Sports Biz

Getty Images Victor Cruz dances at City Hall following a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan celebrating the team's Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots.

Today on CNBC fresh off his Super Bowl win, Victor Cruz was asked about the most-talked about action "off the field."  » Read More

Photo by: Seth Paladin Seth Paladin couldn't believe the time Antonio Brown spent with him

January 31 9:29 am: Tweet from @AntonioBrown84: Indianapolis #steelernation talk to me

January 31 9:39 am: Tweet from @sdpaladin: @AntonioBrown84 I live in Indy! Let's get lunch! How's 12:30?

It started just like that.

Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown had arrived in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl with some time on his hands. So he told his fans where he was. Seth Paladin, a die-hard Steelers fan, had planned his normal Tuesday. He was about to start his day as a sales representative for home security company ADT. But the fan in him decided to be bold, as he quickly scanned his Twitter timeline before going out. Not expecting much, he tweeted at the Steelers Pro Bowler, with 85,000 followers. He wanted to see him in person.  » Read More

On and off the field, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has all the markings of a perfect endorser. He's a winner, he's got the crossover good looks and plenty of confidence.

Eli Manning? Winner, sure.

But beyond that the younger Manning doesn't exactly compete with Brady for national attention in the advertising world.

Yet data from one national pollster reflects that Manning, who has deals with Reebok, Toyota

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[TM  Loading...      ()   ], Oreo & Citizen Watch, should be getting more attention.

Getty Images New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

 » Read More

At an average of $3.5 million for a 30-second ad, the Super Bowl is an expensive proposition for any advertiser. It's also an incredible value, at least when compared to what they pay for a standard spot that gets no buzz and is likely seen as more of an annoyance than content.

Source: Youtube.com 'Ferris Bueller' Super Bowl Ad with Matthew Broderick.

Over the past couple of years, Super Bowl advertisers have started to play with the idea of releasing their ads ahead of the game.

Others have issued teasers, so as to hint what their plan is but not give away the surprise.

Whether it's a teaser or releasing the full commercial, I think it's a bad mistake.

Let's get this straight: I clearly sympathize with the marketers dilemma. Why shouldn't I try to own the audience for a few more days? Why shouldn't I do that before the game as the media runs out of stories to tell?

The answer? In order to achieve buzz, time is not a factor. When a company pre-releases an ad or even a teaser, the chance of garnering that white hot momentum that every advertiser craves is significantly lessened.

 » Read More

AP

I’ve received plenty of e-mail and tweets over the last couple days asking me about the Super Bowl ticket market that’s currently seeing tickets listed and sold in the $4,000 range.

So let’s address some of the myths and facts.

Myth: It’s All About The Teams

This is not true. Team and tradition play a big part but it’s not the only factor. Over the last five years, the highest average Super Bowl ticket was for Super Bowl XLI (Colts-Bears). The average price was $3,495 thanks in part to the Bears contingent. But the Packers-Steelers ticket last year was $500 less. Sure, the Steelers had been just two years before, but the Packers fanbase isn’t too shabby.

Fact: Corporate America Matters

Fans often forget that corporate America can significantly affect Super Bowl ticket prices. If teams come from wealthy areas (Read: New York & Boston), executives with corporate expense accounts could drive up prices for Joe Fan. It’s not just about businesspeople who are fans. It’s that they can do business at the game as well with clients who are fans.

Myth: The City Doesn’t Matter  » Read More

When I’ve gotten a trainer in my life, I’ve done it for two reasons. The first reason is obvious. They get me to work out harder. The second reason always sounds a little strange to people: I’m paying someone a lot of money, so I have to show up.

Yifang Zhang studied Behavioral Economics and found out that my second thought is actually quite rational and common. So instead of having people pay a trainer at all, Zhang decided to have people fine themselves if they didn’t show up at the gym. The result? An app called Gym-Pact.

Source: gym-pact.com Get your App to the gym! Gym-Pact is an  App that fines you for missing the gym and rewards you for showing up.

Here’s how it works. You determine your weekly gym schedule and an amount of money you’re willing to pay if you don’t meet your commitment. A locator device makes sure you check in, so you’re not cheating. And if you don’t show up, and stay there for 30 minutes, your credit card that you provided gets debited.  » Read More

1. Weekly Activity Email

An automated email that captures weekly activity, such as tweets, retweets, @ mentions, new followers, new follows and more. It would allow for users to get a weekly snapshot of their interaction with the social media site.

