Ronda Rousey: UFC's Only Female Hope

UFC 157 is now in the books and history was made as the professional fighting company held its first female bout last night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.  The fate of women’s mixed martial arts fell in the hands, or should I say fists, of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey as she was set to compete in the main event of the evening.  Rousey, who is considered the#1 pound-for-pound female fighter in the world, has quickly become the marketing face of women’s MMA.  She is young, attractive, and has graced the cover of multiple magazines.

Image Courtesy of: RondaMMA.com

Image Courtesy of: RondaMMA.com

Two months ago, after previously stating women would never have a place in the UFC, UFC President Dana White named Rousey as the first champion without even having to fight for it.  She had an unbeaten professional record of 6-0 coming into last night’s fight, all by way of 1^st round submission with her now famous arm bar.  

The opponent selected for her first fight is a rather unknown fighter by the name of Liz Carmouche.  Carmouche is coming into the fight on a two loss-losing streak, and many believe she was selected by the organization to lose to Rousey and help excel the sport in the means of cash marketing opportunities.  With that said, the future of the sport was riding on Rousey winning this fight without complication, whereas Carmouche comes into the fight with nothing to lose and everything to gain.  

The uprising of Ronda Rousey has allowed the UFC to reach a vast new audience and appeal to networks like ESPN, where they may have not been able to before.  We have seen the rise of women and the benefits it can have in dollars to their sport with individuals like Danica Patrick in NASCAR, however with a loss Rousey's credibility will be damaged beyond repair, UFC fans will be let down, and worst of all, women's MMA will lose the momentum Rousey helped to create.  It is so big that with a Rousey loss, we may never see a female main event in the UFC ever again.

Jacksonville Jaguars: New Logo Unveiled

Many things needed to change for the Jacksonville Jaguars following their NFL tying worst record in the league.  New Jaguars owner Shad Khan hired a new general manager and a new head coach with the hopes of immediate improvement, and yesterday he took the next step in the rebranding of his franchise by unveiling a new logo for the upcoming season.

The new primary logo stays true to the team’s traditional colors, while featuring a slightly more defined Jaguar.  For comparison reasons I also displayed the previous logo below.

Image Courtesy of: Businessinsider.com

The secondary logo, and my personal favorite, will include a shield featuring the new logo underneath a bold graphic treatment of the nickname “Jags”.  This logo is meant to pay tribute to the military roots of Jacksonville.

Deron Williams: Hires Own Reporters

Image Courtesy of: features.rr.com

Some may say there is never enough good press, and one person that knows this idea very well is Deron Williams of the Brooklyn Nets.  The NBA superstar was recently reported in the Wall Street Journal to have hired his own team of beat writers to cover him and spin stories in a positive light.  Their purpose, states the article, is to spread the gospel of D-Will on his website, DeronWilliams.com.  Why you ask? For several reasons I gather.  The most important being potential money from corporate endorsers.  Here’s how it works.  Deron Williams hires reporters and writers to create stories about his career as it happens.  The news articles are made to read more like newspaper stories rather than just an athlete writing on a blog or something, and they’re actually pretty good!  These stories are then published on his interactive website, www.DeronWilliams.com, with other Williams features and photos galleries.  Thus, creating a positive working portfolio for him and his agency, Excel Sports Management, to present to potential marketers. 

This isn’t entirely a new idea.  Most star athletes take to Twitter to connect to their fan base, but superstars such as Kobe Bryant have been known to hire their own press from time to time.  In fact, Athlete Interactive, the company that runs Williams’ site, publishes online sites for about 22 athletes, many of them Excel clients.  President of Athlete Interactive, David Neiman, said one of his goals is to help these athletes "maximize their financial opportunities"—or at least prevent them from doing stupid things that wind up costing them money."You can explain to them how to do it in a way so they're not shooting themselves in the foot," said Neiman.

