Home » Sports Business

Sports Business

Articles

New leader aims to keep school, students growing: More businesses support private north-side institution

What began in 1994 as a six-room schoolhouse with 38 students has grown into a three-building campus with 602 pupils. The growth of the International School of Indiana, which welcomed a new headmaster this year, has been possible because of increased support from an expanding flock of businesses. They believe in its mission: to help attract scientists and executives from around the world to this community by providing a global education for their children. Before the school opened, recalled Eli…

Read More

SPORTS: Offended by the Pacers? Watch their defense

On Media Day Oct. 1 in Conseco Fieldhouse, all was well in the Indiana Pacers’ world. New coaches. New hope. New optimism. New season. New attitude. Save poor Shawne Williams’alarm clock-and, just askin’, but when was the last time you overslept an appointment with a judge?-and the lingering legal issues still facing Jamal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels, the feeling of looking forward and a fresh start was palpable. For those of you who have not yet met, or heard speak,…

Read More

PROFILE CAROLYN CLAY: Attorney ‘escapes’ from the infamous Rock Challenging open-water Alcatraz race gives a whole new meaning to ‘swimming with the sharks’ Editor’s Note: The original version of this story appeared in the July 11 issue of the Indiana Law

PROFILE CAROLYN CLAY Attorney ‘escapes’ from the infamous Rock Challenging open-water Alcatraz race gives a whole new meaning to ‘swimming with the sharks’ Editor’s Note: The original version of this story appeared in the July 11 issue of the Indiana Lawyer, a statewide newspaper for lawyers published by IBJ Media. Women in Business editor Della Pacheco added to the original story. Carolyn Clay has been swimming for as long as she can remember. The 29-year-old attorney at Indianapolis law firm…

Read More

Players benched for new Pacers ads

The Indiana Pacers recently rolled out a marketing initiative that was in sharp contrast to last year’s campaign, which prominently
featured players and proclaimed, “It’s up to us.” This year’s new television, radio and print advertisements appear with not
a whisper from or mention of anyone actually wearing the blue and gold.

Read More

Chevrolet pleased with ads, but CD sales hit pothole: Mellencamp is selling trucks, but not tunes

Hoosier rocker John Mellencamp is helping Chevrolet sell more trucks, but he’s having less luck when it comes to selling his records. In November, Mellencamp embarked on his first major commercial campaign, selling his song “Our Country” to Chevrolet for its Silverado pickup truck campaign. Since then, tens of millions of people have seen commercials-some that show Mellencamp playing guitar, while others simply play his song-during myriad collegiate and professional basketball and football games. Chevrolet officials said the commercials featuring…

Read More

SURF THIS: On the Net: Buying and branding the Bonds ball

Faithful readers may remember that my last column was about the young man who decided to sell the record-breaking home-run baseball hit by Barry Bonds. I found the story rather telling as it dealt with human nature, our proclivity to place sports figures on pedestals (often undeservingly), and an undercurrent of the value of authenticity and integrity. Even casual sports fans are aware of the mild controversy surrounding Bonds and his suspected use of performance-enhancing drugs. A few interesting things…

Read More

Convention faithful are sticking it out: Trade groups say perks outweigh construction hassle

The Indiana Convention Center isn’t big enough for some large trade shows, but Indianapolis’ location and hospitality are enough to keep certain customers coming back. Despite losing locally based Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association’s CEDIA Expo and California-based Performance Racing Industry’s annual show-and the estimated $45 million attendees spent each year-Indianapolis has managed to keep three other biggies. Do it Best Corp.’s twice-yearly trade show, Advanstar Communications’ Dealer Expo and the Fire Department Instructors Conference are sticking around because…

Read More

SPORTS: Indiana’s finest embark on the trip of a lifetime

On Sept. 25, the NCAA’s Hall of Champions was a hall filled with champions. Yes, former Carmel basketball state champion, Purdue bowl champion and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Mark Herrmann was there. So were Justin Snow and a couple of his teammates from the Super Bowl champion Colts. But the champs on this day were athletes such as Sam McNew from Noblesville, Jessica Crook from Logansport, Mitch Johnson from Muncie, Danielle Burgin from Jeffersonville, and Shane Talbert from Attica. Later, at…

Read More

SPORTS: Sadly, loyalists come to the aid of a Patriot cheater

Undoubtedly, he was caught up in his “Win-One-For-The-Gipper” moment when New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said of Bill Belichick, “We play for probably the best coach in the history of the NFL.” We’ll set aside for a moment whether Belichick can be placed above the likes of Vince Lombardi, George Halas, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Joe Gibbs or Don Shula, just to name several. And we’ll forget that Belichick wasn’t so great a coach in Cleveland, where he was…

Read More

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: It’s OK for philanthropic motivations to be a little selfish