2. Free Bird

Twitter must make inactive handles available for those people interested in using them.

Acknowledging that Twitter is only as valuable as its users, the social media company should set a date when all accounts that have not been logged into in the last 12 months (not since the last Tweet since some people consume content and do not create content) are made available to the general public.

A handle that fits set criteria can be claimed by visiting the profile and clicking "claim username," which will kick an email to the current owner to give them 72 hours to login and verify that the user still exists. If they fail to respond within 72 hours, the person that claimed the user name is awarded it.  » Read More

As many of you know, I’ve been a strong advocate of letting student-athletes tweet and post to Facebook.

Forget about the freedom part , it’s simply a part of living life these days. So I’ve blasted coaches who tell their players that they are no longer allowed to tweet or use Facebook.

I understand why the coach does this: There are more problems that could occur. So instead of teaching kids how to use social media and learning to trust their athletes, they just say no. But it is taking away an educational experience and an important mode of communication for the athletes now and for the future.  » Read More

In the past couple years, the folks at adidas have done an incredible job bringing the Reebok brand back from the dead following a lack of producing anything special after the $3.8 billion acquisition was approved in January 2006.

Its ZigTech and RealFlex lines have been successful and it got as much as it could out of the toning space before the FTC fined the company for $25 million for unsubstantiated claims related to its EasyTone shoes.

Source: Reebok.com Reebok has aligned itself with an already established workout brand, CrossFit, and hopes to ride the tremendous momentum of the strength and conditioning workout.

The next step for Reebok is clearly aligning its brand with groundbreaking workout programs. In 2009, the brand launched a workout program called JUKARI with Cirque du Soleil. It failed to garner mass following. For a second attempt, Reebok has aligned itself with an already established workout brand, CrossFit, and hopes to ride the tremendous momentum of the strength and conditioning workout.

“This is the single biggest initiative we’ve focused on,” said Matt O’Toole, Reebok’s chief marketing officer. “This is consistent with our brand point of view. Just like we were part of women’s fitness decades ago, fitness is where we want to be.”  » Read More

Tom Brady and Tim Tebow are plenty marketable. But the two quarterbacks have two prominent deals that aren't exactly in slam-dunk endorsement categories: men's shoes and underwear.

Getty Images Tom Brady

For Brady, his biggest deal right now is with Australian boot brand UGG. The company has been doing men's boots for decades, but Brady's endorsement last year started drawing attention to that fact. While UGG parent company, Deckers

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[DECK  Loading...      ()   ], said its 2011 revenue would rise 33 percent over 2010 levels and UGG's third quarter sales rose 47 percent, Sterne Agee analyst Sam Poser downgraded the stock last month speculating that Fall sales have been disappointing.

But it's not clear how much that has to do with sales of men's shoes. There are plenty of mixed messages.

 » Read More

Source: Amazon.com Tim Tebow's, “Through My Eyes,”was the best-selling sports book of the year. Nielsen Bookscan says that 185,000 books were sold in 2011.

Nathan Whitaker stood in the back at a book signing in Gainesville and watched his co-author, and subject, Tim Tebow sign books for fans.

“I’ve sat next to Tony Dungy and one in every 20 come through in tears,” said Whitaker, a former capologist for Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers who went on to write three best-selling books with Dungy. “With Tim, it was like every other person. People would literally come up to touch him while he was signing their book and some kids would be unable to move.”

Over the past year, Tim Tebow has grabbed the attention of the sports world. So much so, that his book “Through My Eyes,” written with Whitaker, was the best-selling sports book of the year.

Nielsen Bookscan says that 185,000 books were sold, besting "ESPN: The Uncensored History, which sold 115,000 books in hardcover in 2011. But Lisa Sharkey, Harper Collins’ senior vice president and creative director, who acquired the book says sales are much higher than that number reflects.  » Read More

Getty Images

There's a lot at stake in Monday night's BCS National Championship game.

Especially for Les Miles.

The LSU coach will get a $5,880,000 bump in salary should his Tigers prevail over Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide.

It's a tremendous bonus that is more lucrative because of Saban himself and it's the second time Miles would benefit from Saban's high salary. When LSU won the BCS National Championship after the 2007 season, its head coach Les Miles received one of the biggest bonuses in coaching history: $11,586,000.

Why did he make so much?  » Read More