Discusses the the growth in popularity and profits that social media is having, not only adding to sports, but branching off in some cases.

After research finds that in most cases, players and teams are having just as much, if not more exposure through social media than they are on television. In some cases it seems its almost more important to be good at Public Relations than it is to be good at throwing a ball.

With these new levels of exposure, players, teams, and brands are becoming more valuable. This is having an effect on financial relationships, such as sponsors, old and potential, advertising, and on an individual player’s worth. 

An article that talks about the strategies brands and players can use to control their brand image, build brand equity, fan loyalty, and grow fanbases.

In it they talk about successful strategies that have been used in the past, from teams using dynamic pricing, to the Red Sox letting fans choose the music being played in the stadium during a rain delay via a Twitter poll. The author also discusses the importance of aligning goals and values with the team, amongst its players, faculty, and staff, to present a unified brand image, and to prevent mishaps which could damage reputations all around.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2699647-sports-world-celebrates-national-puppy-day-on-social-media

As the above article by the sports site Bleacher Report states, "Everything gets a day now, and Thursday marked all dogs' turn to enjoy the spotlight with National Puppy Day." Many athletes, leagues, and sports teams also took part in celebrating their canine companions in social media by sharing pictures and hash tags.

It is a very important thing for an athlete, as for any celebrity or a person in the public eye, to build a specific image in the social media - to brand themselves. Taking part in human interest social media phenomena like this that engage people and feelings is a good way for gaining positive exposure. The idea, from a marketing point of view, is that it makes the athlete seem more approachable, relatable, and sympathetic to the public. Not to mention that the cute pictures of puppies are a surefire way of attracting clicks and page views.

While it might be that not all fans of the traditional sports view eSports teams as "real" athletes, the leagues are gaining more followers rapidly. Especially with Twitter's partnership with ESL, the world's largest eSports company, and DreamHack, a huge computer festival. In the beginning of March, Twitter streamed live the Intel Extreme Masters tournaments held in Poland, and there are more events to come. Earlier on the micro-blogging site has had streaming deals with more traditional types of sports like NFL and NBA.

Basically, live streaming sports events in social media offers the fans a chance to watch the games and engage in real time, and Twitter will also be able to provide additional exclusive content for the fans, such as for example behind-the-scenes material from the events. For many eSports fans, who often are gamers themselves, Twitter is an already familiar and much used service, so they will most likely find it a good channel for game streams.

The interest of social media companies a big opportunity for ESL, even though the eSports business is already going strong. Through the partnership the company gets more recognition, gets to widen their scope, and as a result, will be able to gain more eSports followers around the world. Not to mention what this kind of publicity will provide for the teams and the players themselves.

Women's Volleyball Coming this Fall

Bloomsburg University will officially have a women's volleyball varsity sport starting in the fall of 2017. Sammi D'Antonio shows some of her sarcasm when posting "thanks bloom" and another photo on instagram stating "here's a pic of me passing a volleyball bc bloom finally decided to recognize us as a real sport.. yay" to emphasize her frustration that in her final year here at Bloomsburg University the school decided to make Volleyball a intercollegiate sport. Women's volleyball is the first varsity sport added at Bloomsburg University since women's soccer in 1990!

The fact that Bloomsburg did not have a sport as popular as Volleyball (which is very popular in the OLYMPICS) as a varsity sport until now is absolutely absurd. Maybe this is because the school is trying to become a D1 school recently. Maybe it is because people finally got through to the University that we should have more women’s sports teams. Maybe it is because the school will be dealing with a HUGE influx of students this fall. Whatever the reason be, I am glad that they have finally implemented volleyball as a varsity sport here..wish I could have said it sooner but hey, I will take it. Congrats to all of the women who pushed for this and I wish the incoming freshman good luck with tryouts.

Sincerely,

A Passionate Volleyball Player

Bloomsburg University Hockey

Bloomsburg University’s club hockey team has just won the 2017 GNCHC championship against Kutztown University! Kyle Gallen, the team captain, posted this photo shortly after the boys return to Bloomsburg to emphasize how thankful he is of this team and their accomplishment of winning the title. For the first time in a long time the Hockey team has cemented themselves in history. The seniors could not have asked for a better way to end their final season of their collegiate career. Friends and family from the team  liked the photo and even commented on the photo that oh so accurately displayed the boys excitement and sense of accomplishment. The upcoming seniors will definitely have confidence for the upcoming season to defend their title.The boys celebrated their win by taking a drink out of the “cup” on their trophy and celebrating the only way they knew how..that is singing throw back 90’s songs and enjoying each other's company one last time before some of the team graduates. It was a season that they will not forget, all of the hard work, struggles, and time spent on practicing has paid off. The seniors will enjoy their retirement by playing pond hockey and the rest of their team will continue to put in more effort and perseverance than this past season to make their senior season just as great.

NFL Scouting Combine and Live Coverage

It’s finally here! March 3rd marks the official start of the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine being held at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Combine is a week-long showcase allowing over 300 college football players to show off their physical and mental abilities in front of NFL coaches, managers and scouts. NFL will be providing live coverage of these prospects trying to further their football careers. This year there will be plenty of options to stream the events, including mobile devices, TVs, computers and gaming systems. NFL has taken advantage of various social media sites in order to increase the hype for the event. They have mainly utilized Facebook and Twitter allowing fans to stay up to date on and voice their opinions on who they think will excel at what events. Facebook is being used to keep fans informed on the Combine schedule, along with live streaming of various workouts. Twitter is being used to show highlights from previous years, along with keeping fans updated on who the top prospects are. With 21.3 million followers, you can be sure that the NFL is maximizing their reach and allowing fans to not only stay informed, but also involved.

