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To keep things in perspective, most of the "alternative leagues" have been around for 20 years or less, while leagues such as the NFL have roots back to the late 1800s. Originally created in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (changed to the National Football League two years later), the NFL did not grow to the popularity it enjoys today until nearly forty years after it first launched. Prior to the 1960s, American football was played mainly at the college level, not reaching greater mainstream awareness and popularity until the introduction of televised games.
In fact the relationship between professional sports and television is a marriage made in capitalist heaven. By far the most-watched programs on US television, NFL games entail the most money to be had and spent of all other games. According to the Washington Post, the league cleared US$ 5.2 billion last year and "recently brokered the richest television deal in sports history" (no figures were given). According to the same article, each team starts out the year with US$ 100 million from NFL television broadcast rights (8 January 2005). But as the sports industry in general continues to soften each year and expenses continue to increase, the era of network broadcasting rights is indeed changing.
Like all monopolies, the NFL has had its share of contenders through the decades. While some have been successful, most were not; the USFL and XFL are among the more notable flops.
Lasting only three seasons, the USFL was the first rival to the NFL since the American Football League in the 1960s. Created as a competitor by "not competing" with the NFL, the USFL played in the spring and summer, NFL's off-season. (Later USFL changed the game schedule to largely match the NFL.)
With 12 franchises, including Donald Trump's New Jersey Generals, the USFL failed to get much traction with fans despite high profile recruits, such as NFL players Doug Flutie and Herschel Walker, and despite an anti-trust suit against the NFL and its franchises for monopolizing television broadcast rights and access to certain stadia. While the USFL won in principle, it received a court judgment of exactly US$ 3.00 for its time. The league closed shortly after.
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 The XFL on the other hand was the reactive brainchild of television network NBC and the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), created in 2001 to capitalize on the success of the NFL and the drama and shock tactics of pro-wrestling. It was also created in reaction to NBC losing broadcast rights to the NFL two years earlier. Operated as a single unit versus franchised teams, the XFL as a creative mix of elements produced tawdry showgirl entertainment with badly played football as a side note. It lasted one season.
It is interesting to note that the "X" of XFL did not originally stand for "Extreme Football League" but rather had no meaning at all. Ultimately, the league's positioning and presentation were way off the mark, appealing to neither core fans of football nor wrestling, and failing to bring in entertainment/movie fans as originally conceived.
Comments Ed O'Hara of SME, a sports branding agency, "I think that whenever you do something in business as a defensive measure, it's a bad way to start."
Ironically some of the things that the XFL was accused of with the extreme camera shots, scantily clad cheerleaders and pervasive sexual innuendo, increasingly have been adopted by the NFL over the last few years. In 2004, a promo for television shows "Monday Night Football" and "Desperate Housewives" with "Housewives" actress Nicolette Sheridan and Philadelphia Eagles player Terrell Owens steamed some critics for its highly XFL-ish presentation when Sheridan leapt naked into the arms of Owens.
Even the squeaky clean side of sports is not enough to guarantee success for a new league. With Olympic gold behind it, the WUSA (Women's United Soccer Association) was the first women's pro soccer league in the world, created after the smashing success of the US women's soccer team during the 2000 Olympics and on the heels of the 1999 World Cup Championship. For many in the sports industry, the demise of the league is considered a tragedy.
Says SME's O'Hara, "There was this optimism about forming a league with these incredible players who were very sponsor friendly. Mia Hamm was squeaky clean, and the rest [of the players] were just [as] inspiring. The fact that they couldn't make it as a league was just really a shock and quite disheartening to a lot of sports fans and those of us on this side of the industry."
Lois Friedman, VP of research and database marketing for sports arena Madison Square Garden, says, "I don't think people understand branding. In order to make any product work, whether it's a sports team product or whatever…you really, really need to figure out what the brand is. And in today's world there are so many brands asking for our attention… I guess a lot of it is name recognition, or in the case of a sports league, the league name recognition. I don't know that people really spend enough time doing [branding]."
Leveraging name equity is what the NBA hoped would boost WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) recognition and interest among the mainstream. As a league mostly created within the NBA infrastructure, success has been a mixed bag after eight years. Some teams such as New York Liberty manage to fill Madison Square Garden with 12,000 people on a Tuesday summer night, while three other teams have folded since 2000. Press reports cite that many teams still struggle financially.
Friedman of the Garden says, "I think the NBA expected the NBA name to help the WNBA brand, [but it's a] different audience and different experience. You know the line ‘If I build it, they will come'? I don't know that that's really true. I think that if I build it, and can figure out a way to make them understand what it is and have an emotional feeling about it, [then] they will come."
