Why the 2010 FIFA World Cup matters so much

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - It will take some time for most of us to wrap our heads around this, but the 2010 FIFA World Cup -- which wrapped last night in Johannesburg with Spain's 1-0 championship win over the Netherlands -- is the most important modern-era global sports event the world has ever witnessed.

Never has a sports event meant as much, either to a host nation domestically, the hosting continent or to the world around it.

I'm not talking about sport business basics such as ticket sales, which saw more than three million spectators take in the 64 matches at 10 venues around South Africa. It's not about revenue generation, which saw FIFA sell a record $3.3 B US in sponsorships, television and other commercial rights on the strength of the tournament. And it's also not about television grandeur, despite the more than 700 million -- or the equivalent of between four and five Super Bowl audiences -- who would have watched Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas set up Andres Iniesta with the winning marker in extra time or the multiple billions in aggregate audiences the month-long event drew in 215 countries.

I'm talking about sheer economic, political and social significance to South Africa and the rest of the world.

Since winning the rights to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup in 2004, South Africa invested more than 39 billion rand or $5.3 billion in stadia and transportation infrastructure, including upgrades to highways, airports and transit systems. The stadium projects alone generated 66,000 jobs. What South Africa now has in terms of Planes, Trains and Automobiles -- or better still, planes, trains and buses -- is a far cry forward from what it had a half-decade ago.

And you simply cannot build an open country or modern economy without them.

The total direct spend on the World Cup hosting will come in at R55 B or almost $8 B. According to Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions, that will mean a contribution of close to R93 B or $13 B to South Africa's Gross Domestic Product. Most analysts believe the World Cup has accounted for almost half of the country's GDP this year and over the past couple of years as the ramp-up to the event gained steam.

With estimates of more than 400,000 tourists visiting South Africa for the World Cup alone -- and twice that overall -- the impact on tourism in South Africa in particular and Africa in general will be felt for years to come. That kind of public relations, in turn, will improve the media negativity the country has endured for decades.

And that is what makes the 2010 FIFA World Cup such a bellweather among global sports events. It is by no means an instant fix for South Africa nor an elixir for the country's complex economic, political and social problems. What it is, however, is a tremendous opportunity for the country -- and the continent -- to improve its lot on the world stage. It provides a marketing platform like never before to attract the kind of foreign investment -- from Europe and North America as well as existing partners in China and India -- that creates employment and stimulates development.

It will take a decade -- or perhaps a generation -- but that investment will lead to new jobs and those new jobs will lead to better lives for millions of South Africans.

It's that differential impact which makes the 2010 World Cup a more significant event than even the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which were a powerful global showcase for the People's Republic of China. The difference is that China's emergence was already happening and its economic growth was coming anyway.

I'm not so sure the same can be said for a South Africa that is only 16 years removed from apartheid. It is a country that "was not even part of the world less than two decades ago", as a South African here reminded me over the weekend. At so many levels -- public relations, tourism, investment and national, even continental, unity -- the World Cup has changed that forever.

As South Africa in particular and Africa in general gain traction with meaningful investment and development in the decades to come -- and the benefits of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup go beyond businesses in the major cities and trickle down from the small percentage of South Africans who saw immediate economic impact -- remember what opened the country and the continent to the world.

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South Africa 2010 and Vancouver 2010: Similar pre-event lead-ins, divergent post-event legacies

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Beginning with the familiar slogan used by some of the official corporate partners of the 2010 FIFA World Cup -- as in the welcome display used by First National Bank (FNB) at Tambo International Airport -- there are many common storylines between South Africa 2010 and Vancouver 2010, global sports events held four months apart after close to a decade of bidding and development.

At first glance, the South Africa World Cup and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are similarly-sized ventures, at least in terms of operating budgets. Vancouver 2010's operating budget stands at around $1.8 billion. When you add the South Africa local organizing committee's budget of $532 million to FIFA's tournament budget of $1.2 billion, you're pretty close at $1.7 B and change.

They're both huge ticketing machines of similar magnitude, at least when pro-rated. Vancouver 2010 sold about 1.5 million tickets over a two-week Olympic period of events and the month-long South Africa 2010 tournament has surpassed three million spectators at 10 soccer venues with an average capacity of 48,500.

Most important, they're both similarly associated with more than $5 billion in venues and infrastructure.
 
In the case of South Africa, hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup involved construction or renovation of the 10 stadiums, about half of which were built from scratch. That generated 66,000 construction jobs according to the South African government. Also required were significant airport renewal and expansion (especially in Cape Town, Durban and here in Johannesburg) and massive transportation upgrades, including highways and rail.
 
Sound familiar? Vancouver 2010 saw the provincial and federal governments partner on about $600 M of Olympic venues; including the Richmond Oval, Hillcrest Curling Centre, UBC Thunderbird Arena, Whistler Sliding Centre and upgrades to the Pacific Coliseum and what is now Rogers Arena. In terms of infrastructure, Vancouver 2010 helped generate construction of the Canada Line, Sea-to-Sky Highway upgrades and the new Vancouver Convention Centre.   
 
The largely comparable storylines don't end with the economic costs themselves. In the lead-up to both events, critics and doomsayers dominated the news coverage and spin. Skeptics in both countries questioned why monies were being spent on sports toys instead of providing for the homeless, hungry and ill. There was considerable angst over venue construction in both countries, with shared concern over timelines, costs and overruns.
 
In both cases, the years of severe anxiety and negativity turned into palpable pride and positivity by the time both events were a week old.

Of course, we all know both Vancouver 2010's venues and South Africa 2010's stadiums cost much more than originally forecast and both required additional government support to get the jobs done (the full measure of which is still being tallied by the BC government, especially in what it spent off-line). 

Despite all of the similarities, there are differences and the biggest is in what the countries got for their money. While the spend was indeed similar, the return on investment is clearly higher in South Africa than it was in Vancouver.

South Africa 2010's $5 B in venues and infrastructure went a lot further than Vancouver 2010's $5 B. The stadium legacies alone are awe-inspiring and would make any fully-developed country in Europe, Asia and North America proud, including Canada. That, of course, has everything to do with access to and cost of labour in South Africa.
 
Arguably the most glaring difference between the World Cup and the Winter Olympics is the return on monies spent on security. The federal government of Canada rented close to $1 B worth of it at Vancouver 2010. South Africa, meanwhile, invested in the creation of 44,000 new police jobs. They'll stay in place permanently and, according to many South Africans, will serve as the most important legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
 
The ROI advantage to South Africa on venues, infrastructure and security will also likely be joined by a big differential in long-term tourism impact. The impact of Vancouver 2010 on tourism in Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada simply cannot be compared to the impact of the World Cup on tourism for South Africa.
 
In the case of Vancouver, it was already playing from a position of strength as a popular Pacific Gateway city which hosted the world's fair in Expo 86. In the case of South Africa, it was truly a coming out party and hence a much bigger deal in terms of what it means for the country over the next generation.
 
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World Cup tournament structure is the key to its marketing, television and media clout

DURBAN, South Africa - With the final weekend of the 2010 FIFA World Cup now set with three days of lead-in hype having begun moments after Spain's 1-0 semifinal win over Germany here last night, it speaks to how the very structure of the tournament is among its greatest strengths.

