All Star Game – Page 3

USA Today gets into sports-event ticket business

December 12, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

I think fans everywhere agree that there are a huge number of sporting events that they would be interested in attending, at least once in their life, but finding out how to apply for tickets much less working your way through the red tape will always be an impediment.

Now leaping to the (possible) rescue is USA Today Sports Media Group which has teamed with QuintEvents to launch a joint venture called USA Today Sports Events that promises access to the biggest sports events.

The effort seeks to establish USA Today Sports as the go-to site for fans looking for tickets and packages to events such as the NFL’s Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby and the NBA All-Star game, among others.

It does not just offer tickets but much more in some cases such as access to players and coaches, the ability to walk a field or arena prior to an event, hospitality tent and parties access, and other amenities. The packages it offers are not third-party ones that cobble together hotels, seats and transportation but ones from the official sponsors of the events.

A look at the website shows it is offering tickets for the upcoming Super Bowl next year, with a clock counting down the days, hours and minutes. It has a link to different ticket packages, then a second to extras that can be added to your package, then a seating chart and so on. Currently tickets max out at $11,799 each.

The Level White Package starts with seats at $5,899 and has seats in the corner of level 100 at MetLife Stadium. The amenities include a $100 In-Stadium Super Bowl XLVIII merchandise coupon, preferred on-location parking (for an addition fee for the actual parking) and access to the NFL On-Location venue.

It does seem that all but well-heeled fans are increasingly phased out of the modern sports picture and while I like the idea of this and if I had the cash might actually try and use the service but increasingly fans of teams are the last that get served by the leagues when the biggest events come around, forcing them to try all sorts of maneuvers to get tickets. Maybe USA Today can also start a business finding bargain seats for real fans who aren’t loaded with cash?

Filed Under: All Star Game, Baseball, Basketball, BCS, Daytona 500, FIFA, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, NHL, Rose Bowl, Stanley Cup, StubHub, Super Bowl, Tennis, The French Open, USA Today, Wimbledon, World Baseball Classic Tagged With: NBA All-Star, NFL, QuintEvents, Super Bowl, USA TODAY, USA Today Sports Events, USA Today Sports Media Group

Topps Uses Technology to Reach Out to Fans

July 16, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Do you remember baseball cards? Many of my friends collected them when younger but as it became overly commercialized with too many companies selling too many versions, so that what was once a childhood rite of passage slowly became an overly complex market that collapsed in on itself.

According to the piece that ran in Bleacher Report a few years ago the market topped out at $1.2 billion in 1991 and then collapsed to its current position of under $300 million. It has been trying to reinvent itself ever since.

Well credit Topps, one of the original powers in this category to adopting new technology to help promote a very non-technology offering, pieces of cardboard with baseball players stats on one side and their picture on the other.

The company has incorporated two short range communications technologies in a display at the 2013 MLB All-Star Fanfest with QR (quick response) codes and NFC (near field communications) incorporated into huge cards of the games All=-Stars that were on display at the event.

The first of the technologies, QR codes, for those of you that do not know are those boxes that look like an overgrown bar code, could be scanned by fans attending the event with mobile devices equipped with a scanner, and in doing so put themselves in the running for prizes such as card sets, Topps’ new Big League Minis and autographed memorabilia. Alternately a fan could use the NFC function of their mobile device, if so equipped.

The interactive effort, spearheaded by partner Scanbuy, is part of a larger effort by the card company to appeal to younger fans that are tech savvy. It will be interesting to see if the company publishes the final results and if we will see a new generation of cards with embedded technology.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, Major League Baseball Tagged With: All Star Game, Baseball Cards, MLB, NFC, QR Codes, Scanbury, Topps

MLB Home Run Derby App has Real Prize

July 15, 2013 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Leading up to the annual Major League Baseball All Star game is the Home Run Derby and the league is made alterations to its mobile game based on the event with a contest that can send a fan to the World Series.

The updated mobile game “MLB.com Home Run Derby”, produced by MLB Advanced Media, the league’s interactive arm, is a free app that is available at both the App Store and Google Play and available for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and select Android devices.

