Changing Dynamics: How the Charlotte Bobcats are Taking on A New Identity - Special Guest Charlotte Bobcats Exec Jerome Hubbard

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To say that the journey of the Charlotte Bobcats over the past few years has been rough, would be putting it lightly.  Despite sizable notoriety at the helm of the organization with owner Michael Jordan hard at work, the Bobcats have faced a losing record season after season.  But there’s a new franchise in the making, a team finding a competitive edge with the acquisition of Al Jefferson alongside a young core of talented players, and a new look that will see the Bobcats donning an old familiar name when they return as the Charlotte Hornets next year.  An Emory University study highlighted Charlotte’s basketball fans as some of the most social media savvy, holding steady at 4^th in the league for most engaged fans only after the NBA’s heaviest hitters (Lakers, Heat, Celtics). Recently news broke about the team’s partnership with 10 Foot Wave, incorporating the company’s FanConnect platform within Time Warner Cable Arena. The technology combines sponsor messaging with live game content, real-time stats, NBA scores and social media delivered to screens throughout the venue.  I sat down with Jerome Hubbard, Communications Coordinator for the Charlotte Bobcats, this week to discuss the new platforms, the exciting re-branding, and the unwavering fan support as the team begins its journey to capturing a new generation of fans.

On the Challenges of the Digital Information Age…"When I first got here our record was 7-59. There’s not much good that’s going to come out of 7-59, it is what it is.  If you’re the Miami Heat and you’re winning games and you’re blowing people out of the water, and you have the best player in the game you don’t really have to worry about information because at the end of the day it’s pretty much everyday the Miami Heat win and why they win.  When you’re dealing with losing, and you’re dealing with people who are tired of losing, who work their tail off and are not seeing the results, then they say that we’re not showing effort, we’re not showing energy, we’re not showing the patience and the due diligence and the hard work, and that’s not right.  So that’s more of a situation that you have to really monitor and that goes to the personal relationships. In the past and even now the personal relationships that you gain with the reporters and the people who are covering the team, whether it’s on the TV side, the radio side, or the print side, those relationships allow you to give them information knowing that they’ll use it fairly and that ultimately they’ll use it in the right way.  If you don’t have those personal skills or that personal relationship then it’s really hard and that to me really makes or breaks a person in this field."

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On Resurrecting & Rebranding the Hornets…"There’s certain things about the Hornets that Charlotte loves. Charlotte loves the colors, Charlotte loves the name, Charlotte even loves the mascot.  But you also have to keep in mind at the end of the day that it HAS to be different. We can’t go back to everything that was the Hornets, but we do want to continue to grow and galvanize not only our Bobcats fans, but those Hornets historians who love the Hornets, love the tradition, love everything about the experience when they first came.  You have all of these different moving parts, the official name change, the logo, the mascot, the cheerleaders, the unveiling of our uniforms, all of those different things are strategic and I think we’ve made a concentrated effort to continue to make sure that we maximize every opportunity with each phase that we’re going through.  Everything that we do we want to be an experience.  Unveiling our logo was an event where we had our owner Michael Jordan halftime, really bringing out the logo with former Hornets players with a bunch of fans there screaming, and it was well received, in the same way that it was well received when we applied and were approved for the name change. Hats off to not only the organization, but also the fans that continue to support us.  There’s so much going on and we want to maximize it, whether it’s thru digital, thru a fan experience, or whether it’s just the continued process from start to finish. "

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On New Technology in the Arena…"If you look at the NFL, their sales in relation to attendance has decreased over the past couple years and that’s because a lot of people feel as though it’s much more convenient to be in front of the TV where I can watch NFL RedZone and have five different games on at one time and I can monitor not only the one I want to watch, but also what’s going on here, what’s going on there, and how this or that game affects my fantasy league or team.  That truly appeals to fans not only in the NFL, but also in MLB, and also the NBA, so if we can continue to add various elements to our inner arena experience, that may be something that somebody else doesn’t have.  And that may get that one or two or 100 or 200 more individuals attending our games. So you want to continue reinventing the wheel and keep adding elements and hopefully you get to a point where you have the best inner arena experience in the NBA, and even more so than that, just sports in general.  Adding something like the FanConnect or the Technocom business center in our arena, or adding luxury suites and a luxury experience for our suite owners, all of these different things come into play and that’s just added value to our inner arena experience for those that decide to come to our games."

instagram.com/brooklyn_hun

On Developing the Fan Experience…The fans are fans, if a team is losing or winning they’re still going to come out and support. Like the Knicks, they have a loyal fan base, they sell out every game no matter what. Win lose or draw they’re selling out every game and that is a credit to the fans.  We want to make the fan experience great in Charlotte and we’ve done so many things to continue to make sure that the organization and the fan experience at our basketball games and anytime they come to our arena is up to par.  Whether it’s the interaction with the players that they possibly can have pregame, the concession stand, the dance team, the mascot, whether it’s us going out into the community and having giveaways, or even having trivia contests through social media, there’s so many different things that we have done in order to continue to keep our fans engaged, to continue to keep the environment of the games great.  So even if we win or lose, we want people to be able to say, I enjoyed myself at the basketball game, it really was a great experience.  That one-on-one experience that you can get coming to a Bobcats game is something that you really want to hang your hat on.