The internet, especially the Twitter world, has exploded since Adidas announced their plan for the upcoming NFL Combine. If any NFL prospect is to break the 40-yard dash record, which is currently held by Chris Johnson (2008) at 4.24 seconds, Adidas will be awarding this prospect their very own island! The prospect must be wearing the company’s 2017 Adizero 5-Star 40 cleats and agree to endorse the shoe for the 2017/2018 season. Adidas does have in the agreement that any prospect who breaks the record will receive the island as soon as reasonably possible, or the athlete has the choice to take one million dollars instead. Will this promo by Adidas get more athletes to wear their cleats this year? That is certainly their strategy by offering an entire island to whoever can break the record. Whether it will work or not, you have to applaud Adidas for trying something different. It has gained the attention of thousands of people, Eric Dickerson included. Back in 1985 Eric Dickerson broke the record for single season NFL rushing yards, and Adidas gave him a carrot cake, which doesn’t quite compare to an island. This prompted Dickerson to tweet making a joke of the old prize that he got for breaking an NFL record that has still been unbroken today. Adidas has come a long way from ’85. The company’s strategy has definitely made them stand out from Nike and Under Armour, making everyone wonder what they will have to offer this year. The record breaking offer by Adidas will not only get more athletes to wear the cleats, but it could also promote athletes to push themselves even harder when participating in the combine. The sports and internet world will be looking forward to see what athletes will be wearing the cleats this year at the combine.

The Patriots are coming up with slogans of their own. After winning Super Bowl LI, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots obtained 5 total Super Bowl rings. With the Patriots claiming to want to take "No days off" they are coining the slogan, "Blitz for Six", which is very worrisome for the rest of the league. Once again the Patriots look to decimate every opponent in their way. Personally, "Blitz for Six" is a very intimidating slogan. It sounds like a train that will not stop moving and destroying anything in its path. No wonder they want to trademark it. It is arguable that the current Patriots team is right now the greatest team to exist, but if they win six under the Brady and Belicheck regime it will be undisputable. It is not the first time the Patriots have filed to trademark a phrase either. The Patriots are trying to trademark a whole bunch of phrases in order to use on their sports memorabilia and clothing. I applaud the marketing strategy, Bill, but I hope your year is absolutely atrocious,

Sincerely,

A massive Miami Dolphins Fan 

#BlitzforSix

Patriots look to next year, file for ‘Blitz for Six’ trademark

If the New England Patriots are satisfied with their fifth title, they sure aren’t showing it.

On Feb. 7, just two days after winning Super Bowl LI for their fifth championship, the Patriots filed to trademark the phrase “Blitz for Six,” hoping to use it on clothing – including hooded T-shirts, of course. Coach Bill Belichick is known for wearing Patriots hoodies.

And last Tuesday, the same day that Belichick chanted “No Days Off” to the crowd at the team’s victory parade, the Patriots also filed to trademark that phrase.

The Patriots have been among the more aggressive organizations in terms of filing to protect phrases they endeavor to bring to market. The week before the Super Bowl, the team filed to trademark “Ignore The Noise.” In recent years, they received trademarks to “Do Your Job” and “We are all Patriots.”

For almost a year now a super fight between MMA's Connor McGregor vs  Boxing's finest Floyd Mayweather has been a top discussion in the sports world. The two greatest in their separate but similar sports have been clashing viciously at one another on social media promoting a fight the fans have been waiting for. This could ultimately be the greatest money fight ever, and now we are closer than ever to making it happen. Connor, who has zero experience as a professional boxer desires to take on possibly the greatest boxer of all time, The undefeated, counter-punching, defending champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather, who is currently retired. However, social media brings these two ever closer to the super match we have all been waiting for. Just last night, February 14th, rumors of the super fight being official spread throughout the web. McGregor stated on Instagram, "Floyd has retired on my arrival" when he went to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Floyd went to twitter to deny claims of the deal finally coming to a close. However, Mayweather said, "Connor, if you really want a fight, talk to the UFC and have your people get in touch with mine." This all happened last night on February 14th. So although the match is still a reach, social media could be the key factor to making this super fight finally happen. The ruthless McGregor stated that he would punch Money's head clean off his shoulder and up into the bleachers. If those are not fighting words, I am not sure what are.

When two worlds collide: Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather

(photo via: BossLogic)

Pilot

We are an E-marketing team that will search through social media for relevant sports news and discuss the impact it has on athletes. Social media can be interpreted in many different ways and learning how to use social media as an advantage can greatly influence how people perceive certain teams, athletes, etc. Our goal throughout the semester is to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly, in regards to sports media, twice a week  and discuss what we personally find interesting about sports and how they choose to use social media. Social Media has the ability drive sports teams or athletes to new highs or lows in the public eye, this semester our team hopes to discover how much of an impact social media has on the sports industry. By creating this blog we hope to give our viewers a better understanding of how social media can truly impact the lives of athletes and the people connected to these athletes.