Sports Business

• A job very well done by Red Bull [Red Bull's Project X = Sports Marketing Idea of the Year].
• Maybe not the world just yet, but starting off at the high school level is a good strategy [Can Under Armour, IMG Take the World By Storm?].
• St-Pierre t0 serve as the face of Under Armour’s Underwear [Under Armour signs UFC champ Georges St-Pierre to multi-year endorsement deal].
• I actually just yesterday had this discussion with somebody [End of the Day, Live Events Make Sports, Brands, King…].

Baseball

• A little baseball trademark law conversation [Wide world of ‘Series’].

Football

• No sense of urgency on the part of the owners [League rejects "lock-in" bargaining proposal].
• A two-paragraph statement that included no explanation – bothers me [Bryant loses final appeal].

Basketball

• BJ Armstrong answers a few questions while promoting the launch of Windows 7 [An Interview with BJ Armstrong].

Sports Business

• “Take the opportunity to meet as many people as you can.” [Sports leaders explain the key to success]
• A sign that lacrosse is growing in the U.S.? [MLL, NLL lacrosse star John Glynn signs with agent Matthew Norfolk]

Baseball

• Even if they don’t make it in baseball, they may make some good money off of the rights fees [Story Of Indian Pitchers Bought By Sony].
• All because of a misunderstanding [Sports Law Blog's Joe Rosen Signs Red Sox Reliever Hideki Okajima as Client].
• That Vernon Wells contract… [Bad Contract Swap Meet].
• A great read for players, parents, scouts, and advisors [Showcases Have Turned Baseball Into A Year-Round Sport].

Football

• Keep your mouth shut and your tweeting at bay [The Cost of Larry Johnson’s Gay Slur on Twitter: $213,000].
• The UFL vs. CFL portion is a good read [Sports Agent Corner: UFL vs CFL, “Runners”, and the Stay-or-Go Debate].

Also, one last note.  Buffalo Wild Wings is hosting a cool contest.  Register to win a roster spot to play in an exclusive football game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, this spring.  You can register at any Buffalo Wild Wings location through November 8 (no purchase is required). The winners will be selected November 18 and will receive round-trip airfare and hotel accommodation for the February 13 game, among other prizes. The winners will be split into two teams and given celebrity coaches (ESPN’s Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg) and captains (Jerome “The Bus” Bettis and Marshall Faulk).

They also want me to share a coupon with you, which is good until November 1 (yeah, not much time to use it).  You can print this page (there is a button to do that on the top of this post), to use the coupon.

Bosh, who is known to be an avid user of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and has operated his own YouTube channel since 2007, was looking to expand his web presence with his own site. He then learned that someone had beaten him to the punch and had already registered his name, chrisbosh.com. He settled for chris-bosh.com, but chose to pursue legal action to retrieve his domain.

Bosh’s legal counsel, Winston & Strawn LLP, was able to track down the owner of chrisbosh.com, Luis Zavala. Zavala’s company, Hoopology.com was displaying ads using Bosh’s name to generate revenue without Bosh’s knowledge or consent. Zavala also had registered over 800 domain names of NBA players as well as international, college and high school athletes, with the intention of selling them back to the athletes at a premium, a practice known as “cybersquatting.” It was determined that Zavala was in violation of the Federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, and as a result of Zavala failing to show in court, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper awarded Bosh the rights to chrisbosh.com as well as $120,000 in damages. As a means to recover some of the damages, Bosh was also awarded all of the domain names registered to Zavala.

Bosh is offering to return all the domain names to their rightful owners, free of charge, through his web media firm: Max Deal Technologies. Max Deal is a web design, marketing and consulting company that “offers web design and technology consulting to clients who demand to stay current with the fast paced world of online communication.”

Ever the entrepreneur, Bosh stated, “I am thrilled that I am able to offer the return of these domain names to a host of other athletes and celebrities whose names were cybersquatted. I will offer the return of the domain names free of charge, but I’d also love the opportunity to show their owners how Max Deal can help.”

Not only does Chris Bosh retrieve your domain name from individuals looking to illegally profit from it, but he returns it to you free of charge and then offers you advice on what to do with your newly rescued domain. However, we have to assume that Max Deal’s advice will not be free of charge.

You can view a list of all 800+ domain names turned over to Chris Bosh here.

