Best of Digital Sports World – Ronaldo Edition 7

Apologies to Justin Bieber but for the next 31 days you won’t be the number 1 topic on the Internet.  That position will be held by the FIFA World Cup. (Bucket List: Mention Justin Bieber in a blog post. Completed)

Here is @Mashable’s guide to following the World Cup on Twitter.  The easiest way is to use #worldcup hashtag and follow soccer tweeps to chat about games as they happen.

Best digital representation of the World Cup schedule (pictured), click around & bookmark it!

Great work from the guys @Activ8Social with the Rajon Rondo’s #LooseBall Scavenger Hunt combining Foursquare, Twitter & Facebook the social media triple-play.

An interesting opposing view on the NBA Finals “Don’t watch the NBA Finals!”

Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks on winning the Stanley Cup.  Great exposure for sponsor Van Kampen Investments on the Blackhawks website, simple but very effective!

Great research from @TimBull from Tribalytic on the AFL’s hashtag strategy, I’ve been discussing this one with Tim for a while, great to see some data to back it up.  Shows the power leagues like the @AFL have in shaping the conversation on Twitter!

Welcome to Twitter – Brendan Fevola

Love seeing new athletes join Twitter, didn’t think I’d see this guy anytime soon….

Please Fev be careful with the Twitpics

Best On Ground

Great promotion by @NHL over the playoffs with Beard-a-thon, great connection with a sponsor King of Shaves as well as connecting with hockey fans to raise money!  WIN-WIN-WIN

YouTube Clip of the Week

Continuing the World Cup theme…

Edition 6 of #BODSW

NBA is stepping things up with the NBA Finals starting today.

• Getting creative setting up a Twitter account for the matchup @CELTICSvLAKERS
• Setting up a The Finals app on their Facebook page to play highlights from the NBA Finals Archive.
• Shout Go Lakers or Go Celtics in Foursquare to get a Lakers or Celtics badge.
• Providing a Twitter Mashup at NBA.com/Twitter

ESPN having a little fun with the upcoming NBA Free Agent market with the Free Agent Slot Machine.

Sports technology expanding it’s reach with the NFL’s replay technology being adopted by the military help monitor battlefields in Afghanistan. (Link no longer valid, thanks Yahoo)

Are you ready for the World Cup? Is your iPhone?  The New York Times review World Cup apps that will help you track all the news.

Want to be a sponsor of a successful team? Get on board early don’t expect to jump on the bandwagon just when the good times start.  Just ask the NHL’s Philly Flyers their playoff run has them with happy sponsors and a waiting list!

Super Swarms are the next big thing in Foursquare with a 332 people checking in at a Conan O’Brien show.  Look for Foursquare to keep things interesting by setting bigger targets.

In case you missed it, here are 5 mistakes you need to avoid on Twitter.

Congrats to  Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom winning the Name of the Year competition.

Worst On Ground

It was great to see Amare Stoudamire win Best on Ground in last week’s edition but this week he (or his team) made the mistake of the automated blog post.  Adding a note to his fans that was obviously written before Game 5 but it was posted after the Western Conference Finals had finished.  (Phoenix lost)

Perhaps Amare needs some Sports Geek help? Try Social Media Athlete Training.

Best On Ground

This week’s Best On Ground goes to Kathleen Hessert for this tweet, are you ready for this game changer?

YouTube Clip of the Week

Remembering Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers… RIP

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Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

One of the biggest challenges many teams face is differentiating themselves whilst adhering league brand guidelines.  It was a common theme with the teams I met with on #sportsgeektrip.

Many leagues across the globe follow a similar digital model.  League web sites are developed and team web sites are created under the league umbrella.

MLB.com, NBA.com,  NHL.com, AFL.com.au are some examples of these Leagues that follow this “Umbrella model”.
(*edit thanks for comment: Essendon stand alone as an exception running independently of the AFL very successfully with EssendonFC.com.au)

If you take a look at team websites e.g. LA Dodgers Vs New York Yankees or Collingwood Vs Hawthorn you’ll see some team customization but they are locked into a League framework.  The NBA follows a similar model but teams are using custom landing pages (or splash pages like the Mavs do) to offer fans special deals.

Other leagues like the NFL.com & PremierLeague.com have decoupled the League’s web deal from the teams.

What’s better?

