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Coronavirus and Sports

SBJ Unpacks: Intersport's Charlie Besser On Sponsor Innovations

Sports agencies and sponsors have discovered new limitations to tried and true sponsorship practices, bringing about what could turn into a wave of innovation in how sponsorships work. On the most recent episode of “SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead,” our Terry Lefton talks about changes and innovations in the sports sponsorship industry with Intersport Founder, President & CEO Charlie Besser.

On how the sports sponsorship industry has changed because of COVID-19:
Besser: We’re taking a look at the value of sponsorships on behalf of our clients, and those values have significantly dropped. We are of the opinion that is a sign of good faith when you engage in a renegotiation of the sponsorship. It’d be easy to drop them because of the massive under-delivery, but we are engaged in providing real evaluations of what is now being provided and engaging in renegotiations and extensions. There’s been a huge disruption in sponsorship and the values of those sponsorships, so folks are seeing the limitations for renting IP and renting fan relationships via sponsorship. We’re seeing that more and more brands really want to become more like influencers and own their own audience and own their own conversation without limitation.

On how long the increase in demand for sports will last once leagues return:
Besser: It’s going to be fascinating to see what’s happening in the fall when there’s four playoffs going on at the same time. One’s going to be on at 6:00pm. One’s going to be on at 8:00. One’s going to be on at 10:00, and there’s probably another on at midnight. It’s an unintended consequence, but it’s going to be a hell of a time for sports fans. … There is so much pent up demand. The audience level will be very high, and there will be a natural selection that goes on, like it does all the time, with the events that are perceived as more important having higher viewership. The sports that are more important fandom will have higher viewership. I’m sure the NFL will continue to do well. College football will continue to do well. The NBA playoffs should be interesting and do well.

On sponsorship innovations aimed at adapting to fan-less sporting events debuting at the Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA Tour event:
Besser: While we're at the tournament, we’re going to be creating and launching something new, which we’re calling V-Time. It is effectively conversations that we’re going to be doing, virtual events, mini events, with groups of players that are going to be on-site at the club with some downtime because they’re not playing in a Pro-Am and have the opportunity to have conversations with them. We can bring those to our local sponsors who might have sponsored a foursome. They can now sponsor a conversation with three or four players. … What happens at a time like this is you end up tapping into all of your experiences and all of your tools, so you can maximize the event and all the elements of the event for your clients and the community.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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