BWB4 is pleased to announce that BWB4 will take place September 24 and be hosted by Bloomberg Sports at the media giant’s global headquarters in New York City.

For those unfamiliar with the space, located at 731 Lexington Avenue, Bloomberg HQ is a revolutionary building unlike any other in the world, and we at BWB couldn’t be more thrilled to have a more cutting-edge and respected partner to showcase some of the best sports media talent in the world.

Allow our friends at Media Bistro to give you a virtual tour…

In addition to a great, diverse line-up of panelists that has set BWB events apart from any other new media gathering, BWB4 will feature the first ever Untitled Sports Media Awards Project (#USMAP) that will honor some of the biggest and brightest in our industry. As customary will all BWB events, we will also have a kick-off party Friday evening, September 23, and a Saturday evening post-party.

Space is limited, and tickets are expected to go fast. For those of you who want to get in early, we are offering a small amount of discounted pre-sale tickets (available while they last) within the next few days.

We will also be announcing our first roll out of speakers within the next week. Stay tuned!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us here.

THE MONDAY NIGHT CHALLENGE: Whichever reader(s) of The Daily Bunch (or Blogs with Balls) makes the most accurate prediction for tonight’s Broncos-Chargers score wins a prize pack, brought to you by P&G’s official NFL Locker Room brands (Old Spice, Gillette, Febreze, Head & Shoulders, et al)

Either (a) make a prediction in the comments below or (b) send an email to kyle at kylebunch.com with your prediction before the kickoff of tonight’s game and you’ll be entered to win the Take It to the House prize bag, compliments of P&G.

The Basketball Jones Give Insight Into Their Success With The Score

It was a little over a year ago I wrote about The Basketball Jones getting acquired by The Score, a Canadian Sports Television Network. Many think it was somewhat of a landmark milestone for sports blogs/podcasts.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with The Basketball Jones, I’ll quote something I wrote in my first article, although watching their demo below is probably a better way to go.

The Basketball Jones Demo Reel from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

For years these two friends and former classmates would wake up at the crack of dawn and record a podcast about the NBA. But it wasn’t just a podcast, it was clearly much more as the two really put attention, research, and at times perfection into every nuance of the show. After a couple years, they moved to video all the while building their audience along the way. The show was comical, the rapport between the two was perfect, the production quality was high end, but most importantly the commentary was right on and very entertaining.

It was great to see the pair make the show a full time venture and joining a major media company. Matt Osten and Jason Doyle, the team’s behind the camera production, editing, and management team also joined The Score in a major hat tip to their role in the show’s success.

I actually did a little work with the guys when at Yardbarker and some marketing/sales stuff for them directly so their absorption into The Score was something that personally I felt a very small sense of pride in.

But now reliant on a major media company to take them to the next level, I think a lot of fans were concerned about the implications of no longer being independent.

Fast forward to the leadup to this year’s NBA season, and The Basketball Jones came out with a flurry of major announcements that include:

• They’ll have their own weekly television show. Yes….TV..typically surrounded by couches, coffee tables, beds, and groups of people. (promo below)
• They’ll have a 4 day a week satellite radio show ( The Score Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 98 (listen live here)
• They’ve added Scott Carefoot, Holly Mackenzie, and Megan Wilson to augment content on their new blog which will help be an anchor of all things Basketball Jones.
• They/The Score has added the wildly popular Trey Kerby away from Yahoo Sports/Ball Don’t Lie.

To put this in perspective, what was a 2 man on air team with the help of 2 friends on a shoestring budget, is now on television, the radio, and apparently hiring writing talent away from a company with a market capitalization of nearly 22 billion dollars. That’s just amazing, and you can read more about their story in this great article.

Lucky for me I was able to get Tas Melas and Matt Osten to share some insight into their success with The Score thus far. Below is their interview as well as some fun doppelgangers.

It seems people are always skeptical of media websites being acquired by mainstream media companies. In the end, how did you guys become comfortable with the idea of working within a larger organization?

Well, we did a pretty simple cost-benefit analysis: Stay independent, make little-to-no money, spend most of our time on our paying jobs and very little time on TBJ, overwork ourselves, put out an inferior product, and eventually kill each other vs. joining a mainstream company, making a living wage, and being able to focus 100% of our energy on making the best show possible. Once we put it like that, it was a pretty easy decision.