The “Umbrella model” makes administration of League branding much easier and sometimes can lead to a better sponsorship deal as it is league-wide.  However, it can be restrictive both creatively and financially to the teams who want to push the Web 2.0 envelope.  From a technical prospective a league wide CMS (content management system) does reduce the need for in-house web staff for teams but many people who use these systems find them too restrictive.  Leagues that abandon the “Umbrella model” face the problem of a potentially creating a tech gap between the have and have-nots.  Some teams like those run by MSG (Knicks, Rangers, Liberty) help promote their teams outside the standard team’s sites through the stadium (TheGarden.com), then again with so many sports properties MSG is a unique business.

What are your thoughts?

• Does the ability for league’s to secure deals outweigh a team’s desire to innovate?
• Would teams do a better job if they could go it alone?
• Would small-market teams struggle maintaining own website?

Ask Sports Geek a question on FormSpring.
Contact Sports Geek if you want web advice to keep your fans coming back

Well with under a week to go on #sportsgeek I thought I’d give a quick recap of the trip so far…

I started with a Sports Geek Bucket List…

Here’s just some of what I’ve done so far:

• Attended a College Tailgate but also the game! BCS Championship Game at Rosebowl with 94,000 of my closest friends.  Go Longhorns!
• Got my picture taken with the BCS Coaches Trophy.
• Saw the NBA’s best player Kobe Bryant (3 times) unfortunately he hasn’t been at his best but does enough to win.  Including a cross town match against the LA Clippers with Baron Davis at his best & Aussie Andrew Bogut’s Bucks who unfortunately had no fight left in them.
• Watched Dirk Nowitski score his 20,000th NBA point against the Lakers from the a private suite at American Airlines Center.
• Saw Mark Cuban at Mavs game unable to meet him he is too excited about his Mavs in season.
• Toured the American Airlines Center with CEO Brad Mayne including the terrific facilities the Mavs in their locker room.  Terrific facility Brad, best HD scoreboards I’ve seen (excluding the ridiculous screen at Cowboys Stadium).
• Fell in love with the beauty & history of Dodger Stadium, will be back for a game.
• Jaw dropping amazement of the magnitude of the Cowboys Stadium with the Cowboys on the field practicing!
• Saw Big Ben Wallace from the Pistons turn back the clock against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.  Great history in that arena, even walking around met Walt “Clyde” Frazier & John Starks.
• Watch some great hockey thanks to the LA Kings at the Staples Center & Dallas Stars at American Airline Center.

That is just the venues, games & sports stars you may know but I’ve met a lot of cool people as well. All the time taking notes on the promotions, marketing and watching offline fans to see how to best connect them with online fans.

If you’re in New York come & say G’day as I’m hosting a #sportsgeektweetup on Wednesday night 7pm at ESPN Zone.

I’m in Dallas now but I recorded this yesterday morning just a recap of the LA leg of #sportsgeektrip. It’s been great checking out different sports and facilities but also how teams promote themselves and their sponsors at games.

To keep an eye on the #sportsgeektrip via Twitter by following @seancallanan
Contact Sports Geek for more info on the Sports Geek Study Trip.

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.

Twitter recently released new functionality to allow Twitter users to be grouped into “Lists” to provide easier access to follow groups of your followers.  If you want a full Twitter run down check out this TwipTip post.

At Sports Geek this new feature is a great way to help connect fans, a leader in this area is the NHL who have transformed the NHL Twitter account into a giant fan connection platform.  A simple tweet from the NHL got hockey fans into action.

@NHL Hey guys–we want to create lists of #NHL fans by team! Please Tweet @NHL your favorite team or teams w the hashtag #myfavoriteNHLteam

This allows more fans to connect with their favorite hockey team, which will only help create more buzz around the NHL.  It’s this kind of internet buzz that Mark Cuban believes (as do we) that can enhance the sports TV experience and ratings.

Unfortunately Twitter only allows 20 lists to be created so not all NHL teams are currently listed but it is a great start in building a strong passionate fan base.  The lists allow the fans to engage each other allowing more discussion and creating a strong social media voice for the franchises and league.

Lists also can help leagues and franchises solve the problems of fakes (previous post) by providing their own “Verified” lists like the AFLPA have done for AFL players.

We’ve been playing with lists with our SportsGeeksStars account which follows all Twitter account that interest Sports Geek – sports, leagues, athletes, brands, geeks.  Check them out.