Companies know that, barring extreme implosions, major sports events are generally controversy-proof and are magnets not only for core fans but for casual and even fringe sports consumers. 2010 is loaded with such gold events as the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.

Defining the right characteristics, doing your research and watching where the quality users are coming from will eventually lead to great success and increase your value to potential sponsors and partners.

Beyond the economic advantage, the progressive sports marketer that embraces such an approach reaps the added benefit of using research not just as a drunk uses a lamppost ... for support, but more appropriately for its intended use ... illumination.

Encouraging families to attend live sporting events now will produce two positive outcomes for sports marketers. In the short term, it will provide merchandising opportunities afforded by souvenir vendors in stadiums and arenas. In the long term, it will create lifetime fans by instilling an emotional connection between kids and the live sports experience.

Creative companies have fashioned "Drink Responsibly" messages that both sell and warn about the product. A recent TV spot from Diageo's Captain Morgan rum, for example, showed two guys coming out of a sports bar, walking into a pizza place and ordering a pie. The counterman asks, "For here or to go?" "Delivery," they reply, followed by a scene in which the pizza man drives them and their pie home, with the message, "Always designate a driver. Drink responsibly."

If the sponsorship being considered is official status with one of the stick and ball sports, let's say MLB, it would be smart to enlarge that sponsorship domain to include Latino, Asian or even all foreign language rights.

It's bothersome that, for many, discounting appears to be the catch-all cure to attempt to win back consumers who have cut back on their sports-related spending. Discounting is difficult to wean oneself off of, with detrimental long-term effects. And our recent work asserts a more constructive and comprehensive definition of economic value, grounded in a set of social values particular to those adults that now represent the prime target for many of our products and services. Rather, the explanation reveals that the choice to spend elsewhere is often easier to justify from a total (not just economic) return on investment …

It's the 40th pennant for the Yankees, so you'd figure their odds of winning a World Series would be pretty good. But that's just sports. Winning fan loyalty, on the other hand, is a little different.

The monetization funnel is key for fantasy's future. Just getting users to show up at the front door is not good enough in today's world. As a marketer, you need to make sure you are maximizing revenue by leveraging qualified users who are willing to spend money by moving them through your monetization cycle.

The fact that Billy Mays is still on TV pitching such goods as Fix It, Jupiter Jack and Zorbeez by yelling, "THIS IS BILLY MAYS HERE!!!" months after his untimely death speaks volumes (pun intended) about the way consumers view his skills.