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Sports Geek is heading to the USA in January to study great sports & great technology.

Madison Square Garden,
photo credit the_junes.

Why leave the world’s best sporting city, Melbourne, to study sports, you might ask?

The US sports market in the biggest in the world and they lead the way in the use of technology to connect with fans.  The NBA has shown themselves to be a market leader in the use of social media in sports.  The NFL is a world leader in producing a premium sports television product.  The NHL is embracing Twitter to connect hockey fans and help build buzz around the NHL.

I’ve been lucky enough to study US sports when I was in the touring party with the Western Bulldogs after developing Bulldogs TV.  That trip saw us visit in 2 just two weeks the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (CFL), NFL franchises Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks and NCAA football operations at Mountain West Conference schools Airforce Academy & Colorado State University.  It was an awesome trip, it was great to see how much the Australian sports market can learn from US sports.  However it was terrific to see how the Australian sporting culture presents solutions that are applicable to US sports.

Sports Geek US Study Trip Goals

• Find great tech products that work in sports market
• Connect with passionate sports professionals and fans
• Discover what sports promotions are hitting the mark
• Investigate how franchises are adapting the changing media landscape
• What can the Australian sports market learn from the US sports market (and vice versa)

Along the way I’ll be keeping the trip fun by setting some challenges to achieve during the trip.

Here’s the Sports Geek Bucket List, please feel free to suggest more via the comments or @ reply on Twitter (@seancallanan).  If you can help me with these tasks please get in touch.

• Twitpic with a championship trophy
• Meet a commissioner – NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL
• Get a twitter shoutout from @The_Real_Shaq
• Tour of a new or unfinished stadium
• Organize a #sportsgeektweetup
• Have a beer with Bill Simmons AKA “The Sports Guy”
• Tweet from a College Tailgate party
• Appear in a YouTube clip with a champion (NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL)
• Be interviewed on a US sports radio station
• Shake hands with Chevy Chase (see my twitter avatar for why)

Mavs Bench with Mark Cuban,
photo credit dherrera_96.

Where am I going? I’m going study sports in 2 of the biggest sports markets in the world Los Angeles and New York.  Keep an eye on this blog as you’ll know where I’ll be and who I see.

Operation Cuban

In between I am going to stop over in Dallas.  I am a huge fan of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban as he is also an unabashed “Sports Geek”.  If you don’t know Mark Cuban you should his Wikipedia gives an overview but his blog (Blog Maverick) tells you much more about him.  My goal is to shoot some pre-game hoops with Mark and talk sports & tech.  Stay tuned to see how I go.

Keep an eye out for the #sportsgeektrip hashtag on Twitter for updates.

[UPDATE - Sports Geek Travel Schedule]

Jan 5 2010 12:00pm – Leave Melbourne, Australia

Jan 5 2010 10:00am (Groundhog day) – Arrive in Los Angeles, California

Jan 12 2010 12:30pm – Leave Los Angeles

Jan 12 2010 5:40pm – Arrive Dallas, Texas

Jan 17 2010 1:00pm – Leave Dallas

Jan 17 2010 7:30pm – Arrive New York City, New York

Jan 25 2010 6:00pm – Leave New York

Jan 27 2010 11:30am – Arrive Melbourne

If you work in sports please join the Sports Geek LinkedIn Group

Contact Sports Geek to be profiled on Sports Geek Study Trip.