IMG does not have a specific division for hockey, but it is experienced in marketing hockey players; it handled the marketing of Wayne Gretzky and Jaromir Jagr when they were in the NHL. IMG will look to expand on Ovechkin’s current endorsement portfolio which includes CCM, Energizer, Hair Cuttery, and Hockey Ink.

Ovechkin’s style of play on the ice and personality off the ice provide the foundation for incredible potential in product endorsements. On the ice, Ovechkin has scored some of the most impressive highlight-reel goals in the history of the game and still has energy to make the huge hits that hockey fans love to see. Off the ice, his personality is on display in interviews showcasing his contagious smile (interview starts at 2:00), love for the fun of the game, and pre-game antics which include racing a utility cart around the arena. The city of Washington D.C. fell in love with Ovechkin over the past couple years and it shows in ticket sales- the Capitals sold out all 12,000 season tickets this year.

What role did Ovechkin’s agent play in acquiring this marketing deal with IMG? Ovechkin’s representation is a roundtable that consists of his father, mother, financial adviser George Landa, and attorney Stephen Screnci. All decisions involving Ovechkin’s career are made collectively by that group. It would definitely be interesting to sit in on a negotiation involving all those parties, and they are obviously doing something right.

For a little insight on the negotiation of his $124 million contract which Alex and his mother conducted without an agent, watch this video at the 2:40 mark. You’ll notice the language barrier makes it hard for Alex to express in English exactly what he means, but IMG said it isn’t worried about that.

You’ve landed a talented athlete as a new client. A professional contract is fast-approaching. When the contract is signed, will the athlete’s online presence be ready?

In sports, the athlete’s name is the brand. So it should come as no surprise the bad guys on the internet, known as cyber-squatters, may try to take advantage of your athlete’s name and brand.

An example: In California, a single cyber-squatter was recently convicted of registering the domain names of nearly 800 basketball players. Domain names are Web browser addresses, like SteveNash.com and ChrisBosh.com. The affected players ranged from NBA pros to top high school and college players. Because of this one squatter, hundred’s of athletes were unable to take the first step into online branding. This was just one squatter — there are thousands of squatters on the NET trying to make money from athletes’ brands.

As an agent, you need to start managing your client’s online brand early —before fame and success attract the cyber-squatters. It’s critical for agents to help athletes create a comprehensive online branding strategy.

Here are 5 simple tips to help agents prepare and protect a player’s online brand:

1. Register a Dot-Com Domain Name

Domain names are Web addresses, so they are the focus of your online branding plan. Having a domain name with your player’s first and/or last name in it, like RogerFederer.COM, is the Grand Slam of Internet branding. The domain is also part of the player’s main email address.

But, web domains are a scarce resource, and are registered on a first-come-first-serve basis —  so even RogerFederer.COM doesn’t own Federer.COM

Once you start searching for an available domain name, you’ll be surprised how hard it is to find an available domain name. If your client has an uncommon name, you may be lucky and still be able to acquire CLIENTNAME.COM. Other good domains to register are nicknames. Shorter domain names are usually better, dashes and digits in a domain name are not as easily remembered by site visitors.

The Dot-Com domain is the most memorable and upscale—it’s far better than the other top-level domains (.NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, .US, etc.).

To register a domain, visit a Domain Registrar like Godaddy.com (http://GoDaddy.com). If the client’s name is available, you can register it for about $8 a year – you’ll need to renew every year or you lose the name. There are also many websites, such as Afternic.com and Sedo.com, that help you buy and acquire domains that are already registered — though auction prices can be exorbitant.

As long as you’re able to get the athlete’s main domain, it’s not worth going overboard speculating on a bunch of domains when an athlete is just starting out. However, keep in mind that the squatters will try to take advantage of typos in web addresses, so you may consider acquiring common misspellings of your client’s name (for Tennis, think Nadall.com, Nedal.com).

Later in this article I have some tips for what to do if you can’t get the name you want.

2. Create Social Networking Accounts

When fans want to find out about an athlete, they’ll go to the social networking sites; MySpace and Facebook are the biggest. With MySpace, you’ve always been able to get a page like http://Myspace.com/CLIENTNAME, so, you’ll want to grab that. Facebook now has that feature, too. And you’ll want to start and take ownership of a Facebook Fan Club for your client.

