There are things that you see, you stand up at, and start clapping.

Lampard is showing me around

I gave my personal standing ovation this morning to Adidas and Chelsea FC.

Got an email from Adidas on behalf of the football club (the importance of a database and data collection on your audience, remember?), asking if I wanted to become Chelsea FC's 12th man…

Hell yeah! I thought and clicked on the link.

I inserted my name and surname, my nationality and there I was, full screen video, walking outside Stamford Bridge, cheered by fans, then inside the off limit area.

The press is breaking the news...

I was greeted by name by the staff at the entrance, who also showed me the newspaper of the day breaking the news of MY arrival at the club, and got a warm reception in front of the locker room by Ballack. While stepping in the “sanctuary” of MY new team, I noticed MY name on Ancelotti’s list, stuck on the door.

Once inside, Frank Lampard took me to my locker, where a Chelsea uniform with MY name on it was hanging from the wall.
Then off we went, on to the pitch, greeted by dozens of thousands of fans.

What an amazing initiative!

Goal? Promoting the sale of personalized official uniforms and creating a viral video engaging fans and creating involvement.

Petr Cech's welcome was quite warm

Technology? Nothing new, a widely used software can make your name appear on the fly on any pictures or videos, the video was shot with a handy cam: it was the idea to be absolutely spot on.

What a marvellous example that technology is only a medium: it’s content and creativity that make the difference.

And now… sorry guys I have to run: Ancelotti is calling me for training!

Damn egg! Damn chicken! I start thinking that the world and all the misunderstandings related revolve around the big question mark... what comes first?

As I am progressing through our road show and meet a lot of Sport Organisations, I realise that the big bottleneck is right there.

While in many other cases, industries and situations, there is no clear answer to the “big question”, in case of Sport Organisations the solution is right there.

One President of a League told me last week, showing me a nice initiative developed online: “this idea was great, and we had such a low response. The sponsor wasn’t happy”.

The initiative was really good, I must admit it.

But it was a drop of water in the sand: who was it directed to? To their audience right? But what audience? They have no interaction or engagement with their fans in their online presence, they never planned to create and grow an audience and neither have one.

Their website is a “read only” website, a brochure where fans have no place whatsoever.

And here comes the bottom of the issue:

A great initiative by itself doesn’t build a great audience.

It is a great, active, engaged audience that makes an initiative effective and successful.

Start developing your online strategy and the results will come.

Right at the peak of US Open, I am playing around with their Iphone application.

I cannot think of a more complete tool to follow the tennis tournament on the go.

News, Players' profiles, Scores (matches in progress and completed matches), Schedule and Draws keep the most demanding fan updated in real time, while photos and videos add visual and editorial contribution, including footage of press conferences and interviews.

A comprehensive guide for the spectators at the two arenas includes maps, transportation and directions, seat charts and even a dining guide.

The application is built, hosted and sponsored by IBM.

Rafael Nadal

Another sponsor is American Express, bringing the Iphone user an online live radio which the user can contribute to by sending questions from the phone application itself and several collateral benefits for Amex members.

The cherry on top of the application is the “Tweets” section, which lists the official Tweeter US Open feed, plus a few celebrities’ too.

This great application works in parallel with the website, which is also fully “social networked”, with links to Facebook and Tweeter pages, posts, comments (which are searchable by geographical area), most popular stories and photos, plus downloadable wallpapers, widgets and various competitions, and the live video and audio broadcasts.

Next time I will need to show someone examples of online interaction and engagement, why hopping around the Internet collecting examples when the US Open online presence alone is a full and complete showcase?

Every start of a new season there have always been huge curiosity and expectations in Europe around sport TV broadcasting: who will air what, will it be pay per view or free, etcetera.

Different situation for less popular sports though, where minor leagues are struggling in finding opportunities to find good deals for their championships and tournaments, at times having even to pay for being aired.

As many European Organisations are lagging behind in their online strategies compared to their US counterparts, online live streaming could be a great alternative, when not a complement, to their TV presence.

Will Richmond from videonuze.com has done a great job collecting all the main headlines regarding online broadcasting (live or on demand) events of 2009.

- PGATour.com to Offer Live Video Streams of Key Holes for Tour Playoffs (B&C)

- U.S. Open to Stream Almost All Matches Online (PaidContent)

- DirecTV Offers NFL Sunday Ticket via Internet in NY Trial (USA Today)

- “Live at Wimbledon” Streaming Coverage Announced by NBC (Sports Media News)

- Cablevision Subs Will Gain Access to In-Market Streaming of YES’s Yankee Telecasts (Multichannel News)

- MLB.com Streams Live Baseball Games to the iPhone (NYTimes Bits)

- NBA Playoffs to Stream on Android App (Online Media Daily)

- Speedtv.com to Stream Part of Le Mans 24 Hours (Multichannel News)

- NHL to Launch Daily Stanley Cup Pre-game Web Series (Mediaweek – reg required)

- Follow the Masters on Your iPhone (Electronic House)

- March Madness! YouTube Gets Live Video via Silverlight (NewTeeVee)

A few weeks ago I also wrote about collegefanz.com broadcasting one live NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) football game each week, while broadcasting 24/7 non live games and news on their website.

It seems 2010 will be even fuller of content for sport fans around the world while new monetisation opportunities open up for European Sport Organisations willing to catch up with their online audiences, overall very much neglected so far.

Any examples of live broadcasts by minor leagues around the world are welcome!

Alessandro De Zanche