The entire Q&A segment may be read by clicking here.  Below is one question and answer provided free of charge.

3. In what ways can other sports marketing companies turn their blogs into business opportunities?

Many aspects of the sports industry are closed off to a large segment of the worldwide population.  And unsurprisingly, there are a lot of people hungry for more knowledge about what goes on behind the scenes in the business of sports.  People do not only reserve an interest about sports agents, sports law, and sports business, which are the three areas we cover the most at SportsAgentBlog.com.  Unfortunately, no matter how many Sports Management classes you take in school, you will leave unsatisfied and with a desire to learn more.

Sports marketing companies can benefit from adopting a model based on openness and transparency.  It will allow them greater access to potential innovative interns, spur additional relationships with members of other companies who come across the blog, strengthen the company’s image as a knowledgeable source within its niche, and bounce ideas off of its readers, who end up being the consumers of the produced marketing material.

One of the biggest weekends of the year in Gainesville, FL.  While Tennessee looked pretty weak against UCLA, the Gators should never take them for granted.  HHR looks at arguments for both teams.  Happy Rosh Hashanah to all my Jewish people!  Leigh Steinberg will be on the new Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California Wall of Fame.  How about my client, Pete Parise?  He has appeared in all 5 of the AAA Memphis Redbirds postseason games, racking up 4 saves in the process without giving up a single run.  I’m just a little excited about that.  Here are some stories I missed over the past week:

Baseball

• Another great piece by Doug Glanville.  He is turning out to be an excellent writer [Keeping It Real].

Football

• Tank Black tells his story for the first time [Tanked!].
• A football agent’s life, month by month [The agent cycle].
• Jake Delhomme isn’t losing his endorsement deals anytime soon [He can throw; can he pitch?].
• Put a client on a practice squad before sending him to the Browns? Harsh [Sources: Agents steering players away from Browns].
• The Patriots were the driving force behind the 5-year maximum length of rookie contracts drafted #17-32 overall [Patriots’ role in altered CBA ‘clarified’].

Entertainment

• He’s playing an agent on a show girls love [Interview with Robert Buckley, The New Ladies' Man on 'One Tree Hill'].

Sports Business

• From the geek at the sports network to the cool guy at the business network [Darren Rovell: CNBC’s Multi-Beat, Multi-Platform Game-Changer].

Sports Business

• ESPN should start taking notes [The SportsStream Comes To SBNation].
• Makes sense to stick with a brand you have been using your entire life [Phelps Re-Signs With Speedo Through 2013].
• Good tips on preserving and protecting your clients’ wealth [Play Ball! Estate Planning for Professional Athletes].

Football

• Is the LFL living up to its hype? [Lingerie Football Sizzles in Season Opener]
• Ever wonder why so many players get injured near the end of the preseason? [Injury Settlements for Waived Players]
• Peter Schaffer, definitely wearing his lawyer hat [Quinn arrested after confrontation].
• Anyone want the Flacco Family Feast? [Flacco's potential as pitchman grows with on-field success]

Baseball

• The internet has done wonders for fan access to information and players’ ability to communicate with fans and other players [A Whole New Game].

Basketball

• You don’t have to be against “education” to be against “one-and-done” [Would amateur reform and a return to Frosh ineligibility help?].

Hockey

• We will have to continue to wait and see whether the court believes paying creditors off is worth more than heeding the unanimous vote of NHL owners [Judge says Balsillie should reconsider deadline].

Baseball

• Regarding the Mets moving 75 prospects from Florida to the Dominican Republic [Mets Say Moving Prospects Is About Sense, Not Money].
• A great piece to show all of your baseball clients, no matter what level they are at [Psychological issues are no longer taboo].
• Why first round picks should think long and hard before deciding to reject a team’s final offer [Always A Gamble].

Football

• A quiet and easy agreement made without the use of an agent [Williams signs with Dolphins through '10].
• Philip Rivers signed a very nice looking contract [Under the Cap: 2004 QB Class Cashes In].

Sports Business

• For now, everybody is in a holding pattern [Sports Agent Donald Dell Says Sponsorship Will Recover in 2010].