What content do you put on all these social media sites? It doesn’t matter—you can leave them blank to start with. The main point is that you control the real estate for your brand.

If you or your client does create some content on a social media page, keep the site very professional. Don’t let the athlete use these accounts for gossiping with friends, uploading photos or video of last Saturday night’s party, or other unprofessional uses. Future sponsors and advertisers will be watching, so you need to keep the client’s content squeaky clean and  presentable. Once something is on the Internet, it’s nearly impossible to take it down.

But remember: The main point is to acquire these online properties, even if you don’t use them at first. It’s far better to have nothing on a Web pages than to have cyber-squatters fill the page with advertisements.

3. Create a Twitter Account

Twitter, an online Short Message Service (SMS) site, is extremely popular and growing so quickly that it gets a checklist item all to itself. When fame first strikes, Twitter is where the trendsetters will talk about your client. Beware: Twitter squatters are already grabbing up all the famous Twitter account names.

Signing up for a Twitter account is free, so sign-up for an account name that matches the client’s real name. You may want to update the Twitter status occasionally with things like recent victories and upcoming games. But again, the key is to own the Twitter account for later use and to prevent someone else from controlling the Twitter account.

4. Setup Email and Instant Messaging

Fans, sponsors, advertisers and other vendors will want to communicate with an athlete. When your client owns a COM domain, you can automatically receive all email sent to any address at @CLIENTNAME.COM.

But, as part of a comprehensive branding plan, create free accounts at Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and HotMail: CLIENTNAME@gmail.com, CLIENTNAME@yahoo.com, and CLIENTNAME@msn.com. Setup the accounts so that they invisibly forward email to a single address.

Additionally, try to get brandable accounts for AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger.

5. Setup Voicemail

For a business phone number, you can set up a free GoogleVoice (http://voice.google.com) account, which comes with a free phone number in almost any area code. Configure GoogleVoice to automatically forward voice-mail to your email accounts as an audio/text attachment. Or you can forward all GoogleVoice calls to your cell phone (the forwarding will be invisible to the caller).

If your client needs to speak with the press by phone, he or she can easily make phone calls through the GoogleVoice account using their existing cell phone. Have the client use the GoogleVoice as a business phone number for all sports-related activities to prevent the athlete’s personal phone information from becoming mixed with the athlete’s career info. Keeping an athlete’s professional life and personal life separate will also help protect the athlete’s privacy.

Troubleshooting Your Brand

What do you do if you can’t get all of the above items? Well, if your athlete’s name is very common like Joe Smith, then he’s a little late to the Internet party. But you can still try for domains like “JoeSmithHockey.com”.

What if fame has already struck and the athlete’s brand is already cyber-squatted? There are laws to protect an athlete’s name and brand. Contact an intellectual property attorney who specializes in trademarks. If the athlete’s name is fairly unique, having a lawyer send a letter to the various social media sites can often get them transferred to the player. Gaining control of a squatted domain is a little more complicated, but an attorney can definitely help to acquire it. Solving cyber-squatting problems through the legal system will cost you a lot more time and effort than doing it right the first time.

Be Ready for Fame…

Most importantly, it’s critical to be a few steps ahead of the cyber-squatters. With the first whiff of fame, squatters will notice an up-and-coming player and grab up all the prime Internet real estate related to that player. You can reduce future legal costs by keeping up with online trends and by beating the squatters to the prime Internet real estate. Your client’s future sponsors will appreciate a clean online-brand that isn’t full of Internet spam.

Remember: Your job as an agent is to help plan for the athlete’s entire career. It’s never too early to get a player’s brand ready. By spending a little effort up front, you can make future success that much sweeter.

