With Paul Harrington out and Uli Becker moved from CMO to president/CEO at Reebok, we're expecting to see some changes. Exactly what the new course will be is something that's still being figured out inside Reebok's Canton, Mass., headquarters.

"We've got a leader who's more marketing focused, and remember, Uli has been an integral part of charting our course already, so I'd expect more consistency than change,'' said John Lynch, Reebok head of global brand communications, shortly after appearing on Wednesday's marketing panel.

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HBO insiders attending the World Congress of Sports say that HBO Sports has started production on its newest documentary, which will chronicle the 1960 U.S. Open Golf Championship. That’s the tournament at which Arnold Palmer defeated the amateur Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan in a memorable duel. The hourlong program is slated to run June 11, the day before the 2008 tournament starts.

After appearing on the crisis management panel, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly stopped by to talk about issues facing sports and his league, including the economy, NHL expansion and hockey’s labor deal.

Daly On The Economy, Expansion, And The NHL Labor Agreement (1:48)

MLS Commissioner Don Garber stopped by to speak about the league's next season and covered everything from what the league anticipates from David Beckham's second year to the viability of women's professional soccer and how MLS can keep its business momentum going.

Garber On David Beckham (:49)	Garber On The Momentum Of MLS (1:10)

After presenting a keynote address in which he discussed an array of topics ranging from steroids to the Beijing Olympics, USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth stopped by to elaborate on some of the points he had made.

Ueberroth On The Economy (1:28)	Ueberroth On The Beijing Games (:43)

Mixed martial arts, perhaps better known as MMA, didn’t receive a lot of attention during Wednesday’s discussions, but Anheuser-Busch’s Tony Ponturo talked in the opening session about why his company has become involved in the sport.

"The key is to know your consumer and follow your consumer," he said. "We've seen a study that shows a young male can identify 10 UFC fighters, but not 10 players on the (St. Louis) Rams."

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A doomsday scenario landed on some of the top communications, league, media and sponsor executives in sports at the end of the first day of the World Congress of Sports.
The hypothetical scenario: a major league sends two sports teams to Mexico City for a major game featuring two Latin star players who wind up being kidnapped and held for ransom.

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For the most part, marketers are thrilled to be part of the sports business, since sports hits the right demos and invokes such strong passions. Occasionally, however, sports don't work as well, such as last summer when Barry Bonds was breaking Major League Baseball's home run record.

The ball Bonds hit in AT&T Park that night flew right over a Charles Schwab "Talk to Chuck" sign, which should be great news for the company, right?

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