A nation of fans is currently fascinated with an entire team—Florida Gulf Coast, the first No. 15 seed to ever make it to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament. And the impact goes well beyond soaring team apparel sales.
Business of Sports
Fenway Park Drops Beer and Food Prices … And Red Sox Fans Get Angry?
Cheaper beer prices? Free food for kids? How insulting!
Stealth Celebrity Endorsement: No Money Changing Hands, Just Free Burritos
There’s no mystery as to why companies give away swag during the Oscars to people in the movie business. The possibility that a celebrity will Tweet about the product or perhaps be photographed with it more than offsets the cost …
Madness for Sale: Businesses Go for a Piece of NCAA ‘March Madness’ Basketball Tournament
There’s just no stopping the madness. From Hooters restaurants to businesses selling books for homeschooled children to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, everyone seems to be pursuing a marketing tie-in to March Madness, a.k.a. the NCAA basketball tournament.
March Madness Will Cost Businesses $134 Million. Why Aren’t Employers Concerned?
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament will cost U.S. companies an estimated $134 million in “lost wages” this week. But do employers care? Not really.
Hurray for $4 Beers! Baseball Teams Stop Ripping Off Fans with Jacked-Up Concessions
Is a $4 beer a bargain? It is at a professional baseball stadium, where the average cheapest beer was $6.10 for all Major League teams last season, and many venues charged around $9 for a “premium” draft.
Post-Lockout NHL: Higher Ticket Prices, Better Attendance
Maybe the NHL should shoot for a lockout-shortened hockey season every year?
Pay Less for Sporting Event Tickets—After You’ve Already Bought Them
You’ve probably never heard of “Purple Pricing.” But you’ll like that it gives you a chance to snag sports tickets below face value, without resorting to haggling, scalping, or timing the market right.
Should Sports Arenas Buy Back Tickets That Fans Don’t Want?
Given the number of empty seats on display during the typical pro sports event, arenas seem to be having a pretty tough time selling tickets. Still, one economist says arena box offices should consider a buy-back strategy so that they could sell the same ticket not just once, but multiple times.
Thanks to Colin Kaepernick, 49ers Won Super Bowl for Team Merchandise Sales
The San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick doesn’t play or look like a prototypical quarterback along the lines of Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. And the fact that Kaepernick is so different has been great for merchandise sales.
Super Bowl Sunday: What We’re Eating, Where We’re Watching, How Much We’re Spending
It’s almost time for that most American of semi-holidays, the Super Bowl. The football-championship-turned-media-spectacle automatically conjures certain images in most people’s minds: bars overflowing with drunken fans; pizza, …
5 Top Trends for 2013 Super Bowl Commercials
The cost of advertising in the Super Bowl is rising, running an average of $4 million for a 30-second spot—up from $3.5 million last year and just $42,000 back in 1967. To justify the expense, advertisers aim to present fans with something more than just another entertaining but ultimately forgettable commercial.