Giving pace and flow to a month-long event is not an easy thing to do but that's exactly what the scheduling formula installed for 32 teams in 1998 does.

The first-round or Group stage allows the 32 qualifying nations three matches to prove their place among the top 16 teams in the world. Luck of the draw is the wild card of course and round-robin play theoretically tends to promote the good teams but as this year's World Cup has shown, it can also work as a great equalizer (single knockout would of course be a non-starter after two years of qualifying).

What the Group stage does is give the national soccer federations of the 32 countries involved their two-week payoff of massive television and media exposure for soccer. It also sets the stage for the storylines to come in the final two weeks.

The third week -- actually typically nine days -- spans two weekends and gives us the Round of 16 and quarter-finals. In that tight span, the media and fan focus narrows from the 32 countries of the Group stage to 16 to eight to four.

The fourth and final week is where it all comes together, of course, making the quarter-final round the big cut off. What makes losing in the quarter-finals such a bitter pill to swallow is how big a difference there is there between winning and losing. Losers go home. Winners advance to the final four, are guaranteed two matches and bask in the global media attention of the climax of the quadrennial tournament.

There's nothing like being World Cup champion; the winner truly gets the spoils. But there's also a sense of tidiness that comes from the ranking of #1 through #4 at the top of the chart of 32 qualifying nations.

It's the perfect Saturday-Sunday one-two punch ending to the world's greatest single sport event and it's part of what helps make it the television, media and marketing juggernaut it is.

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Adidas understands the rule of leverage and activation in sport sponsorship

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Adidas does tennis, golf, rugby, cricket, basketball and even European hockey. Its sister brand Reebok now gives it strong profile in North American football and hockey. But the German multinational has always been most defined by its roots in soccer.

It will bend to its competitors in other sports but in soccer, it is staunchly committed to never breaking against Nike, Nike-owned UMBRO and Puma.

That explains why Adidas will always do soccer "full out". It will never fall short when it comes to marketing soccer and its three stripes to the world. Adidas is not the world's largest soccer company -- and #2 shoe company across all sports -- by accident.

Its status as a multi-billion dollar brand has been finely-honed through a global marketing strategy featuring the full gamut of international, national and local deals across the full spectrum of advertising, television, internet, event and team sponsorships, personal endorsements, community investment and public relations.

There's no better example of that than Adidas' multilevel marketing around soccer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

As a FIFA global partner, it has event exclusivity at the World Cup (and at the regional levels of UEFA, Conmebol, Concacaf, Africa and Asia). But it understands that event sponsorship typically delivers little more than signage and macro-level brand awareness. To make the most of its sponsorship investments, it gets that it needs to leverage its sponsorship with television and other advertising, engage customers through personal endorsements and activate by promoting and activating at the retail level.

The Star Wars-themed campaign, The Quest, is all about that: personally-leveraging its FIFA and World Cup sponsorships and activating sales on the strength of its personal endorsements. The Quest is about engaging fans through their personal connections with players such as Lionel Messi of Argentina, Kaka of Brazil, David Villa of Spain, Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany and 18 other top internationals. Produced in association with George Lucas and Lucasfilm, its also about appealing to an audience outside of hard-core soccer, absolutely essential in building a brand and generating new sales.

What Adidas has invested in leveraging and activating its sponsorship rights in soccer will be considerably more than the sponsorships themselves. And by doing that, it is more likely to see a return on its massive World Cup investment and continue to grow on the world stage.

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Is Nike's "Write the Future" really this World Cup's Sports Illustrated cover jinx?

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Nike would suggest its Write the Future video campaign has been everything it set out to be -- creating a buzz on the Internet and in social media circles from its launch in May -- but that hasn't stopped pundits from suggesting it is the Sports Illustrated cover jinx of this 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The talk is easy because every one of the primary players featured in Write the Future is out of action at the World Cup as the final four nations line up for their semifinals in Cape Town tonight (overwhelming local favourite Holland, ranked fourth in the FIFA world rankings, against cinderella Uruguay, #16) and Durban Wednesday (#2 ranked Spain and #6 Germany).

With Didier Drogba of Cote d'Ivoire, Franck Ribery of France and Fabio Cannavaro of Italy (all in the Group Stage) and Tim Howard and Landon Donovan of the US, Wayne Rooney of England and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (all in the Round of 16) on the sidelines after just 18 of 30 days of play, there's no doubt Nike's Write the Future could have benefitted from at least one or two of its heroes reaching the global media platform that is the final week of the World Cup, with at least two matches guaranteed for those four surviving teams.

Only Write the Future's Spanish stars -- Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas -- are left standing in South Africa. Patrice Evra of France and Brazilian Thiago Silva had minor roles in the Internet campaign while Ronaldhino of Brazil and Theo Walcott of England did not even make the cut of their respective national teams (cursed before they even started?).

Upon further video review -- so to speak -- like any company marketing personal endorsements and guest spots, Nike was only playing the averages. Three of 14 Nike-sponsored athletes making the last week of the World Cup is 21.4%, actually not bad when one considers they had about 960 players to choose from going into South Africa and only 120 -- or 12.5% -- are still in contention for the big prize.

It's true the Spaniards giving Nike its one-fifth success rate to date were secondary to the starring roles played by the Drogbas, Rooneys and Ronaldos in Write the Future and it's also true that Spanish success means more to Adidas, which holds that country's national team shirt and gear rights.

Yet Adidas' own campaign, The Quest, has similar numbers, with four of its 22 players -- or 18.1% -- reaching the final four. It's just under 20% in success rate if you don't include the injured Michael Ballack of Germany, originally cast as one of Adidas' big three alongside Argentine superstar Lionel Messi and Kaka of Brazil.

Like Nike, Adidas saw many of its personal endorsements fall in the Group stage (including Yoann Gourcoff of France, Daniele de Rossi of Italy, Stanislav Sestak of Slovakia and Zlatko Dedic of Slovenia) and Round of 16 (Shunsuke Nakamura of Japan, Jozy Altidore of the US and Steven Gerrard of England).

Their big gun Messi -- understandably the front man among active players in The Quest campaign -- made it to the quarter-finals, leaving Adidas with strong vested interests in Germany and Spain in general and Bastian Schweinsteiger and David Villa in particular. Nike has more to gain with the Dutch advancing to the final, but Adidas will be pleased to see Surinamese-born Holland star Eljero Elia there as well, along with Adidas-endorsed Diego Forlan, who plays for Puma-sponsored Uruguay and has been an absolute stud in South Africa.

The bottom line is that any personal endorsement campaign carries performance risk. But Write the Future is no more a Sports Illustrated jinx than is The Quest. At least technically-speaking, in the 20% ballpark, they've actually both outperformed the law of averages that has only 12.5% of this World Cup's original rosters living to see the light of the final week.

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Brazil's quarter-final loss at the World Cup hurts both Nike and Adidas in the footwear wars

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Some of the best sport business storylines at mega events such as the biggest of them all, the FIFA World Cup, revolve around the marketing wars being fought out among many of the planet's most powerful brands.