The latest version now includes this years’ eight players that will participate in the event, which is scheduled for this evening as well as include all 24 players that participated in the event in the years between 2010 and 1012. The ball park has been altered so that it now is a recreation of Citi Field, the park where this years’ derby and All Star game will be staged.

However for fans playing the mobile game there is a bonus. Fans with a valid account in MLB.com Home Run Derby playing the game, up until July 18 at 11:59 pm EDT that wins five multi player matches will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes for the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip for two to Game Two of the 2013 World Series.

So see if you can have Prince Fielder defend his individual title that he earned last year at the event or if one of the seven other players participating will wrest the title from him. The other sluggers are David Wright, Robinson Cano, Chris Davis, Yoenis Cespedes, Bryce Harper, Michael Cuddyer, or Pedro Alvarez

Filed Under: All Star Game, Android, Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, Major League Baseball Tagged With: All Star Game, Android, App, iPad, iPhone, MLB, MLBAM

Friday Grab Bag: Atlantic 10 Inks Broadcast Deals — Microsoft Surface/Windows 8 Date Unveiled

October 5, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

The Atlantic 10 Conference has just closed a pair of broadcast deals that will enable it to maintain a strong presence on broadcast television. The 9-year deal with NBC Sports calls for the network to nationally televise men’s and women’s basketball games on the NBC Sports Network, as well as select local games on NBC Sports Regional Networks. Included will be the ability to live stream games on NBCSports.com for mobile users starting next year.

ESPN has also reached a new agreement with the conference, one that will extend the existing agreement to broadcast the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball games, including each conference championship. The agreement will begin with the 2013-14 season and conclude in 2021-22 and will continue to include extensive action on ESPNU.

ESPN’s Atlantic 10 programming will be available across the network’s multiple properties including ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com.

Google/Motorola drops a patent claim against Apple
Motorola Mobility has withdrawn a patent infringement claim against Apple that it had filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission two months ago according to a report in Bloomberg. However it has said that it does reserve the right to refile and that the withdrawal is not due to any agreement between the two companies.

Tablet Global Market sales expected to top $40B this year
Market research firm Global Information has estimated that the worldwide revenue for tablets this year will reach $40.4 billion and that due to a forecast growth rate of 29% year over year it will reach $181.5 billion by 2018.

Tablets have been in the news a great deal lately, with a bevy of new devices hitting the shelves soon from Amazon and Barnes & Noble while the Windows 8 and Apple iPad launches are in the near future. With all of this news it is probably no surprise how well they have been selling.

Samsung wins a small victory over Apple in U.S.
Samsung has convinced the trial judge that heard the case with Apple in the United States to lift the ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. The tablet was one of many devices that Apple sought to have banned after it prevailed in its copyright and patent win in US District Court earlier this year.

Major League Baseball reaches 8-year TV deals with Fox and Turner
Earlier this week Major League Baseball announced an 8-year national media rights agreements with FOX and TBS, which coupled with the deal signed with ESPN earlier will make the teams’ owners very happy. The three contracts will deliver $12.4 billion over their life.

The new deals with Fox and Turner will start in 2014 and allows Fox to keep the All Star game as well as the World Series while the League Championship Series and Division Series will be shared across FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG), TBS and MLB Network. A plus for mobile fans is that the deals include a digital “TV Everywhere” rights to stream televised games and other MLB-related programming online and through mobile devices.

Microsoft confirms Oct. 25 for Windows 8 launch
So mark your calendar and prepare your ‘Is this the iPad killer’ story as Microsoft and its allies will be taking center stage in New York City to show you everything from Intel’s Clover Trail microprocessor to Microsoft’s Surface Tablet.

Intel has said that there are over 20 designs in works with its processor for the platform and showed a few last week, with Hewlett-Packard taking the wraps off of its offering earlier this week. Expect more details by the time of the event from other OEMs.

Microsoft to open pop-up stores next to Apple Stores
If imitation is the highest form of flattery Apple should be pleased with Microsoft. It was reported in Computerworld that Microsoft will start opening ‘pop-up’ stores at malls starting Oct. 26. Interestingly that is the day after it introduces Windows 8.

