Oct

30

Sports PR Weekly Roundup, October 30 Edition

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It’s SPRB’s second week of this feature, which is essentially a roundup of articles and blog posts relevant to sport business, career, writing and PR. It’s all the news and opinion that I wanted to pass along this past week, but didn’t have the time to write a specific post on it. As always, please feel free to suggest a reading in the comment section.

  • Darren Rovell at SportsBiz took a look at how Michael Vick’s image is doing right now.
  • The Sports Networker provides 100 pieces of advice for ticket sales reps.
  • Telios Tips made a list of 560 sports business people on Twitter. Want to find more people in the sports world to follow? You’ll definitely want to check out this post.
  • How should you use capitalization in headlines? BloggingTips rounds up the opinion from various news organizations and stylebooks.
  • Copywrite, Ink. takes a look at how Obama and his PR staff are dealing with FOX News.
  • Flyte offers three steps to help better manage your time when using social media. Altitude also chimes in on this topic, including a slideshow that was presented at the Blog World Expo.
  • Daily Writing Tips reminds readers about the royal order of adjectives. The same blog also explains the differences between em and en dashes.
  • Brazen Careerist lists 10 ways a sales job can help you in PR.
  • BusinessWeek wrote about “The Lost Generation” thanks to the economic downturn.
  • Career Hub offers in-personal branding tips for job seekers.
  • Dumb Little Man provides nine ways to use the comma.
  • On Sports gives some tips for people interviewing for an internship or full-time gig. The post is directed for individuals interested in sports journalism, but I believe that there are takeaways from the post for other career-minded people as well.

Oct

29

Job Opening: UFC Public Relations Internship

Filed Under Career, Job Openings | 1 Comment

UFC wants to hire a public relations intern to work in Las Vegas for the spring. If you are interested, please visit this website for more information and to apply for the position. Good luck!

This program offers the intern the opportunity to become directly involved in the public relations activities that are part of the daily operations of the department. We strive to make this a challenging and interesting experience for you and make every effort to tailor it to the specific skills and projects that you would like to pursue and build on. This department contributes to the organization through promotion of UFC and WEC products.
We are currently seeking an intern for our Public Relations deparment for the Spring 2010 semester. This internship will work closely with the Publicists and Public Relations Coordinator.
Through this opportunity, you will learn entry level public relations, and will have the opportunity to learn and observe the activities that go into promoting and the company, its events, and the fighters that participate in the events. You will receive exposure to all facets of public relations, including press releases, special events, creative brainstorming, and media contact.

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Oct

28

Stats Monkey generates game recap articles

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The New York Times’ blog Media Decoder points out an interesting development: the Intelligent Information Lab at Northwestern University has created Stats Monkey, a system that uses an algorithm to generate a game recap story by simply using available stats and play-by-play.

Given information commonly available online about many games—the box score and the play-by-play—the system automatically generates the text of a story about that game that captures the overall dynamic of the game and highlights the key plays and key players.  The story includes an appropriate headline and a photo of the most important player in the game.

The blog post includes an example and I was quite surprised to see how well a computer could describe a game. As the blogger pointed out, the lede was buried in the piece and it could always miss out an important development in the game because it just didn’t make the stat sheet.

Rich at the Idea Lab does not believe that machine generated news will act as a threat to journalists, but not all of his commenters agreed with him. I thought he did bring up a couple of interesting points. This system could be used by journalists to help flesh out story angles because it can dig up historical trends for players and teams that a journalist may not be aware of. Think of sport organizations that may get very little media coverage, if any, like youth teams. This system could allow a Little League manager to input the stats and with the click of the button have a quick recap of the game for the team or league’s website.

What do you guys think?

Oct

27

Job Opening: Fresno Grizzlies Director of Media Relations

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The Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League is looking for a Director of Media Relations. Interested and meet the qualifications? Please visit this website to apply. Good luck!

Position Summary: Individual will be an active and esteemed member in the community representing the Fresno Grizzlies. Director of Media Relations will serve as the liaison between the team and all media outlets, building awareness and coverage of the Grizzlies through aggressive public relations and marketing efforts.

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Oct

26

Twitter’s impact on college athletics

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Sports Media Challenge teamed up with CoSIDA to present five secrets of unlocking Twitter for college sports. You can watch the video presentation presented to university athletic departments across the country on YouTube below or by clicking on this link.

The Daily Northwestern, the student paper at Northwestern University, examines how colleges are taking advantage of social networking websites. The difference with college athletics is that Twitter and Facebook can be used to help the program’s recruiting efforts according to the article. It’s not just using these social media platforms to directly reach out to recruits, but also that Twitter and Facebook updates can highlight the positives of the school.

In the ongoing battle to lock up top recruits, Twitter and Facebook have become invaluable weapons, allowing coaches to connect with high schoolers on a new level.

