Fox pointed to his teenage sons as examples of how young people won't watch an hour of commercialsTONY FLOREZ
There are more sponsorship opportunities for brands than ever before,” said Earthquakes President Tom Fox, but “what is changing is the business model of sport.” Speaking on the opening panel of the ’18 Intersport Brand Engagement and Content Summit, Fox pointed to his two teenage sons as examples of how many young people will not watch an hour of commercials just to keep tabs on a live event. Fox: “Soccer is already in the future state of most sports. You’ve got 45 minutes of running clock, 15 minutes with about 9 minutes of commercials at halftime, then the whole thing is over in 2 hours. Yes it makes it more difficult to integrate brands but ... there’s a much smarter way to engage fans rather than creating breaks in the action.”
WHAT’S NEXT?: MLB Giants Senior VP/Partnerships & Business Development Jason Pearl said his team believes the 30-second commercial is already “somewhat dead.” Pearl: “We’re pushing baseball and ourselves to meet our fans where they are.” That mindset played a factor in the team becoming the first across MLB to provide free local streaming of its radio game broadcast as part of a new multiyear agreement with KNBR-AM, though they are not done yet. Pearl added the Giants have a “whole department now dedicated to creating content” and they’re also looking at creating a YouTube channel.
