"Who Dat!"

           This week I had the chance to learn about intellectual property. Intellectual property has four major areas including copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. Trademark infringement is an issue in the sports industry. One incident that occurred last year involved the New Orleans Saints. The NFL sent out cease and desist orders to tee shirt shops in New Orleans for printing “Who Dat” on tee shirts. This is all because the NFL felt that these local tee shirt companies had taken the New Orleans Saints phrase “Who Dat” without permission.

Operations Manager

          

          I had the opportunity to interview Robert (Marshall) Palmer. Robert started his career at the Amway Arena and was promoted twice which led him to his current position as Operations Manager. He is responsible for the new Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The venue is home to Orlando Magic, the Orlando Predators and next year there will be a hockey team added to the venue. The Amway Center also holds concerts and ice shows. The venue was opened in 2010 to replace the old Amway Arena. The new Amway Center is 875,000 feet and features one of the largest high definition scoreboards in a NBA facility.

Cam Newton's Social Media Presence

Cam Newton as most of you know is one of the most successful rookie quarterbacks. He steps up every week and works hard. This week I had the chance to look at Cam Newton’s social media presence. The video below will give you some more insight into Cam Newton’s career and it will also show you my analysis on his social media presence. 

Creative Techniques to Attract Fans

           The current economy in the United States is affecting all Americans. The most recent recession according to the National Bureau of Economic Research started on December 1, 2007 and ended in June 2009. The recession is said to have ended because economic activity increased for two quarters. Even though this is true Americans are still suffering and are unable to spend money like before. This is affecting the sports industry. Some teams have had to shut down while others have to get creative to make sales. I am going to first discuss the current situation for many sports teams, then I will discuss some methods used by teams to increase sales, and finally I will give you my thoughts on what I would do to increase productivity during these tough times.

Fantasy Football

Over the last decade fantasy football has become a growing source of entertainment. Fantasy football allows users to become general managers of their own team. Each owner is able to manage and coach games based around NFL players. Fantasy football started in 1962 and since then has grown to 32 million people in the United States and Canada. Fantasy football has evolved to become one of the most well known fantasy sports over the last decade. In this post I will discuss when and how fantasy football started, current fantasy football information and why this is important.

Bill Winkenbach started a fantasy golf league in the 1950s. Golf was the first sport to have a fantasy league. Owners in this league would draft a team of professional golfers. At the end of the week the owner with the lowest score would win. This was before computers so all fantasy owners would sit down with paper and a pen and keep track of the league. You may be asking what does this have to do with football well it was the golf fantasy league that led Bill Winkenbach, Scott Stirling and Bill Tunnell to create the first fantasy football league in 1962. Bill Winkenbach was the part owner of the Oakland Raiders. He saw the potential for a league that involved football. He teamed up with Scott Stirling the Oakland Tribune columnist and Bill Tunnell public relations for the Oakland Raiders. The first fantasy team they created was called the GOPPL. This was an acronym for the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognostics League. They were able to get others involved. Drafts were held throughout the Oakland area as people continued to keep track of leagues independently.

Mike Oldakowski

This blog so far has been focused on sharing sports news from around the NFL. This post is different in that I am going to talk about an individual that works in the sports industry. I have been exploring various careers within the sports industry. One position that I took an interest in was Athletic Director. I like that the position allows you to be involved with multiple sports for one school. To find out more about the career I was able to shadow and interview Mike Oldakowski. Mike Oldakowski is the Athletic Director for University High School. As the Athletic Director he is responsible for all sports functions that involve University High School. In this post I will first discuss the responsibilities of the job and then I will discuss the benefits and challenges that come with this career.

NFL Week One

The NFL football season began this week. With less time to prepare many anticipated what the first game of the season would bring. There were both highs and lows for teams across the league. There were three players that stuck out due to their performance in week one. The first was Cam Newton and his first game with the Carolina Panthers. Second, Sebastian Janikowski kicked a field goal that would ultimately be the three points that gives the Oakland Raiders a win. Lastly Tom Brady came into week one ready for the fast pace offense that would lead his team to a victory over the Miami Dolphins.

Cam Newton played his first game for Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Many critics were unsure of what Cam Newton could produce. He came out Sunday ready to preform and made an impressive debut. Cam Newton broke Peyton Manning’s record for the most yards in the first game. Peyton had 300 yards his first game and Cam Newton threw an impressive 422 yards. Cam Newton completed 24 of 37 passes for two touchdowns and one interception. He helped his team score on the ground and showed he is a dual threat. Cam Newton certainly remains a work in progress as a passer, but he gave the NFL an indication of what he is capable of. The Carolina Panthers have to be excited that their number one draft pick may give the team the advantage they need to become a winning team.