EB Corporate Blog: June 2014

Thursday, June 26, 2014

How Tiger makes the Ryder Cup team

Tiger Woods is currently No. 67 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

By T.J. Auclair, Senior Interactive Producer

There will be plenty of questions as Tiger Woods returns to golf for the first time since the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral.

We'll add to that list.

Now that he's back, the plot thickens in terms of the possibility of Woods being a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in September. So what does Tiger have to do to qualify for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team?

Let's break it down.

Woods will either need to finish inside the top 9 of the U.S. points standings at the conclusion of the PGA Championship, or he'll have to rely on one of Captain Tom Watson's three picks.

WHERE HE STANDS NOW: Woods is currently No. 67 in the latest U.S. Ryder Cup team standings with 763.542 points. That's a whopping 2,368.49 points behind Patrick Reed, who currently occupies the ninth and final automatic spot.

THE MAGIC NUMBER: 4,637 points. At least that's the magic number according to PGA President Ted Bishop, who Captain Tom Watson is calling his "stats guru."

In a Captain's blog earlier this year, Watson wrote: "Ted Bishop, the President of the PGA, is our statistician and he's calculated it's going to take 4,637 points to be in the top 9 to get on the team. Who knows what the points are going to be but nobody's really gotten up to that level. I trust that Ted's pretty accurate as far as what that point level's going to be to make the team."

Note: Four players have already eclipsed this total. Bubba Watson, Jimmy Walker, Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar.

WHERE WILL TIGER PLAY?: Even in his return, it's only likely that Woods -- provided there are no setbacks -- will play in just four events between now and when points close.

However, points are worth double at the majors, in which we anticipate Woods will play in two.

Here is the projected, educated guess (based on history and results) at Tiger's likely schedule through the PGA Championship.

- Quicken Loans National, June 25-29, Congressional CC
Though we shouldn't expect a whole lot from Woods in his first competitive rounds since returning, don't be shocked if he plays well either. Woods won at the course in 2009 and again in 2012. Aside from being the host of the tournament, a return here makes sense for Woods because of his comfort level with the course. POINTS: A 25th-place finish here would earn Tiger roughly 65 points, give or take, depending on ties. A win would earn him 1,170 points.

- Open Championship, July 17-20, Royal Liverpool
Many thought this is where Woods would make his return -- even though returning at a major seems a bit crazy. Woods put on a clinic at this venue in 2006. He finished at 18-under par, two clear of runner-up Chris DiMarco, and captured his 11th major title overall. The win was his second consecutive Open Championship title and third overall. It was also Woods' first major tournament win since the death of his father, Earl Woods, that May. Woods lives for the majors. He's four away from matching the record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus and you can bet it stings Woods to have already missed the first two this year. He practically hit irons all week at Royal Liverpool in 2006, and we can probably expect much of the same this time around. POINTS: A 25th-place finish here would earn Tiger roughly 120 points depending on ties. A win would earn him just shy of 2,900 points.

- World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, July 31-August 3, Firestone CC
Woods will have had a healthy two-week break after the Open Championship before this event. And, again, he's got to love the venue. He's won at Firestone eight times in his career. This year, he's again the defending champion. POINTS: A 25th-place finish here would earn Tiger roughly 75 points depending on ties. A win would earn him 1,530.

- PGA Championship, August 7-10, Valhalla GC
The season's final major -- and final opportunity to accumulate Ryder Cup points -- comes at a place where Woods has been victorious in the past. He won a playoff over Bob May in the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla -- his third consecutive major win at the time and the third leg of the "Tiger Slam," which consisted of the 2000 U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship and 2001 Masters. POINTS: A 25th-place finish here would earn Tiger roughly 120 points depending on ties. A win would earn him just shy of 2,900 points.

CAN WOODS MAKE IT ON POINTS?: Who's going to tell Tiger Woods he can't do something? Of course he could make it on points, but it isn't likely. A win at one of the remaining majors will be worth just shy of 2,900 points. That coupled with a top 10 in the other major and a second-place finish at Quicken Loans or WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and he's well on his way to Bishop's estimated total. Even if he doesn't win one of those majors, a strong finish will go a long way in the standings. For instance, if Woods were to finish 25th this week, 10th in the two majors and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, he'd accumulate approximately 920 points to move to approximately 1,683 points which would be 31st on the current list. To make the team on points, however, Woods is going to need to win at least one major and have a very high finish in the other.

