Under Armour Signs Multi-Year Deal with NBA

Under Armour, the ever-growing sports apparel provider, has now partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to use officially licensed NBA apparel in the company’s various ad and promo campaigns. Prior to the new multi-year deal, Under Armour endorsers did have the right to wear UA shoes during basketball games as long as it didn’t have NBA trademarks and copyrights, such as team uniforms.

In a statement during an interview with Matt Mirchin, senior vice president of global sports marketing for UA, he says, “Partnering with the NBA allows us to showcase our innovative basketball footwear and roster of young, talented players through a platform that represents the pinnacle of the sport… We share a passion with the NBA to help young basketball players get better, and our joint court refurbishment program will create more access to functional basketball courts where the next generation can hone their skills.”

NBA Lockout Over?

With the owners and players coming to a tentative agreement over the weekend that allows for a shortened season, are the worries for cancelled season completely gone?

After the meeting over this past weekend, the players still need to reconstitute their union, throw out their anti-trust lawsuit against the NBA, and finalize the details of the new collective bargaining agreement with the majority of the players and the franchise owners accepting the terms of the deal. Training camps and free agent signings were scheduled to begin on December 9^th, but until all of the above items are met the lockout remains in place.

Mark Cuban: Business Plan Part 2

In my last post, I talked about Mark Cuban and his stimulus plan. In his latest update, he spoke of the overwhelming response, more than 1,400, to his stimulus plan idea. Of the 1,400 that responded, Cuban had disqualified the majority of them for not following the terms set in his 12 rules to follow. Out of the ones that did follow the rules, Cuban narrowed down the list further by choosing to give those with businesses established preference over start-ups. The reasoning for this was because established businesses have a better idea of where to spend the stimulus opposed to those just starting out

To this date, Cuban has only invested in three companies- Wickler, a program that tracks occupancy for entertainment sites; Naked Pizza, a pizza company with a natural, lower calorie product; and superfeedr.com, a company that specializes in real-time deliver of messages to mobile and desktop software. All three of these companies had a business plan that had three vital components to their business plan: a mission statement, industry analysis, and financials sections.

For those writing business plans, a good mission statement defines your business at the most basic level, tells your company’s ideals and background- in a short amount of time. The background should include: who your company is, what they stand for, and why they do it. The industry analysis is another important factor in a business plan. Identifying your main competitors and defining your target market are crucial to the success of your company. Once you’ve identified your target market finding ways to reach out to them becomes an easier task.

Lastly, the financials section of your business plan is crucial when it comes to selling investors on the profitability of your company. It is vital that one is able to show that their company is worth investing in.

Mark Cuban: Business Plan

Mark Cuban, best known for being the passionate owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has been involved in a variety of different businesses, from theater chains to Internet startups.  Before he decided to purchase the Mavericks, Cuban had started MicroSolutions, a computer consulting company, and had turned it into a profitable company before selling to CompuServe. Later on he and an ole college buddy founded Broadcast.com, which became a leader in streaming video and multimedia on the Internet. In July of 1999, Broadcast.com was sold to Yahoo for nearly six billion dollars. Today, along with owning the Dallas Mavericks, Cuban is the owner of HDNet, co-owns the Landmark Theater Chain, and is also an investor into start-up businesses. 

In 2009, Cuban came up with his own solution to help fix the hurting economy. His plan: “an open source funding environment.” Cuban has asked entrepreneurs to comment on his blog with fully developed business plans. If he likes the idea, then he will send the commenter an email to propose a deal. Cuban has taken up this mission because he wants to “come up with a course of action that he can undertake own his own and possibly make a difference.  The reason for the open sourcing is that even if the business plans are “stolen” and used by someone else, the idea is still helping to stimulate the economy.

Cuban has 12 rules that entrepreneurs must follow if they want funding. They are: 

1.  It can be an existing business or a start up.

2. It cannot be a business that generates any revenue from advertising. Why? Because I want this to be a business where you sell something and get paid for it. That's the only way to get and stay profitable in such a short period of time.
3. It MUST BE CASH FLOW BREAK EVEN within 60 days
4. It must be profitable within 90 days.
5. Funding will be on a monthly basis. If you dont make your numbers, the funding stops
6. You must demonstrate as part of your plan that you sell your product or service for more than what it costs you to produce, fully encumbered
7. Everyone must work. The organization is completely flat. There are no employees reporting to managers. There is the founder/owners and everyone else
8. You must post your business plan here, or you can post it on slideshare.com , scribd.com or google docs, all completely public for anyone to see and/or download
9. I make no promises that if your business is profitable, that I will invest more money. Once you get the initial funding you are on your own
10. I will make no promises that I will be available to offer help. If I want to , I will. If not, I wont.
11. If you do get money, it goes into a bank that I specify, and I have the ability to watch the funds flow and the opportunity to require that I cosign any outflows.