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, there is arguably no more expensive battle - with no stakes higher - than in the shoe and apparel category.

It's on that front where both Adidas (the FIFA Global Partner, official World Cup event sponsor and official supplier to 12 of the 32 national teams in South Africa) and Nike (the sponsor of world #1 Brazil and eight other countries) have invested hundreds of millions in sponsorships, endorsements, television advertising, internet campaigns and retail activation.

Adidas spent $200 M US on the FIFA World Cup sponsorship alone, another $100 M US on national team rights and what I'd estimate as another $300 M or more in advertising. Between the two footwear giants, they're spending in the range of $1 B US in total marketing around their event campaigns.

Throw in Nike-owned UMBRO and its England sponsorship, along with Puma and its sponsorship of seven national teams -- including four African entries -- and the shoe wars are big business well into 10 figures.

Nike -- which leads the overall shoe business market share sweepstakes with around 38% to Adidas' 34% -- struck first and hard with its Write the Future video campaign while Adidas countered a few weeks closer to the month-long tournament with its Star Wars-themed hero series entitled The Quest.

They've both had wins and losses along the way but it would appear Nike's advertising investment has run the shorter course with every one of the primary individual players featured in Write the Future out of action at the World Cup...with the event's biggest week still to come.

When Brazil fell 2-1 in Friday's quarter-final against the Netherlands, both Nike and Adidas shared the grief. That's because Nike supplies the Brazilian national team, while Adidas sponsors one if its biggest stars; Kaka, a headliner in its global campaign around the World Cup.

Nike loses more directly as its marquee team is out before the final week for the second consecutive World Cup. The only consolation for the U.S. company is that Brazil's loss came at the hands of The Netherlands, with the Oranje also wearing Nike and giving the Swoosh one team in the final four (alongside Germany and Spain of Adidas and Uruguay of Puma).

Yet on the Brazil loss, Adidas is not unscathed, partly because it gives Nike a stronger European foothold in the Oranje. Adidas is hurt with The Quest star Kaka out and because its official World Cup presence and television signage could very well be seen by less eyeballs worldwide. Brazil draws more than just Brazilians to the World Cup party and what hurts World Cup ratings hurts Adidas as an official FIFA partner.

It's an interesting case study around sponsoring giants. Brazil is the world's #1 soccer team and as such, has the cache - both collectively and through its individual players - to attract more than one global brand in any one category.

When such a giant falls, it falls hard...and in a case like this, the giant takes more than one sponsor with it.

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Stepping into the world of soccer

In what I remember to be only the third Canada Day which I haven't spent in either Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver, I've stepped off the North American continent and into the world of soccer.

En route to Cape Town, South Africa, for a special edition of The Sport Market on TEAM 1040 and teamradio.ca this Saturday, July 3rd, I don't have to be more than half my way there to already understand how big that world of soccer really is...and how front and centre soccer is pretty well everywhere but in the North America we share with the United States.

I saw it in my stopover at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, which like much of the Netherlands is painted orange during the month-long global party known as the 2010 FIFA World Cup. There are images of Dutch star Arjen Robben everywhere as the Dutch prepare to face Brazil in what should be an oustanding quarter-final match at Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth tomorrow night. 

I saw it yesterday on Emirates flight #146, where in-flight entertainment options included Round of 16 matches featuring Paraguay-Japan and Spain-Portugal. Of course, the official airline of the World Cup was also promoting its sponsorship with FIFA logos on its in-flight magazine and in departure lounges.

Yet I saw it more than I expected when that Boeing 777 landed at 12:15 a.m. Dubai time for an early start to my Canada Day.

I'm more than familiar with how the United Arab Emirates is striving to define its place on the world stage by working to host big events in big venues with big ambitions, in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It's a big sport business story, slowed somewhat by the global economic recession and debt crunch of the past two years, but certainly far from stopped.

I get the emerging connection between this part of the world and soccer through Manchester City of the Barclays English Premier League, given ownership of that club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi. I understand that's why a new annual scholarship program for four Emirati players to train at City is front page news in The National, the newspaper published by Abu Dhabi Media Company. It's no surprise that full page tabloid space is accorded the upcoming transfer of Spanish national David Silva from Valencia to none other than Sheikh Mansour's Manchester City.

I was surprised, however, to see the extent of attention today in Dubai on what was happening this historic month in South Africa.

It's one thing to see it loud and proud in Amsterdam, where the Dutch are not only among the 32 nations to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, they're living up to their contender status by reaching the fever pitch of the quarter-finals. The UAE nor any other Arab nation made it to South Africa. Despite that, it is everywhere here, from hotel bars and restaurants theming their menus around the teams du jour to video boards with result updates and airport signage promoting Dubai's own World Cup bid for 2022.

It's just a valuable reminder about the weight the global game carries. It has always played sports king in Europe, but it is also the prevailing national passion in South America, Africa and increasingly so in Asia. It is in the top three in Australia and Oceania alongside rugby and cricket.

It is only in North America where it does not hold that kind of podium status outside of those with strong connections to soccer through their heritage and roots elsewhere...and that's true in both the U.S. and Canada.

Nothing will challenge hockey as the sport which most defines us, at least for this generation and likely the next and the next after that. Same goes for the U.S. and the sport culture it has built around football, baseball and basketball.

What stands out to me on this Canada Day 2010, however, is that two things are clearly happening: Canada is becoming a bigger place through immigration and the status of cities such as Vancouver as Pacific Gateways and the world is becoming a smaller place through technology, internet and social media.

With those trends, the global game has made -- and is making -- inroads in both Canada and the U.S. and I believe it will continue to gain traction among future generations of Canadians and Americans. Without the club system inherent in Europe, it will be baby steps, but steps nonetheless to share in the global currency that is soccer.

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Tonight's Stanley Cup completes a remarkable sport business turnaround for Chicago Blackhawks

When they began to serve notice they were on the rise and we saw the Chicago Blackhawks as one of the top-10 sport business stories of 2008, we noted that “new owner Rocky Wirtz understands spending money to make money is the way it works in the sport business and the way most successful franchises stay sustainable for the long-term.”

Tonight as they celebrate their first Stanley Cup in 49 years, the Blackhawks stand as a classic case study of a turnaround made possible by aligning ownership with both hockey operations and business operations and firing on all cylinders on the marketing front.

Rocky Wirtz understood what was required and pressed the button on hiring new Blackhawks president John McDonough in the fall of 2007. Just over a year later, the Blackhawks used the NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Day 2009 -- playing at iconic Wrigley Field -- as a metaphor for McDonough's approach to promoting your product and making it as accessible as possible.

They were still 18 months away from tonight's Stanley Cup victory, but the revitalized Blackhawks were an Original Six franchise that mattered again to Chicago and to the NHL.

We rated them as the hottest sport property in North America in Champions of The Sport Market 2008 and watched last fall as they confirmed their status as the fastest-growing hockey business in North America when they made a big move on Forbes Magazine's list of 2009 NHL franchise valuations.

Forbes valued the Blackhawks at $258 million U.S. in October, seventh among the 30 franchises in the NHL. No franchise increased in value more than the 26% bump enjoyed by Chicago, which climbed seven places from #14 the previous year; leapfrogging ahead of the Vancouver Canucks, whom they eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs each of the past two years.

There is no denying the engine of their make-over is winning talent; thanks to the work done by previous Blackhawks' general manager Dale Tallon and his successor Stan Bowman and epitomized by players such as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.

Yet equally clear is that the team's increased equity comes on the strength of the one-two punch of a better product and better marketing.

Bulls and Bears blog May 5th: http://thesportmarket.blogspot.com/2010/05/nhls-chicago-blackhawks-represent.html

The remarkable rise of the Blackhawks has been fuelled largely by a tremendous turnaround in ticket and sponsorship sales, which in turn has been supported by a new television strategy to repatriate and promote the Blackhawks brand throughout Illinois.

The Blackhawks gained 20 new corporate sponsors under the leadership of McDonough and the ownership of Rocky Wirtz, the son of the former owner, the late Bill Wirtz. Sponsorship quadrupled and season ticket sales tripled. As a result, the Blackhawks rose to the top of the league in attendance, rocking the United Center – the largest arena in the NHL -- and making it live up to its name as the Madhouse on Madison.

That in itself is an amazing turnaround from their second-to-last status in league attendance four years ago. Chicago has jumped from 29th among 30 clubs in 2007 to 19th in 2008 and first overall in the two seasons since then.

Rarely in the business of sport has a professional sport franchise gone so rapidly from such a lowly status both on and off the field of play, to a perch this high as one of the league leaders in business operations and, as of tonight, its overall champion.

Their "One Goal" slogan, a solid marketing mantra since 2008, has been reached, very effectively and ever so efficiently. The bottom-to-top turnaround: less than five years.

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NHL shows gains but NBA still wins 2010 television sweepstakes

Having game 5 of the NHL's 2010 Stanley Cup finals go up against game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday night might have been unfortunate scheduling for both leagues and their fans but it did offer up a great chance to compare hockey apples with basketball oranges, so to speak, when it comes to television drawing power in North America.

Among the findings that stick with me are that NBA basketball is almost as popular among Americans as NHL hockey is to Canadians, at least when it comes to this spring's match-ups between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals and the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup.

The head-to-head showdown showed that on a per capita basis, Canadians are this year 5.75 times as likely to watch Stanley Cup championship hockey than those living south of the border. It also demonstrated that Americans outwatch -- again per capita -- Canadians by 5.43 to 1 when it comes to NBA Finals basketball.

On this given Sunday, the NHL outscored the NBA on Canadian television by a 13:1 margin. In the U.S., however, the NBA beat the NHL by a ratio of 2.66:1 (approaching threefold). Hoops also won the continental battle by a margin of almost 60 per cent, with 16.0 million North Americans watching the Celtics beat the Lakers and 9.7 million tuning in to see Chicago move to within one game of its first Stanley Cup in 49 years (which the Blackhawks clinched in overtime tonight to win in six games).

The television scorecard Sunday looked like this...

                               NBA                              NHL
                               LA/Boston                                Chicago/Philadelphia
                               Game 2                                     Game 5


North America      16.0 million viewers         9.7 million viewers


United States        15.7 million viewers         5.9 million viewers
                              ESPN on ABC                             NBC

Canada                  291 thousand viewers     3.8 million viewers
                              TSN                                            CBC/RDS

The head-to-head comparison is particularly interesting in the U.S., where four of the top eight television markets in the country are directly engaged in the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals. This year's NHL and NBA championship series span the second-largest media market in the country, LA (5.7 million television households), #3 Chicago (3.5 million) and #4 Philadelphia (2.9 million), along with #8 Boston (2.4 million).

Sunday continued to show how heavily the NHL relies on the strength of its local markets when it comes to U.S. television ratings, with more than a third of those Americans tuning into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final coming from either champion Chicago (where local market shares hit 40%) or Philly (almost 30%).

The New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls could theoretically drive larger combined local audiences if they found a way to return to the NBA Finals, but for ESPN on ABC, there is no stronger match-up in terms of national television interest than the NBA's two heritage brands, the Celtics and Lakers.

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NHL needs destination television in the U.S. for its Stanley Cup showcase

darrenrovell1: R-A-T-I-N-G-S. Spelling Bee beats game 4 of Stanley Cup Final -- 4M to 3.1M viewers (From sport business reporter Darren Rovell of CNBC June 7th on Twitter.com comparing Saturday's Scripps national spelling competition on ABC with Friday's NHL championship game on cable carrier Versus).

The National Hockey League would be well-served by a simple goal when it sits down to negotiate its next U.S. broadcasting contracts, either with current rightsholders NBC and Versus or some other combination of incumbents, newcomers or returning partners.

The "One Goal" -- to borrow the simple marketing slogan of the Chicago Blackhawks -- should be to ensure its Stanley Cup finals are carried by one network, from start to finish. Its priority should be to deliver destination television to better serve its existing fans and help lure new ones.

As it stands, the NHL is alone among the major professional sports leagues in North America in relegating even one game in its ultimate championship series to cable television alone.

Granted, the environment is changing and cable juggernauts such as ESPN are outbidding networks on a variety of fronts -- including varsity sports -- and they do so on the strength of dual revenue streams (advertising and subscription fees) and the quality of their all-sports audience demographics.

Yet only CBS, FOX and NBC are in the discussion for the NFL's conference championships and the game's greatest showcase, the Super Bowl. FOX is the exclusive custodian of Major League Baseball's classic, the World Series. The ESPN on ABC simulcast platform is locked in and a winner with the NBA Finals.

The Stanley Cup, however, does not have one consistent U.S. television home. In the current 2010 slugfest, NBC claimed games 1, 5, 6 and 7, while Versus picked up games 2, 3 and 4. It's a sharing formula they've used throughout the existing NHL rightsholder agreement, not only in the Stanley Cup showcase but throughout the post-season.

It is not the right solution for the NHL in the U.S. market and for the Stanley Cup as the game's marquee event.

A stronger rights deal in 2012 with NBC, one which engaged the network throughout the Stanley Cup final, would make the most sense (and while you're at it, graduating from the ranks of pure revenue-sharing into rights fees would be a worthy side goal with the Peacock network).

Getting another major network to take ownership of the league's championship series would be the next best bet. Failing those options, having a cable network designated as the go-to carrier of all seven games would be better than the current on-again, off-again relationship in which Stanley Cup final games literally bounce back and forth between network television on NBC and second-tier cable on Versus.

It is true that -- despite the baton approach used by NBC and Versus in passing games back and forth -- the Stanley Cup in particular and the 2010 playoffs in general is delivering to the NHL its best U.S. audiences in almost 15 years. Progress has been made, with even Versus declaring record ratings (topped off by Philadelphia's overtime win in game 3; the most-watched program in the cable network's young history).

That's the point. The product can finally say it deserves better. Much like its overall economic success despite the financial basketcases it carries in the U.S. sunbelt, the NHL needs to ask what could be with an even better roster of American broadcast partners on even better terms.

The most important contract condition is simple: destination television on one network for its Stanley Cup. That way, the sport's centrepiece will never again be O-U-T-D-R-A-W-N by Spelling Bee.

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Brendan Shanahan proves to be a solid PR asset for the National Hockey League

Strong communications skills and media capabilities have become increasingly important over the past 10 to 15 years for senior executives in general and Chief Executive Officers in particular. That's true in mainstream business but it's arguably even more the case in the business of sport, where the relationship between consumers (fans) and product or company (franchises or leagues) is unique.

In most cases in the regular private sector, only shareholders feel a vested interest in the company in which they own stock. There are some corporations whose products command a higher brand of loyalty and connection (Apple comes to mind) but few if any can compare to the "equity" that fans take in their favourite club or league.

The hard core fans feel a sense of ownership in their team. They care about their favourite league. The best franchises and leagues get that and relate to their fans and their larger audiences as if they are a public trust or a community asset.

After 17 years on the job, however, National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman has yet to crack the code on public and media relations. Specifically, he has not mastered any sense of relating to hockey fans through television.

How badly he wrestles with the media in general was so brutally on display in his CBC television appearance with Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean last week. Maybe too much time in the sun that day was the problem, but it was one of the poorest television performances by a professional sport commissioner I've ever seen.

Bettman on Hockey Night in Canada June 2nd, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww3md8DvoTY

Bettman was alternatively defensive and prickly, even in the studios of the television network that pays more for NHL rights than any other carrier in the world. He was clearly annoyed with MacLean and a line of questioning that focused on ownership troubles in a variety of NHL markets, most notably those in the U.S. sunbelt, instead of what he was hoping would highlight the terrific overall economic performance of the league.

OK. I would have encouraged MacLean to acknowledge the NHL is having record financial results in spite of the basket cases in the southern U.S. and simply raise the matter of what could be if those problem childs were replaced by teams in northern U.S. markets and in Canada, which has never been more bullish for the NHL and which is driving in a big way the league's overall success.

That being said, it's unfathomable to me that Bettman handled the CBC piece the way he did and that he is so bad at media and public speaking despite almost two decades in the commissioner's chair.

Thankfully for the NHL, it has some other emerging executive assets who could help strengthen the league's brand as they grow into their roles and gain more exposure in front of the camera. None is more obvious and more well-equipped to do so than NHL vice-president of business and hockey development, former star player Brendan Shanahan.

Shanahan's interview last night on Hockey Night in Canada was as good as Bettman's was bad earlier in the week. The Stanley Cup champion and surefire Hall of Famer was open, courteous, insightful and even humourous. The contrasts between the two interviews -- and how they reflected the NHL they were each representing -- could not have been bigger.

Shanahan on Hockey Night in Canada June 6th, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFl89kgzMo

Shanahan was a prototype power forward in his years with the Hartford Whalers, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.

Sunday night's interview reminded us how well he handles the public side of the business and how much value he could bring to the table for the NHL as its own power forward in media relations and television.

It also laid bare how weak Bettman is on the same fronts and how difficult it will be for the league's frontman to change his stripes when he clearly does not enjoy that part of his role as NHL commissioner. The right strategy for the NHL -- especially with a new round of collective bargaining upcoming -- would be to showcase the likes of Shanahan every opportunity it gets.

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Nothing short of video review will do for Major League Baseball

If Major League Baseball had any judicious form of instant replay and video review in place, Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers would be basking the glow of the 21st perfect game in the sport's 130-year history.

The game would be abuzz with a remarkable and unprecedented three perfect games in one season, with Galarraga following in the footsteps of Dallas Braden's May 9th performance and Roy Halladay's May 30th gem.

Three perfect games in one month.

It doesn't, so the game -- and Galarraga -- are forced to settle for what will surely go down as the most famous one-hitter in history.

He's been criticized in many corners for doing so, but commissioner Bud Selig was right not to overturn the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce. Such a move would open a pandora's box and slippery slope of precedent. It's true that the mistake is a travesty of justice and a black eye on the integrity of the game. A reversal, however, without any proper context to do so, would be more of the same.

What Selig needs to do, however, is everything in his power to ensure that the unfortunate negative is turned into a positive for the game of baseball. And nothing short of the appropriate application of video review to prevent another mistake of this kind will do.

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With matchups like this, series sweeps are not what the leagues or their broadcast partners want

Seven-game championship series are always the cat's meow when it comes to driving fan interest and television audiences. But it's even more intriguing a proposition this year for the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association and their U.S. broadcast partners.

That's why Claude Giroux's overtime goal in tonight's 4-3 win for the Philadelphia Flyers over the Chicago Blackhawks had to come as a relief for the NHL, Versus, NBC and anyone in all-sports television and radio who cares about hockey.

The clutch goal prevented the Blackhawks from taking a 3-0 stranglehold against the Flyers and likely reducing the length of this year's Stanley Cup final to five or even the minimum four games (which would have prevented it from gaining another second of air time on NBC).

The NHL and its broadcast partners are even more interested in a long series this year because the 2010 final can boast a direct local market engagement of almost 6.5 million television households. It pits the third-largest media market in the country (Chicago, with 3.5 million television households) against the fourth-largest (Philadelphia, with 2.95 million).

It's the best Stanley Cup showdown in terms of the Nielsen's ratings company's Designated Market Areas since 2003 when the New Jersey Devils and the Anaheim Ducks brought together the New York and Los Angeles DMAs and ranks third all-time in terms of television households (behind New Jersey/Anaheim in 2003 and New Jersey/Dallas in 2000).

Given that it showcases two American cities that actually care about hockey, it's the strongest U.S. hockey market match-up since Detroit swept Philadelphia in 1997 and -- if it lasts at least six games -- will drive the best American television ratings since the New York Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup in a seven-game thriller against the Vancouver Canucks.

Yet that's only part of the story. The Chicago-Philadelphia Stanley Cup final and the Los Angeles-Boston NBA final make this spring a high-water mark for sports television and radio, combining to make up one of the largest aggregate local market engagements in the history of the NHL and NBA championship series.

The 6.5 million TV households available to the NHL, Versus and NBC are joined by the more than 8 million households in LA and Boston that are being targeted by the NBA and ESPN on ABC. That's almost 15 million U.S. television households directly engaged with the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals and all of the sports television and radio news and talk shows that come along for the ride.

It might not be the biggest-ever local market combination in sheer overall capacity (Denver, New Jersey, LA and Philadelphia in 2001 and Detroit, Raleigh, LA and New Jersey in 2002 rated higher in terms of cumulative television households at north of 16 million each year). There's no denying, however, that this year's showdowns -- third overall in aggregate DMA size -- are anchored in a final four that includes two of the very best American hockey markets and arguably the two greatest big basketball markets in the U.S.

It's not just quantity this year, it's quality of market demographics for the NHL and NBA. Chicago-Philly for hockey and LA-Boston for hoops are dream television match-ups on both counts.

ESPN on ABC will bring the best-of-seven final between the NBA's two heritage brands -- the Lakers and Celtics -- to those strong local markets and to an interested national television audience. Meanwhile, the NHL is basking in arguably its best-ever U.S. hockey market match-up.

Now if only more Americans could find the mid-week Stanley Cup games on Versus.

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French Open even more French than usual...on the sponsorship front

As one of the world's four Grand Slam tennis championships, the French Open has always had a special feel to it. The red claycourts at Roland Garros offer a distinctive look on domestic and worldwide television. Its timing and positioning as the unofficial start to summer in France and Europe (and throughout the northern hemisphere for that matter) gives every rendition a sense of renewal and optimism. More than anything, its setting in Paris makes it the most cosmopolitan of the Grand Slams and one of the more metropolitan of sports events in the world.

Yet this year, more than ever, there is a distinctly French and European feel to the presentation of the French Open.

That's because six of the Grand Slam tournament's 10 biggest sponsors are French brands. Two more are European classics. And only two are American.

The show stealer is BNP Paribas, the Paris-based, French national bank that has become synonymous with the French Open in particular and tennis in general. In addition to Roland Garros, BNP Paribas has links to the Paris Open indoor event, the Davis Cup world team tennis championships for men and, most interestingly, is in the second year of its title sponsorship of the popular Indian Wells ATP Tour event in California (its first major foray into North America).

At Roland Garros, BNP Paribas is not only marketing itself to French businesses and consumers, it is reaching out to new markets on all five continents, especially with a new english tagline centered around its mission to be a bank that's making a difference.

The same goes for most of the other five French brands associated with the French Open, especially automaker Peugeot, iconic tennis and sportswear designer Lacoste, mineral water Perrier and eyewear retailer Afflelou. French television network OrangeSport, a specialist in soccer, tennis and cycling, is likely more intent on consolidating its position within Europe, but nonetheless, as they watch French Open telecasts this week and next, many around the world will be at least asking: what is OrangeSport? 

Powerhouse brands such as Adidas of Germany and Longines of Switzerland round out the European roster at Roland Garros, while IBM and FedEx give the French Open show courts at least some U.S. corporate content.

Make no mistake, however. French brands are calling the French Open their own in the first year of the new decade. And they're doing so with pan-European and global ambitions.

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Improbable Stanley Cup playoff run allows Montreal Canadiens' centennial to resonate

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: the most important part of the business of sport is the business of winning. It's certainly the most persuasive part.

Winning is the best marketing. It's all about substance and cliches such as walking the walk and talking the talk. If business success in sport is one part product and one part marketing, the product is by far the bigger part.

That's why those who make the Montreal Canadiens the best-marketed franchise in Canada and arguably the best in the National Hockey League can thank their player roster for validating the 100th anniversary festivities in which the oldest hockey club in the world has invested so much of their resources and our attention.

This year's unexpected playoff run -- to the fifth game of the National Hockey League's eastern conference finals -- has given substance to the centennial celebrations that have become the club's staple industry the past 18 months; if not the past five years.

No amount of clever marketing can replace the inspirational impact of winning on the ice.

In this case, the Montreal Canadiens have done everything imaginable to mark the 100-year milestone with a sense of thoughtfulness, history and class: by retiring a series of sweater numbers in the five years leading to the 2008-'09 centennial; using last year to showcase and market a cross-section of the club's retro jerseys dating back to their first game in 1909; producing a 100th anniversary DVD; and culminating everything with the actual anniversary game in November of 2009, which was an unprecedented presentation of pomp and circumstance in Canadian -- if not North American -- sport.

Yet the 2008-'09 centennial season missed one important piece: a winning season...a bridge to that long and storied history... a sense of connection to the lineage represented best by Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur...and of course the illustrious tradition of 24 Stanley Cups.

After finishing first in the eastern conference and reaching the second round of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs (before losing to the same Philadelphia Flyers), the Habs faltered badly during the Centennial season, finishing eighth and enduring the embarassment of a four-game sweep at the hands of their arch rivals, the Boston Bruins, in the first round. The very glory years that were being celebrated in 2008-'09 seemed so long ago.

These past two months in 2010, however, the players and the team ignited what the entire Centennial was designed to provide; pride of association, memories of yesteryear and what it felt like to be in the hunt for the trophy Canadian sports fans cherish most.

It's been 17 years since the Canadiens last reached the Stanley Cup finals and won. It could be another 17 years or more before they do so again. But Montreal's run in what Stanley Cup-winning head coach Mike Babcock calls a "marathon of hope" was a final touch this year to the 100th anniversary celebrations that was better than anyone in their front office could have scripted.

It has not only given the organization and its fans a sense of hope and optimism but a restored sense of identity for a team that, for the first time in its great history, has gone this long between championships.

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Business Tale of the Tape: Chicago and Philadelphia makes for solid Stanley Cup final

The end of the Montreal Canadiens' improbable run to the 2010 Stanley Cup finals means smaller Canadian audience numbers for CBC and dramatically lower ratings for RDS, but it makes for a solid showdown between two of the strongest American brands in the National Hockey League. And in that light, the championship round bringing together the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers is great news for the NHL's U.S. television rights holders, NBC and Versus.

It's a worthy follow-up to last year's Stanley Cup final between the eventual 2009 champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the 2008 winners, the Detroit Red Wings; the two most popular road teams in the NHL over the past three years.

There's no Sidney Crosby in this year's Stanley Cup final, but a quick look at the sport business tale of the tape pitting the Blackhawks against the Flyers suggests it might be the best U.S. match-up in at least a decade based on sheer hockey market strength:

Franchise valuation - According to Forbes Magazine, this Stanley Cup series showcases the fifth and seventh highest-valuated franchises in the NHL. Philadelphia is valued at $273 million US while Chicago comes in at $258 M (and rising as the hottest property in the NHL). In 2009, Detroit was fourth while small-market Pittsburgh was middle of the pack.

Overall revenues: It's a meeting between two of the top eight revenue-producing franchises in the NHL. After quadrupling their sponsorship sales since 2007, the Blackhawks are tied for sixth (with Boston) at $106 million US while the Flyers are eighth at $101 million.

Box office revenues: It's #3 (Philly) against #9 (Chicago), each driving well more than $50 million of their revenues at the gate.

Ticket prices: Philadelphia is top-five in the NHL (at $60.25) while seeing the Blackhawks at the United Center is still one of the best bargains in professional hockey at $46.80 (19th overall).

Home attendance: After ranking 29th out of 30 four years ago, the Blackhawks make the Madhouse on Madison the biggest building in the NHL, packing it with more 22,000 fans per game and leading the NHL in attendance for the second straight year. The Flyers average 19,503 at the Wachovia Center; sixth-best in the league.

Road attendance: This final brings together the seventh (Chicago) and 14th (Philadelphia) most popular teams on the road this season.

Media market size: In addition to Versus and NBC, the NHL's U.S.-based sponsors are smiling as they contemplate the third and fourth largest designated market areas (television DMAs) on the continent. Chicago is #3 and Philadelphia is #4.

Regional television audiences: Chicago and Philadelphia were two of the top five U.S. hockey television markets during the 2009-'10 regular season. The Blackhawks drew an average regional audience of 196,800 viewers on Comcast and WGN while the Flyers attracted 147,900. That's #6 and #11 overall in the NHL and #2 and #5 in the U.S.

Hockey market: Forbes Magazine's research suggests this is a clash between the fifth and seventh strongest hockey markets in the NHL and the third and fifth best in the U.S. (based on franchise value attributed to city and market size).

Simply put, the 2010 Stanley Cup final features two of the best marketed U.S. franchises in two of the best hockey markets in the U.S. When one considers both market clout and brand appeal, it's arguably the best U.S. match-up since the Flyers last reached the finals in 1997 against the Detroit Red Wings.

It also comes with important intangibles based on history and tradition: one is an Original Six franchise that hasn't won a Cup since 1961 and the other a first-wave 1969 expansion team that hasn't done so since 1975. It's that hunger -- shared by the respective organizations and their fans -- which will make for good storylines throughout the series beginning Saturday at the United Center.

And good stories make for good ratings.

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If Gary Bettman cannot see the opportunity for the NHL, someone else will

One of the principal jobs of the commissioner of the National Hockey League – or any professional sports league for that matter – is to create value for his member franchises and their owners. Commissioners do that by creating league-wide conditions that grow the business of their member clubs.

The more revenues franchises generate, the greater their business valuation. When more franchises make more money, the average value increases throughout the league and that is good news for NHL club owners in the same way rising home prices and growing ownership equity is a boon for home owners.

So when it comes to franchise values, we give NHL commissioner Gary Bettman credit where it’s due. Values have grown under Bettman’s 17-year tenure several fold.

The question for any seasoned business valuator -- or any fan who cares about the game for that mattter -- is, however, what could be?

When one considers where the league could be without the stresses -- both public and private -- surrounding a group of under-performing hockey businesses in the southern U.S., Bettman's record raises red flags and deserves further scrutiny.

That’s because every single one of the NHL’s major business indicators – attendance, ticket prices, box office, merchandise sales, sponsorship sales, television audiences and revenues – would be even higher if the league had less U.S. sunbelt franchises and more Canadian or northern U.S. franchises.

Why Bettman has not pro-actively addressed the issue is one of the big blind spots in his leadership of the NHL. Why the NHL’s governors – the owners of the league’s 30 clubs – have not pushed more aggressively for solutions that would strengthen the league and improve their own lots considerably is an even bigger mystery.

If it’s true that you’re only as strong as your weakest link, the Phoenix Coyotes are a problem for the NHL. So are the Atlanta Thrashers. Throw in the case of the Florida Panthers – where less people are watching on FSN Florida (an average of 13,400 viewers per game) than are attending games in person (15,000 on a good night) – and you have at least three teams mired in red ink in questionable hockey markets.

Why not play to your strength? Why not license your product in markets where it is being gobbled up in record numbers? Why not replace your weak links with solid performers?

“The Case for Canada” report outlines just how bullish the Canadian market is for the NHL brand of hockey, especially in the period since the lockout in 2004-'05.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/could+cash+return+roots/3060451/story.html

It suggests that if the NHL relocated three of its weakest southern U.S. franchises to Canada, their individual franchise values would increase by more than 50 per cent and the league’s average team valuation would jump by $11 million US. It also submits that the combined revenues of the three relocated franchises would rise by $100 million per year, average attendance would grow by 6,000 more fans per game per franchise (or 738,000 more per season) and regional television audiences would increase twenty-fold. Yes, twenty-fold.

Yet more than anything, the report by TheSportMarket.biz and The Vancouver Sun makes a compelling case for the landing of at least one more NHL team in Canada. Plain and simple, the numbers clearly show how the NHL, its member franchises, broadcast partners and other corporate stakeholders – not to mention fans of the game in Canada – would be well-served if the NHL shifted its centre of gravity northward.

The proof is in the pudding of the hockey markets themselves. Considering market size, demographics and other attributes including affinity for sports in general and hockey in particular (as Forbes Magazine does in its annual list of NHL franchise values), the average NHL market contributes $84 million to its franchise valuation (out of about $210 million in average overall value).

Sun belt markets are considerably weaker; the market attributes of Phoenix, Atlanta and Florida for hockey average out at only $48.3 million according to Forbes.com. That's about half the average U.S. hockey market value and about 40 per cent that of the average Canadian market.

Those numbers exemplify how the sunbelt teams are dragging down the average value of NHL franchises the way shabby houses devalue entire neighbourhoods.

The Case for Canada is clear. It’s your move commissioner Bettman.

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Steve Nash is to Canadian basketball what Gretzky was to U.S. hockey

They’re both Canadian sports icons. One is arguably the best player in the history of the National Hockey League and the game’s greatest ambassador in the United States. The other the best Canadian basketball player ever produced and the game’s face in Canada.

Wayne Gretzky was heroic in Edmonton and Canada and became hockey’s big thing in the U.S. Steve Nash is a big deal in Phoenix and throughout the U.S. and is an even bigger deal here in Canada.

In team sport in particular and professional sport in general, they will go down in history as among our country’s greatest exports.

Who is the bigger export presents an interesting debate. One could suggest Gretzky has the edge because he skated in the large markets of Los Angeles and New York and defined Canada most because he played hockey.

Others would point to the bigger footprint held by basketball in the U.S. and give the nod to Nash, saying his talent has been showcased on the larger continental stage of the NBA.

What is clear is that the two Canadians have served as the single most important ambassadors in their respective sports in their generations; with Gretzky popularizing hockey in the U.S. and Nash making basketball more relevant in his own country.

Nash is the most famous face of the Phoenix Suns franchise and has become one of the highest-profile players in the NBA on the strength of two league MVP crowns and the kind of durability and excellence which has led his team to the western conference finals against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Nash and the Suns are in tough against Kobe and the Lakers, who appear destined to reach their third successive NBA Finals and set up a rematch of the 2008 championship round won by the Boston Celtics.

Yet none of that reduces the Nash factor in Canada when it comes to interest in the NBA. When he plays – both during the regular season and especially in these playoffs when the Suns have been a going concern – Canadians pay attention. And that goes for sports editors and sports directors as well as fans watching on television.

When he doesn’t, we don’t. The NBA has been fortunate to score 175,000 viewers on TSN during these playoffs and hoops on Canadian cable television rarely crosses the 250,000 audience threshold. With Nash on the small screen, however, the average Canadian audiences should climb to north of 400,000 if the Suns can make things interesting in Phoenix.

It’s the kind of personal brand appeal – one shaped in part by his on-court talent and leadership and in part by his record of community investment, charity work and social activism – that is all too rare these days in professional sport.

It’s the kind of appeal that makes a great template for Canadian athletes and athletes the world over in any team sport.

It’s the kind of appeal that makes you understand how important Steve Nash is to Canadian basketball and wonder what kind of transformational impact he would have had on the game in this country had he been acquired by the old Vancouver Grizzlies or the Toronto Raptors at any time in his career.

Now that’s fantasy basketball worth considering.

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Quebec Flyers, BC Blackhawks and Canada Sharks each have their merits, but only Montreal Canadiens register economic impact in Canada

The San Jose Sharks have more Canadians on their roster than any of the four teams remaining in the National Hockey League's 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.


The Chicago Blackhawks have the biggest bevy of British Columbians while the Philadelphia Flyers boast the most Quebeckers.

Yet despite having fewer Canadians than the Canada Sharks and fewer Quebecois than the Quebec Flyers, only the Montreal Canadiens have a macro economic impact on their city, their province and, by extension, their country.

Nine unanswered goals in a 2-0 series lead might suggest the Flyers will limit the number of home games left in Montreal, but the Canadiens will drive box office revenues of more than $5.5 million per game night at the Bell Centre after earning $25 million in ticket receipts from their seven-game series miracles over the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Add a half-million dollars in concession and merchandise sales per game and you have a winfall not only for the Habs, but for their official suppliers, licensees and the federal and provincial tax agencies.

Each televised game fills restaurants, pubs and brasseries in Montreal; each home game moreso. The beer flows and wings fly at sports bars throughout Quebec and across Canada, expanding the economic impact beyond the confines of the second largest city in the country.

The buzz is also economically palpable for CBC and RDS, who are generally doubling their audience numbers on the strength of having a Canadian team in the conference finals. When a combined average audience of more than six million Canadians watch Hockey Night in Canada and RDS -- almost one of every five Canadians -- it's good for those broadcast companies. Radio rights holders glean similar upside.

More eyeballs and ears following a Canadian team in the final four also means -- at least theoretically -- more returns on investment for domestic advertising sponsors such as Scotiabank, Tim Hortons and Golf Town.

So whatever your take is on what makes a local franchise take on national team status or whether the Montreal Canadiens have any right to your spring allegiance, make no mistake that they are the only team left registering an impact on the Canadian economy.

The Sharks, Flyers and the Blackhawks have varying degrees of fan equity in Canada, but love them or hate them, only the success of the Canadiens on and off the ice makes a tangible, financial difference for Canadians, Canadian broadcasters and other Canadian companies.

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Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC ownership puts its money where its mouth is

From their inception and through their pre-operating period, opening season and well into their sophomore season in Major League Soccer, the Seattle Sounders FC have defined themselves as something special in North American professional sport.

Exhibit 1 is how they created an ownership group which blended the new (Hollywood producer Joe Roth, comedian and television star Drew Carey and former software mogul and financial titan Paul Allen) with the old (Adrian Hanauer, owner and operator of the incumbent USL Sounders). It gave the franchise seamless continuity with the city's USL soccer tradition and history while at the same time injecting it with economic, political and creative clout that is second to none in Major League Soccer.

Exhibit 2 is how they listened and responded to their constituents on the issue of the name and identity of the franchise. They abandoned their choice for a new name -- either Seattle FC, Seattle Alliance or Seattle Republic -- and embraced the clear favourite of Seattle soccer fans: the traditional Sounders FC designation.

Exhibit 3 is the democratic spin they've put on soccer operations management; a vehicle in which Sounders FC season ticket holders will have a voice in extending the initial contract of general manager Hanauer...or in voting for change.

Exhibit 4 is the authenticity of their fan experience; where Sounders shirts and scarves combine with band-led fan marches (Sound Wave) and other touches on match nights at Qwest Field to make it the closest thing to European soccer in North America.

Exhibit 5 is the most impressive marketing launch in North American expansion franchise history.

Exhibit 6 is an infrastructure provided by Allen's Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, the company which owns and operates the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and markets and manages the Sounders FC.

Exhibit 7 is a dynamic community partnership between the Sounders FC and Washington State Youth Soccer.

The first-year results included a playoff berth as an expansion franchise and records in MLS attendance (north of 30,000 per game), sponsorship (including a five-year, $20 million shirt deal with Microsoft's Xbox 360), merchandising and regional television success. The second-year has picked up where the first ended, with crowds now eclipsing the 36,000-mark in an expanded seating manifest at Qwest Field.

Yet the ownership and management of the Seattle soccer club pushed the envelope to another level this week after the Sounders suffered an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home at the hands of the Los Angeles Galaxy. By Sunday morning, they had announced a one-game refund for all season ticket holders. It will come in the form of a credit against next year's season ticket charges.

It all came after one of the partners in the club looked around at his colleagues in the owners' suite and said if he was a fan, he'd want his money back.

Within 24 hours, Sounders FC season ticket holders had received word they would get the single-game credit as an acknowledgment of the sub-par team performance against the Galaxy and in appreciation of the support they had given the club since the announcement four years ago that MLS was coming to Seattle.

It was another example of the Sounders FC walking the walk and talking the talk. It was also quite simply a case of the team's ownership putting its money where its mouth is. Whether or not other ownership groups have the integrity to make similar moves in the months and years to come, the Sounders FC have made a resounding statement about the importance of season ticket holders to the most successful sport franchises.

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Vancouver 2010 a factor in strong television ratings for Stanley Cup playoffs

The parity that drove strong television ratings throughout the 2009-'10 National Hockey League regular season has found expression in the post-season, which included 49 games in the first round (with seven of eight series going at least six games).

Twelve overtime games helped produce great ratings for Versus and NBC south of the border and for TSN, RDS and CBC here in Canada.

The NHL numbers for round one of the 2010 Stanley Cup tournament still pale in comparison with those for the NBA on ESPN/ABC and TNT (about a third to a fifth of the size of the ratings sparked by Kobe and Lebron). Nonetheless, they represent solid growth for the NHL and give it much to crow about, especially with its U.S. broadcast partners and league-wide corporate sponsors.

NBC is up 18 per cent over 2009, to an average first-round viewership of 1.430 million and a rating of 1.1. Versus has seen a 35% spike in viewers, with a first-round average of 595,000. That's the most the NHL has gleaned on U.S. cable television since ESPN/ESPN2 drove 608,000 in 2001. The combined average of 742,000 is the most since ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 scored 750,000 in 2000. In addition, the various U.S. regional rights holders who simulcast alongside the national carriers have hit record numbers in 2010.

In Canada, where hockey and hockey television are kings, the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada is up 49% over last year and is riding its highest numbers since 2004, when a Vancouver-Calgary first-round seven-game series caused a television buzz. TSN is up 89% (growing from 567K in 2009 to 1.07 M in 2010). RDS is going wild on the wave of the Montreal Canadiens.

The numbers are up in part because of the parity and the overall strength of the markets involved in the first and second rounds. They are also higher because of the new Personal People Meter (PPM) measurement system deployed for the first time last fall (which most analysts suggest is responsible for a bump of up to 20%).

Yet make no mistake about another big factor in these terrific television ratings for the NHL: Vancouver 2010.

In Canada in particular, the Olympic Winter Games were a storyline for NHL fans since the Canadian team's training camp last fall. There was massive media and fan interest in the unveiling of the Team Canada jersey in October and in the announcement of the roster over Christmas. It just built from there and created the largest television numbers -- for sports and overall -- during Vancouver 2010.

Featuring the best players in the world on their respective national teams, the Olympics engaged NHL aficionados, brought back some old fans and attracted new viewers. That's true in both Canada and the United States, the two countries which squared off in a memorable overtime finale won by Sidney Crosby February 28th.

More than two months later, the afterglow of Vancouver 2010 is a contributing factor in this great TV run the NHL is enjoying in both Canada and the U.S. during its Stanley Cup showcase. And that is something NHL commissioner Gary Bettman should consider as he ponders Sochi 2014.

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