The study comprises responses from nearly 300 students representing college students from freshmen to graduate studies. Respondents included students from nearly 30 U.S. colleges and universities.

The study analyzed the sports media consumption habits among U.S. college students and reveals that sports websites, television, and print publications are the primary source for sports information, not the ever-growing domain of social media (refer to Table 1).

Table 1: Percentage of students and their sources of getting sports news

Results revealed that the most visited sports websites include ESPN.com (76%), NFL.com (42%), YahooSports.com (25%).  The television venue encapsulates the majority of time spent enjoying sports news with 45% of respondents watching 1-3 hours of sports news per day.  However, 46% of college students who enjoy print publications only read for less than one hour per day.

The study also revealed that 62% of respondents have a smart phone with internet connectivity so access is not an issue with media consumption opportunities.

“Sport marketers need to understand how to leverage social media with the traditional outlets to reach college students, a desirable audience for many marketers,” said Jackie Reau, CEO of Game Day Communications and an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati. “With social media, the goal is to create a seamless integration between traditional and new media efforts. These findings provide support for sport marketers to not depend on social media, but use that outlet as a way to create supplemental interaction.”

Here’s a link to the presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/gamedayjreau/social-media-business-presentation-to-rotary-of-cincinnati

Here is the link to the full presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/gamedayjreau/running-a-social-media-newsroom-presented-at-running-usa-2011

“We have been offering this service for a number of events, including the Flying Pig Marathon, LPGA and the Western and Southern tennis tournament,” said Betsy Ross, president of Game Day Communications. “Now we want to formally introduce it to sporting events of all sizes.”

The Mobile Media Center offers the following:

• Full professional communications staff, on-site at the event
• A strategic plan that includes an editorial schedule for media relations and social media content development/sharing, media kits, media alerts and media list development
• On-site media management from pre-event to post-event activities within a stand-alone RV
• On-site internet live TV show hosted by former ESPN anchor Betsy Ross
• Content development with photos and videos to share and with media and social media networks
• Crisis communications planning and management
• A final event scorecard with earned media value, media impressions, social media impressions and fan engagement analysis.

Benefits to clients include having a professional communications staff to manage media, social media engagement and the dissemination of information, freeing event managers to concentrate on the event itself.

For additional information on the Mobile Media Center offered by Game Day Communications, please contact Jackie Reau at jreau@gamedaypr.com, (513) 929- 4263.

Written by former ESPN anchor Betsy Ross, Playing Ball with the Boys features interviews with the legendary women’s sports activist Billie Jean King, as well as Women’s Professional Soccer League leader Tonya Antonucci and ESPN College Basketball Analyst Rebecca Lobo. Prominent women working in the media are also featured in the book, including WFAN’s Ann Ligouri, CBS’ Lesley Visser, ESPN’s Pam Ward, USA Today’s Christine Brennan and Sports Illustrated’s Selena Roberts.

Ross also profiles pioneers in women’s sports such as Janet Guthrie, the first woman to qualify and drive in the Indianapolis 500, T. Jean Dowell who started the University of Georgia women’s basketball program, Bernadette Mattox, the first female coach for a Division I men’s basketball team at University of Kentucky under Coach Rick Pitino and Dr. Michelle Andrews, the first female Major League Baseball trainer, who served with the Baltimore Orioles.

Kelley Earnhardt, who runs JR Motorsports with her brother, Dale, Jr. and Kim Ng, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, are also featured.

Ross has worked in sports media since her college days at the South Bend Tribune in South Bend, Indiana and the Cincinnati television market, where she has worked for the CBS, NBC and FOX affiliates, to ESPN where she was an anchor for five years for ESPNews and SportsCenter. She has covered major sporting events such as the Atlanta Olympic Games, World Series, the NFL and college bowl games. She continues to do play-by-play for women’s college basketball and hosts a weekly sports radio show for Cincinnati’s NPR radio station.

“These women have made it possible for me to pursue my passion for sports,” said Ross. “Their inspirational and successful stories remind us that it’s not always easy to ‘play ball with the boys,’ whether in sports or in business.”

