MLS hires firm to conduct brand study

Entering its second decade with the season that starts April 1, Major League Soccer is taking a hard look at itself. The league has hired New York branding firm SME, along with several universities, to ask questions fundamental to the future of MLS, such as who its fans are and what ...

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NFL owners to set revenue-sharing plan

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will appoint an eight-owner committee to decide how to dole out the up to $900 million in revenue sharing the league approved as part of the new collective-bargaining agreement. While the league earlier this month announced that as part of the new labor d ...

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Sponsors balk at Triple Crown

Horse racing’s Triple Crown will likely be run this year without a title sponsor for the first time in nearly 20 years, after talks with Anheuser-Busch broke down over several issues, the biggest of which is the fact that the three races will be split over two television networks. ...

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MLB’s DuPuy turns to blogging for the WBC

MLB President Bob DuPuy has added Internet blogger to his already voluminous job description, at least temporarily. DuPuy is blogging daily from the World Baseball Classic, providing an often candid behind-the-scenes look at baseball’s debut attempt at st ...

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Red Bull energizes MLS with team purchase

Major League Soccer continued its push last week to diversify its investor base as Anschutz Entertainment Group sold its MetroStars organization to Austria-based energy drink maker Red Bull. Team exec Alexi Lalas shows off the Red Bull brand, already worn by an ...

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CBS tournament sales: By the numbers

6.9: Average TV rating for last year’s tournament (Tags: This Week's News

Chaos and compromise in Dallas

Shortly before NFL owners approved a new six-year labor deal last Wednesday, the scene at the Grand Hyatt hotel at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport became almost surreal. Old-line owners like Davis worried that the new guard didn’t appreciate league history. ...

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Forstmann to pitch Jets/Giants himself

IMG CEO and owner Ted Forstmann has asked to personally make a pitch to the New York Jets and New York Giants on the sports marketing agency’s bid for the rights to sell what is expected to be the biggest naming-rights deal in U.S. history — for the new stadium to be constructed at the Mea ...

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They’re with the brand: Hire continues trend

Sports properties talk a lot about branding, but over the years, sales have always been paramount. The care and feeding of their brands has largely resided in the corporate sponsorship sales department, or added to the long list of duties of the properties’ president or league CEO. N ...

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Speaking their language

In a suite behind home plate at Disney’s sports complex for the World Baseball Classic, surrounded by guests from a dozen distributors and retail chains that are vital to his business, the head of sports marketing at Venezuela’s largest brewery uses one w ...

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