TURNKEY Sports Poll November 2007 - College football, Joe Torre, MSG's varied lawsuits, sponsorship

TURNKEY Sports Poll

Turnkey Sports & Entertainment owns the Turnkey Sports Poll, the industry’s continuing survey of senior-level executives and owners which probes the hottest issues inside sports. The results of the poll appear weekly in the SportsBusiness Journal.

November 2007
College football, Joe Torre, MSG's varied lawsuits, sponsorship, influential people and more

In your opinion what are the odds of there being a college football playoff within the next 5 years?

Less than 50 percent – 55.92%

50/50 – 22.75%

Better than 50 percent – 20.85%

No response/Not sure – 0.47%

Are college football coaches paid too much?

No – 54.98%

Yes – 40.28%

No response/Not sure – 4.74%

Which title sponsor of a BCS game does the best job with activation?

Tostitos (Fiesta) – 62.56%

FedEx (Orange) – 18.01%

Allstate (Sugar) – 4.74%

Citicorp (Rose Bowl) – 3.79%

Other – 1.42%

No response/Not sure – 9.48%

Should the Yankees have kept Joe Torre?

Yes – 62.09%

No – 32.23%

Not response/Not sure – 5.69%

Former MSG SVP Anucha Brown Sanders won an $11.5 million sexual harassment verdict against MSG (which MSG is appealing) Who will this hurt the most?

Knicks Coach Isaiah Thomas – 48.82%

MSG Chairman Jim Dolan – 28.44%

MSG President Steve Mills – 5.21%

Anucha Brown Sanders – 3.32%

Not response/Not sure – 14.22%

MSG has sued the NHL asserting that the NHL cannot take over and aggregate the NHL clubs’ internet rights. The NHL says it can and must aggregate in order to maximize the internet rights. Who is right?

NHL – 65.40%

MSG – 18.48%

Not response/Not sure – 16.11%

Please give us your gut reaction - who had the best year in 2007 in terms of increasing sponsorship or making sponsorship news?

MLB – 29.38%

NFL – 22.75%

NASCAR – 13.27%

PGA Tour – 10.43%

MLS – 8.53%

NBA – 5.69%

NHL – 2.37%

No response/Not sure – 7.58%

Whose fans do you think are the most aware of league sponsors?

NASCAR – 59.72%
NFL – 19.91%
MLB – 8.06%
MLS – 4.27%
NBA – 3.79%
PGA Tour – 1.90%
NHL – 1.42%

No response/Not sure – 0.95%

Whose fans do you think are the most loyal to league sponsors?

NASCAR – 64.93%

NFL – 13.27%

MLB – 6.16%

NBA – 4.27%

MLS – 2.84%

PGA Tour – 2.84%

NHL – 2.37%

No response/Not sure – 3.32%

2007 has been a fascinating year in the sports business. This year, who would the most intriguing Thanksgiving dinner guest?

ESPN’s John Skipper – 27.32%

MLB’s Tim Brosnan – 14.63%

NBA’s Adam Silver – 14.63%

NFL’s Eric Grubman – 10.24%

NHL’s Bill Daly – 8.78%

No response/Not sure – 24.39%

What makes a sports business executive “influential?” Each year the editorial staff of the Sports Business Journal selects 50 of the Most Influential Executives in the Sports Business. It’s a challenging and subjective selection process. Here is your chance to give some help to the SBJ staff by rating the importance of several criteria they may evaluate where 1 is LEAST IMPORTANT and 7 is MOST IMPORTANT?

The ability to:	Least						Most
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Anticipate & solve problems	0.49%	0.49%	1.46%	0.98%	8.29%	30.73%	57.56%
Build consensus	0.49%	0.98%	4.39%	5.85%	18.54%	38.05%	31.71%
Create & produce compelling content	1.95%	1.46%	2.44%	3.90%	25.37%	34.63%	30.24%
Increase share in target markets	0.49%	1.46%	0.98%	5.37%	29.27%	39.51%	22.93%
Manage people & relationships	0.49%	0.00%	1.95%	2.93%	7.80%	33.17%	53.66%
Negotiate complex partnerships	0.00%	0.98%	0.49%	6.34%	18.54%	35.12%	38.54%
Sell major advertising deals	0.49%	0.98%	6.34%	13.17%	24.88%	30.24%	23.90%

Thinking about your own particular business, what best describes your confidence level regarding the next 12 months for your own business?

7- Extremely Optimistic – 17.56%
6- Very Optimistic – 32.20%
5- Somewhat Optimistic – 36.59%
4- Neither Optimistic nor Pessimistic – 4.88%
3- Somewhat Pessimistic – 6.83%
2- Very Pessimistic – 1.95%
1- Extremely Pessimistic