The size of media buying agencies and the amount of dollars that flow through them are testimony to the fact that as sports' cash cow, much of the money today begins with TV advertising. So, shouldn't sports marketing be a primary consideration of a TV sports buy?
That's the thinking at OMD, where managing director Ray Warren is fashioning a sports marketing shop to get at the money where most of it enters the market: with the media buy. Accordingly, OMD is launching a new division,
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| Katz |
Optimum Sports, and has hired
Ray Katz as its director of sports marketing.
Too often, the sports marketing strategy comes in after the media buy. The idea here is to plan the promotional side of the buy along with the media. While a change in client behavior may be necessary on the part of brands that have traditionally split those responsibilities between agencies, OMD has some high-powered clients in the form of Cingular, FedEx, Tostitos and McDonald's.
The good news (for OMD, at least): They all spend significant money in TV sports. The bad news: They all have sports marketing agencies, strong internal capabilities, or both.
Katz, a former NFL marketer who most recently worked as vice president of sales and marketing of the currently-on-life-support Football Network, will work with OMD's Tom McGovern in the new endeavor.
The launch of Optimum Sports also adds another agency to the plethora of sports capabilities under Omnicom's corporate umbrella. In that fraternity are GMR/Radiate, Millsport, The Marketing Arm, Horrow Sports Ventures and Steiner Sports, all of which do sports marketing as a leading or associated offering.
ANOTHER WALK DOWN THE AISLE: AT&T is reconnected to the NBA as a corporate 
sponsor. An NBA "corporate partner" since 1992, AT&T had lapsed at the beginning of this season, but has reconnected in a low seven-figure deal that nets it rights in the long-distance, local and collect categories for the rest of the season.
While the three-point "long-distance shootout," long an AT&T marketing staple at the NBA All-Star Game, has already been gobbled up by Foot Locker, AT&T will leverage with business-to-business schmoozes and ad buys that are included on NBA TV and nba.com. The telecom company was already back as a media sponsor this season on ESPN, but not with as big a spend as last year, when it titled Friday night halftime shows on ESPN's NBA telecasts.
AT&T's new deal also includes USA Basketball rights for the rest of the year as an Olympic warm-up.
BOWLING FOR DOLLARS: Russell Corp. has renewed its agreement as the Bowl Championship Series apparel sponsor for an additional two years. The deal now runs though 2006, making it concomitant with the current BCS deal. As with the old deal, Russell gets sponsored vignettes, hospitality and tickets. Unlike the old deal, Russell secured from ESPN Original Entertainment the right of first refusal to place Russell Athletic product in its programming. Russell togs were featured in ESPN's "Playmakers."
STILL KICKING?: If the WUSA reappears this year, it will be in the form of a mid-June tournament, sources said. Olympic commitments are making things difficult for both players and advertisers, who have obligated dollars elsewhere.
An RFP has been sent to 8,000- to 10,000-seat venues capable of hosting the event. A few caveats exist, however, as for now, sponsors are being asked for $300,000 commitments to sponsor the tournament, but those deals are unequivocally and inexorably tied to a larger sponsorship of $2.5 million annually for a fully launched league schedule.
HERE & THERE: IMG's Steven Justman to the NBA as vice president of global media. The move represents a return to his roots, since Justman used to sell NBA packages for Turner. Rob Stecklow, formerly of ABC Sports, has left to become director of broadcast advertising for the NFL. ... 
Pepsi and Ford are the two largest sponsors of the NBPA's All-Star Gala at the Los Angeles Center Studios on Valentine's Day as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Sponsor benefits include signage, tickets to the party and other all-star events, along with product placement at the party.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
