Steven Petrella

The NFL Schedule is being released this week. A few years ago, I worked with an Agile team to match the new NFL schedule to the ticketing system to provide clubs with secondary market insights as they looked to sell direct to customers. Why is this such a big moment to track secondary? 💴 Clubs that manage the secondary market tend to better generate primary revenue 🏈 Clubs can develop a direct promotion strategy to their fans, like allowing their most seasoned fans access first to their site for direct revenue 🆘 Clubs can spot unusual broker activity to identify any breaches of ticketing agreements One interesting takeaway - high ticket interest popped up during the NFL Draft. Some of it was related to Draft tickets, but the majority included searches for tickets. Should NFL clubs have the right to start selling tickets then? #tickets #sportsmarketing

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Roger Goodell continues to try and push for expanding the NFL schedule from 17 to 18 games. It's not surprising he continues to push on this given the potential boosts to league revenue. But, the players have a pretty significant bit of leverage for the next five years. As former agent Joel Corry noted on X, Article 31 of the CBA specifically states that, "The League and/or Clubs shall not increase the number of regular season games per Club to eighteen (18) or more games." The league would have to engage the players in a negotiation to make a change. Side agreements can be negotiated during the term of the CBA (which expires in 2030), but the owners cannot unilaterally impose the schedule change. How much are the owners willing to give up to get the extra game, and what would the players want? If I'm the players, maybe I start with no more franchise (and transition) tag, no more 5th year rookie option, and 3 years needed for free agency instead of 4. Or maybe simply demand a larger percentage of the overall revenue pot. There's a lot of ways to go if the players are willing to put up a fight. #sportsbusiness #nflcba #sportslabor #nflschedule https://lnkd.in/efAt29nR

This is low key one of my favorite recurring tweets: the rundown of Nevada casino winnings each month (David Purdum tweet link in comments). The reason it's my favorite? Regularly seeing penny slots blowing everything else away. It's a reminder that as important as sports betting is, the casino games are always going to be where the big money is. Sports betting is still super interesting, but it helps to keep some of the context in mind. It will be interesting to see how numbers develop for iGaming against online sports betting the rest of this year and into the future. #sportsbetting #sportsbusiness #sportsbiz #igaming #casino

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🏀License Termination for British Basketball League Operator 🏀 The British Basketball Federation (BBF) has suspended the league’s operating company’s license due to financial concerns. This decision raises significant concerns about the league's governance and financial stability moving forward. Key Points: - Operator License Suspension: The BBL's decision to suspend its operator license, signals a pivotal moment for the league and its stakeholders. - Impact on Teams: Teams within the BBL now face uncertainty regarding their operational continuity and future participation in the league. - Governance and Financial Stability: The suspension prompts questions about the league's governance structure and financial health, highlighting challenges that need addressing for sustainable growth and stability. - League Dynamics: This development underscores the complexities and challenges faced by professional basketball leagues in maintaining operational viability and supporting their teams effectively. - Future Outlook: As stakeholders await further developments, including potential resolutions or changes in league management, attention is focused on how this situation will unfold and its implications for the broader British basketball community. For a comprehensive understanding of this significant development and its implications, delve into the full article (link in comments). Follow Global13 to stay informed and engaged with the latest global sports updates. #BritishBasketball #BBL #SportsBusiness Global13

Here are 10 player development questions YOU MUST answer. What are your answers? Listen to podcast here: https://lnkd.in/gGjdJmB9 #PlayerDevelopment #LinkedInSports

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Insights like this are very interesting to me, showcasing plays or tendencies that may be missed when watching a game more casually. Throughout the playoffs, the focus is usually on the star players who make a noticeable impact on a nightly basis. The depth players aren’t recognized to the same extent, but are often a driving force in their team’s success. Here, Sportlogiq’s Mike Kelly focuses on the strong forecheck of the Dallas Stars 4th line and how they did what was necessary to give their team every advantage they could get in the game. It’s always refreshing to hear an analyst relay their findings from the data to viewers in a clear, digestible way that adds value to the panel and shows how teams are able to work to their strengths to give themselves the best chance to win. #nhlplayoffs #analytics #data

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I really enjoyed this interview Mike Hume had with Ben Fawkes about #sportsbetting and the media. They talk about casual bettors, savvy bettors, and sharp bettors. Ben hits the nail on the head with sharp bettors: the kinds of things media is doing are generally not going to be of sufficient value to sharps. They've got their systems and aren't going to find enough value in even a more evolved media offering. The most interesting discussion to me was the talk of the casual bettor. Ben noted that casual bettors are the biggest audience segment but the media market is pretty saturated with existing competition. That is accurate in terms of what people are currently doing. However, that's going to need to change for anybody that is not one of the big dogs. Much of what is currently being done was built for what Google was and not what it is becoming. Search traffic has taken a hit everywhere, and I'm interested in the future of how media outlets serve the casual bettor. I've got some ideas I'm hoping to implement here at Vox Media/SB Nation, as I think there is a big opportunity for someone to get really creative and not do the same old thing that virtually all betting/media partnerships are currently doing. More to come! #sportsbusiness #sportsbiz #sportsmedia #digitalmedia https://lnkd.in/eDACHJvv

