It's a shame that most of you reading this don't know Bruce Florine. Bruce is one of the first sports marketers that I ever met and, clearly, one of the best. It was some 20 years ago that I took my freshly minted Wharton MBA degree to Florida and the PGA of America. And it was there, alongside Bruce, that I began my real sports marketing education. Just a few years older than I, Bruce, myself, and several others, formed a dynamic team that current PGA CEO Joe Steranka had brought on board to help develop and execute Joe's marketing …

Those of you who are loyal readers of this column (hope you're both well, by the way) will recall my last article where I wondered how the NFL lockout would affect sponsors' activation plans. My flawless logic went like this: sponsors have to lay their activation plans in stone, many months in advance -- especially, if they involve retail promotions. The uncertainty around whether there was to be an NFL season could have led sponsors to play it safe, in case their whole fall marketing campaigns went the way of the dodo.

The recent events that helped to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11 -- although somber and reverent in context -- showed how movers and shakers in sports unite their forces to honor an historic event.

No sports business category is changing faster (some might say it's in turmoil) than college sports -- specifically at the Division I-A level. Just this weekend, Pittsburgh and Syracuse formally bolted from the Big East to join the ACC. And mighty programs like the University of Miami and the University of Oregon are under investigation for dealing with a now-imprisoned booster and a questionable recruiting service, respectively. Yikes! Why would any sane marketer associate their brand with college sports right now? Well, here are a few reasons to consider:

Thankfully, we still hear incessant cries from sponsor and property clients that beyond measuring reach, determining ROI or ROO is tantamount to designing and executing an effective sports marketing program. As researchers and sports marketers, long trained in the nuances of designing and executing research to do just this, we recognize that just as every activation hopefully has some unique element or creative differentiator, so too must the research studies designed to measure their impact.

After a summer filled with turmoil and controversy, college football is finally back in action. While schools like the University of Miami, Ohio State University, University of North Carolina and the University of Southern California still have consequences to deal with in regards to their football programs, it's not stopping anyone from being ecstatic about the 2011-12 college football season. People need to get their minds off of the economy, and college football is just what the doctor ordered.

The ultimate mission for brands should be to direct all efforts and initiatives towards turning sports fans into brand fans. This is the key to marketing success across all of the upcoming sporting events in Brazil.

On Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963, two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the then-independent American Football League cancelled its schedule, but the NFL went ahead with its full roster of seven games.

The story of how the Pac-12 (boy, that's still hard for me, a long time Pac-10 fan, to say) negotiated their recent television media rights deal provides good insight into how traditional partnership models can melt away in changing times.

With the PGA Championship teeing off this week in Atlanta, I can't help but think back fondly to my years building and overseeing the business operations side of that event's on site event merchandising program, which began modestly some 16 years ago. The event retailing business has grown from an ancillary activity to a major revenue and branding engine for any sporting event. Here then, I reflect on some of the critical success factors that any sponsor or property can put in place to maximize their event retail program.