What makes it interesting is that all of these 32 temporary stores, which will be selling the Surface tablets, 29 are in sites that already have an Apple store. I guess customers will be able to get a good comparison that way.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Android, Apple, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Fox Sports, Intel, iOS, iPad, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NBC Sports, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Surface, Turner Sports, WatchESPN, Windows 8 Tagged With: Apple, Atlantic 10 Conference, ESPN, Fox Sports, Microsoft, NBC, Surface, Turner Sports, Windows 8

MLB’s Trade Season in Full Swing

July 25, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

With the conclusion of MLB’s All Star game the next notable day on the calendar is the non-waiver deadline, which is July 31. This is one of my favorite times of the year not just for the trades as for some of the major trade rumors that always seem to be making their way around the league.

The trade rumors often come from a variety of sources and can show player unhappiness with his team, teams being unhappy with their players and agents already working on next year’s deals by showing how popular their players under contract are.

Of course people in fantasy leagues closely follow the comings and goings but often I find people seem to miss some of the trades and are surprised that a player is now on a new team. That is too bad because it is so much fun to follow the activity and a number of sites do a good job tracking them. I read five rumors this morning that I had not heard last night.

We have already seen some interesting trades this year, and no doubt some, as always, will break hometown fans’ hearts. The first in that category is probably the Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners to the New York Yankees deal. This is in the sad tradition of Willie Mays going from the Giants to the New York Mets and others along these lines.

One of the more interesting trades, in a sort of head scratching way, was the big ten player swap between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Houston Astros. Now I was a bit confused by the purpose of the deal but others think it might be a great deal for at least one of the teams.

Teams like the Chicago Cubs have been looking for a wholesale house cleaning all season and now might be the time. Teams are looking for pitching and they have Ryan Dempster, who as a 10/5 man can veto any trade he does not like.

Teams in the playoffs or at least in the hunt will obviously be looking to shore up areas that appear to be a weak spot while teams looking to rebuild will want prospects and cash. The Marlins look to be a rebuilding team and have already sent Hanley Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Some teams will be looking to unload players perceived as problem players as well. It will be an interesting next few days. Next up will be the wavier deadline, always a much tougher call as players must clear waivers to go to a new team, a much harder prospect since rivals can often easily block moves.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Fox Sports, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, New York Yankees Tagged With: MLB

MLB Looks at More Replays, Changes to Home Run Derby Selection

July 11, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

For any fan that tuned into MLB’s Home Run Derby on Monday night they might have wondered about all of the booing. It seems that every time that Robinson Cano, captain of the American Leagues’ team of home run hitters came to bat the Kansas City crowd booed.

This was basically a repeat, albeit with different players, from last year when Prince Fielder, then the captain of the National League team was booed often and loudly by the Diamondback partisans at the event in Phoenix.

In both cases the captain’s sins in the eyes of the fans was in not picking a home town favorite among the selection for the home run hitting squad. While it might make sense to go with the strongest team the derby really is an individual event, with no team win but rather an individual player taking home the title.

MLB’s commissioner, Bud Selig, obviously does not like to hear booing at an event designed to showcase baseball and so told the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) that he was looking at changing the selection process by simply adding a “Hometown” all-star to the hitting squad.

The fact that next years’ game will be in the Met’s Citi Field in New York and without a Met on the team might cause a new record in boo volume to be set might have had something to do with his decision. Still it is not yet final and so we will have to wait and see if this becomes permanent.

The commissioner also talked about the future of replay in baseball during the All-Star break and said that it will be expanded, but not by much. Baseball is looking to add balls hit down the foul line and balls that are trapped in the outfield. This expansion is already covered in the basic agreement between MLB and the players association.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Baseball, Major League Baseball Tagged With: MLB

USA Today gets into sports-event ticket business

Topps Uses Technology to Reach Out to Fans

MLB Home Run Derby App has Real Prize

Friday Grab Bag: Atlantic 10 Inks Broadcast Deals — Microsoft Surface/Windows 8 Date Unveiled

MLB’s Trade Season in Full Swing

MLB Looks at More Replays, Changes to Home Run Derby Selection

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