IF HE DOESN'T MAKE IT ON POINTS, WILL HE BE A CAPTAIN'S PICK?: The only time in his career that Tiger Woods has been a Captain's pick came in 2010. Then Captain Corey Pavin took Woods, who didn't make his first start of the 2010 season until the Masters after recovering from knee surgery at the end of 2009.

If Woods doesn't make the team on points, but is inside the top 20 of the standings, it's hard to imagine Watson not giving him a good, hard look. After all, he's Tiger Woods.

However, if he's outside of the top 20 come August 10, I believe Woods will have to show Watson he wants to be on the team. What does that mean? Well, a couple of things. If Woods has played well enough to make the FedExCup Playoffs, then get a high finish in the Barclays or the Deutsche Bank Championship (the last tournament before Watson makes his picks in September).

If Woods is projected to be out of the playoffs before the start of the PGA Championship, he might want to think about committing to the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., the following week. That's certainly not likely, but if Woods were to make that commitment, it would clearly say, "I'm playing because I want to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team."

CONCLUSION: Woods has a steep hill to climb if he's going to make the team on points. If at the end of the PGA Championship he's inside the top 20 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings though, I can't envision a scenario -- unless he's hurt -- where Captain Watson doesn't add him to the team.

Making it on points? It's not impossible, but it's also not likely. My guess is Woods will need to prove to Watson he's worthy of a pick.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Real Reason The Big Ten Added Maryland and Rutgers – Survival

Slow population growth throughout the Midwest is threatening the Big Ten talent pipeline and fan base.

Brian Cook lives in Ann Arbor and is the founder of the popular Michigan fan site MGoBlog.com, yet he's in no rush to drive the two miles from his house to the Big House this season. The Wolverines' home conference schedule consists of four teams -- Minnesota, Penn State, Indiana and newcomer Maryland -- that failed to crack the final top 50 of the Sagarin ratings last season. Michigan has been sending emails pleading with fans to renew their season tickets. "It seems like they keep pushing and pushing to see what our breaking point is," Cook says of the conferences's power brokers. "They keep doing things they know people will hate."

It has been 19 months since the nation's oldest conference stunned both its fans and the industry by extending invites to football afterthoughts Maryland and Rutgers. As their July 1 arrival draws near, Big Ten commissioner and South Orange, N.J., native Jim Delany has been building bridges to the East. In May he held press conferences on consecutive days in New York City and Washington, first to trumpet a new basketball series with the Big East starting in 2015, then to announce that the conference tournament -- always held in Indianapolis or Chicago -- will relocate to D.C. in 2017. The Chicago-based conference has opened a second office in Manhattan. "We're a two-region conference now," he says. "We're not going to visit the East. We're going to live in the East."

That doesn't sit well with many folks back in the Midwest. "What an absolute slap in the face to all the people who support Big Ten athletics," one Michigan fan tweeted about the basketball tournament move.

Nearly a quarter century has passed since Delany, 66, roiled traditionalists and set off a generation of conference shuffling with the then revolutionary addition of Penn State. He engendered skepticism again in 2007 when he launched the Big Ten Network, the first conference television channel. But the incorporation of Maryland and Rutgers is both the boldest and most divisive initiative of his 25-year tenure. On the one hand, this expansion could yield lucrative cable subscriber fees and open new recruiting territory. On the other, it could alienate the existing fan base and further dilute an already struggling football league. "The Big Ten brand has not atrophied, but you can argue that other brands, like the SEC, have accelerated past it," said David Carter, executive director of USC's Sports Business Institute. "If you don't do something, you're in trouble." Delany is betting that something is a pair of institutions light on football cachet and heavy on potential.

Maryland and Rutgers went a combined 13-13 last season. The Terrapins last finished in the AP top 10 in 1976; the Scarlet Knights never have. "Ohio State fans in particular are sick of having to defend the league after winning 24 straight [2012 and '13] and still not getting the respect it deserves," said Luke Zimmermann, founder of the Buckeyes blog Land Grant Holy Land. "This is not in their mind anything more than adding another Indiana or Purdue."