A lot of the skepticism of “selling out” comes from the belief that a mainstream company will, by default, harm an independent show. Our experience at The Score has been really positive in the way they’ve allowed us to keep our creative freedom. They’ve basically said: “We like what you did before you got here, so keep doing it.”

A lot of blogs aim to make it a full time venture through advertising and sponsorships all while also being their own boss. The Basketball Jones is one of a handful of blogs who have found an alternative route to success. Do you have any thoughts on the value working with media company can provide opposed to staying an independent entity?

I think we were in a different situation than a typical independent blog which usually has one writer. Being a video show, we have a lot more expenses (cameras, audio equipment, lights, server space, video hosting services, etc…) not to mention that we’re four people. Trying to do it independently just wasn’t feasible for us.

Working with a media company provides value for us in two major ways: resources and distribution. The Score allows us access to both physical resources (like video equipment) and human resources (like a Graphics department) that help us execute our ideas in the most professional way possible. We also get to use their distribution platforms like television, satellite radio and mobile apps that were unavailable to us as independent producers.

You guys has a flurry of big announcements this weekend. Adding Trey Kerby, a TV show, radio show, etc. How much of this could have been accomplished independently? Walk me through how some of these big changes materialized?

Adding Trey happened because we wanted The Basketball Jones to be more of a full service blog where people could get videos and articles. Every week there was a bunch of stuff happening in the NBA that we couldn’t cover because certain stories didn’t lend themselves to video. Trey was a great fit to be the head writer because he shares our sensibility and approach to covering the league. He’s also really funny and we get along great. We’re also really lucky to have contributors Scott Carefoot, Holly MacKenzie and Megan Wilson on board to add their own unique perspectives to the blog.

The TV show is something we pitched to The Score. We wanted to bring the Jones to a new audience that may not be used to watching video on the Web yet. Being on TV will also allow us to do more with NBA footage and highlights which will be a new challenge for us.

The radio show is our daily web video show that will be repackaged by Score Radio and aired on our Sirius station (Channel 98).

We’ll still be doing the web show Monday to Thursday and our hour-long audio podcast, The Overdose, on Fridays.

Do you feel partnering with The Score, has changed you and the show’s style at all? Are you more cognizant that you work within a larger entity or is your affiliation and new audience not factor into how you guys develop content?

The Score has been fantastic at watching our content develop from a distance. Having worked with the company for the six months prior to The Jones coming on fulltime, I knew that would be the case. They understand that our tight production team and ability to turnaround videos quickly is not something they should tamper with. We continue to produce the same content, using the same practices, but there are small aspects that have changed – we utilize both the company’s talented staff, and their extensive facilities. Also, Skeets wears nicer shirts now.

Turning things around, if you are somehow installed as a media executive (Yahoo, AOL, Fox, TSN, CBS, ESPN, etc), what changes/new ideas would you look to made in terms of how media companies work with and partner blogs, podcasts, etc?

Blogs and podcasts should own more significant real estate on these companies’ websites. They are quite often an afterthought on splash pages – they just don’t seem to have earned that respect. The most current and up to date info should be front and center, don’t you think? There also has to be better promotion of podcasts and blogs done across platforms within these organizations in order to inform, promote, and bring users in to the future a little more swiftly.

Bottom Line:

They’ve arrived and The Score’s support, distribution, vision, and forward thinking has everything to do with it. I mean how many bloggers/podcasters have their own Wikipedia page? Everyone involved deserved a lot of credit, but there are also some higher ups at The Score who should be acknowledged.

These guys had worked with Yardbarker and Yahoo and were shunned by major advertisers as well as web video companies like Revision3 (never returned my emails…big mistake). In the end someone it was The Score who went to bat for them and now you are looking at a growing team of full timers who are reaching a MUCH larger audience. Nobody figured out a way to make the show a viable medity entity and now its on the cusp of major notoriety and success. I have no doubt in my mind they’ll continue their success and all parties should feel proud as The Basketball Jones is setting the standard in how mainstream media can provide value to independent media entities.

Hopefully ESPN gets the memo…..

