Fans and admirers of the Green Bay Packers have inundated the team's phone lines and website (which redirects to packersowner.com) today to order up to 250,000 "shares" in the Super Bowl champion's latest sale of "stock" for $250 apiece.

The catch — well understood by everyone who snapped up the stock certificates — is that the shares aren't actually worth anything, including any scintilla of true ownership in one of the National Football League's oldest most storied franchises. The ultimate helm of the not-for-profit entity is held by an American Legion post in Green Bay in a complicated matrix of "public" ownership that is too long to be explained in most stock prospecti.

The bottom line is that the stock sale, the team's first since 1993, is entirely symbolic, a chance for the so-called Packer Nation of fans to express appreciation and support, mainly.  But the proceeds are very real, and the team expects to raise at leaset $20 millon that will go toward a $143-million expansion plan for Lambeau Field including a new sound systrem, new videoboards and the addition of as many as 6,700 seats.Continue reading...

Remember the launch of Carmelo Anthony's M8 Jordan Brand shoe back in October? Well, Melo's at it again — this time with a Christmas themed shoe for the Nike-owned Jordan Brand. The occasion? All NBA games will start on Christmas Day as a result of the just-resolved lockout, which saw Brand Jordan himself at odds with fans and players alike as Michael Jordan sided with his fellow team owners in the labor dispute.

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...

Airlines have taken to sponsoring teams in England’s Premier League recently. Etihad Airlines signed on with Manchester City in July. Emirates Airlines has its name on Arsenal’s stadium. And Turkish Airlines has a deal with Manchester United.

Great promotion for the airlines, right? Well, there are a few that get turned off when a brand sign on with a team: the fans of that team’s rivals.Continue reading...

The International Olympic Committee has been using "The Best of Us" as a tagline in its ongoing marketing campaign to promote the Olympic Games.

Now, with less than 250 days to go before the London 2012 summer games, the New York Times notes that, in addition to TV commercials, the IOC and London Olympic organizers are using the tagline as the basis of a global campaign "to reach younger viewers through social media, user-generated content and other digital offerings." The goal is not only to engage the public, but particularly youths, in London 2012 via the web, mobile and social media.Continue reading...

Want to feel like you’re in a nightclub all day long? You may want to reach into your wallet and shell out $300 for the Nike SPARQ Vapor Strobe Eyewear, a set of glasses that actually crate a strobelike effect on the eyes and are made for athletes to train with. The idea behind the high-performance specs, according to a release from the company, is that the variable speed of the strobe helps the athlete’s eyes adjust quicker to different situations.

“By blocking or disrupting vision using a strobe or flicker effect that can be varied in speed, an athlete can develop quicker reaction times and motor skills,” the release reads. “The strobe effect improves reaction time by switching between clear and blocked vision, which trains the brain to anticipate what‘s coming when the eyes are blocked. “ If you can throw a ball accurately with all this going on in your eyes, imagine how much easier it’ll be when it’s just a few 300-pound guys trying to take you down.Continue reading...

The Ultimate Fighting Championship finally made its way to mainstream television on Saturday Nov. 12, drawing 5.7 million viewers to FOX to watch a much-hyped fight that only lasted 64 seconds.

While the mixed martial arts (MMA to fans) tussle may have been a disappointment for UFC fans and its chief, Dana White, there shouldn’t be too much to worry about since the organization signed a seven-year, $700 million deal with FOX back in August. The terms of the deal call for four fights a year on broadcast television, and the hope is that UFC's Chicago fights in January will deliver a little more oomph for FOX viewers in search of such things.

Anyone looking for such a thing live, though, shouldn’t be searching in New York State, one of three states to ban the sport. That law passed back in 1997 and UFC has been trying to find ways to get it overturned for four years now, coming close in June when the State Senate overturned the bill but the Assembly didn’t vote on it, according to the New York Times.Continue reading...

Despite the team's many stumbles on the field over the several years, no other organization has seriously disputed the standing of the Dallas Cowboys as the unofficial "America's Team" of the National Football League — until now.

Based on the opinions of sports branding and marketing experts, licensed-merchandise sales, and other indicators, the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers are challenging to take away the Cowboys' hallowed standing as the favorite "second team" of football fans after their hometown squad. Or so says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a hometown paper of sorts in Wisconsin.

It isn't just the fact that the Packers remain undefeated this season, at 9-0, after Monday night's laugher over the Minnesota Vikings. Or that the team based in America's tiniest NFL hometown is being led by the mid-season favorite to win the league's MVP title, quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Or that Packers linebacker Clay Matthews has become a household name through his endorsement deals with Nike Football, Suave and Muscle Milk.Continue reading...