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the 2008 Princeton Sports Symposium as a general attendee.  I covered the event prior to attending and then wrote a short wrap-up.  Overall, I was extremely impressed with the event, and came home with many ideas concerning how to improve our own symposium hosted at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

This year, I have the honor of actually participating on one of the 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium panels.  It is actually one of the first panels of the day, titled, “Partnership Activation Rising Stars.”  The entire agenda may be viewed here.  As was the case last year, Leverage Agency is the title sponsor of the event.  I cannot wait to see many of the people that I was introduced to last year, and meet plenty of new faces.  The important facts are as follows:

What: 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium Sponsored by Leverage Agency

When: Friday, December 4, 2009 (starts at 9:00 a.m. with Continental Breakfast)

Where: Friend Center, Princeton University (pictured to the right, map)

As a side note, I asked my girlfriend to date me a day before I left for last year’s symposium.  We are still together to this day.  Unfortunately, I will miss our actual one-year anniversary, but I will make it up to her (as if any of you care about that).

What: Panel: The Impact of Social Networking on the Sports World, Presented by the New York State Bar Association’s Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section

When: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)

Where: Herrick, Feinstein, LLP, 2 Park Ave., New York, NY (14th floor amphitheater) / map

Moderator: Matthew D. Pace, Herrick, Feinstein LLP

Panelists:

• Lawrence Epstein, EVP and General Counsel, Ultimate Fighting Championship
• Jeffrey Gewirtz, SVP & General Counsel, NETS Basketball/Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment
• Steven Herz, Founder and President, If Management
• Elizabeth Matthews, EVP & Deputy General Counsel of MTV Networks

Discussion: How social networking is impacting the business of sports today from the perspective of copyright owners, distribution partners and athletes.

• How are Leagues, Teams and Athletes using social networking to promote themselves and their products?
• What are the risks associated with use of social networking platforms?
• Who controls the ownership of content — the League, the Team or the individual?
• Is this strictly promotional or is there a business model to monetize this?
• Does this impact the League news policies? Does this impact on the exclusivity of television agreements?
• Does this fall within a news exception or other fair use category? How would that affect copyright owners?
• How does the DMCA operate in this area, and how does it affect copyright owners? Is there law comparable to the DMCA in international markets?
• Can the fan in the stands capture photos or video and distribute them electronically to those outside the stadium?
• Does this, or real-time scores and blogs pose a threat to the content owners’ rights?
• Relevant cases – Mark Cuban’s position against bloggers, Olympics blogging policy, Viacom v. YouTube and Google, New York Rangers vs. NHL

Cost: Students can attend for free.  New York State Bar members pay $25.  Nonmembers have to front $35.  Click here for more information and to register.

It wasn’t until after a year of establishing his first business, 5M Studios, that creative director and CEO Joey Kirk decided to spin off a second company, 5M Sports.

“We wanted to make 5M Sports because it covers a very niche portion of design services,” Kirk says. “We want to tailor our services to athletes and sports organizations because, like our tagline says, we like sports.”

They don’t just like sports though; they love them. Working alongside marketing director Caleb Mezzy, a recent grad of Temple University, 5M Sports has worked with several high profile athletes in the development of Twitter backgrounds, web sites, logos, camp brochures and recruiting packets.

Here are a couple of examples:

• Website for Jesse Witten (tennis player)
• Twitter background for Duane Brown (LT for Houston Texans)

“We started with one client. And with some effort and a lot of emails, we’ve managed to grow significantly just since the launch of business back in August,” Kirk says.

Now, 5M Sports is working with several sport agencies and other organizations in building web sites for professional athletes as well as developing t-shirt designs, brand identity and other marketing materials.

“We have lots and lots of competition,” Kirk says. “Anyone that builds web sites want to develop them for athletes. They think they are cash cows.  But for us, that’s not the case. We love working with athletes. We’re not after their money.”

While there are a few design companies dedicated to working with athletes, 5M Sports stands out among its competition. With high-quality professional design and solid customer service, Kirk and 5M Sports work with almost any budget and are always on time with deliverables.

“We pride ourselves in making sure the client is always happy,” Kirk says. “We’ve never lost a client (nor has 5M Studios), and we don’t plan to start.”

So you want to work in sports?  You’ve put in the days, the months, and the years into getting yourself ready to be a productive member of the sports industry.  You have recently graduated college, maybe even with an industry specific degree in sports management.  In some cases, you even went out and got yourself a fancy post graduate degree and now you are ready to take on the challenge of working in the sports industry.  If this sounds like you and you are currently gainfully employed in the same sports industry you set out to conquer during these ever important early years of your professional career, then consider yourself a lucky member of the minority.  The majority, on the other hand, is the ever expanding group of young sports industry prospects who have a lot to offer, but no one willing to take a chance on them.  I am a part of this majority, and in this case, it is definitely better not to be running with the crowd.