To which Delany says, "That's not a compelling comment to me. If the standard for expansion is you have to bring in Nebraska or Penn State, no one's ever going to expand. There's only a couple of those out there." In his vision Rutgers and Maryland will soon develop into big-time football programs in large part because big-time football is now coming to them. Season-ticket sales are up 25% at each school mainly because Rutgers is now hosting Penn State and Michigan instead of Cincinnati and South Florida, while Maryland's last ACC home game was against Boston College but its first Big Ten visitor will be Ohio State. Nearly a half-million Big Ten alums live from New York to Virginia, and the two newcomers will add a half-million more in that area.

Most of all, Delany believes the conference had no choice. As the Big Ten's population moves South and West, the conference's base is rapidly shrinking: Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa all rank among the 12 states with the smallest projected growth from 2000 to '30. Meanwhile, between June '10, when Nebraska joined the Big Ten and Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-12, and the Maryland and Rutgers announcements in November '12, the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri, and most important, the ACC delivered a death knell to the Big East, poaching Syracuse, Pittsburgh and, as a partial member, Delany's long-coveted target, Notre Dame. The Big Ten, which had long claimed the most populous footprint of any conference, suddenly ranked a distant third. And with Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame, the ACC had moved directly into the neighborhood. A still unfolding lawsuit filed last year by Maryland against the ACC over the league's $52 million exit fee claims that representatives from two ACC schools, acting on the conference's behalf, contacted two Big Ten schools about joining. "That's when it changed," says Delany. "Once people start getting on our doorstep and calling our institutions, then I think it's important to be able to be offensive and defensive. We came to the conclusion there was more risk in sitting still than there was in exploring other opportunities."

*****

On a late March morning Julie Hermann takes a seat in a meeting room at The Hale Center, Rutgers's football facility. Hermann arrived from Louisville after basketball coach Mike Rice was fired and AD Tim Pernetti left after video of Rice berating, throwing balls at and kicking his players surfaced. Since taking over she's had to deal with the revelation that the new basketball coach, Eddie Jordan, never actually graduated from the university, as well as several self-inflicted controversies arising from her misstatements to the press and brusque manner, damning enough that the Asbury Park Press ran an editorial headlined, RUTGERS ATHLETIC DIRECTOR IS PR NIGHTMARE.

The bigger problem for Hermann is the state of her department's finances. The university had a deficit of $190 million in athletics from 2004-05 through 2011-12, and a staggering $47 million in 2012-13, which is in part due to a variety of one-time expenses. Rutgers will accumulate another $183 million in deficit by 2022, but buoyed by an expected influx of Big Ten cash, the school believes it will be budget-neutral after that. Both Big Ten and school officials tout Rutgers's academic credentials as one of its biggest draws -- it's the only public school in the top 10% of the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate for FBS football programs for the past seven years. As proud as he is of the achievement, school president Robert Barchi concedes the subsidies are "siphoning dollars off from the academic mission." Hermann will need even more money, presumably from private donors, to fulfill her vision of drastically upgrading the Scarlet Knights' long-neglected facilities. "Build, build, build," says Hermann, 50, whose Louisville mentor, AD Tom Jurich, engineered nearly $150 million in facility upgrades during her 15 years there. "If we don't have a crane up, I'm not a happy person."

Rutgers has never played in a New Year's bowl, but former coach Greg Schiano turned the once woeful program into a regular postseason participant, with eight bowl trips in the past nine seasons, including the last two under Schiano's successor, Kyle Flood. At its zenith, Nov. 9, 2006, 8-0 Rutgers, led by running back Ray Rice, knocked off third-ranked 8-0 Louisville 28-25 on a night the Empire State Building was lit in scarlet. Flood is most likely coaching for his job after a disappointing 6-7 finish in 2013 and a disastrous recruiting cycle in which 12 prospects decommitted. But football is a powerhouse compared with men's basketball; Rutgers hasn't reached the NCAA tournament since 1991. In its last game pre-Big Ten, the Knights were humiliated by Louisville 92-31 in the AAC tournament quarterfinals. "As much as that was not fun, I was probably bothered by it the least," says Hermann, "because I know exactly what it takes to be what Louisville is. With the resources and the power of New Jersey, I believe if everyone's all in behind their flagship university, over the next decade this is absolutely the next superstory of college sports." Look closely, and it's possible to see what Hermann's talking about. Rutgers has had success in women's basketball, including two Final Four appearances (2000 and '07) and a win in last year's WNIT, while its wrestling program is on the rise, with two top 25 and one top 10 finish since 2009.

