Putting our sports "world" back into the World Wide Web

Many posts ago, I evoked the rather (Jerry) Seinfeldian observation that with the proliferation of player movement in team sports today, fans truly are rooting for a shirt. But the last 15 months or so have been littered with the defections and separations of superstars who were often emblematic representations of the very franchises for whom they are no longer affiliated. First, LeBron took his talents to South Beach, leaving the vitriol of the team owner and much of the Cleveland fan base in his wake. This was followed by the defections of Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, respectively. But …

If you're like most experiential marketers, you're probably wondering what happened to January and February. From a sports perspective, the Super Bowl, X Games, NHL and NBA All-Star Games, and the Daytona 500 are now in the rearview mirror. March Madness is right around the corner and we, as sports marketers, are quickly realizing that our first quarter is coming to an end. Second quarter programs are rapidly approaching and most of us are now knee-deep in strategy, ideation and planning. With that in mind, this is the perfect time to challenge yourself and reconsider your approach to your 2012 …

On Feb. 1, Jeremy Lin was barely a blip on the NBA's radar screen.

Men are predictable. For example, we commit ourselves to an almost slavish devotion to sports on an uninterrupted basis.

For the past several years, our firm has conducted an ongoing measurement of sports fan attitudes and opinions across a broad variety of topics ranging from the perceived popularity of various sports to the impact of Tim Tebow. But among the most insightful findings that this "omnibus" work has yielded is an ongoing pulse of sports fan sentiment about the economy, personal expectations for short- and long-term spending and pursuit of various leisure activities.

Women are in the boardroom. The age-old glass ceiling hasn't been completely shattered, but with women controlling more than $1.2 trillion worth of business annually, the fissures are now large enough to suggest that gender is becoming a non-issue throughout the Fortune 1000.

Brazil will host the World Cup of Soccer in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. The fact that two of the most important sports events will be taking place in a developing Latin American country that loves sports is exciting. In the last few years, Brazil has grown a lot, and is now the sixth-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of over $2 trillion. It is doing so well that it is even offering to lend money to the European Union. The world will be watching Brazil for the next four years, and there will be plenty to …

Legendary comedian W.C. Fields used to say, "Anyone who hates children and animals can't be all bad." He said this long before the Super Bowl became a destination for commercials that, much to Fields' chagrin, include kids and animals as two of the top five selling points for many big game spots.

I heard a great story over the holiday break from a colleague about his 12-year-old son's consumption of digital media. The short version of the story is that my friend's son spends most of his time on sports and entertainment content sites that aren't made up of the usual suspect of sites delivered by familiar media companies. He is drawn to web properties that emphasize the fun, entertaining and visually intensive (particularly video) experiences to which a pre-teen is most drawn.