Cameron Newton took the college football world by storm as he lead the Auburn Tigers to the 2010 BCS National Championship. In April he was taken as the first pick in this year's NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers. The above video is my analysis of Cameron Newton's social media presence. The topics of discussion are those of Cam's current social media use, recommendations for improvement, integration with traditional media and examples of good social media presence. 

Attracting Fans to Sports Venues

Even during tough economic times, Americans seem to find their comfort in sports. Leagues such as the NFL, MLB, and even big-time college football have seemed to come out relatively unscathed by economic turmoil compared to the less popular sports, such as professional soccer, and minor league organizations. In the article “Sports Still Draw Fans Despite Recession” by Charles Davidson, he writes on professional sports organizations that have found ways to weather the economic storm. NFL teams have found ways to accommodate their customers by offering various season ticket packages and multiple payment options, while other teams have resorted to black out days for home games. Some MLB teams in the Southeast have relied on public funding during these times.  Regardless of the sport, organizations are looking for creative new ways to fill seats in the stadium.

Fantasy Football Explosion

Fantasy football is a game that allows its players to score points off of a football player’s statistics. The game allows you to assemble players from any team in the NFL thru a draft and pits you against others in your league during the regular season. Over the past decade Fantasy Football has boomed as an industry from a simple game among friends to an 800 million dollar industry. No longer is the game just for “stat geeks”, it’s become a phenomena that has increased so rapidly in popularity that it has spread through all sports. And the fans of these sports are absolutely eating it up. Today fantasy leagues are not just for professional football, but also college football, baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, NASCAR and essentially any sport that has stats.

Negotiations in Athlete Management

It seems like everyday when you turn on the TV and watch ESPN, you see some sort of contract dispute or negotiation taking place. Normally, the contract negotiations take place between athlete and athletic organization. In contract negotiations, a manager or management team with an attorney on staff will negotiate on behalf of the athlete. Recently, I interviewed Evan Hurst, a sports attorney from Elevan, LLC, who specializes in making sure his athletes receive a gain from negotiations.

Two BCS Conferences Reel in Huge, New TV Deals

In the world of college football, it seems like this offseason has brought in huge tv contracts for two of the conferences in the BCS. The Big 12 conference and the PAC 10 have signed huge, new TV. In April, the Big 12 conference signed a new deal with Fox Network to the tune of $90 million annually over 13 years. The deal is more than four times more than the 20 million annually that the Big 12 brings in now. A minimum of forty games, including all Big 12 home games will now be televised according to commissioner Dan Beebe. The conference’s 13-year deal, which is worth $1.17 billion, will take effect at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. This TV contract ensures that the conference will have enough money to go around and will help to stabilize it for the long-term and that is crucial with the idea of having four super conference tossed about. With the landscape of college football conferences shifting, the Big 12 has already taken a hit with two defections. Long time members Nebraska, which joined the Big Ten Conference, and Colorado, which joined the PAC 10, have reduced the Big 12 down to ten. Also, rumors of Texas A&M and Missouri leaving the conference had the Big 12 questioning it’s future, until the new TV deal came to the rescue.  

Under Armour: Improving upon First Year Billion Dollar Revenue from 2010

Under Armour, the cutting-edge sports apparel and accessories company, posted their first billion-dollar revenue year in 2010 and look to improve even further in 2011. The company reported results from the first quarter of 2011 a net revenue increase of 36% from the same quarter in 2010. The net revenues were $312.7 million in 2011 compared to $229.4 million in 2010.  Net income increased from $7.2 million in the first quarter of 2010 to $12.1 million for the first quarter of 2011. Under Armour had forecasted 2011 net revenues in the area of $1.33 billion to $1.35 billion, which represented a growth of 25 to 27% from 2010. Based on the results from the first quarter of 2011, Under Armour now anticipates 2011 net revenues somewhere around the $1.37 billion to $1.39 billion ranges, which would be a 29 to 31% growth over 2010.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a non-profit organization. They focus on being a positive influence in the lives of children by establishing one-on-one relationships between a child and caring, responsible adult. The impact Big Brothers Big Sisters has been detrimental in the success of these children. Compared to children not in the BBBS program, little brothers and little sisters are (BBBS, 6):