Hertz Delivers The Winning Service For Tennis Stars During Wimbledon

Hertz celebrates 20 years as the official transport supplier to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, offering fans the chance to try out "Winning Service Tips" in special tennis game and win men's finals tickets

LONDON, June 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hertz Corporation (HTZ), the world's largest general use car rental brand, will deliver a championship performance for the 20^th year running by ensuring that Wimbledon tennis stars reach their matches on time. As the official transport supplier for The Wimbledon Tennis Championships Hertz will provide 165 vehicles to chauffeur players and staff over 250,000 miles in 17,000 journeys during the next two weeks.

Michel Taride, Group President, Hertz International, said: "We are thrilled to be celebrating our second decade as the Official Transport Supplier for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. I'd like to thank the hard working drivers and staff who have delivered a winning service year over year, ensuring that players and staff have a smooth and pleasant journey to and from their matches."

As part of the 20^th anniversary celebrations, Hertz will be serving up Winning Service Tips across the billboards at Wimbledon station in association with the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards loyalty program. Fans waiting in The Queue will be able to try out these tips in a tennis serve target game designed by Hertz. Fans simply enter the Hertz tennis gallery situated near the queue to practice their ace, kick and slice serves, taking aim at Wimbledon and Hertz themed targets. The best servers who hit the targets are in with a chance of winning tickets for the men's final next year.

Neil Cunningham, General Manager, Hertz UK, added: "It's a blast engaging with fans through our experiential activity in The Queue, where they can try out our Winning Service Tips for tennis, courtesy of Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. While Wimbledon gives tennis stars the opportunity to lift the gold cup or plate, our loyalty program offers customers a gold rental experience."

Hertz's official fleet transportation during the tournament includes 150 Ford Galaxy and 15 Ford SMax vehicles, as well as two long wheel base vans and 2 executive coaches for VIP transportation.

Wimbledon fans do not need to be at the tournament to be in with a shot of being at the finals next year, as Hertz is also giving one lucky winner the chance to net the pair of tickets by simply tweeting a Wimbledon-inspired picture with the #winningservice. Whether fans are in Wimbledon fancy dress, posing with a summery refreshing drink, or juggling tennis balls, they can simply share their photo with the hashtag and enter the competition.

Additionally, Hertz's Gold Plus Rewards scheme and its benefits will be highlighted on the 24 buses shuttling people between the station and the Club.

World Cup Fever Hits the Ticket Industry

It is Game one of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and all of America is yearning for a ticket to the game. Fans want to stand by their city – bask in the highs and lows, the glory of each home run and strikeout, and even the pain of a heartbreaking loss. Imagine that instead of seven games there is just one game, and instead of a season filled with hundreds of games, there are just a few that occur once every four years. Imagine that your team is not just playing for your city but for the entire country, showing off the qualities of your nation against 31 others in front of billions of viewers; and you have only three games that will be remembered for a lifetime. This is the World Cup. It is a tournament where dreams are fulfilled once every four years, where hearing the national anthem can bring tears to your eyes, and where a fast goal can mean decades of humiliation.

This year, the World Cup has returned to what many pundits call "the spiritual home of soccer"—Brazil. The tournament was last held in Brazil in 1950. During the final match, Brazil lost a heartbreaking final to Uruguay in the Maracanã stadium of Rio de Janeiro. Since that time, Brazil has gone on to conquer five World Cup titles, but has never overcome the disappointment of losing at home. The 2014 FIFA World Cup gives fans from around the world the chance to enjoy the beautiful game, and visit a land that is fast becoming a popular tourist destination. With iconic cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and northern resort towns such as Natal, Recife and Fortaleza, Brazil provides attractions for any taste. This World Cup will take place in twelve cities across the vast landscape of Brazil, including four games in the Amazonian city of Manaus.