    12. In your business plan , make sure to specify how much equity I will receive or how I will get    a  return on my money.


 Resources:

http://www.biography.com/people/mark-cuban-562656

http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/2/mark-cubans-plan-to-fix-the-economy-with-his-money 

NBA Lockout Cancels First Two Weeks of Season, Players Tweet

On Monday October 10^th, the NBA announced that it would be cancelling the first two weeks of the 2011-2012 season, due to the lockout. In more than a decade it will be the first time that regular season games will be cancelled. For NBA players, team owners, and fans as the NBA lockout remains, the outlook for the rest of the season is bleak. In a report by the Detroit Free Press, Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon says, “the two weeks is just the tip of the iceberg” and that the lockout could last a “year or two.”

After meeting for five-and-a-half hours on Sunday night, Commissioner David Stern had set the Monday deadline for a new labor agreement to be reached to save the first two weeks of the season, which is exactly 100 games. Stern was cited as saying that the deadline needed to be reached by Monday for logistical purposes. After the meetings that took place on Monday, Stern said that the two sides were “very, very far apart” on a new CBA and that the longer the lockout lasts, the more team owners will try to recoup monetary losses from cancelled games.

Since the cancellation was announced, NBA players have been reaching out to fans via Twitter regarding the negotiations and lockout. After the announcement, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns went on a tweeting rampage with, “Why are the owners unwilling to negotiate in good faith? As a player I apologize to the fans that we’re in this position… The players are negotiating to take less money & let’s be clear that’s not going to lower ticket prices, it just lines the owners pockets.”  From Lebron to Carmello to Marcus Thornton Sacramento Kings, NBA players are letting their voices be heard.

Another superstar who has emerged as a leading voice for the players’ cause is Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade. In his tweet to fans, he stated that the real people hurting from the lockout are the fans, workers of the NBA arenas, and local businesses.

There may  not be an end to the lockout in sight, but as fans all we can do is voice our opinion and urge the team owners and players to settle their dispute quickly; and just sit and wait in the meantime.

 References:

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/10/10/labor-monday.ap/index.html##?ls=iref:nbahpt1

http://www.freep.com/article/20111012/SPORTS03/110120436/1051/sports03

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/feed/2010-10/nba-labor/story/players-tweet-in-reaction-to-cancellation-of-nba-games

NHL "black-outs" Player's Use of Social Media Game days

Going back to my first post on this blog, I talked about athletes need for training on the use of social media for professional and amateur athletes. The NHL has become the first professional league or organization that will "black-out" the use of social media by players on game day. While the engagement between professional athletes and fans using social media can be a great way to connect, it has become commonplace on news outlets such as ESPN that you here about the controversies that are cause by player posts and tweets.

The NHL has taken their “big-brother” role in a direction that you could see more leagues go in the future. A new NHL has instituted a social media policy that doesn’t completely muffle players, but does have a “total blackout on social media on game days.” The blackout begins at 11 a.m. before the first drop of the puck on game days. Also, the new policy outlines suggestions for “proper use” for players and team personnel.

MLS Teams Form Alliance to Bring in More Concerts

When it comes to professional sports in America, NFL, NBA, and MLB typically have no problem putting bodies in the seats of the stadium. For Major League Soccer, the popularity of the sport hasn’t reached the point where sell-out crowds are the norm, so some stadiums are looking to pack the seats from other attractions. The Columbus Crew Stadium, along with 6 other MLS stadiums has formed a group called the Soccer Stadium Alliance. The Alliance comprised of venues such as Pizza Hut Park near Dallas, Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park outside of Denver, PPL Park on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Jeld-Wen Field in Portland, BC Place in Vancouver and the Columbus Crew Stadium. The purpose of this alliance is to bring more attractions from the music industry to their respective venues.