It probably goes without saying that New Yorkers can be, well, a bit difficult. As a fund-raiser for a NYC-based not-forprofit for many years, I encountered my fair share of these folks, which is one reason why I really looked forward to coming back to my home state of Indiana. Having grown up in Indiana, I knew of the kindness and generosity shown to me by neighbors, teachers-even complete strangers-but I’d never lived and worked here as an adult. More…

Read More

IRL drops green flag on revenue-sharing plan: Series places no limits on number of teams eligible

The Indy Racing League is going where only stick-and-ball sports have gone before: revenue sharing. In a concept unique to motorsports, IRL officials have floated a plan that will guarantee teams about $1.3 million from series coffers for each car entered full time in the 16-race series. The change means the IRL could pay out $36 million to teams in 2008, $10 million more than it did through prize purses this year. Industry experts think revenue generated by the newly…

Read More

City paves way to redevelop Bush Stadium site

Indianapolis has initiated the redevelopment process for Bush Stadium, its shuttered sports landmark. The Metropolitan Development
Commission has hired a pair of local firms for $25,000 to appraise historic Bush Stadium–a first step toward reuse or, more
likely, at least partial demolition.

Read More

SPORTS: What are these ‘professionals’ thinking? They’re not

An open letter to the Indiana Pacers Shawne Williams (boy, are these open letters to Pacers fun): My first question, Shawne: What were you thinking? But then, it’s obvious you weren’t thinking or, if you were, it was only about yourself and not the team or town Here’s something else that probably hasn’t occurred to you: Because of you, the highly respected Donnie Walsh and one of the greatest to ever put on a basketball uniform, Larry Bird, are being…

Read More

Indians reverse attendance slide: 10-percent increase could lead to seven-figure profit

The Indianapolis Indians this year scored the second-highest-percentage attendance increase in the 14-team International League. The spike could push the team’s profit over $1 million. The AAA farm team for Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates scored a 10-percent increase in attendance. The Indians drew 8,383 per game, up from 7,608 in 2006. While attendance for all minor-league baseball teams was up 2.2 percent, the Indians’ ability to beat that trend in a crowded sports market is a testament to the…

Read More

SPORTS: Feel-good sports stories are out there-just look

No question about it, the feel-good that sport can create has taken a beating this summer. There was Barry Bonds breaking the Major League homerun record under the strong suspicion of steroid use, NFL star Michael Vick’s guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges, the betting scandal involving NBA referee Tim Donaghy, and the revelation of match-fixing in professional tennis. Just to name a few. It could really get you down if you let it. Yet, I’ve written this before-sport provides…

Read More

SURF THIS: Selling Bonds online-the baseball kind, anyway

Would you sell a piece of history? Let’s just say, for the purposes of this discussion, that you were in possession of a piece of history with a generally healthy market value-an 1884 Carson City $20 gold coin, for example. written notes from the Gettysburg Address. Or, say, the baseball that Barry Bonds hit to break Hank Aaron’s homerun record. Would you sell it? I wondered about this recently when I read that Matt Murphy, the fan who caught the…

Read More

SPORTS: Lynch isn’t Hep, but he’s a coach you can root for

I recall being on the football field at Ball State University in November of 1996, moments after the Cardinals had clinched the Mid-American Conference championship. The head coach, Bill Lynch, was exceedingly thrilled, as you might expect. But he also was exceedingly humble, deflecting the credit and making sure the spotlight was focused not on him, but on his players. Fast forward to 1999, when Ball State was in the throes of a losing streak that was to reach 21…

Read More

Big Ten battles for TV sports bonanza

The new Big Ten Network and some of the nation’s largest cable television systems are fighting over how consumers will be charged for the network’s programming. Hundreds of sporting events could be blacked out in local markets, including scores of Indiana and Purdue university football and basketball games, if the two sides don’t reach an agreement.

Read More

SPORTS: Killing animals for sport isn’t right-or uncommon

On an August afternoon in 1992, while covering the Olympic Games in Barcelona for the local daily, several of us decided we needed to experience a slice of authentic Spanish culture. So we journeyed to a bullfight. I could offer a lengthy narrative, but I’ll provide the abridged version. The bulls are lanced several times by men on horseback. The subsequent loss of blood weakens the animals … slowly and agonizingly. Then the matador arrives with a sword and completes…

Read More

New ventures expanding school sports coverage: Players large and small converge on growing niche

High school sports coverage, once found only in the back pages of local newspapers’ sports sections, is now spawning new Internet and print businesses. The players involved range from large public companies and professional sports franchises to small entrepreneurs. The effort to score with high school sports coverage appears to be driven by a growing number of advertisers interested in the diverse audience attracted to scholastic events. In recent months, High School Sports The Magazine debuted in central Indiana, Emmis…

Read More