A few words about the deal, from Yardbarker CEO Pete Vlastelica’s official announcement this morning:

Becoming a part of FOX will ensure that Yardbarker has the resources it needs to drive more and more traffic and revenue toward the independent sports sites that we’ve built our business serving. If you are a publisher in our network, the only changes you’ll notice will be positive. We’re working with our new parents to increase distribution of your content through the various channels that FOX controls, and to line up even more brand advertisers to run high-CPM campaigns on your sites. Publishers will still run their sites independently and maintain their current editorial control; payment arrangements will remain the same. We will send out more information about this deal to publishers in the Yardbarker Network shortly.

The competition is legit: obvious ringer Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders leading the way, followed by a group of folks like Shanoff, Brinson, Levy, Sebek, and Zerkle who know their stuff. (Which is, naturally the ideal time to cobble together one of the most regrettably mistake-filled early round fantasy drafts in recent history. My handiwork was covered most effectively by Brian Bassett here.)  Suffice it to say I’m feeling a bit like the Cleveland Browns of this league — hoping for the best, but really just trying not to embarrass myself.

Because I very much prescribe to the adage that your fantasy team is a bit like your junk — it’s great to have, everyone’s happy for you, but the less they have to see it or hear about it, the better we’ll all be — I won’t subject you to every mundane detail of the first week’s action.  In fact, Will Brinson has done an excellent job of just that , while avoiding awkward details like a pair of baggy sweatpants, over at NFL Facts & Rumors. If you’re interested in hearing who got stuck with the week’s dogs (and hearing about how Schatz managed to win his week 1 matchup with Arian Foster tied behind his back), make your way over there for the details.

Otherwise, make sure to follow along here and at the league’s official home on Facebook and look forward to brief check-ins each week on my road to avoiding embarrassment Dallas and Super Bowl XLV.

-KB

That means if you can’t make it to Chicago (or you’re just too hungover from celebrating Game 4 of the Stanley Cup), you can still follow along on Saturday at justin.tv/blogswithballs and participate in the conversation by hashtagging your tweets with #BWB3.

(Check back soon for the official Blogs with Balls 3 drinking game.)

Many of those brands have a long history of being advertising pioneers through partnering with major sports, teams, athletes and events. Most recently, P&G has teamed up with high-profile partners such as the NFL and the US Olympic Committee.

Now, their involvement with this conference is evidence of not only their recognition of the importance of new and social sports media, but is also a recognition of and testament to the quality of work exhibited by those involved.

Lunch will be hosted by long-time BwB partner SB Nation and will feature complimentary Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea & Lemonade 1/2 & 1/2s. We are equally proud of the fact that SBN and Jeremiah Weed – two partners that we have worked with in the past – continue to see the value of these events enough to lend their name and support to.

P&G, SB Nation and Weed join our pre and post party sponsors Bleacher Report, Guinness, Yardbarker, Fox Sports and Cuervo, as well as media partners ChicagoNow.com, Notice Software, Justin.tv and Gowalla.

Bleacher Report is proud to present Blogs with Balls 3: The Kickoff Party — the official BwB welcome party — on June 4, 2010 at the Fifty/50 Club in Chicago, featuring complimentary beverages graciously furnished by GUINNESS from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

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About The Fifty/50

Dining scene vets Greg Mohr and Scott Weiner co-own this Wicker Park tri-level restaurant and 16-flatscreened upscale sports bar replete with a revamped 65-seat outdoor patio with two additional flatscreens. Many of The Fifty/50’s investors are professional athletes, and it’s frequented by professional atheltes and celebrities. Open for dinner/lunch/weekend brunch, The Fifty/50 specializes in fresh, scratch-made elevated comfort fare ranging from the tri-meat blended “The Triple Secret Burger”, to in-house smoked pulled pork with housemade BBQ sauce, to its massive chicken wings recently voted “Best Wings In Chicago” by RedEye and Metromix. The Fifty/50 is also known for its innovative cocktails, irresponsibly low-priced bottle service, and rotating “40oz Of The Week” housed in a brown paper bag. Located at 2047 W Division St (773.489.5050), The Fifty/50 is open 11am-2am Monday thru Thursday, 10am-2am Friday, 10am-3am Saturday, and 10am-2am Sunday. Additional info, full menus, and complete booze lists available at thefifty50.com. Become a fan of The Fifty/50 on Facebook, follow The Fifty/50 on Twitter and check out The Fifty/50 on YouTube.

