Friday, April 18, 2014

How Under Armour scored Spieth

On the same day, in January 2013, that Nike announced its huge deal with Rory McIlroy, Under Armour announced it had signed Jordan Spieth. Spieth didn't get an eighth of the press or the fanfare of Nike and McIlroy, who was doing satellite interviews from Abu Dhabi that day, but Spieth and Under Armour might get the last laugh.

Under Armour is no longer David to Nike's Goliath. The company did $2.3 billion in sales in 2013. And yet, the brand's name and logo tattooed all over Spieth at Augusta National on Sunday comes as somewhat of a surprise.

Under Armour doesn't make golf equipment. It doesn't even make golf shoes. But here it was, completely owning the real estate on the body of the man everyone was watching. Three logos on his hat, three on his shirt ... 12 in all.

Sure, Spieth has other deals, but aside from a Titleist logo on his glove and golf bag and a NetJets logo on the bag as well, no company gets anything visible.

Masters Spots Will Tell IBM’s Story in a New Way

AS a sponsor of the Masters last year, IBM did what most sponsors did and introduced a few new commercials that ran in heavy rotation during the golf tournament. But this year, in the advertising equivalent of a driving range, IBM is teeing up about 50 commercials that will run just once.
To introduce a new campaign, “Made With IBM,” the company dispatched three filmmakers to 17 countries to document its technology in action. About half of the spots, which are 30 or 60 seconds long, feature businesses, public agencies and other IBM customers.


In one spot, for example, a representative from Sky Italia, the satellite television broadcaster, credits tools that collect and analyze social media mentions with helping to gauge subscribers’ favorite shows. In another, a representative from Lindt, the Swiss chocolate company, credits cloud-computing expertise with increasing online sales.

Other spots feature IBM researchers (IBMers, in company parlance) explaining emerging technological solutions, such as how Watson, the cognitive computing system that famously vanquished “Jeopardy!” champions in 2011, is used by oncologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to help choose diagnostic and treatment approaches, and by chefs to develop counterintuitive recipes.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Bubba Watson Vaults into Top 10 on U.S. Ryder Cup Points List

After knocking on victory's door more than a handful of times since his signature win at the 2012 Masters, Bubba Watson finally broke through Sunday at the Northern Trust Open.

And as a result, the big-hitting Watson finds himself knocking on the door of an automatic spot on the 2014 United States Ryder Cup team.

Two weeks after carding a pair of frustrating late bogeys to lose the Phoenix Open, Watson was near-flawless in posting a final-round, 7-under 64 at Riviera to win his fifth PGA Tour title and jump into the top 10 on the Team USA Points Standings.


Now with 2,117.984 points, Watson jumped from 22nd place into the seventh spot, less than 90 points behind Zach Johnson, who did not compete at Riviera.

PGA TOUR Signs Multi-Year U.S. Digital Rights Agreement

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL and VANCOUVER, BCJan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Digital sports video agency SendtoNews and the PGA TOUR today announced an exclusive multi-year rights agreement to distribute digital video to local news sites throughout the U.S.  Beginning with the 2014 Farmers Insurance Open, SendtoNews will distribute tournament highlights, player interviews, commentary and other video content through its digital News Partnership Network™ so that golf fans can access PGA TOUR content via their favorite local news sites.
"The PGA TOUR is one of the world's premier sports brands and we look forward to expanding its digital offering to golf fans across America," said SendtoNews CEO Greg Bobolo.
"As digital consumption of sports content continues to expand, a significant percentage of fans continue to get their information from local news sites," said Luis Goicouria, Vice President of Operations and Business Development for PGA TOUR Digital.  "This new relationship with SendtoNews allows us to expand our brand awareness to these local users, while increasing video consumption for the PGA TOUR."
This agreement will result in digital, broadcast-quality highlights appearing on the websites of hundreds of local newspapers that belong to the digital News Partnership Network™.  Newspapers will now be able to provide their readers with PGA TOUR highlights in a timely fashion, while the PGA TOUR expands its audience through broader distribution of its content.

Friday, December 6, 2013

2014 FIFA World Cup Match Schedule

Match times are currently set to local time, please click here to convert to your time zone. 

visit webpage here


Group A
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
112/06 17:00Sao Paulo Brazil-Croatia
213/06 13:00Natal Mexico-Cameroon
1717/06 16:00Fortaleza Brazil-Mexico
1818/06 15:00Manaus Cameroon-Croatia
3323/06 17:00Brasilia Cameroon-Brazil
3423/06 17:00Recife Croatia-Mexico
Group B
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
313/06 16:00Salvador Spain-Netherlands
413/06 18:00Cuiaba Chile-Australia
1918/06 19:00Rio De Janeiro Spain-Chile
2018/06 13:00Porto Alegre Australia-Netherlands
3523/06 13:00Curitiba Australia-Spain
3623/06 13:00Sao Paulo Netherlands-Chile
Group C
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
514/06 13:00Belo Horizonte Colombia-Greece
614/06 19:00Recife Côte d'Ivoire-Japan
2119/06 13:00Brasilia Colombia-Côte d'Ivoire
2219/06 19:00Natal Japan-Greece
3724/06 16:00Cuiaba Japan-Colombia
3824/06 17:00Fortaleza Greece-Côte d'Ivoire
Group D
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
714/06 16:00Fortaleza Uruguay-Costa Rica
814/06 21:00Manaus England-Italy
2319/06 16:00Sao Paulo Uruguay-England
2420/06 13:00Recife Italy-Costa Rica
3924/06 13:00Natal Italy-Uruguay
4024/06 13:00Belo Horizonte Costa Rica-England
Group E
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
915/06 13:00Brasilia Switzerland-Ecuador
1015/06 16:00Porto Alegre France-Honduras
2520/06 16:00Salvador Switzerland-France
2620/06 19:00Curitiba Honduras-Ecuador
4125/06 16:00Manaus Honduras-Switzerland
4225/06 17:00Rio De Janeiro Ecuador-France
Group F
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
1115/06 19:00Rio De Janeiro Argentina-Bosnia-Herzegovina
1216/06 16:00Curitiba Iran-Nigeria
2721/06 13:00Belo Horizonte Argentina-Iran
2821/06 18:00Cuiaba Nigeria-Bosnia-Herzegovina
4325/06 13:00Porto Alegre Nigeria-Argentina
4425/06 13:00Salvador Bosnia-Herzegovina-Iran
Group G
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
1316/06 13:00Salvador Germany-Portugal
1416/06 19:00Natal Ghana-USA
2921/06 16:00Fortaleza Germany-Ghana
3022/06 15:00Manaus USA-Portugal
4526/06 13:00Recife USA-Germany
4626/06 13:00Brasilia Portugal-Ghana
Group H
MatchDate - TimeVenue Results
1517/06 13:00Belo Horizonte Belgium-Algeria
1617/06 18:00Cuiaba Russia-Korea Republic
3122/06 19:00Rio De Janeiro Belgium-Russia
3222/06 13:00Porto Alegre Korea Republic-Algeria
4726/06 17:00Sao Paulo Korea Republic-Belgium
4826/06 17:00Curitiba Algeria-Russia

Match kick-off times are not officially confirmed and subject to change 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Major League Baseball Franchise Valuations

When the Los Angeles Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion last year, the purchase price — 54 percent more than prevailing estimates — didn't just elevate the fortunes of the team's owners. It raised the valuations of every franchise in Major League Baseball. Bloomberg News spent nine months compiling and analyzing the numbers behind the business, and determined that MLB's 30 teams are worth about 35 percent more on average. Below, a breakdown of how the teams stack up.

Click here to see infographic