Playing Ball with the Boys: The Rise of Women in Men’s Sports is now available in most bookstores and on-line at amazon.com.

For more information about the book and about its author Betsy Ross, visit www.facebook.com/BetsyRoss.

Immediately following the 5K race, the Flying PigSkin Party will be held in the Longworth Hall parking lot, including food, drinks, bands and big screen televisions to watch the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Indianapolis Colts at 1 p.m. in Indianapolis.

Registration for the Who Dey 5K is now open on line at www.flyingpigmarathon.com for 2,500 registrants.

“This is the first time the Flying Pig has organized an event for another non-profit,” said Iris Simpson-Bush, executive director. “We couldn’t have a better partner than the Marvin Lewis Community Fund and a better reason to party than to watch the Bengals game as they play on the road.”

“The Marvin Lewis Community Fund is thrilled to partner with the Flying Pig for the Who Dey 5K,” said Barbara Dundee, executive director of MLCF. “The Flying Pig brand is known to runners and walkers throughout the country as an organization that puts on a first-class, fun event.”

Entry to the 5K is $35 in advance or $45 on race day, and includes a commemorative shirt, Bengal beads, souvenir cup, food and drink tickets and entry to the Flying PigSkin Party afterwards. Admittance to the Flying PigSkin Party only is $10, with tickets available at the gate on race morning. Proceeds benefit the Learning is Cool program of MLCF, an educational incentive program that rewards students for strong academic performance.

For more information on the event, including route map and registration, go to www.flyingpigmarathon.com. For more information on the Learning is Cool program for the Marvin Lewis Community Fund, visit www.marvinlewis.org.

“The Western & Southern Financial Group Master’s and Women’s Open is taking an innovative approach to share information with their fans via social networks and we are honored to help them launch the initiative,” said Jackie Reau, CEO of Game Day Communications. “We look forward to creating vibrant content during the tournament to share with tennis fans around the world that are using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Ustream.”

During the tournament, Game Day Communications will share content via its “social media newsroom” concept with photos, live tweets and streaming video. Fans who are interested are encouraged to visit www.cincytennis.com to connect with the various social media platforms.

A team of three to five social media reporters will be on the grounds of the Lindner Family Tennis Center each day, during both sessions capturing and sharing content—everything from the practice court sessions, press conferences, live entertainment and the social scene of the tournament. The tournament will be covered over 216 hours, including all women’s and men’s matches.

Game Day Communications has also managed social media efforts for other sporting events and companies that include: Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon, Duramed FUTURES Tour, Lexy.com and The Ultimate Sports List.

In preparation for a strategic planning meeting with my colleagues at the Flying Pig Marathon, I reviewed the current 2010 Marathon and State of the Sport Report conducted by Running USA. The report is always presented in a comprehensive and professional manner.

Here’s the full link: http://www.runningusa.org/node/57770

Some of the statistics that caught my eye, may be of no surprise, but are still interesting:

• Marathoning participation grew nearly 10 percent over last year, the largest such growth in 25 years
• Some 467,000 runners/walkers finished a U.S. marathon last year
• In a 30-year span from 1980 to 2009, female participation in marathons has grown 30 percent
• Last year also saw the largest U.S. marathon field ever in New York with 43,660 finishers

Having conducted by first half marathon last year, I am not surprised by these numbers for the 13.1 milers:

• The half marathon distance has been the fastest growing road race distance over the past seven years
• Over the past year, participation in half marathons grew by 24 percent with more than 1.1 million finishers in U.S. races
• Women are leading the way in half-marathon participation by 57 percent over 43 percent in male participation rates
• Of the top 30 largest half marathon fields, 10 of them are within a five-hour drive from Cincinnati with the Flying Pig Half Marathon landing at #24 with 8,600 participants

Why the big jump in road race participation?

• Runners are smart: 79 percent hold a college degree compared with 27 percent of the U.S. population
• Runners have cash: 73 percent are making more than $75,000 per year, above the median U.S. household income of $52,175
• It may be a response to the bad economy: running is something that people can control unlike the economy
• And the no-brainer, it makes you feel better.

