Promo - February 2009 - (Page 24)

Sports MARKETING The Silver Spurs and the Detroit Shock played one of the best finals series in the WNBA’s short history last season. Continued from page 23 Southeastern regional origins. Boasting a $10 minimum ticket price for its events, PBR drew 40,000 fans to three weekend dates in a Ford series event in New York’s Madison Square Garden last month. The National Lacrosse League, another action sport with grassroots support originally planted in the Northeast, also shares a young, bluecollar demographic with NASCAR and pro wrestling. The NLL has fueled average attendance of 10,000 for its 16-game season with tickets at less than $10 (and premium seats behind the glass at field level of indoor arenas for $30). “We’ve already positioned ourselves as a lower-cost form of entertainment,” says NLL Commissioner George Daniel. The NLL recently added its 12th team, the Boston Blazers, and streams its games online through 13 channels on NLL.com, which fans can embed on their MySpace or Facebook pages. When Reebok broke into the hockey equipment market three years ago, it saw lacrosse as a logical next step because of the similarity in requisite hardware—and the smash-mouth action, according to Chad Whitman, head of Reebok Lacrosse. “We’ve always been an edgy brand, trying to push the limits,” Whitman says. “Lacrosse was one of those edgy sports that enabled us to reach down to the youth level.” The “instant credibility” Reebok has gained as a primary NLL sponsor among lacrosse players could make it the sport’s leading equipment purveyor, according to Whitman. Pro beach volleyball, organized as the Association of Volleyball Players (AVP), also claims a young core demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds. Relaunched in 2002, it opened with Crocs as title sponsor for its 18-event beach tour, with McDonald’s sponsoring live music at some events for a $20 entry fee. “We like to communicate that we offer the ultimate beach experience,” says AVP CEO and Commissioner Leonard Armato. Pro beach volleyball gained a high profile with the prime-time success of stars like Misty May-Treanor and Terri Walsh in the recent Beijing Summer Olympics. The nascent Women’s Professional Soccer league (WPS) could also benefit from beach volleyball’s Olympics profile, despite the legacy of the star-crossed Women’s United Soccer Association, which failed in 2003 from lack of attendance and TV viewership. “We found last year that 2009 budgets were not being committed as early as in the past, but there’s still interest in our league,” says Tonya Antonucci, WPS commissioner. Puma has provided a $10 million multiyear sponsorship, and the recent signing of 22-year-old Brazilian star Marta by the Los Angeles Sol is another bright spot. The seven WPS franchises will be individually owned. And Antonucci says lower sponsorship costs and $99 season ticket prices should give the league a good kick-start. It will doubtless come down to young players and their soccer moms showing up for enough games to make sponsorships seem like an easy score. l P 24 February 2009 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.NLL.com http://www.promomagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - February 2009

Promo - February 2009 Contents Editor's Note A Bitter Pill Moving the Pictures Exclusively Yours Smart Mart Web Watching Tell Your Friends Commentary Second String Q&A: Shop Right Cover Story: Game On! Game On! Resource Center The Agency Center Testing... Testing... Index of Advertisers

Promo - February 2009

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