With the World Cup taking place in Brazil this year, it is the first time the tournament is being held in North America since 1994 and the first time in South America since 1978. This means that some of the most passionate fútbol fans will have the chance to watch their nation play in person without traversing an ocean. This year, there are six South American countries in the tournament as well as four from North and Central America, and their fans are hungry for a taste of the action that hasn't come this close to home in over a generation.

Due to the massive interest of American fans, scores of ticket brokers from the United States have set their sights on providing tickets for all of the tournament's 64 games, taking place between June 12 and July 13. The primary market for these tickets is controlled entirely by FIFA, the organizing body of international soccer, as tickets were distributed to fans in the form of several lotteries, the last of which occurred in April of 2014. Fans also had the option of purchasing tickets on the secondary ticket market websites, so they could have the experience of being in the stadium to witness their nation's heroes take the field.

In the last month ticket sales have been red hot. Five percent of all GTV and one percent of all orders have been for the World Cup, including orders for nearly every match. People are certainly taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the World Cup in person. The first week of the tournament saw stadiums covered in red for Chile, yellow for Colombia, and blue for Argentina, turning the matches into home games for the South Americans.

Ticket Network founder and CEO, Don Vaccaro, has been pleasantly surprised with customer interest in the World Cup, "We haven't experienced anything like this before for soccer. The World Cup happens only once every four years, in different parts of the world, so a lot can change from one Cup to the next." Proving the international appeal of the event, the exchange has received orders from 28 different countries, with the combined sales from Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru, USA and Colombia accounting for over 80%.

Right from the opening kickoff, Brazil has been invaded by fans of their South American neighbors, all of whom are in a position to advance to the second round of the tournament, which begins Saturday, June 28. With teams starting to secure their advancement, there promise to be many new orders from supporters who want to see their team continue towards the World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro on July 13. In order to provide the most adaptable and safe service to the clients, the majority of brokers have established offices in Brazil where they can process orders and distribute tickets in the form of local pickup. This makes it possible for legions of travelling fans to order and receive tickets in the few days between the Quarterfinal and Semifinal matches, or if they are lucky, leading up to the Final.

We are currently approaching the third set of group stage games which begin on Monday, June 23. In this stage, some countries will be knocked out of the tournament, while others progress to the "Round of 16." As the FIFA World Cup continues, look for excitement to build in all countries that continue their journey toward the 18k gold trophy, and ticket sales to experience a bump with the advancement of each team. Whether your team goes on to win the trophy, or bows out early, history is sure to be written this month in Brazil!

By Brian Salant, SuperIngressos

http://www.ticketnews.com/features/World-Cup-Fever-Hits-the-Ticket-Industry-06-24-14-652

Fowler, Compton make U.S. Ryder Cup moves at U.S. Open

With major championships comes volatility in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, since points count double for American players who make the cut in majors during a Ryder Cup year.

That was no different at the conclusion of the 114th U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 Sunday evening. Rickie Fowler made a strong push for a possible second Ryder Cup appearance with his tie for second at Pinehurst. That helped Fowler jump 11 spots from No. 18 to No. 7.

2014 RYDER CUP: U.S. points standings | How U.S. Points are earned | Team USA | Team Europe

As impressive as that was, it wasn't the biggest leap of the week. That honor belonged to two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, who tied for second with Fowler. Compton soared from No. 59 to No. 19 this week.

Among the top 10, other notable moves included Dustin Johnson who moved from No. 5 to No. 3 with a tie for fourth and Phil Mickelson, who slipped back to No. 10 after a tie for 28th, putting him one spot out of the automatic bids.

Here's a look at the current top 12 (remember, the top nine after the PGA Championship in August automatically qualify, while U.S. Captain Tom Watson will fill out the team with three captain's picks):

1. Bubba Watson
2. Jimmy Walker
3. Dustin Johnson
4. Matt Kuchar
5. Jordan Spieth
6. Jim Furyk
7. Rickie Fowler
8. Jason Dufner
9. Patrick Reed
-----------------------------
10. Phil Mickelson
11. Chris Kirk
12. Zach Johnson

U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson has said a number of times that PGA of America President Ted Bishop has noted the magic number, typically, to be a lock for the team is 4,600 points. If that holds true, it looks as though the U.S. team already has four guaranteed team members in Bubba Watson (6,704.656 points), Jimmy Walker (5,379.505), Dustin Johnson (4,812.202) and Matt Kuchar (4,684.187).