Approaching its twentieth season, the AFL (Arena Football League) is a unique twist on the beloved sport that not only knows its positioning but uses it. Currently comprising 17 teams, the indoor football game with six of the eight on eight players playing both ways offensively and defensively, provides affordable family-friendly football with easy access to the players including autographs after every game.
Since Commissioner C. David Baker took over the AFL in 1996, the league's mission statement and the fan's bill of rights were implemented, establishing the commitment to "be the most fan friendly league in the world."
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Says Chris McCloskey, senior VP of communications for the AFL, "We believe we provide a great entertainment experience for the fan. World-class football, autographs after every game, tickets are affordable, game proximity is extremely close, and the fans get to keep footballs that go into the stands. We've given out something like 10,000 footballs over the years."
Started with just four teams after Jim Foster, a former NFL marketing executive, was inspired to create the game as he experienced an indoor soccer game in 1981, the sport has caught on reasonably well with particularly young demographics (12 to 25 and 18 to 34 years old) and more franchise teams will join the league next year including Salt Lake City. Former NFL'ers John Elway and Mike Ditka, and rocker Jon Bon Jovi are just a few high-profile team owners.
In the quest to broaden the league's recognition, McCloskey cites the agreement to broadcast games on NBC each Sunday as a successful means to reach out to new American fans. Began in 2003, the agreement increased the AFL's television time from six hours the year before to 66 hours. The agreement was unique to the sports world in that there was no rights fee exchanged. NBC and the AFL split all ad revenue once production costs are met, and NBC receives a percentage in the future of AFL team sales that go above an agreed-upon threshold. In addition, NBC has the option into perpetuity, meaning it can never lose the AFL as it has other leagues at various points in history.
According to McCloskey, attendance is up 43 percent overall since the partnership.
Despite the success of the NBC alliance, one of the biggest challenges as the AFL turns twenty years old is indeed the mainstream sports media. Reflects McCloskey, "You deal with a group there that is controlled by essentially older sports editors who probably grew up with three or four sports. We're a new sport. The media has to deal with the fact that they are already overworked and underpaid. The news hole is shrinking especially for sports, and you have a new product out there. It's very difficult to break the establishment and send reporters to games, and cover the game regularly during the week and write columns about it. It's something that we constantly hammer at, and we've moved the needle, but it's slow moving the needle."
Marketing and partnerships with television network Fox Sports Net, which broadcasts many of the non-NBC games and features an AFL Highlight Show every week, have assisted with media challenges, as has new media.
"But," cautions Madison Square Garden's Friedman, "Applying television tactics to email…and using mass marketing to blast out emails so you'll sell tickets, I don't think that's the answer."
Friedman continues, "I think the answer is very targeted marketing. In order to do that, you need to understand who's coming to your games, who is that core audience who really loves your league or your team, and then figure out how to get more people just like them." [23-May-2005]
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Alycia de Mesa is a brand identity consultant and writer with over 10 years experience from Fortune 100 to start-up companies. She is author of Before The Brand, the definitive brand identity handbook, published by McGraw-Hill (under the name Alycia Perry).
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Oct 24, 2005
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Branding, a Job Well Done -- Dale Buss
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How do major brands like Costco and Ritz-Carlton become household names without relying on traditional advertising? By tapping into their greatest resource: Employees.
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Aug 8, 2005
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Hotel Brands Break the Chain -- Rob Mitchell
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After decades of perfecting the known experience at chains around the world, hotel brands are now trying to create boutique hotels as guests go on a quest for the one-off experience.
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Jul 25, 2005
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Best Global Brands: Focus on UBS -- Robin Rusch
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Among the top five fastest growing brands on the list of 100 Best Global Brands 2005, Swiss financial services company UBS reflects the work in progress of growing and sustaining a global brand.
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Jun 20, 2005
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Growing Pains Small Brands -- Alicia Clegg
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How can a brand remain true while broadening its reach? Popular but small brands like Innocent Drinks, Tyrrells and Hill Station risk losing their original fans in their quest to grow bigger.
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Apr 18, 2005
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Dove Gets Real -- Alicia Clegg
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Unilever’s Dove is the latest beauty brand to use "real" women to sell product. But can this campaign turn ugly?
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Mar 7, 2005
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Should Global Brands Trash Local Favorites? -- Randall Frost
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When P&G, Unilever and Nestlé clean house, they risk losing local markets for beloved brands. Companies like Henkel, on the other hand, retain a portfolio of national and international brands to satisfy both global and local tastes.
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