Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday Quick Hits: Around the Web In 80 Seconds

Taking on Tyson premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on the Animal Channel. In this 6 part series, Mike Tyson takes you through his old neighbourhood (and life) while learning to race homing pigeons. Apparently, pigeon racing exists.  

If you're looking for a Tyson fix, watch (or rewatch), James Toback's Tyson. Brilliant piece.

The NFL has restructured its deal with Electronic Sports to account for an uncertain labor future. The NFL has reduced EA Sports' contractual obligations next season, but has added a year to the deal, which now runs through 2013.

It's believed that the EA Sports deal is among the NFL's top non-TV deals - if not its most lucrative. EA Sports continues to work on the August release of Madden NFL 12. The previous season's game was EA's second best selling game at 5 million units behind FIFA 11.

Sports Illustrated continues to look digital to boost sales of its iconic Swimsuit Issue. SI has projected a 41% increase in revenue, with a big part of the boost coming from digital content. Apart from the iPhone app, which saw 1 million downloads of the issue last, year, SI also looked to the iPad and Android this year.

As part of a change in mind set for the edition that has been around for 57 years, the Swimsuit issue represents about 7% of SI's annual revenue. Newsstand sales of the magazine were at about 925,000 last year, and historically the Swimsuit issue has generated 1 million copies sold.

Bloomberg Sports has signed agreements with 17 MLB clubs for its professional scouting tools. The tool includes trade analysers and draft kits. Teams that use the service include the Royals and Dodgers.

Li Na, who was in the Aussie final this year, has signed a sponsor deal with Haagen-Dazs. Next up for the tennis player is Rolex. With a population of 1.3 billion in China alone, and a potential of some 330 million households able to view the Australian Open women's final on the state network, this makes good sense. At 29, Na must be pleased with the deals as well.

MLB has all 3 major athletic footwear/apparel brands as rights holders: Under Armour, Nike and Reebok.

Another complaint on Super Bowl experience comes from the television networks. Networks use Super Bowl week to entertain clients, such as vendors, cable/satellite providers and advertisers. However, given the weather conditions, the networks have complained that the Cowboys didn't have suitable contingency plans. Question now is when does Dallas see its next Super Bowl.

The Boston Celtics and RE/MAX have launched the 2011 RE/MAX of New England Home Court Program. In year 6, 3 Celtic fans get a driveway makeover complete with a basketball court and a Celtics-themed bedroom. No word if Larry Bird will mow their lawn too.

Houston Astros have completed the installation of their new video board. At 54 feet by 124 feet, it's the fourth biggest in baseball.


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