With its recent decision to join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports except football, Notre Dame finally put to bed speculation surrounding its athletics programs and the independent status of its football program. Courted by other conferences such as the Big 12, Notre Dame has joined the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse in their recent defection from the Big East conference, of which the latter two schools were founding members.

Over the past couple of years, many argue that conference realignment has been influenced heavily by big money television contracts, as collegiate conferences negotiate long term contracts with networks on behalf of their member schools. The exceptions to the rule are Notre Dame, Army, Navy, and more recently, Brigham Young University. Notre Dame has such a following for its football program that it has maintained for years an independent status and currently has a contract with NBC to air its football games on national television. In college sports, Notre Dame is about as big a brand as they come.Continue reading...

Back in 1794, Philip Wigle was sentenced to hang for committing high treason during the Whiskey Rebellion. His crime? Wigle beat up a tax collector to prevent him from collecting taxes on farmers in Western Pennsylvania who made their living by turning grain into whiskey. Over 200 years later, Wigle's memory is honored by a young distillery in Pittsburgh called Wigle Whiskey.

On a recent trip to Pittsburgh, brandchannel dispatched a grateful scribe to catch up with Mark Meyer, a lawyer with a dream (inspired by a trip north of the border, as the Wall Street Journal found out) who founded Wigle Whiskey, to chat about launching an artisanal brand and sample his craft.

brandchannel: How important is branding in the whiskey business?

Mark Meyer: Branding is extremely important. Unlike wine, people seem to develop a loyalty to certain brands of whiskey. One of the reasons we decided to start our distillery is because Western Pennsylvania was once the home of American Whiskey. Whiskey is very much a part of the history and culture of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.Continue reading...

It's a little unusual that Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. thinks he's Bob Marley reincarnated, especially given he was 9 years old when the reggae legend passed. Snoop Dogg's name change to Snoop Lion is not all that unusual among the celebrity set, however.

Snoop Lion, as the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg will now be known, claims he found himself on a trip to Jamaica in January and is pursuing a higher calling. "I have always said I was Bob Marley reincarnated," he announced. "I feel I have always been a Rastafari. I just didn't have my third eye open, but it's wide open right now."

Apparently tired of singing about drugs, alcohol, and women, Snoop Lion is — of course — releasing a reggae album under his new persona, titled — of course — “Reincarnated.” He's calling it an album he hopes his "kids and grandparents can listen to."Continue reading...

In winning Euro 2012, Spain's national team redeemed Barcelona's defeat at the hands of England's Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final. But the English have come out on top again in Forbes' ranking of the wealthiest sports franchises with Manchester United's value pegged at $2.23 billion. Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona also make Forbes' top 10, coming in at #2 and #8, respectively.

Manchester United may be the most valuable sports franchise, but Deloitte's Football Money League ranks the club only third, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, in terms of revenue amongst global soccer clubs.Continue reading...

In the digital world we live in, we are constantly bombarded with information that influences our perception of many different brands. A poor advertising campaign or a PR snafu can easily tarnish a brand’s image. What about your personal brand though? The idea of personal branding has been around for a while now, and your personal image is easier than ever to create online via websites like Facebook, Google+, etc. However, the rapidly expanding reach of the internet in our daily lives is also making it harder than ever for some to accurately present themselves.Continue reading...

Bank of America just can't get out of the limelight. We noted late last year BofA's questionable decision to introduce monthly debit card fees during the much-hyped Occupy Wall Street protests. Now, months after the OWS movement has died down, BofA is again facing populist scrutiny with this week's launch of a parody website: YourBofA.com.

The website has been attributed to The Yes Men, who have been credited for other satirical websites for the likes of George Bush and the WTO.

The mock BofA website opens with a fake letter from CEO Brian Moynihan acknowledging that the bank “isn't working anymore” and suggesting that the American taxpayer will ultimately own the company. Further, the website offers a forum to visitors to suggest ideas for how to improve the bank and its policies.

The site even hits below the belt by bringing grandmas into the mix, prominently displaying an elderly woman next to the quote “I want my bank to let grandmas stay in houses they've owned their whole lives.” And if all of that wasn't enough, another section of the spoofed site allows visitors to create fake BofA ads online or by downloading Photoshop templates. Customers, beware.

It's tough to be the new guy, especially when you're trying to be the new guy in what many still consider to be a fringe sport, Major League Soccer. The New York Cosmos are not an expansion team yet, but investors in the franchise have been making a case to become MLS's 20th team. The club's competition for this honor includes efforts in Orlando, Miami, St. Louis, and Atlanta.

Despite an all-star management team including Pele as honorary president and Eric Cantona as director of football, the Cosmos have run into some bad press recently concerning its youth academy, formerly known as Blau-Weiss Gottschee. In short, the youth academy claims that the Cosmos owe it $210,000 stemming from a sponsorship agreement made in 2010. It has filed a lawsuit against the Cosmos as a result. This is obviously not good news for a club trying to convince MLS to add it as a second New York team when there is already one struggling team in the area thanks to the New York Red Bulls.Continue reading...

English Premier League club Newcastle United caused a stir by announcing it sold the naming rights for its historic stadium, St. James' Park, to British retailer Sports Direct. In England, a country where soccer stadiums could be mistaken for places of worship, this is scandalous.

However, rising player wages and billionaire owners like Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour are making money more important than ever in the British game, as the New York Times notes.

Sponsorships, of course, generate significant revenue for sports teams, yet American sports teams have generally avoided covering their jerseys in corporate logos, even though rival soccer teams around the world (including American ones) don't seem to mind. Manchester United even has two shirt sponsors: Aon (game jerseys) and DHL (training kit). Spend enough time around a Premier League stadium and you might mistake it for a NASCAR race.Continue reading...