Chicago, IL – HHR Media Group and Modern Hombre are proud to announce the current lineup of sports bloggers, journalists, media industry leaders and technology innovators who will be speaking on a wide spectrum of topics at Blogs with Balls 3, held the June 5 at the Captain Morgan Club in Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

“We are proud that over the course of the year, BwB has evolved into an industry leader in bringing together all facets of the online sports media community,” said event co-founder Don Povia.

“The continued involvement of not only independent bloggers, but also representatives from companies like ESPN, Bleacher Report, SB Nation, Yahoo! Sports and Yardbarker, shows that collectively online sports media is working and growing together,” Povia added.  “But it’s the fact that more and more members of the newspaper, academic and marketing fields; and tech leaders like Gowalla are participating, that evidences BwB’s growth in size, scope and voice.”

Co-founder Kyle Bunch points out, “We received over a hundred speaker applications for roughly 30 spots, so this process hasn’t been easy, but it reflects the enthusiasm and importance that this event brings to our community. Being recognized as a “blogger” is becoming less and less a stigma and more of an asset.”

Tickets are available at a discounted rate through May 15 here:  http://blogswithballs3.eventbrite.com

Additional speakers and sponsors are to be announced shortly.

Going Local: Evolution of the Local Sports Media Market in the Digital Age

• Jim Bankoff (SBN)
• Enrico Campitelli (The 700 Level)
• TK Gore (Comcast SportsNet Chicago)
• Jon Greenberg (ESPN Chicago)
• Dave Nemetz (Bleacher Report)
• Moderator: Amy K. Nelson (ESPN)

Today’s Sports Media Landscape: Blogs and Beyond, Where Are Ad Dollars Going?

• Rich Gallagher (Taylor)
• Ian Sohn (Ogilvy)
• Michele Steele (Bloomberg)
• Pete Vlastelica (Yardbarker)
• Mod: Amanda Rykoff (ocdchick.com)

You’ve Gotta Fight For Your Right…to Blog?: A Legal and Ethical Primer to Sports Media in 2010

• Jonah Keri (Bloomberg Sports)
• Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi (U. of Minnesota)
• Alana Nguyen (Yardbarker)
• Josh Zerkle (With Leather, KSK)
• Mod: Jason McIntyre (The Big Lead)

Democratizing Sports Media: How Blogging Players, Fans & Leagues Are Changing the Game

• Brian Cook (mgoblog)
• Valli Hilaire (Fast & Fabulous)
• Kevin Kaduk (Big League Stew)
• Robert Littal (Black Sports Online)
• Scott Reifert (Chicago White Sox)
• MOD: Henry Abbott (TrueHoop)

The Kings of All Media: Leveraging Podcasting and Video to Build a Media Megabrand

• The Basketball Jones (The Score)
• Jay Busbee (Yahoo! Sports)
• David Jacoby (ESPN, Sports Guy Podcast)
• Ian Orefice (SI.com)
• Michael Rand (Star Tribune)
• Mod: Matt Sebek (Joe Sports Fan)

The Future of Sports Media (Circa 2010): What Today’s Technology & Innovations Mean for Tomorrow’s Fan

• Ty Ahmad-Taylor (FanFeedr)
• Michael Calderon (Big Ten Network)
• Andy Ellwood (Gowalla)
• Mike Germano (Carrot Creative)
• Mod: Kyle Bunch (The Daily Bunch)

About HHR Media Group

HHR Media Group cultivates a favorable online and offline presence for blogs, athletes, and consumer brands. Utilizing creative and relevant content to forge a relationship with both online sports opinion makers and sports media consumers, HHRMG is on the forefront of social media, helping clients bridge the gap between traditional media and emerging internet and technological trends. For more information, visit:  http://hhrmediagroup.com.

About Modern Hombre

Modern Hombre is the world’s first truly post-digital marketing and creative agency. Modern Hombre works directly with companies and communities — physical and virtual — to forge more meaningful and lasting connections between brand and consumer. Modern Hombre’s world headquarters are located in Austin, Texas.  For more information, visit http://modernhombre.com

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