The Impact of a Name
Indians to Guardians. Plus, the rise of eSports and dreams coming true in the NBA.
On Today’s Agenda:
Cleveland Baseball’s Name Change
The Rise of eSports
The Dream of the NBA Draft
Indians to Guardians
The Impact of a Name
Source: The NY Times
If you haven’t heard already, the world is changing. One area, in particular, is the name of sports franchises. In recent memory, we’ve seen the Washington Redskins become the Washington Football Team, the Edmonton Eskimos to Elks, and now the Cleveland Indians are the Guardians. With many areas to consider, we’ll solely try and look at this topic from a sports marketing angle.
There’s a number of things that come to mind immediately, when looking at this name change from our angle: merchandise, sponsorship and public relations.
First, when looking at merchandise it’s clear when a team changes their name, branding, or jersey, there’s an influx of merchandise dollars. Don’t believe us? Think back to the time your favourite team changed their jersey, how many seasons did it take for the whole stadium to be wearing the new threads? From experience, we noticed 2-3. So that’s the first major impact.
The second is sponsorships. We’ve seen this in numerous situations whether it’s with athletes or clubs, brands want to be attached to assets that represent their values. With that, you can be sure that sponsorship dollars played a major role in this name change because at the end of the day sponsorship dollars make the sports world go round.
Lastly, let’s look at PR. The way fans, the community or even society look at a sports organization is ever-changing based on their actions. The sentiment an audience has towards an organization plays a major factor in the value of their assets, this is why communications and PR are so important in sports. In simpler terms, if your club is viewed in positive sentiment, you can charge higher rates for items such as sponsorships, as it plays a factor in consumer behaviour. This is where the trickle-down effect takes place:
Positive sentiment = More $
More $ = Improved team operations
Improved team operations = More on field success
More on field success = Larger fan base
Larger fan base = More assets being sold at a higher rate (merchandise, sponsorships, tickets, media rights, etc.)
This effect also acts in reverse with a negative sentiment which gives you a better idea of why teams are now changing their names after they said they would never. It’s an unfortunate realization but money talks. As a young JB and Jaden Smith once said ‘Never Say Never’.
The Forever Changing Definition of ‘Sport’
The Rise of eSports
Source: Dezeen
Sports have been around since the dawn of time since man could find ways to compete with one another in vigorously active and challenging ways. Sport has been evolving for thousands of years along with society itself and is now reaching its next point of evolution: eSport.
In March 2021, media company OverActive Media announced the plans for the development of a 7,000 seat capacity arena/stadium in downtown Toronto, ON specifically built for spectating professional video game tournaments and leagues, otherwise known as eSports.
OverActive Media owns two famous Canadian franchises: Toronto Ultra (Call of Duty League) and Toronto Defiant (Overwatch), both teams that currently compete internationally at the highest level of competition.
Over a decade ago, eSports were practically non-existent. Fast Forward to 2021 and a giant stadium is being built with its main purpose being spectating eSports games. In 2021, Danish Dota 2 player Johan Sundstein made $6,983,817.80 just from league play alone. Hundreds of eSports athletes are making millions of dollars per year for their gaming capabilities. Compared to other sports, eSports athletes are making much larger annual figures. Even large traditional teams and brands like Manchester City are getting involved in eSports (FaZe Clan collab) and Red Bull. How large will this thing get?
eSports is forever evolving, whether it’s new stadiums being built, new sponsorships from international corporations, or new games and technology being developed. It’s an open door for opportunities not only from a sports enthusiast perspective but from a marketers perspective as well.
Will eSports events fill larger stadiums than traditional sports?
Will more people in the coming years recognize more esports athletes than traditional?
How much money will these athletes make in the near future?
Big Dreams, Bigger Dollars
The 2021 NBA Draft
Source: Raptors HQ
Last night, 60 dreams came true as the 2021 NBA Draft took place at Barclays Stadium in Brooklyn NY. The 2020 draft was scheduled to be hosted in Brooklyn, but the pandemic moved operations to ESPN’s studio in Connecticut and was hosted virtually. The sights, nerves, and excitement were packed into the arena as Commissioner Adam Silver and Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum announced the picks throughout the night.
While the spotlight was focused on the talent the players will be bringing on the court, and the surprise risers and followers in the draft, many of the future NBA stars were also focused on making moves off the court.
The rise of NFTs also made its way to the draft- where lottery picks like Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs released NFTs to declare for the draft, while Klutch Sports Group released an NFT set for all their drafted athletes throughout the night.
On the more traditional side of endorsements, many of the lottery stars signed shoe deals as expected with Nike and Adidas leading the way. Cade Cunningham (1st Overall) and Jalen Suggs (5th overall) were securing the bag early with announcements of multiple deals with brands in the Crypto, food, tech, and fashion industries. Sharife Cooper, who went in the 2nd round (48th overall, Atlanta Hawks) also signed with Adidas Basketball, showing that brands are looking beyond the lottery to sign talent they can bank on.
Most NBA fans’ Instagram feeds were flooded with sponsored posts through partnerships with AT&T, Chipotle, and Tissot, amongst others. Brands know the attention these players are getting on draft night and are capturing the eyes of the audience accordingly.
One question that remains to be answered is - how sustainable are these partnerships? Are brands investing in the athletes long-term, or capitalizing on the short-term spotlight during the draft. As we see with teams who invest resources into developing an athlete’s play on the court, commitment to growing an athlete’s likeness off the court will separate the good partnerships from the great.