Unethical decisions trend in Division I sports



Jim Tressel speaking at his news conference on the scandal



In the back of every ones minds who follows major collegiate sports programs has to wonder, how much does cheating happens?  Lately in the news, coaches of major collegiate have come under fire for unethical behavior and breaking NCAA rules.  Of the latest in the news is Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.  He was found to be hiding facts about his players selling memorabilia to a local tattoo shop.  In December, five student-athletes on the football team was suspended by the NCAA for the first five games of the 2011 season because of their actions.  It has been made public that Coach Tressel has known about the situation since as early as April.  This is just one of the many situations that has come about, others consist of Oregon's football program for paying a man to recruit a high school athlete and the Tennessee men's basketball program gave improper visits for recruits and then lied to the NCAA about it.  These are just a few of the recent discoveries made by the NCAA and these are just some of the minor ones.  The University of Southern California has seen its football program and basketball programs put on post season sanctions.  The findings in this case consisted of one of their players received $100,000 from and agent and free tickets to professional sporting events.  The question I have is, how many programs are actually doing these things?  These are just the teams that are getting caught, I could only imagine that there are many other happening that have just not been discovered yet.  I believe it so much that, I would even go to say that in major collegiate sports that if your not cheating, your not winning.  Many programs have to look in a mirror and ask them selves, when is enough actually enough.  NCAA is suppose to be an association where amateurs are suppose to compete, while it seems that some of these student-athletes are making a living playing collegiate sports.

Social Networking: A New Wave of Marketing

Social networking sites are have grown tremendously over the last five years, and sports teams and players are taking advantage of this new marketing medium.  In the last year teams, as well as individual athletes have set up accounts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  Not just to market their products and talents, but to make personal connections with their fans.  With these sites teams and athletes are able to connect with fans through post and messaging available on these networking sites.  Since these sites are extremely popular and free, it is a cost effective way to build their networks.  These sites are not only used to connect to fans, but also to attract fans.  Organizations and athletes offer contest where they will give away free merchandise, game used gear and even trips.  For example, the other week while I was on my Twitter account Brandon Phillips, the second basemen for the Cincinnati Reds, was giving away an all expenses paid trip to three spring training games in Arizona.  Who ever answered his question correctly first would win the trip.  This is just one of many ways teams and athletes are marketing their selves and their teams through networking.  It is not just professional  teams and athletes doing this, it is also performed on the collegiate level as well.  Collegiate sports programs are giving live post from sporting events and reminding their fans of games and promotional nights that are being offered.  This market has become very popular, but I can only see it becoming more used in the years to come. 

Sporting Promotions.....Are they really worth it?



One of five bobble heads given out in 2010



In today's sports world teams and sporting clubs are trying different ideas and promotions to improve attendance and spike interests out of their fans.  Minor league baseball clubs are amongst the leaders in the field of promotional nights for the fans, if they attend the games.  Lets not sugar coat anything here, who really wants to go see the a bunch of reserve baseball players play each other?  This is what Minor league and other non-professional teams have to put up with, which is why they offer promotional nights.  It gives fans a reason to come to the games, besides to see the actual game itself.  This past year I had a chance to go to my first Toledo Mudhens game, and it just so happen to be a promotional night.  The club gave out mini paintings of the stadium that they just moved into this year.  I am not a fan of the Mudhens or their father club the Detroit Tigers, but the gift they gave out was really cool.  That night it turned out to be a record crowd that night because everyone wanted their own painting.  While the minor league baseball teams are great at promoting, some professional teams are as well.  When the Cincinnati Reds had their streak of eight losing seasons in a row, the attendance was dismal at most games, but not the bobble head giveaway nights.  For a couple seasons in a row the organization was having bobble head nights once a month, just to keep up their attendance for that month.  Some other promotional nights that I have personally been a part of here at Tiffin University is Chipotle Day.  This promotion consist of the Chipotle Restaurant sponsoring the game and they bring in free burritos and chips and salsa to give away.  This game is done once a year for during the basketball season and it is always the largest crowd of the year.

After discussing promotions for professional teams and amateur sports the question still remains, are promotional games really worth the time and effort?  Of course they are!  Without promotional games most sporting events would have minmal attendance numbers, especially the smaller sporting leagues.  With ticket prices rising for most sports fans need another reason to go see games.  Every sporting promotion that I have ever heard of has been some what successful, according to attendance and fan feedback.  Without the fans there would not be a game,  so the least teams and organizations could do is give back to their fans.  It may not be much but it is the little things that count.