While ESPN may have walked out of the fourth annual Sports Business Awards with the most hardware, the media giant was far from the only winner last night. Here is a quick look at the rest of the SBA winners list.
BEST IN EVENT AND EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING: The Marketing Arm's creativity was best highlighted by its "Connect to Home Bowl," a Tostitos-sponsored college football experience that was designed for U.S. Soldiers stationed overseas. TMA CMO & President of Consulting & Activation Dan Belmont cited the company's work with AT&T in creating a Fan Zone for college football games as well as the '11 Cotton Bowl, and State Farm's "Fiesta del Jonron" with MLB as activations that stretched the company's creativity. "We work for some great brands and inside those brands are people who allow us to bring some creative thinking to the table," Belmont said. "It's a privilege to contribute."
FACILITY OF THE YEAR: The Twins and Target Field last year returned outdoor baseball to the Twin Cities for the first time in 29 years. "Going through the struggle of 10 years to get Target Field approved, the one thing that kept me going was, 'If we do get this approved, it'll be worth it,'" said Twins Exec Board Chair Jerry Bell. "We built a 12-acre facility on an eight-acre site by cantilevering out in various directions. We're over freeways. We're over railroads. We're over bridges. But it worked."
BEST IN TALENT REPRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT: CAA Sports' representation of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony put them in the middle of some of the biggest moves in the NBA in '10 and '11, and the agency was rewarded for it. CAA Sports' Mike Levine said, "It was a wild summer and it's just nice it worked out the way it did. I'm really proud of the work done by Leon (Rose), Henry (Thomas), Steven Heumann, our basketball department. And not to mention Pat (Brisson) and J.P. (Barry) doing hockey, and Tom (Condon) and Ben (Dogra) in football, are hard to compete with. Lastly, our baseball guys, quietly, just keep banging it out."
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR: Throughout the past year, Univ. of Texas AD DeLoss Dodds reaffirmed his position as one of the most influential figures in college sports by holding the Big 12 together and signing the deal with ESPN that will create the first university sports TV channel. Dodds closed a 20-year, $300M with ESPN to create the Longhorn Sports Network, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week channel to promote all things Texas. "It was probably seven or eight years ago that we started thinking and talking about it," Dodds said. "It was a small thing back then. We wanted this to be different, to be for Texas, and with ESPN we're going to make this happen. The biggest thing is that half of the money will go to the university at a time when the university needs the money. That is huge."
BEST IN DIGITAL SPORTS MEDIA: In a competitive category that included CBS Interactive Media, ESPN Digital Media and MLBAM, Turner Sports stood out for its steady rollout of features within the NBA Digital, NASCAR and golf portfolios, and for its work around the landmark deal between Turner, CBS and the NCAA. "What really stands out about what we've really focused on in the last year would be [everything] leading up to the [NCAA] tournament," said Turner Sports Exec VP & COO Lenny Daniels. "It's just outrageous working on all of the new NCAA March Madness products ... and how we made it all come together."
BEST IN SPORTS TECHNOLOGY: Daktronics continued to set the pace in the rapidly expanding realm of in-venue technology with high-profile scoreboards and electronic signage installations last year at Orlando's Amway Center, Louisville's KFC Yum! Center and the New Meadowlands Stadium, among others. "We're pushing the envelope on what technology can do," said Daktronics National Sales Manager Jay Parker. "Those three facilities in particular really pushed us to the limits."
BEST IN PROPERTY CONSULTING, SALES AND CLIENT SERVICES: AEG Global Partnerships oversaw management and sales at more than 100 sports facilities worldwide and sold one of the most groundbreaking deals in sports in '10, a 30-year $700M naming-rights deal with Farmers Insurance for a proposed NFL stadium in L.A. AEG Global Partnerships President Todd Goldstein said the challenge of selling a naming-rights deal on a stadium that has not yet been built "was definitely different." Goldstein: "We neither have the team or venue, so we certainly were selling a dream and a vision. As much as you could argue those things might be considered negatives, we used those to our advantage. We found one company, we made one pitch and they shared the vision. It became as much about what they wanted to do for the community and bringing football back and now we're in this together to make it a reality."
SPONSOR OF THE YEAR: Subway has distinguished itself in recent years by signing athletes, and its marketing and promotion of athletes ranging from Carl Edwards to Blake Griffin, who were branded "Famous Fans" of Subway in '10, earned the company the award. "We activated with our famous fans probably at a level considered beyond the norm in the industry," said Subway Senior VP & CMO Tony Pace, adding that the number one criteria for signing an athlete is finding a star who is a true fan of Subway. "Then they can naturally speak about the brand and represent the brand. They're not just somebody who's taking a check because they want to be in a Subway commercial."
TEAM OF THE YEAR: The MLB Giants were pacesetters in '10 on several major fronts. The club powerfully leveraged its first World Series title since moving to S.F. in '58, posting dramatic gains in ticket and merchandise sales and becoming one of MLB's dominant team brands on the heels of their five-game triumph over the Rangers. But the Giants also solidified their status as industry thought leaders with major efforts in dynamic ticket pricing, social media, in-venue technology, and the aggressive year-round usage of AT&T Park. "We really think of ourselves as being in several different businesses," said Giants President & COO Larry Baer. "Certainly the baseball business is a key part of that, but there's so much more to what we do as an organization."