This Week in the Digital Sports Jungle

High scores, bad calls, and the latest advances, I take you through this week's highlights.  Here's what everyone is talking about online in the sports world:

Twitter

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a promise before the Daytona 500 that he would join Twitter if he won the race. He not only won, but paid tribute to his late racing legend father with a tweeted photo.  http://bit.ly/1kgmx7B

• PGA Golfer Steve Elkington tweets gay slur about first openly gay NFL athlete Michael Sam, and after receiving extensive criticism tries to clarify remarks, but it’s too little too late.  http://lat.ms/1hvtqi3 

Marketing

• Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player signs 10-day contract to play for Brooklyn Nets and wears No. 98 to honor fallen gay student Michael Shepherd.  NBA.com launches Collins jerseys for sale online amidst unprecedented number of requests.  http://nyti.ms/1o3s3rs

• Brazil’s local government sends out a formal complaint to Adidas to stop using sexual undertones and sex appeal to sell World Cup products promoting the event in the host country. Adidas removes the limited edition t-shirts for sale after complaint is filed. http://yhoo.it/1dIMIfN

T-shirts withdrawn by Adidas for the Brazil World Cup Photograph: Adidas

New Technology

• Starting March 30^th, Major League Baseball will join the ranks of other professional sports with the introduction of instant replay to the game and put an end to missed calls.  The system will cover most plays and managers are allowed one challenge a game. http://usat.ly/1fYCx7j

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• Major League Baseball fans with the MLB’s free At the Ballpark app will have the opportunity to do more from their seats including ordering a hot dog or buying a souvenir.  More than 20 Major League parks will utilize Apple’s new groundbreaking iBeacon technology this season. http://bit.ly/1eJLrF1

Social Sharing

• At the age of 54, Brenda Gold has set her sights on making the Ben-Gals squad, the official cheerleading team for the Cincinnati Bengals.  She even received a make-over for her future career pursuits while on LIVE with Kelly and Michael.   http://usat.ly/NbR88o

• The Milwaukee Brewers adopted a stray dog at spring training, named him Hank, and his cuteness has gone viral. The pup took center stage as the newest mascot in his sausage run debut. http://deadsp.in/1hpOGph

(Photo credit: Cheryl Evans/The Arizona Republic)

2013: A LOOK BACK IN SPORTS - Part 1

Nielsen has released it's data on sports fans in 2013 and needless to say it was a great year for sports programming, sports content, and an exciting season for just about every sports fan.  You can read the full summarized report here: www.nielsen.com/us/en/reports/2014/year-in-the-sports-media-report-2013.html: I've read through it and here's some of the most interesting facts from the past year:

SPORTS CONSUMPTION 

·      232% increase in hours of national sports programming in the past 10 years, over 33 billion hours of national coverage in 2013, consumed by 255 million people

·      Average fan spends 90 minutes browsing a sports website, 30 minutes watching video on a sports website, and 75 minutes accessing sports content on a phone each month

·      Sports make up only 1.2% of TV programming, yet make up nearly half of all tweets about TV.

·      African Americans spent the most time accessing sports and sports video on the web, while Hispanics were the most likely to view the same content on their mobile devices 

NFL BREAKDOWN:

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·      All five broadcast networks carrying NFL games saw an increase in viewership this season. Four of the six highest rated Sunday Night Football telecasts featured the Broncos.

·      More than 10 million Americans used fantasy football apps, spending 2 hours and 15 minutes on average a month there, with Yahoo leading the way.

·      NFL fans are 41% more likely to have consumed a craft beer in the past month, and Bud Light is the NFL’s top advertiser. 

·      The average fan is likely to be a white male, aged 55 and older who makes $40-$75K annually. 

·      The Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints topped the pack of most-devoted fan bases with over 80% of their population having watched, attended, or listened to the team in the past 12 months. 

 NBA BREAKDOWN:

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·      NBA fans are younger and more social than any other sport.

·       Viewers sent 27 million Tweets during the NBA Finals alone in 2013, and five of the top ten most tweeted about sporting events are NBA games (only the SuperBowl drew more). 

·      NBA fans are 66% more likely to have used Twitter in the past month, and Sprint Wireless is the NBA’s top advertiser.

·      The average fan is likely to be a black male, aged 18-34 who makes $40-$75K a year.

·      The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs topped the pack of most devoted fan bases with 60% or more of the population having watched, attended, or listened to the team in the past 12 months.

 MLB BREAKDOWN:

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·      MLB fans are older and wealthier than any other sport.  The 55 and up demographic makes up half of the audience, and those making over $100K a year drive 21% of the market.

·      MLB games saw in increase in TV viewership this year, but also go hand in hand with radio listeners, seeing out of the park gains during the World Series in both the St. Louis (65% gain) and Boston (211% gain) metro radio markets.

·      MLB fans are 37% more likely to have taken 10 or more domestic round-trip flights in the past year, and the top MLB advertiser is Verizon Wireless.

·      The average fan is likely to be a white male, aged 55 and older who makes $40-$75K annually. 

·      While all of the top five most devoted fan bases including Milwaukee, Boston, Detroit, and Cincinnati had 65% or higher of the population having watched, attended, or listened to the team in the past 12 months, the St. Louis Cardinals pulled to the top of the pack with 76% of the population.

 NHL BREAKDOWN:

 

my friend's baby

·      Despite a lockout and shortened season, NHL viewership continued to grow in 2013 by almost 20%, including a series-clinching game six of the Stanley Cup Finals bringing in 8.2 million viewers.  The Finals across the board were the most watched on record, averaging 5.8 million viewers.

·      The audience is also growing more affluent with over half of the population making over $75K a year. 

·      NHL fans are 34% more likely to own a tablet, and the top NHL advertiser is Discover Credit Card.  

·      The average fan is most likely to be a white male aged 35-54 making $100K a year or more. 

·      Three of the top five most devoted fan bases including Boston, Detroit, and Buffalo had over 40% of their population watching, attending, or listening to the team in the past 12 months, but only the Pittsburgh Penguin fan base cracked the halfway mark, coming in at 54% of the population.