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."