Is the NFL’s game plan to use Twitter a brilliant marketing strategy or are they opening themselves up to new public relation blunders?

This is the first NFL training camp where the NFL has featured Twitter as a new marketing vehicle to expand it’s reaches and bring football fans closer to the game.

While the NFL league office recommends that clubs allow their players to Tweet, some clubs don’t agree.

Take for instance, the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos. Both teams ban their players from tweeting from training camp. Bans go against a league memo sent last week to all teams that recommended best practices regarding Twitter. NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy stated “We recommended that clubs allow limited live reporting from practices that are open to the public, subject to the guidelines set by the clubs on the issue”.

There are also concerns among the clubs that players may not what they should and should not be tweeting. Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver Chad Ochocinco announced his intention to tweet from the sidelines during games, apparently not aware of the ban on any kinds of outside communications on game day. Minnesota Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe decided to show how bored he was during first day of training camp by tweeting “ZZZZZZZZZZZ” from a meeting. He later tweeted that he was referring to an “administrative” meeting, not a team meeting. And now the San Diego Chargers ordered star cornerback Antonio Cromartie to pay $2500 for using Twitter to comment on the “nasty food” in training camp.

Although the use of Twitter will undoubtedly cause some PR problems, it offers the NFL a “free” venue to market it’s product worldwide, and brings the diehard football fans even closer to the game. Using Twitter also puts the NFL on the forefront in the new media age - where information is instantaneous and just a few keystrokes away.

The NFL’s decision to adopt as it’s social media venue is a brilliant marketing decision. You can bet that controversial Tweets by NFL players will only help promote NFL football.

source: technewsworld.com

Everyone knows that the Superbowl is the biggest day of the year in America.  It definitely beats out all other professional sports championships, and may even be as popular as the Fourth of July.  But do you really know how big the game is?

Here are some tidbits to think about when your enjoying the Superbow XLIII on Sunday, February 1, 2009 between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers:

Superbowl Broadcast Facts

• The NFC lead the Superbowl series 22-20 all time against the NFC
• Superbowl XLIII will be broadcast in 232 countries and territories
• The Superbowl is broadcast in 34 languages
• The top ten network primetime telecasts since 2000 are Superbowls
• 1.5 million TV sets will be sold during the week of the Superbowl
• A 30 second commercial during the Superbowl will cost advertisers up to $3 million

Superbowl Social Facts

• The average number of people attending a Super Bowl party is 17%, over 20 million Americans
• Half of all Americans would rather go to a Super Bowl party than a New Year’s Eve party
• An estimated 68 percent who attend the game have never been to a Super Bowl
• An estimated 50 million American women will watch the Super Bowl
• Two out of five Super Bowl watchers are not even football fans. Even people who will never watch another game all year will tune in to be part of this one national event
• Research shows that about 25% of women actually enjoy watching the game during the Super Bowl, but that leaves 3 out of every 4 who don’t. It is true that those 3 watch it because they enjoy the commercials, the food, the drink, the friends and the overall atmosphere
• Super Bowl weekend is the slowest weekend for weddings
• On average, Super Bowl plans are made 41 days in advance, our research shows (By comparison, New Year’s plans are made 35 days in advance; anniversary plans are made 30 days in advance; birthday plans are made 25 days in advance.)

Superbowl Food Facts

• Nearly one in eight or 13% of Americans order takeout/delivery food from a restaurant for a Super Bowl gathering
• Most popular choices of takeout/delivery items on Super Bowl Sunday are pizza at 58 percent, chicken wings at 50 percent and subs or sandwiches at 20 percent
• Approximately one in 20 (4 percent) Americans watch the big game at a restaurant or a bar, over 9 million Americans
• On Super Bowl Sunday, Americans will eat an estimated 20 million pounds of potato and tortilla chips and eight million pounds of avocados
• Sales for antacid increase by 20% on Super Bowl weekend

Superbowl Media Facts

• The Super Bowl will always reach the magic line in the Neilson ratings of 40-plus [household] rating
• Each of the past three Super Bowls earned household ratings (percentage of the 108 million homes with a TV) just above a 40, and in 2000 the broadcast averaged a 43 rating
• The game will have an audience estimated at close to a billion people
• The Food Network will have aired at least a dozen shows with Super Bowl themes by Super Bowl week’s end
• Every Super Bowl since 1991 has had a rating of at least 40.2, with 1996’s game earning a 46.1
• The second-most watched Super Bowl in history was in 2003 with 137.65 million American viewers
• ESPN airs more than 160 hours of Super Bowl programming during Super Bowl week
• The Super Bowl has become advertising’s big contest as well. It is believed that close to 58% of people would rather take their bathroom breaks during the game than miss the commercials.

Superbowl Economic Facts

• It is believed that an estimated 300-400 million dollars will be pumped in to the local economy of the host city
• Consumers will spend an average of $49.27 (or $5.6 billion total) on Super Bowl-related items from food and drink to new TV sets, lounge chairs and entertainment centers
• The median annual income of a Super Bowl ticket holder is $70,000, with 33 percent making over $100,000
• About 35 percent of those who attend the game write it off as a corporate expense

source: wikipedia.com encyclopedia.com superbowlmonday.com

The NFL football season runs for 20 consecutive weeks, 17 for the regular season and three postseason games. Then we all have to sit and wait two weeks for the Superbowl to be played.  This two week lag leads to a media gap and takes the momentum out of the biggest sports game in the world.

Is there a possible solution to the problem?  Why not have the college football championship game played on the weekend before Superbow Sunday?  This would actually add more hype and more interest than any other time two week period in all of sports.  Can you image the media attention, the hype and the buzz it would create!

I know what many of you are thinking! What is wrong with the way things are now?

First of all, the NFL is a great organization and it’s product is superb, but making this one change would benefit the NFL, college football and all football fans in general.

Secondly, the week before the Superbowl is probably the weaking week in all of sports. I mean, after 20 consecutive weeks of anticipation we have to put everything on hold and twittle our thumbs for an additional week before the big game. 

Another issue is that all of the NFL storylines are played out. Aren’t you tired of stories about players’ pets and other totally ridiculous stories?

But perhaps the bigger issue is the way college football determines it’s national championship.  Instead of head to head competition in an NFL playoff like setting, a statistical scoring system determines who plays in the “daddy of the them all” to determine the national champion. 

Some say that the system is flawed because it is suspect to bias and political pressures from college bowl committees.  In fact college bowls are big business.  Adn after 12 continuous weeks of college football, they go on vacation for a month before the bowl games are played.

These weeks of layout take the momentum away from the teams that were on a roll. In addition, it is a one game situation, where momentum is taken away.  At least with a college football playoff scenario, played over the first few weeks of January, climaximg in the national championship game, the weekend before the Superbowl would add vigor and life to both the NFL and college football.

What do you think?