It is a great idea to advertise with the sports team, but basketball is probably a better place to look. (And not only because it's more in keeping with the sports history of the GNET executive suite).
Vulcan outfits are doing it already. As PatrickMark pointed out the other day on the PA thread, the first pre-season game of the Seahawks was primarily sponsored by one of Allen's companies, Mercata. Several members of the team did ads for the them. It was a tight tie-in.
But that kind of thing can happen only during the pre-season for football because, unlike baseball and basketball, football is tightly controlled by the league during the regular season. Football teams control their TV contracts only for the pre-season games. The Seahawks won't even control advertising in their stadium until Allen's (taxpayer financed) stadium opens in three years. Until then, the King County controls advertising in the Kingdome this year, and the UDub controls ads in Husky stadium for the next two years.
Basketball's an entirely different matter. The Blazers, like all teams, set their own TV contracts for most games and (I assume) own the company that produces the games. They also own their own stadium, The Rose Garden, and control its advertising.
Oh, and it's kind of fun seeing that Packer fans have developed such animus toward the blue 'n' green. Heh heh. Packers have always been my second-least favorite NFC team. Cowboys are at the bottom. But there was never much reason for it other than those dreadful uniforms they wear and the obnoxious things on the heads of their fat fans. Now, there's starting to be a reason. (If only the team wasn't so far from being good and actually had a chance of beating them this year. Oh well...) |