Notre Dame: To Receive Highest BCS Bowl Payout

If you tuned in to this weekend’s NCAA college football games you witnessed some pretty exciting matchups. Being the final week of regular season play, many of the game results will end up having championship implications. No win was bigger on Saturday than that of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The 22-13 victory over Southern California capped the Irish’s first unbeaten season since 1988. With most seniors usually being around 22 or 23 years old, I would venture to say many, if not all, of the Notre Dame roster was not alive back in 1988. Outside of Ohio State, who is banned from postseason play this year, Notre Dame is the only undefeated team, so they will be heading to the BCS National Championship game in January to likely face the winner of the SEC Championship.

Image Courtesy of: Voxxi.com

So what does this mean in terms of BCS bowl payouts? Well every football program in the nation is trying to get their teams in the hunt for a spot in a BCS bowl game because of the huge BCS bowl payouts those promoters and sponsors pay to the schools. If you are unfamiliar with the four BCS bowl games, they are the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. Then of course the top two ranked teams play in the BCS National Championship.  Most teams who reach these games receive over $23 million just to participate. Notre Dame, however, is a little bit different because they do not play in any BCS conference, such as the SEC, ACC, PAC-12, or otherwise. Notre Dame is an independent, and because of this status they are only to receive $6.2 million for their participation this year. Now, if you are thinking this is an unfair take for the Irish you’ll soon see why its not. 

In-Game Advertising: Let's Get Political

Today advertisers are doing everything they can to get in front of the consumers they desire the most. With today being Election Day in America I wanted to take a moment to investigate the advertising we all love to hate, political advertising.  I’m not talking about those pesky negative ads about how much the candidates are trying to end Medicare or raise the deficit.  I’m talking about advertising in video games.  This is not a new idea for this form of media.  In-game advertising or IGA, as it’s commonly referred to, dates back to the late 70's in computer games.  With the decline of commercials watched on television due to TiVo and DVR allowing us to skip breaks between content, video game advertising is on the rise.  Some sources forecast revenue from this advertising to reach $1 Billion by 2014.

Image Courtesy of: IndustryGamers.com 

President Obama has demonstrated how crucial the swing states are in this presidential race by once again enlisting the virtual battlegrounds of the online video game world.  In a recent article it was reported that the Obama campaign would be running ads in popular video game titles from Electronic Arts to include the sports title Madden NFL 13 and Need For Speed.  These ads are aimed at encouraging the gaming demographic to vote.

Blake Griffin: Jordan Brand's Newest Star

Image Courtesy of: Jordan

Yesterday Nike announced that two-time NBA All Star Blake Griffin will be moving from Nike Swoosh Brand, which he signed with during his rookie season in 2009, to Nike Inc.’s Jordan Brand.  We all knew this announcement was just a matter of time when Blake was wearing the Jordan Super.Flys on opening night against the Grizzlies.  Griffin joins teammate Chris Paul, the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and some notable rookies.  Many believe Jordan Brand has recently made moves due to the departure of Dwayne Wade to Chinese shoe brand Li-Ning. 

Michael Jordan recently spoke on the topic via press release:

"We are thrilled that Blake is joining the brand," said Jordan. "Blake has captured the essence of what the brand stands for through his style of play and love for the game of basketball. He is an amazing athlete and person who we look forward to working with for many years."

Interview with Anthony Stevenson: Madden NFL Football

Madden NFL Football is easily one the most popular titles in all of video gaming history.  A lot of that has come from the ever-rising popularity of football in America and another part comes from the creative product managers and marketers who position the game perfectly for the evolving consumer market.  I got a chance to speak with one of the most pivotal people in this product management process, Anthony Stevenson of EA SPORTS in Orlando, Florida.

Hey Wear This (Sports): First and foremost, thank you so much for your time.  Let’s start off by telling me your current industry position/job title at EA SPORTS.

Anthony Stevenson: Director of Marketing.

Image Courtesy of: EA Sports

HWT: How long have you been with EA?

AS: About 6 years.  My first launch was Madden NFL 08.

HWT: So you just had your Madden NFL 13 release about two weeks ago, just out of curiosity how are your sales numbers stacking up compared to previous years?

AS: We’re thrilled with the success of Madden NFL 13 to date.  We’ve broken day 1 and week 1 sales records and smashed previous highs for online usage. Sales are up high single digits vs. last year, which is quite a feat considering the downward industry trends this late in the console cycle.