2013: A LOOK BACK IN SPORTS - PART 5 - NCAA BASKETBALL

Continuing last week's coverage, I take a look this week at Nielsen's data on sports fans in 2013 focusing on the latest findings on NCAA basketball.  You can read the full-summarized report here: http://bit.ly/1fT9KVa.  I've read through it and here are some of the most interesting facts from the past year:

 

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There’s nothing quite like the excitement and fan participation that surrounds March Madness.  Perhaps it’s the office pools and bracket-ready eagerness that has the viewing audience changing, but the NCAA Tournament’s viewership definitely evolves from the NCAA regular season.  With a 14% hike in female viewers and a 4% hike in households with an income of $100K or more, the sport invites in a new demographic at the start of the tournament.   It’s not only the audience that changes, but rather social media becomes abuzz with a significant number of ravenous, content generating, March Madness fans.  The significant amount of Twitter activity in the 2013 Championship Game between Michigan and Louisville ranked it as the most tweeted about telecast in the month of April.  Here’s the latest and greatest on NCAA basketball thru a look back on 2013.

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·      NCAA Basketball regular reason viewership took a small loss for the 2012-2013 season with a .2% decrease, however the championship game saw quite the growth in viewership with a 12.3% year to year gain.

·      Top NCAA Basketball advertiser: AT&T Wireless

·      Adults who visit NCAA.com are 59% more likely than the average U.S. adult to have purchased sporting goods in the last six months.

·      The average NCAA Tournament viewer is a likely to be a white male aged 55+ who makes $40,000-$75,000 annually.  However, the next largest income group, those making 100K or more a year, is very close behind.

http://bit.ly/1ejZkdr

·      With some of the strongholds in college basketball resting comfortably in its conference, including the likes of North Carolina and Duke, the ACC has long been thought of as the most popular conference.  But in the 2012-13 regular season the Big 10 topped the rankings in TV viewership with more fans tuning in to see Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State play.

·      On average, three million viewers tuned in for the top 10 nationally televised regular season games involving a team from the Big 10 conference.

http://bit.ly/OcG2jB

·      The top two local fan bases determined by percentages of their population having watched, attended, or listened to the team in the past 12 month, came in at over 50% of the population devoted.  But while the Louisville Cardinals put up strong numbers with 58% of their population showing their support for the team, they'll have to relish in the number two spot.  

·      The Cardinals' local fan base is no match for the number one Kentucky Wildcats, where a whopping 67% of their population is faithful to the organization.

2013: A LOOK BACK IN SPORTS - PART 2 - MOTORSPORTS

Continuing last week's coverage, I take a look this week at Nielsen's data on sports fans in 2013 focusing on the latest findings on Motorsports.  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:

http://bit.ly/1ghvJ63

Motorsports are every advertiser’s dream, with real estate on everything from helmets, and cars, to tracks and uniforms.  Anywhere there’s space there’s a brand, and that means an eclectic mix of companies looking to make their mark.  

·      The average NASCAR viewer is a white (94% of viewers) male, aged 55 or older who makes $40-$75k a year.

·      NASCAR fans are 36% more likely than the average consumer to buy a new full sized car this year, and twice as likely to buy a new pickup

·       Top NASCAR advertiser: Chevrolet Silverado

·      Auto advertisers continue to spend the most money year to year on NASCAR events, but Motion Picture advertisers brought the largest jump in advertising with a 60% increase over 2012

http://bit.ly/1h6lpOW

·      NASCAR has the highest share of female fans of any sport on TV, composed of 37% of all fans

·      Danica Patrick made waves as the most talked about driver of 2013 and audiences tuned in to see her:

o   Indianapolis 500 (without Danica) viewership down 17%

o   Daytona 500 (where Danica became the 1st female driver to win a pole and finished 8^th) viewership up 22%

·      While the top 3 tweeted drivers at Daytona 500 include: Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson, with a respectable 9,000 and 21,000 tweets, Danica Patrick takes the top with over 102,000 tweets surrounding her name.  Now that’s some serious tweeting!

