided with the decline of Québec-born players, as has a shift in minor hockey in the province, towards a more recreational, less-competitive structure - a move in the exact opposite direct of Canada's other major hockey producing provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia. Moreover, legitimate concerns exist within hockey over the type of hockey being taught and developed in Québec's major junior system, where free-flowing, fast-paced, offensive hockey is the norm, and defensive systems and trap-based hockey is limited.

Moreover, as the game has changed over the past 20-30 years, so too have the roles played by certain provinces and countries in supplying talent to the highest levels of hockey. Following Patrick Roy's emergence and dominance between the mid-1980s and the 1990s, the butterfly style of goaltending he popularized, led to a widespread move towards Québecois goaltenders throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. In other areas of Canada, where the stand-up style was more popular, the adaptation to the butterfly and the new dominant regime was slower. Today, however, the dominant goaltending style in the NHL is a hybrid of butterfly and stand-up, more reminiscent of Martin Brodeur's technique than Patrick Roy's, and is representative of the evolution of goaltending in other areas from stand-up to butterfly; from covering angles and stressing lateral movement, to being compact and square to the puck, covering the lower portion of the net. Without having the exact numbers in front of me, a quick look through current NHL rosters would indicate a relaxed reliance on Québecois goaltenders, as compared to 10 years ago. Sirois would be hard pressed to argue that racism has caused this shift.

Ultimately, Sirois' book presents both an interesting and likely contentious read. Of concern to Québeckers, the NHL, and the governing bodies involved, is that Québecois hockey players are incontrovertibly declining in the NHL. While racism has been, and will continue to be, cited as a key reason for this move away from French-Canadian players, it seems obvious that more research is needed into the actual and exact reasons behind this shift, dating back to the start of the NHL draft and the Montréal Canadiens' choice to take part in the draft with all other clubs, and not have first choice on the top Québec player each year...

The World Tour Continues...

The long periods of inactivity on the blog of late have been a bit disappointing, and it seems a lame excuse to blame it on absenteeism, but we will anyways. BSM's travels over the past two months show no signs of letting up, with the world tour set to tackle up to (potentially) four more countries in the run up to the holiday season, though there's still hope for a bit of normalcy before then.

In the meantime, a quick hit from the Toronto Star this morning, with all due credit to Damien Cox. While I've said more than enough over the summer on the Phoenix Coyotes' situation, and the NHL's mishandling of their franchises, and franchise values, Cox makes an interesting point in light of Phoenix's much celebrated sold-out home opener:

At an average price of about $20 (U.S.) a head and a free white T-shirt for everyone, you can fill a rink in Phoenix for an NHL game. That's about half the revenue the Alouettes get for a home game at tiny McGill Stadium. So if the Coyotes can find a league with the CFL's $4.2 million per team salary cap, they'll be in great shape.

That, in and of itself, should sum up the issues being faced by struggling NHL franchises. Here's hoping the powers that be wise up before long, for the sake of the league, the fans, and the game...

More quick hits on the NHL season so far from Cox here