Basketball

• Worldwide Wes: A name I have not heard in quite some time [Surprise! William Wesley, aka Worldwide Wes, is at the Center of a Recruiting/Sneaker Controversy].
• Did you know that it’s run by a major Coach Agent? [Warren LeGarie: The Man Behind Vegas Summer League]
• I love that Tellem always makes time for this [NBA Stars to Play for Peace at Youth Clinic].

Baseball

• Thoughts? I don’t like the idea [Time to End the Draft System?].

Football

• Hopefully this is not what the UFL is looking forward to a few years down the line [AFL heading for bankruptcy?].

Sports Business

• Fantasy Sports 2.0 [FanDuel turns fantasy sports betting into a social game].
• After reading this article, all I could think about is how much Chinese companies like Houston Rockets players.  Will that change if Yao doesn’t return? [The Future Of Endorsements]

Sports Agents

• “The jockey agent is more like a theatrical agent.” [Lodi roots key to top jockey agent Mullica's success]

Contract Negotiation

• It still boggles my mind that the NFLPA does not complain THAT MUCH about the Franchise Tag [Quirky Sports Contracts].

A good college friend and fraternity brother of mine, Adam Silverstein (@onlygators on Twitter) sent me a message to check out David Canter’s tweets criticizing Under Armor and the ad company that created UA’s new advertisement…and then his tweets backtracking from pressure yesterday.  Canter’s criticism was blasted using Twitter as his medium of choice, which is why I wondered to myself why I didn’t catch it without being notified.  Then I checked Canter’s Twitter page.  The DEC Management principal, who I considered a friend, apparently does not want me following his progress.  This is the note I received when I clicked the “Follow” button:

You have been blocked from following this account at the request of the user.

Oh well.  Anyway, Canter’s tweets from July 19th read:

Someone please fire the ad agency that did the new Devin Hester Under Armour ads. Wow beyond awful

@darrenrovell1 disappointing stuff to say the least– short UA stock– hester isnt a big enough name and the spots were atrocious

@darrenrovell1 is Darren Rovell,a sports business specialist at CNBC.  Canter’s statement yesterday:

I apologize if my advertising and comments offended any corporations last night- it wasn’t meant to hurt- only to be constructive criticism.

There is no problem with having opinions.  There is a problem with vocalizing those opinions when they reflect poorly on your company and your clients.  See one of Canter’s clients from this year’s NFL draft recently signed a deal with Under Armour.  In fact, Canter tweeted about it on June 22nd:

CONGRATULATIONS TO DEC MANAGEMENT CLIENT PAUL KRUGER WHO JUST SIGNED A NEW TWO YEAR DEAL TO ENDORSE UNDER ARMOUR

This post is not intended to harm Canter’s reputation (although I am a little disappointed that he decided to block me on Twitter), but instead to make people realize that what they say (especially on Twitter) cannot be erased.  And those statements, when you are an agent, go well beyond reflecting poorly on your own image.  It can hurt your clients as well.  We need to make sure to place damage controls on our clients’ usage of social media sites, and we should remember to think twice about what we say before we go tweeting away.

Remember that Twitter is a very powerful medium to promote players and your own business.  In the same respect, saying the wrong thing has its negative consequences.  One thing I will point out is that I give Canter credit for immediately apologizing for his remarks.  He owned up to his mistake and should be forgiven for it.

Golf

• Seems like a good fit to me [CAA Sports signs Greg Norman].

Baseball

• Should more players embrace Twitter as a tool to strengthen their fan bases? [Twitter and Major League Baseball: A Missed Opportunity]
• The studs of this year’s Cape Cod Summer League [2009 Under Armour Cape Cod Baseball League All-Stars Named].

Basketball

• The Rockets are the first NBA team to enter into a direct single-affiliation partnership with an NBA D-League team: the Rio Grande Valley Vipers [NBA D-League Announces Affiliates For 2009-10 Season].
• Do you buy that it’s not about Minnesota? [Sources: Drop in salary affects buyout]

Sports Business

• I prefer partnerships, although not the legal definition [Sponsorships vs. Partnerships]
• Some great advice here [Sports Business Review: Athletes can use LinkedIn to build a powerful network].

Football

• Cheating away money from athletes and agents? [Ex-NFL linebacker Bosworth possible fraud victim]
• A lesson on the 80-man active roster [Why do players get cut when draft picks get signed?].