Jordan Spieth (4,422.573) and Jim Furyk (4,302.834) are also closing in on 4,600 points.

Keegan Bradley tied for fourth at the U.S. Open thanks to a final-round, 3-under 67 and moved from No. 21 to No. 17 in the latest standings.

After his round, Bradley admitted that the Ryder Cup points were very much on his mind.

"I'm so pumped," he said. "I was nervous coming down to the end, because there's so many Ryder Cup points on the line here. I was thinking about it. And it's a battle for me because of how bad I want to be on that team. I know that one shot here or there is double points, so it's -- it was nerve wracking. I'm not too worried about the money or the place, [it's about] Ryder Cup points at this point for me."

Beginning this week with the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., there are nine tournaments remaining for American players to gain points. Two of those -- the Open Championship and the PGA Championship -- are worth double points, while the Reno-Tahoe Open is worth one-half point for every $1,000 earned because it is played the same week as the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

By T.J. Auclair

http://www.rydercup.com/usa/news/rickie-fowler-erik-compton-make-us-ryder-cup-moves-us-open/?pga_cid=newsletter

Monday, June 23, 2014

Tiger Woods' return could not come at a better time

http://www.cbssports.com/golf/eye-on-golf/24595049/tiger-woods-return-could-not-come-at-a-better-time

I'll go ahead and say it since nobody else is going to:
This PGA Tour season has sucked.
The US Open was one massive blowout, Phil Mickelson still doesn't have a top 10 finish, and you could argue that the most dramatic thing that's happened all season involved Patrick Reed and a video camera.
Even the second nine on Sunday at the Masters -- as foolproof an event as we have in golf -- was a letdown.
There have been nine first-time winners on tour this season.
That's great for those guys but not great for golf. This is a sport that, like the NBA, is built upon the backs of its stars -- and other than Bubba Watson the American contingent has taken a fat tardy in showing up for the 2013-14 season.
All of this, however, is why it's the perfect time for Tiger Woods to re-introduce himself to the golf world. His return has suddenly made the lull between the US and British Opens must-see TV for golf fans and the rest of the season relevant.
You saw the numbers for the US Open, didn't you? It got a rating that was tripled by soccer. Tripled! By soccer!

Friday, June 20, 2014

Indirect Benefits of Sponsorship

Sponsorship is an integral part of marketing. When deciding on a sponsor,
many factors such as objective, demographic and budget are thoroughly
considered. The overall objective of sponsorship is to increase sales and
using basic marketing strategies, companies can effectively estimate their
expected profit. However, sponsorship is sometimes so effective to a
marketing platform, that it can accumulate indirect benefits as well.
Although not as easy to predict, sponsorships can lead to indirect sales.
One way this happens is when advertisers host executives at sponsored
events. Any sales that accumulated due to that event are usually not
factored in to profit calculations. Companies often neglect or wrongly
estimate this source of revenue.

Indianapolis 500 is Top of Bucket List

In a four-week vote organized by USA Today, readers were asked which sporting event could they attend that would top their bucket list. The results are not surprising. The Indianapolis 500 was ranked at the number one spot. The famous speed race which always takes place on Memorial Day weekend is a fan favorite and a true welcome to summer. With only 300,000 participants each year, tickets are hard to come by and apparently very welcome for any sports fan in your life.
The always patriotic Olympics came second on the list. The Masters holds the reputation as being the hardest ticket in the world to come by and it only made third on the list. Fourth on the list was the most watched television broadcast in the nation; The Super Bowl. The Kentucky Derby landed number five on the list. Even current events couldn’t sway this group of voters as the current FIFA World Cup was ranked at number six. College Football is always popular and tickets to attend the BCS Championship were ranked number seven on readers bucket list. America’s pastime may have been replaced by the need for speed as tickets to the World Series ranked number eight. Number nine would make our Canadian neighbors proud with tickets to witness the Stanley Cup Finals and lastly on our list is the madness that is March Madness with tickets to witness the Final Four game coming in at number ten.