I am 24 years of age, have a bachelor’s degree in sports management, and have held 3 different internship positions since graduating in 2007.  I have interned for a sports and entertainment public relations firm, an up-start NFL agent, and most recently a sports event hospitality company. I believe internships are a great way to learn more about the industry you want to be in, but like anything else, they have their pros and cons.  An obvious pro is that you can learn and gain experience in the industry you have wanted so much to be a part of.  This isn’t as fool proof as one may like; however, since you will find companies who only value their interns as a means to input data and nothing else.  On the other hand, you also may be lucky and work for a company who splits up the boring, tedious work that you are most definitely supposed to be doing at this stage of your career with actual company matters that require creative thoughts and ideas to stimulate your mind and give you the real experience you can use down the line. I have had the opportunity to intern in both types of settings and have a real appreciation for companies who value their internship programs.  But what if you are in the type of situation where your voice isn’t being heard…ever?  Well, that is where you have to make your own luck and figure out a way to do what is necessary to be noticed.

My personal motto for all work situations is to treat everyday like it is an interview. I learned this from the NFL agent I interned with for over a year and I try and do my best to keep that kind of enthusiasm and commitment day in and day out no matter how unglamorous the tedious work for the day might be.  The one thing that every internship has in common is that it is a foot in the door.  Getting that foot in the door is hard enough and you want to make the most out of it because things could suddenly open up, and if you have made yourself an indispensable part of the office and have shown great effort, then you could be in line for a promotion and subsequently a place in the sports industry. An internship also provides you with experience for your resume and can be a great way to make connections and grow your network.

Your network might be your most important asset in the sports industry. I recently spoke with someone who has the job I want at the company I would like to work for, in order to try and gain some perspective and advice.  What I learned from him is that connections trump all. He had worked in the industry for a few years, graduated high in his class and obtained his MBA, but was convinced all of that was peanuts compared to connections he had made, one of which was with his boss that led to him getting his job.  When this person said, “I’m convinced my boss doesn’t ever look at resumes” I rethought my game plan and refocused it on networking and selling myself as a person, because there are countless people out there, some of you included, with more impressive resumes than me and I need to separate myself from the gathering herd of applicants.  You should be doing the same thing.  Sell yourself, get creative and come up with your own game plan to follow.

Don’t get discouraged.  Get hungry.  If this is something you want and you are passionate about it and can afford to maybe work a night job for a few years so you can spend your days working for free towards your goal, then do it.  I personally need to be doing something I’m passionate about to be effective, and I love sports.  I’ve been told to maybe work a job in a different industry and figure it out later, but the time is always now to do what you love and the road isn’t always an easy one.  It is easy to get down on yourself if you, like me, have had a little trouble climbing the corporate ladder, but know that you’re not alone.  In the mean time, keep yourself sharp and try to make yourself stand out, but try not to take any jobs from me!

With the state of the economy today, organizations across the board are forced to come up with innovative promotions and marketing ideas to help generate revenue. The NBA is feeling the downturn like anyone else, and some teams are feeling it more than others. The New Jersey Nets are one team that is actively promoting their season ticket packages through unconventional means. Their two more innovative packages include both offering reversible jerseys with other team’s players opposite their own, and personal player appearances as a part of season ticket packages.

The Nets are embracing the fans who unfortunately may be coming out to see their opponents more so than Nets players with their “Match-Up Plan.”  The “Match-Up Plan” includes tickets to 10 games against popular teams, and more importantly, popular visiting players. Also included in the package is five reversible jerseys with a Nets player on one side and the jersey of LeBron James, Kobe Bryan, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Garnett on the opposite side.

The second interesting season ticket package is certainly geared for the fans with deeper pockets. The Nets will offer a discounted floor seat package for $25,000 that will include four courtside seats for 10 games (at $750 each per ticket it would be $30,000 value). More importantly, this package will offer the fan the opportunity to have a Nets player make a one hour appearance of their choosing. That’s right, Devin Harris at your wedding, child’s birthday party or just over for dinner.

