Have you noticed the slow pace at which the existing sports leaders have adopted any meaningful attempts to bring their products to the new media? In fact, if you look at all the majors (MLB, NBA, NFL, Premier League Soccer, etc.) there has been no progress at bringing products online in TEN years!
While online growth in general has been astronomical and new solutions and products make clear the unparalleled growth of online as a marketplace, advertising channel and distribution network, the major sports have held back. If you have read this blog before, you know that I have attributed this reluctance to lack of foresight, old-minded execs who don't use new media and other trite, non-original analyses. In fact, one old media exec told me he thought I was sounding a bit pedantic.
So, I have been doing somewhat of a deeper assessment on this issue recently and have come up with another explanation, one that I believe points toward new, disruptive markets and that is based on very real growth opportunities.
The core of this new analysis is that rather than try to fit old sports into new media using existing events developed with old media in mind, it is time to develop new sports with new media in mind. ("New Sports" can include permutations of old sports). We need to assess what new media does well and tailor the sports opportunities so that they take maximum advantage of the best of new media. So, big arena events like football games that are so great for old TV based media may not be right for the new media. NBA games might work perfectly well on HDTV, but interactive one on one tournaments in front of smaller crowds at suitable locations might be better suited for new media.
I saw the light last Friday night up in Reno, NV, that known center of all things Sport! I was attending the Pole Vault Summit (as Dad of someone who wants to fly over 20') and accidentally stumbled into the Summit's Friday nite extravaganza where I saw the light.
While online growth in general has been astronomical and new solutions and products make clear the unparalleled growth of online as a marketplace, advertising channel and distribution network, the major sports have held back. If you have read this blog before, you know that I have attributed this reluctance to lack of foresight, old-minded execs who don't use new media and other trite, non-original analyses. In fact, one old media exec told me he thought I was sounding a bit pedantic.
So, I have been doing somewhat of a deeper assessment on this issue recently and have come up with another explanation, one that I believe points toward new, disruptive markets and that is based on very real growth opportunities.
The core of this new analysis is that rather than try to fit old sports into new media using existing events developed with old media in mind, it is time to develop new sports with new media in mind. ("New Sports" can include permutations of old sports). We need to assess what new media does well and tailor the sports opportunities so that they take maximum advantage of the best of new media. So, big arena events like football games that are so great for old TV based media may not be right for the new media. NBA games might work perfectly well on HDTV, but interactive one on one tournaments in front of smaller crowds at suitable locations might be better suited for new media.
I saw the light last Friday night up in Reno, NV, that known center of all things Sport! I was attending the Pole Vault Summit (as Dad of someone who wants to fly over 20') and accidentally stumbled into the Summit's Friday nite extravaganza where I saw the light.
What I saw was all at once shocking, extraordinary and inspiring. More than 2,500 people were crammed into the Grand Sierra Resort's Grand Ballroom to watch the USA's best/elite pole vaulters compete in a 'pole vault only' event on the stage of a Casino!
Men's and Women's competitions were held simultaneously with criss crossing runways and ten vaulters of each sex vaulting about 30 seconds apart to ear blasting tunes of every generation since Wodstock and an ongoing, interactive commentary that urged the vaulters to interact with the audience. Neither vaulters or audience disappointed.
Since the audience was comprised of every serious pole vaulter (and their coaches and parents/family) in the USA, the place rocked! They vaulters became entertainers, inciting the crowds with great personalities, spectacular athletic skills and perfect, beautiful bodies. The audience interacted, participated, appreciated and had a rousing good time!
And it struck me that the organizers of the Pole Vault Summit have struck gold!
Rather than restrict this amazing event to the sinking anchor of US track & field, they have declared the event's independence and reconstituted its presentation so that it is inspiring to a new generation of US vaulters and integrated with and suitable to the media that the vaulters use!
How did this happen and where is mainstream media on this opportunity? (I'm guessing you saw nothing about this on the 6 o'clock news).
This happened through the vision of one unselfish man and one institution that was willing to allow him to go do something wonderful! That man is Bob Fraley, world renowned track coach at the institution, Fresno State. Over the past 20+ years, Bob pulled together this activity to the point where it has its own momentum and is a Sport unto itself! Check it out.
The point of all this is that any sport can be reconstituted to inspire the core of its audience in ways that suit and interact with that audience. New media can be at the heart of this, with enabling technologies, distribution and $.
What new media does is make that audience relevant and interesting to sponsors and marketers and as a marketplace, by bringing people together. When knowledgable, dedicated people like Fraley are in charge, they bring out the best in sport and present opportunities that those of us in the marketplace that is new media have been dreaming about!
Now, who is going to bring this type of sports enterprise to the masses? We need a Roone Arledge of new media.
Any takers?
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