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One thing MLS clubs do better than most Build fan communities... Supporter clubs are subgroups of fans, created by fans, typically rallied around a specific cause. Clubs even promote the support groups on their website. Atlanta Untied has six official supporter groups, each with a bit of a different purpose using the team as the connective glue. If you search Atlanta United on Google, "supporter groups" is the second link that comes up. . . . Fans are almost self-segmenting themselves to create their own unique identity, experience, and association with the club. Teams in other leagues have tried to manufacture this concept, but it seems hard to replicate if you don't have fans leading the charge. MLS clubs allowing these groups to be known and associated with the club adds a layer of credibility and develops an even deeper association with the club than if the supporter groups were unofficially tied to the team. What are the best supporter groups in sports you've seen? #fanbuilding #sportsmarketing #sportsbiz

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Soccer ⚽️ has seen growth 📈, however there’s much more work to be done in the U.S. I’d like to challenge the notion that the work is done and we can “rest on our laurels”. I took the average attendence numbers and the average population (including metro areas of the cities where the clubs are present) in Major League Soccer and compared it to the Belgian pro league which ranks #12th in terms of attendance/crowd average in Europe. Soccer in Belgium is rooted deeply in society and has been around much longer, but remember to be the best, u have to compare yourself to better leagues. MLS (🇨🇦 and 🇺🇸) average population: 4.7M (29 teams) with ~23K average attendance Jupiler Pro league average population: 400k (16 teams) with 10.5k average attendance This tells you there’s room for major improvements! Population in MLS is 10x when the attendance is only ~2.2X KAS Eupen has a population of 19k with an average attendance of almost 3k, that is amazing! 🤩 it’s not about 10x 20x here because obviously there’s a seating capacity for stadiums/arenas, however this begs the question of how we sustain the league in a way that attracts viewership on and off the field, but more importantly BUILDS soccer in this country? Remember attracting stars like Messi, Ibrahimovic, Beckham etc… are temporary fixes which temporarily improves attendance/viewership, but what are we doing in terms of true soccer relationships between club-country-community, how do we get soccer in the top 3 sports in the US, youth academies, community engagement? Remember NASL - North American Soccer League also attracted big stars, but clearly that was not enough to build a sustainable league… so what are the lessons learned, what will we do differently for the future of the sport? ⚽️ Royal Belgian Football Association U.S. Soccer Federation https://lnkd.in/esEHbHsb

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Fantastic panel on the SBC Summit North America Player Protection Symposium!! 👏👏👏 Martin Lycka interviewing Mark Hicks Managing Director of NCAA, sharing super interesting insights into how the organization's relationship with sports betting. Hicks defined the "pre-PASPA" and "post-PASPA" lens, and shared fascinating thouguts and insights: * 15 cases of the NCAA gambling-related cases got law enforcement involved since the 50s. * The NCAA hired a social media monitoring company for March Madness, over 4,000 harassment messages were sent to college athletes, and a percentage of these were forwarded to law enforcement agencies. * Female athletes received three times as much more harassment than male. * Many messages were related to betting, but a lot also involve racism, homophobia, threats, etc. * About a million people are involved in the NCAA, half are athletes, and the other hals staff, coaches, etc. * Our job is to protect these people. The RGAA's role is to protect bettors, our role is to protect those that people are betting on. * We have two main pillars: safety and integrity. Thanks again for an amazing panel. A full article coming soon, watch this space!!

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Quick switch for you on your single game buyer calls. 👇 Instead of asking… How many games per YEAR they want to come out to? (The prospect usually says 1-2) Ask How many games per MONTH they’d want to come out to (The prospect usually says 1-2) Now we’ve taken somebody from 1-2 games a year to 6-10 games by just a slight change in our questioning. Let me know if this helps! #LinkedInSports #SportsBiz #Sales

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NHL Schedule Release Stats You *NEED* To Know [h/t Annie-Mai Hodge] 🤝 47% of teams (15 out of 32) had a sponsored schedule release. 📽 60% of these sponsorships (9 out of 15) included video integration. 📸 22% of teams (7 out of 32) opted for no schedule release video. 💯 100% of sponsored schedule releases included a partner’s logo. ✋ 47% of sponsored schedule releases (7 out of 15) included partner tagging. 🎟 40% of sponsorships (6 out of 15) came from the ticketing category (5 from Ticketmaster, 1 from SeatGeek). 💰 40% of sponsorships (6 out of 15) came from the financial or medical categories (3 financial, 3 medical). 🏆 The Carolina Hurricanes take the top spot for their Schedule Release video, shot entirely in a Harris Teeter. It cleverly showcases weekend matchups, sponsored by the grocery store chain, with a fun twist of the Canes "working" there. Honorable Mentions: Chicago Blackhawks x Circa Sports – Guess Who? St. Louis Blues x Ticketmaster – Intern Generates Schedule Using AI Canucks Sports & Entertainment (CSE) – Nuckflix Ottawa Senators Hockey Club – Great Glebe Garage Sale New Jersey Devils – Douglas D. Admin’s Class -- Tomorrow in Sponcon Sports, I’ll be breaking down the NHL and NBA Drafts, exploring why sponsorship isn't as prominent as in the NFL, and sharing my favorite pieces of sponsored content from those events. Link to subscribe in the comments. #sportsbusiness #sportsmarketing #sponsorship

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