Satch...

This letter to Sports Business Journal ran today:

Opinion
Players not to blame for today’s business climate

Published October 22, 2007

I was sitting in my office recently and I thought about the self-serving kind of articles that really come alive when there are NBA player targets seemingly available. The latest article that falls in that category was written in the “Opinion” section of the Sept. 24-30, 2007, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal. Could it have something to do with “those unacceptable players” earning so much money?

Rick Burton, the former commissioner of an Australian National Basketball League, had an opinion regarding Kevin Durant and other past and present high-profile players (Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal) signing contracts for very large shoe contracts. He implied that it would be wonderful if Nike had invested the Durant dollars in the Australian NBL in three countries instead of spending it on Durant. He also commented on the “distance” between NBA players and the community and kids in particular.

There are a number of people who think like Burton, objecting to players receiving the amount of money they get. They will take shots at athletes simply because there is reluctance, on their part, to maybe jeopardize personal progress in the world of athletics by going at the real creators of this big dollar sports world. If there is a group to be scolded by the Burtons of the world, then the focus should be the company presidents, sport commissioners and presidents, team owners, media, parents, union directors, coaches and agents. All of whom are the very mature adults who have helped to create this business climate within the capitalistic society and are employing this system and the young athletes to pay out and make a lot of money.

The adults are making the offers and decisions for, and with, these young athletes who can certainly play the sport but definitely do not know the art of making these kinds of deals. We know that Rick Burton, had the opportunity existed when he was in the same age category and had the talent as many of these players, would have directed the sports product and marketing companies to take the money offered to him and grow pro leagues around the world.

Imagine 20-year-old Kevin Durant with his experience saying no to all of the adult presidents of major companies, commissioners of sport leagues, parents, union executive directors, team owners, media, coaches, agents and all the other fully grown and mature people around him. Can you envision any of us in the “Durant Position” saying no, don’t give me the money. Do something altruistic with it while I spend the majority of my time with the kids. Right!

Tom “Satch” Sanders
Sturbridge, Mass.

Sanders, a former Boston Celtics player and former coach of Harvard University and the Celtics, recently retinred from his post as the vice president and director of the NBA player development.

TL Note: Satch, a colleague of mine for nearly 20-years at the NBA, is a very bright man and very realistic, too. One thing he failed to note in his letter was that Burton is now the CMO for the United States Olympic Committee, having recently accepted the post and resigning from the NBL of Australia (which also serves New Zealand and Singapore - yes, to good to be true - the Singapore Slings).

My take on the situation is that it is not 'all or none.' The adidas, Nike and Reeboks of the world have hard choices and decisions to make with their marketing dollars. Obviously, they studied those choices and made decisions - to sign Kevin Durant and align themselves with his potential rather than sponsor the NBL. Surely the decision by Nike was driven by their Portland based headquarter office, as opposed to a regional influence from Australia where the sports marketing climate dried up after the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Surely Sanders and Burton would both agree that the perfect world would find enough corporate support to fund all types of sports marketing functions. I don't think Burton's concept is realistic, though. The NBL in Australia can't expect the likes of a Nike to drop its USA/NBA based marketing dollars and steer them to become a title sponsor for a league that generates far too little exposure in Australia.

The NBL needs to build a full series of smaller sponsorships and assign sports marketing account executives to each to be sure that the sponsor grows and benefits from the very sponsorship they have invested in. The key areas are no secret. The NBL will need to build out from the base of TV and Radio, gradually building interest and fan support. Each team will need to complement and work together with the NBL's efforts to build those sponsorships as they build their own fan experience in their home arenas. The teams have to 'buy into' a leaguewide sponsorship plan, rather than each operating as its own entity. Then, activate, activate and grow the deal so it is easily renewed. Easy said that done, I admit.

In the shoe category, it is not realistic to work with 'just one' company. It has to be a non-exclusive and wide-ranging programs to include all of the major shoe manufacturers. The NBL needs to run the same playbook that the NBA ran in the '80s.

Also, Burton will now find himself in a completely different position, dealing from the strength that is the USOC. It is a whole new ballgame in terms of seeking sponsorship and marketing dollars.

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By the way - here is Burton's opinion column from back in September: (And trust me, he is 100% wrong about his notion that the likes of a Kevin Durant won't interact with kids. Durant has already done more in a few months than Burton even suggested he would do in HIS CAREER?)

Larger-than-life athletes must come down to earth occasionally

Published September 24, 2007

I was sitting in my office recently wondering about the differences between pro basketball in America and Australia.