“The key with social media is creating value in what you talk about and listening to what people are saying,” Hessert said. “If a coach is monitoring key recruits and what they’re saying and doing on social media, they can respond to things of interest to (the recruit) without responding directly.”

According to sophomore defensive end Kevin Watt, social media will benefit recruits as well as coaches.

“You definitely get to see a little more of a personal side of a coach and see what they’re about,” Watt said. “That’s important in choosing a college, figuring out what kind of person your coach is.”

Please make sure to look into the recruiting guidelines regarding social networking before using social media to ensure you are abiding by the rules.

Oct

23

Sports PR Weekly Roundup

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I am going to try and make this SPRB roundup a weekly occurrence on Fridays. It will be a place to share interesting articles and blog posts I’ve come across in the realm of sports business, PR and career tips. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share in the comment section of this post.

  • Gina Chen at Save The Media writes how the media should be using social media in its newsroom. Sally Falkow at The Proactive Report took that thought a step further, emphasizing how this relates to PR professionals.
  • A Chicago Tribune blog says the USOC’s recently hired CCO is a good move for the organization.
  • Journalistics offers up quick tips for PR and marketing professionals who want to improve their writing. The blog also asks what your personal PR plan is. How well are you promoting yourself?
  • Along that line, Rachel Esterline points out ways to manage your image online.
  • A Reuters blog notes that most NHL teams have frozen their ticket prices this season.
  • Fang’s Bites wraps up the news surrounding the Steve Phillips scandal, which had been dealt with internally at ESPN before becoming public news courtesy of Deadspin. He also has ESPN’s statement on the matter.
  • The Detroit News details the reasons why the Detroit Shock (WNBA) franchise is moving to Tulsa.
  • Drew Kerr at PR Rock and Roll wonders if reporters actually read quotes in press releases.
  • Richard Edelman asks if making comments to articles or blog posts online is an appropriate forum for PR.
  • CNN points out eight different ways you can create a digital business card.
  • Culpwrit provides links to 100 great posts to help jump-start your job search.

Oct

23

Job Opening: Lake Erie Crushers Media Relations Internship

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The Lake Erie Crushers in Avon, Ohio, are searching for paid media relations intern(s) for this spring. For more information and to apply, please visit this website. Good luck!

The Lake Erie Crushers are members of the Frontier League, an independent professional baseball league with 12 teams throughout the Midwest. The Crushers are seeking college students, who are passionate about working in the sports industry to fill internship positions in the media relations department for the 2010 summer term. Interns will receive an inside look at the business of baseball, gaining experience in all areas of a professional sport team’s front office, including sales, marketing, operations,  promotions and merchandising.

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Oct

22

Job Opening: Edmonton Oilers Communications Internship

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The Edmonton Oilers are accepting applications for a paid communications internship through October 30, 2009. If interested, you can apply by visiting this website. Good luck!

Reports directly to the Manager, Corporate Communications
• Communications Assistant is a full-time, four month contract (January 4th – April 30th) position that is recognized through an honourarium of $1050.00 monthly.
• The Communications Assistant position is responsible for supporting the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club Corporate Communications initiatives.
Posting closes October 30th, 2009

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Oct

21

Help with a history of SIDs paper

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I am working on a research paper about the history of sports information directors for my “History of College Athletics” course. The paper isn’t due for quite some time and I have already done some research, but I wanted to see if any SPRB readers have suggestions for websites, books, or people to talk to that would be helpful for this paper. Feel free to e-mail me at christy[dot]hammond19[@]gmail[dot]com or leave a comment.

I plan on posting my paper here at SPRB once it is finished in early December. Thanks in advance!

Oct

21

Job Opening: Anaheim Angels Media Relations Internship

Filed Under Career, Job Openings | 1 Comment

The Anaheim Angels are looking for a variety of interns for the 2010 season, including an intern for the media relations department. For more info and to apply, you can visit this website. Good luck!

The following departments will require an intern for the duration of the internship year, January 2010 – December 2010:

Corporate Sales/Sponsorship, Marketing, Media Relations, Community Relations, Stadium/Ballpark Operations, Information Services

Interns are paid hourly in the program and will work 40 regular business hours during their internship year. Interns are also expected to commit to the full year. Applicants must be able to work flexible and some unusual hours during the team’s season including nights and weekends. Listed below are brief descriptions for the various departments:

Media Relations
Primary responsibilities for the Media Relations Intern will include maintaining and distributing daily newspaper and magazine clips, daily gathering, preparation and dissemination of pre-game information including rosters, lineups, game notes and releases. Will assist with press box game management; participate in writing and production of publications and organizing photographs. Works with media staff in notifying media members of breaking news and handling daily media written correspondence and fan/media phone inquiries. Will handle extensive statistical research projects for media and coaching staffs. May work with Publications Manager and Broadcasting Manager on occasion.

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