CHANGING THE PLAYING FIELD

             The biggest saga playing out in the sports world this week has been that of the Missouri Tigers' former defensive end, and future NFL draft pick Michael Sam openly announcing to the world he’s gay.  The headlines have covered most of the drama from Sam “conquering the final frontier” and “rewriting the script for young athletes” to the opposition labeling the young star as having “stock dropping fast” while NFL executives anonymously cite “distractions and uncomfortable teammates” as potential problems for Sam.  The saga has made superstars out of some remarks like sportscaster Dale Hansen, whose on the air speech condemning the NFL has gone viral (http://bit.ly/1fZ3Lfg) while circulating others like The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart rant on the hypocrisy of an organization that accepts criminal behaviors, but admonishes someone’s sexual orientation (http://bit.ly/1bmjp7p).  All of this while generating a lot of water cooler talk about workplace environments and the tolerance of discrimination as reported from the players’ themselves in Andrea Kramer’s piece inside the NFL's locker room (http://on.nfl.com/1gEgPaC).  This in turn only generating more popular support for stories like that of rookie Jonathan Martin who felt so uncomfortable playing for the NFL he left the dream job entirely.

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            While each storyline lends itself to big picture discussions on cultural dynamics, human rights, and workplace discrimination issues, what I found most compelling were actually a few lines Michael Sam was quoted as saying to The New York Times, “I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it…..No one else should tell my story but me” (http://nyti.ms/1fWMANA). Going on to say that he didn’t want to be known just as the first gay athlete, but rather for his good character.  For all of the publicity surrounding the event and the talk of paving new civil rights lines, a young 20-something Sam has grasped what many before him in sports haven’t: owning one's brand.   

            Sam is likely to have grown up watching the epic falls from grace of billion dollar athletes like Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong.  These top level players found themselves sitting in countless interview chairs and making publicity rounds not because they wanted to, but rather to apologize and to plead to their fans for forgiveness, forgiveness for hiding behind a false identity, for a history of lying and bad behavior, for their poor sense of entitlement, for presenting an image to the public that they themselves never once lived by.  To many, these household names have made a mockery of their sports and their personal brands and as a result of their bad behavior have watched not only sponsors drop out, but left many lifelong fans feeling disgraced by their once biggest idols.  

Source: http://bit.ly/1lF4qWG

Michael Sam in contrast is comfortable with the man he is and not afraid of any repercussions that might erupt from projecting his inner self outward, even if it might mean less money or having to work harder to prove his skills to earn a coveted NFL spot.   While his sport may be one of team over individual as opposed to that of golf and cycling, he has shown wisdom beyond his years in taking the driver seat at the onset of his career.  He controlled the message and the medium, and understood that he could either be sitting in that chair after a tabloid rag made a few bucks off of photographing him one night in an embrace with another man, or he could sit there as an athlete at the top of his game, with a team in the Midwestern heartland that respected and stood behind him knowing full well his sexual identity all season-long, and who’s excited about his future and the role he can have in inspiring other young people.   

Any NFL team should be proud to welcome him into their locker room, forget the publicity, forget the team dynamics, forget the history making, if the NFL needs a reason to push aside the interest of the press and take stock in the skills of this young athlete let it be because he has truly proven himself as a professional as much on the field as he is off.  Will it be complicated? Yes.  Will it be new territory to navigate? Yes.  Will the press be knocking at the door a lot initially? Yes.  But eventually the storyline will fade, the season will get underway, reporters will run out of things to spew on the subject of being gay in the NFL, and a lucky NFL team will not only have one of the most talented defensive linemen in the game, but also a leader, a role model, and a guy whose jersey is going to sell well to kids around the country.  Given the reputation of the NFL for being known more as the “National Felons League” than the “National Football League” a man with good character, a lot of heart, and a positive self-image entering its doors, who can not only play football, but play it extremely well, well that my friends is something to write home about.