Now that you are inspired, take a look at doing the Flying Pig Marathon for May 1, 2011 at www.flyingpigmarathon.com. Registration is open for all races. I look forward to seeing you at the Finish Line.

Fountain Square event to be held from 10:00 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday, June 25

Do you know a talented youngster who’d like to sing at Cincinnati’s biggest international sporting event, the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women’s Open?  Bring them to Fountain Square on Friday, June 25 for the Casting Call presented by Skyline Chili.

Talented kids 12 years of age or younger will be able to audition before celebrity judges for the chance to sing “America the Beautiful” prior to a session of the 2010 tennis tournament.  Registration will begin at 10 a.m. on the June 25 and will be open to the first 300 kids age seven to 12. Approximately two dozen of these youngsters will be selected to sing “America the Beautiful” during the tournament.

Each participant will sing a short a cappella version of the song for celebrity judges and will be given a gift after auditioning. Celebrity judges include: singer/songwriter Mia Carruthers from MTV’s Taking the Stage along with Rob Williams, FOX 19, Tara Pachmayer, Local 12, Kathrine Nero, WCPO, Tracy Walker, CityBeat & singer/songwriter, and My Mom Calls Me George, KISS 107 FM.

“Kids need to bring a parent or guardian and their best singing voices, and be prepared to sing at least the first two stanzas of ‘America the Beautiful’,” said Will Sikes, director of marketing and communications for the tournament. “The judges will make their choices based on vocal talent and personality, and we’ll notify the winners in the following weeks.”

All documentation and information is located at www.cincytennis.com/castingcall, including all the forms that contestants can complete and bring with them to the event.

The $5 million 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women’s Open will be held August 7-22 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

Cincinnati’s tennis tournament tradition started in 1899, and it is now the oldest tournament in the nation still played in its original city. The tournament is on the top level of both professional tennis tours. For tickets or information, visit www.cincytennis.com or call (513) 651-0303. Tickets are also available through TicketMaster at (800) 745-3000.

The website, which launches today, is releasing the Top 150 Sporting Events in the World through June 11 when the Top 10 List will be revealed. The List was accrued by more than 20,000 votes from sports fans.

The Ultimate Sports List, developed by Cincinnati entrepreneur Tom Walsh, provides a number of interactive, social elements for sports fans to engage with their favorite sporting events, venues and teams. 

According to the Sports Marketing 2009 Study*, the sports travel market represents a $44.5 billion industry each year in the United States, second only to the sporting goods industry at $53.7 billion. The U.S. sports market represents $185 billion spent annually. 

“As a sports fan who travels regularly to sporting events, I wanted to create an interactive website for fans to share their experiences and opinions about the events and venues in a social media environment,” said Tom Walsh, creator of The Ultimate Sports List and a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “Think of TUSL.com as a virtual sports bar where fans gather to rank and discuss the world’s greatest sporting events.”  

The Top 150 sporting events from around the world will be featured on the website with event, travel and ticket information along with insider tips on how to enjoy the venue and activities associated with the event. Sports fans will also have the opportunity to share experiences, photos and videos from their travels.  

The Ultimate Sports List will be unveiled over a two week period beginning June 1. The first week, from June 1-4, the events ranked 51-150 will be released in increments of 25 per day. From June 7-11, the top 50 events will be released each day in increments of 10, culminating, with the release the world’s Top 10 sporting events on June 11.

TUSL.com creates interactive opportunities for sports fans by:

My Passport : Sports fans can check off the sporting events and venues that they have personally attended and receive a rating based on the number and rank of those events.

My Ultimate Sports List: Sports fans can create their own wish list of events they would like to attend or create their list of the world’s top events and eventually, local events.

Great Debate: The website will encourage sports fans to debate and share opinions on their favorite sports events, venues and/or teams in a jovial and fan-friendly manner.

Voting Booth: The website will have its Voting Booth open daily for fans to vote on their favorite events. Once each year, the Top 150 will be updated based on the fan’s voting.

 *Source: Sports Marketing 2009 Study by Richard K. Miller & Associates