According to Nets Chief Executive Brett Yormark, the players will not be compensated for the appearances. Under the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, players are required to make seven individual personal appearances, with at least two of those seven in connection with season ticket holder events. Clearly these appearances will be applied to the player’s required promotional appearances as opposed to the traditional meet and greet type of events. As a result, fans will be limited in their player options as we can expect Devin Harris’ obligations to be filled quickly, him being their most popular player.

These promotions are certainly innovative and are excellent examples of recognizing the demographic and using it to your advantage. As Brett Yormark explained, there were a number of courtside seats still available, and he often gets calls from season ticket holders about player appearances. With the allotted player appearances required by the CBA they were able to package them in such a way that will likely enable them to sell more premium priced floor seats. One can only be curious too see what the Nets next big promotion is.

Darren Rovell has a very interesting piece on his blog that describes the development of Jack Marucci’s bat company, which has its products used by some of Major League Baseball’s best hitters.  Marucci’s clientele includes Pujols, Howard, Ibanez, and Teixeira…hitters who come to mind when you think of “power swing”.  I agree that it is interesting that Marucci has not paid any players to use his bats or endorse his product.  There is no stronger endorsement than a person using a product out of pure choice, with no monetary consideration involved in the equation.  It is also very rare that a professional would do this, and actually pay for the product (or have his team pay for it), instead of getting free product at a minimum (and possibly being paid to use the product, if it is a prominent player).

Not everyone has a product that players may willingly purchase, however.  With that statement in mind, I thought that this was a particularly telling part of Rovell’s piece:

As for whether big hits by players using his bats help out sales?

“We see it,” Marucci said. “Someone watches Jason Werth hit a home run last night. They see our logo in the paper or during the replay -– HD has helped us a ton -– and they find us.”

So while Marucci does not pay for this beneficial publicity, the quoted passage says a lot about endorsements, in general.  Players and fans have no idea whether Jayson Werth is paid to use the Marucci bat when he steps up to the plate, but they are paying attention to the equipment that successful players are using.  This should be of use to companies deciding whether it is worth it to supply free equipment to players and their agencies of record, in exchange for the use of such equipment in the hope that someone will notice it and possibly make a related purchase, or at least spread word about the company.  For the higher-end players, free equipment may not be enough, and actual payments to the player may be justified by the increase of exposure, especially in an era where practically everyone has an HD TV.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor’s degree and be currently enrolled in graduate school and looking for exposure to sports at a collegiate level.  Candidates should also possess excellent computer skills (including Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook) and have good organizational skills, work well under multiple deadlines, be able to communicate well over the phone, and demonstrate a professional attitude. Candidates would need to currently live in the Indianapolis area or be willing to relocate during the 6-12 month internship period and expect to work 20-25 hours a week. Monthly stipend for the position is $1500. Candidates must also be open to relocation when placed into a full time position with some regard given to region.

Specific duties include, but are not limited to: providing administrative, sales and marketing support to BCA office staff, assisting in the planning of the 2010 BCA National Convention, coordinating certain sponsor functions, assisting in collection, design and preparation of sales kits and research projects, constructing the weekly BCA newsletter, and updating the BCA web site.

Visit www.bcasports.org and www.learfieldsports.com for more info on these organizations.

If interested in this opportunity, please email your resume to Kearsten Huddleston at khuddleston@learfield.com or Jason Buckner at jbuckner@learfield.com and let them know that you learned about the internship from your friends at SportsAgentBlog.com.

Portsmouth Football Club of the English Premier League has undergone some difficulties under owner Sulaiman Al Fahim. The club has finally reached an agreement with a new owner who will hold a 90% stake in the club. From Saudi Arabia, Ali al Faraj, has made his mark as a billionaire through the work with his company Falcondrone Limited. Under the new regime, the club expects to have at least $50 million dollars pumped into the club, catching them up with some expenses. Portsmouth allegedly had some financial skeletons come out of the closet last week. The club revealed that Portsmouth’s executives and players did not receive their salaries on time, creating some turmoil that is unacceptable in professional sports.