Sports

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Nike+ iPod integration

Nike teamed up with Apple to offer new products and services combined with the iPod nano. The new partnership will include electronics, clothing, and online services for people who like to listen to music while working out. Apple claims 50% of iPod owners use their music players during a workout. The new campaign is called Nike+ and features community and social networking components. The first product is the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, a $29 accessory connecting your shoe and your iPod. Runners can place a small sensor under their shoe insole and connect a receiver to their iPod nano to…

Fantasy sports at work

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement company, estimates fantasy sports leagues cost U.S. employers $36.7 million every day. The estimate assumes 14 million people play fantasy sports and each of those players spends 10 minutes every workday managing his or her team. Multiply 14 million by $2.62, the average amount an American worker gets paid in 10 minutes, and you reach the estimated number. What’s the total cost of blogging? I am sure a study will come out and sites such as TypePad, LiveJournal, and Blogger will be on corporate block lists just as Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Groups is…

McKinsey Quarterly on the business of sports

The July 2004 issue of McKinsey Quarterly does a good job breaking down what makes sports successful and what hinders large scale success. Tekla V. Back, Philippe Blatter, and Jacques R. Bughin authored “Playing to win in the business of sports” and focused on tennis and golf as two case studies. Some interesting facts:The 2002 FIFA World Cup accounted for 8% of global television-rights revenues in 2002 (about the same as the NBA and NASCAR combined).In the United States the average golf or tennis TV viewer has an income of more than $100,000 a year.Professional tennis is fragmented. The International…

Nike Mayfly

The Nike Mayfly running shoe wieghs 4.8 ounces and has a recommended lifespan of 62 miles. Only 5,000 of the $45 shoes (72 cents a mile) will be sold nationwide. ESPN notes that “Nike’s Mayfly was inspired by the ideal set forth by Nike founder Bill Bowerman, who envisioned a shoe that would provide enough support for a runner during a race, but would fall apart once that runner crossed the finish line.”…

Adidas 1 running shoe

Adidas will introduce a $250 running shoe in December that alters its properties based on real-time measurements. Michel Marriott of The New York Times writes about the new shoe in today’s issue. Each second, a sensor in the heel can take up to 20,000 readings and the embedded electronic brain can make 10,000 calculations, directing a tiny electric motor to change the shoe. The goal is to make the shoe adjust to changing conditions and the runner’s particular style while in use. The heel contains a sensor and magnet to gauge the cushioning needed and relay the data to the…

Major League Baseball now runs Major League Soccer’s web presence

Sports on Earth, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Major League Baseball, now runs the Internet operations of Major League Soccer. The online sports content business expands, and needs some blogging influence! Technorati should pitch the team marketing departments interested in tracking and assisting fan sites. Six Apart or Userland could help with player journals. Teams need their own templates for blogging sites as well, to help with grassroots marketing efforts….

HiMPACT Sports Technology

HiMPACT Sports Technology breaks down sports broadcasts into only the actual plays and highlights. NY Times reports on the technology. “[R]educes a three-hour baseball game to an eight-minute experience.” Very useful for baseball coaches, but it seems like the soccer version could use some work before it can be used by staff. Highlights are not enough to evaluate play from a coaching point of view….

San Jose Sharks use Tablet PCs on the sideline

Katie Dean of Wired writes about the San Jose Sharks use of Tablet PCs and software by XOS Technologies to follow game plays. A digital video recorder hooked up to a server records the game and then wirelessly transmits the data to a tablet PC. Hunter can then use a stylus or a remote to mark key moments in the game — like a goal for, goal against, power play or penalty kill — so that he can return to them with a quick click. He can diagram over the video as well…

The business of basketball is fun

Mark Cuban writes about the true business of basketball. The purists are the minority, and in order to survive as a business you must provide entertainment value. The purists hate the arena crew shooting t-shirts and music over the loudspeakers. I am a soccer purist. I attend a game and detest the constant barrage of marketing. If basketball purists are a minority, soccer purists are an even greater minority. I see the kids stretching out their hands for an autograph from a player they do not even know. They try to figure out who he is from his signature. At…

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