The cause? A blogger had reported that Kevin Durant, the ESPN NCAA Player of the Year and the No. 2 pick in the 2007 NBA draft, was debating whether to take $30 million from Nike or $40 million from Adidas to endorse shoes.

As it turned out, Durant reportedly declined a $70 million deal with Adidas and signed a seven-year, $60 million deal with Nike, which would make it one of the largest footwear deals of all time.

In Australia, Nike’s original $30 million would have bought every single National Basketball League team and thereby provided the new owner of the NBL with a league on two continents featuring 13 teams in three countries (Australia, New Zealand and Singapore).

Imagine, 30 years of basketball heritage in markets like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, plus recent entry in markets such as Auckland, Singapore and Gold Coast, all for half the price of one American’s shoes.

That’s amazing, but, hey, Durant is obviously an educated student of what the market will bear. Like M.J., A.I., LeBron, Carmelo, Kobe and Shaq before him, Durant and his agent understood the art of the deal and the art of leverage.

I used to teach at the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center and frequently lectured grad students about economies of scale and return on investment. I’m sure they will be wondering if Nike’s basketball honchos got a good deal and the right leverage. Nike will have to move a lot of shoes and inspire a lot of kids.

Funny thing that concept of inspiration. The player has to perform and the kids have to watch him, and in this day and age, seeing a player in person is pretty rare. That’s another point of difference between the U.S. and Australia.

Down here in the Down Under, all of our NBL players are required to make personal appearances on behalf of the game and work with kids in person.

I wonder how many kids will get within 50 feet of Durant during his NBA career. Our industry mustn’t let the dollars and deals get in the way of bringing the game directly to the kids.

While league commissioners and team CMOs are forced to deal with discussions on content production and data distribution, it will trouble me if, in the digital revolution, we ever lose the chance to create human inspiration in person. Kids still need periodic, even random, contact with their heroes.

Our Web site (www.nbl.com.au) made this issue clear to me when we ran a story noting that the Wollongong Hawks (2001 NBL champs) had kicked off their community programs for this season by holding a successful school holiday clinic at Illawarra Sports High School.

The clinic was for children between the ages of 6 and 13 and was built around games and activities. More than 70 children attended the one-day clinic and received pointers from the Hawks’ Australian players along with American head coach Eric Cooks and his assistant Kevin Brooks.

These professionals, working like modern-day Johnny Appleseeds, were planting the seeds for the game. They participated in skill activities and then signed autographs afterward.

It seemed so refreshing. It seemed to be about the game and getting kids to play ball.

I’m reading Tom Callahan’s wonderful book “Johnny U,” wherein he describes what it was like for people from Baltimore to attend the Colts’ summer training camp in the ’60s and sit on the hillside at Westminster watching Unitas and Raymond Berry stay after practice to work on sideline drills.

From my time working in Wisconsin, I know that Green Bay kids used to carry the helmets of the Packers’ players after Vince Lombardi put Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Fuzzy Thurston, Jerry Kramer and their teammates through their paces.

Callahan captures the very vibe of the era when he writes, “The time was different. The players lived next door to the fans, literally. There wasn’t a financial gulf, a cultural gulf or any other kind of gulf between them. Except for a dozen Sundays a year, the Colts were occupied in the usual and normal pursuits of happiness.”

He follows that by noting, “In an annual visit to every locker room in the league, the Philadelphia-based commissioner of the NFL, DeBenneville ‘Bert’ Bell, emphasized the virtue of community. He told [players] that if you’re going to play professional football in a town, you have to live in that town, really live there. Otherwise, he said, don’t play.”

Yes, I know times have changed, but I hope Durant’s new employers will allow him (or encourage him) to create periodic access with kids, and not just sponsors.

It’s such a whirlwind these days for the NBA players after they are drafted. There are press conferences, photo shoots, grueling practices, dinners with shoe reps and corporate meet-and-greets. It can’t possibly be easy to find time for the kids.

In Australia, the dollars are a lot different. Thankfully, we still have player contracts requiring NBL players to make a significant number of personal appearances and to work with the kids in schools and at local basketball associations.

The NBA has a number of community and social responsibility programs, like “NBA Cares.” And while there are requirements for players to make a number of appearances each season, specific events are not mandatory.

That’s why my hope from a distance is that Durant and his associates find the time to visit with the kids, who are the ultimate keepers of the flame.

Rick Burton is the commissioner of the National Basketball League. On Oct. 1, he will become the chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee.