The Online Experience

The Internet has come a long way in the last umpteen years; I remember my jaw dropping when America Online made it possible to tally my league’s fantasy football scores online Sunday night instead of pouring through the box scores of The Daily Republic on Monday mornings.  Now, I can log on five minutes before a game and figure out if my running back (who was tabbed a “game-time decision”) is poised for a big day or relegated to the training room.

Not coincidentally, sports entertainment has progressed in rapid fashion on a very similar timetable, largely driven by multiple platforms of technology creating new opportunities across the board.  HD jumbotrons and LED stat and advertising boards are becoming the norm for stadiums and arenas around the country…real time text messaging can be used to determine the crowd’s favorite song for a fan dance…and sites like Gameops.com provide a central and efficient place to order all of the crazy props that game presentations require (see 46” inflatable bowling pins).

You may be asking yourself where I’m going with these tangential topics of development…well, I just spent the last four months immersed in developing my company’s website (here goes my shameless marketing plug…check it out at patwalkerproductions.com.  And big thanks to jdscreative.com for spearheading the site design process).

Throughout the process, I viewed a lot of team websites in search of ideas and concepts.  Throughout the nation, there are a wide variety of approaches to showcasing the game entertainment…for some, it’s merely a blip on the radar and others have dedicated large portions of their site to the fan experience.  Each team has their reasons for the method they selected and I’m not here to judge what’s right or wrong…but I think it’s important to look at the technology of the Internet lending itself to be a strong marketing asset for game presentation.

Throughout the research process, I noted some of my favorite methods that were used to feature aspects of sports entertainment and in no particular order, here are a few to ponder…

• The NBA’s Chicago Bulls feature a self-contained Benny the Bull website which provides an interactive look at one of Chicago’s favorite characters.  Complete with photos, humorous illustrations and booking information, the site is easy to navigate and serves as a great marketing tool for the Bulls.
• Another method used in the NBA is by the Atlanta Hawks, who showcase an illustration as the main page for their mascots, Harry the Hawk and SkyHawk.  The illustrations have interactive elements within them (calendar, TV, picture hanging on the wall) that link to different pages throughout the site.  This method is very kid-friendly, which is often the target demographic for mascot elements.
  
  

  
  
• Sticking with the kids theme, but switching sports to minor league baseball, the Eastern League’s Erie Seawolves have an entertaining Kids Korner that features games like the Seawolves Maze, Connect the Dots, and coloring C. Wolf.  While these elements were designed to be printed and done by hand, it’s a great opportunity for parents to log on with their kids and share the experience together.
• Another good example in minor league baseball is the St. Paul Saints, who showcase the “Ushertainers” on their “Fun Is Good” tab.  There are a variety of gameday characters, from the organ player to the Super Fan, which the website boasts the history and role that each plays in support of the Saints.
• The NFL’s Indianapolis Colts have a repeating feature called the “Cheerleader of the Week”, which showcases a full story on one of the Colts Cheerleaders every week throughout the season.  This method keeps fans coming back on a weekly basis and is a strong way of keeping the fan base engaged, regardless of team performance.
• The NHL’s San Jose Sharks have taken the mascot focus one step further, they’ve created sjsharkie.com, a site that is under a completely separate domain from their team website.  By doing so, they’ve created another avenue of Internet exposure, which includes links to revenue generators like ticket and merchandise sales, as well as community and public relations stories…all focused around S.J. Sharkie.
• One of the most well known characters in the college ranks is Auburn University’s Aubie…and the Aubie website provides not only a full library of videos and photos from his antics, but a full history of the character and alumni performers.  It’s evident that a well-developed site like this shows that Aubie’s popularity is key to the Tigers’ fan base.
• The final examples to share are two MLS teams that have yet to play a single game, the Seattle Sounders FC and MLS Philadelphia.  Led by partial owner Drew Carey, Sounders FC focused on developing an interactive members association and a marching band well before they formed a roster…both are focal points of the team’s website.  In Philadelphia, the team is utilizing its website to promote a groundbreaking ceremony at their stadium site this month.

These are just a short list of ways that teams are utilizing the Internet to communicate the environment of each game at their home venue.  Technology continues to progress, exponentially each year…I look forward to the ways that this will enhance the way teams entertain their fans, whether in-person or in front of a monitor.

Pat Walker

Patrick Walker is the President of Pat Walker Productions, a Seattle-based event production group. Pat shares over a decade of expertise in Game Entertainment and Operations in a monthly column called Walk & Talk and blog posts on Gameops.com.

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