stones playbook?

The National Football League has an official drink and an official wireless headset. Now, in a sign of how far sports leagues will go to find revenue in the recession, it has official toiletries.


The NFL, the biggest U.S. sports league by revenue, on Wednesday will announce a sponsorship deal with Procter & Gamble Co., maker of everyday household items such as soaps and shampoos. The multi-year pact, which P&G says is the costliest in its history, lets it slap a newly designed "Official Locker Room Product of the NFL" label on products including Old Spice deodorant and Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo.

Financial terms of the agreement weren't disclosed. A person familiar with the pact valued it at $10 million a year or more.

Sports leagues around the country are inking some offbeat deals as they hunt for new sources of ad dollars, particularly to replace financial-services firms and auto makers.

Spending on sports sponsorship deals in North America is expected to grow just 0.7% to $11.48 billion this year, after growth of almost 15% last year, according to IEG, a research company owned by WPP PLC.


"The days of the sporting leagues just looking to the beer and financial-services companies for sponsorship money is over," says Greg Luckman, president of the sports and entertainment marketing arm of WPP's GroupM.

The NFL, concerned about shrinking profits as player salaries and other costs rise, earlier this year created an "official wing" for the playoffs to do a deal with Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC and is allowing teams to sell ads on their practice jerseys during training. The National Basketball Association, meanwhile, has sold sponsorships to Goldfish crackers and a line of Joseph Abboud apparel sold at J.C. Penney, among others. The National Hockey League has created a new player award, the "Scotiabank Fan Fav."

"The good ideas will find money, even in this environment," says Mark Tatum, executive vice president for marketing partnerships with the NBA.

Sports marketing experts urge caution. "If the leagues start to become too cluttered with lesser-known brands, blue-chip sponsors may feel that their deals will be devalued," says Luckman from GroupM.

Mark Waller, senior vice president for sales and marketing at the NFL, says the league had been working on the deal with P&G for nearly three years.

Waller's team created a "locker room products category" that could encompass numerous P&G brands. The category has its limits, since the players probably won't be seen shaving with Gillette razors or applying Old Spice, the way coaches use Motorola wireless headsets and players chug Gatorade on the sidelines.


ti consumer products company the right to use the red, white and blue NFL logo — although not the Locker Room seal — on a bevy of P&G products, including Dawn dish soap, Charmin toilet paper, Gain detergent and Bounty paper towels on in-store displays and in ads.

For the NFL, the P&G deal represents an opportunity to go into business broadly with a company that spends over $8 billion a year on advertising around the globe but just a fraction of that on sports sponsorships, a relatively new area for P&G.

Procter spends roughly $90 million on U.S. sponsorships annually, according to IEG.

"When we acquired Gillette [in 2005], we found out how much of a role sports marketing could play with our broader P&G portfolio," says Jason Dial, P&G's director of global sports marketing.

P&G's products are mainly purchased by women. Still, women represented about 33% of the NFL's average audience during the 2008 regular season, according to ratings giant Nielsen Co

Falcons play Detroit this Saturday.

Saint Sway wrote on Aug 13^th, 2009 at 11:19am:

I will be busy with a show that day

Saint Sway wrote on Aug 13^th, 2009 at 11:57am:

I have a little trouble with him leaving the band, ok.

NEW YORK (AP)—Cleveland Browns receiver Donte’ Stallworth(notes) was suspended without pay for this season Thursday after pleading guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk. He cannot participate in any team activities until his reinstatement after the Super Bowl.

“Your conduct endangered yourself and others, leading to the death of an innocent man,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to Stallworth released by the league. “The NFL and NFL players must live with the stain that you have placed on their reputations.”

Stallworth struck 59-year-old Mario Reyes on March 14 in Miami. He pleaded guilty June 16 to DUI manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and was suspended indefinitely by Goodell two days later.
Stallworth drew a 30-day jail sentence and reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the family of Reyes, who was leaving his crane operator job when he was struck.

Goodell said he didn’t take into account the sentence in determining Stallworth violated the league’s substance abuse and personal conduct policies.

Goodell held a hearing with Stallworth, his representatives and union officials Aug. 5. He also met privately with Stallworth on Monday at the 28-year-old player’s request.

“As you recognized both at and following the hearing, guilt or innocence as a matter of criminal law is not the same as a violation of NFL policies,” Goodell wrote.

Stallworth signed a seven-year, $35 million contract in 2008. He earned a $4.5 million roster-signing bonus the night before the crash. He will lose the remaining $745,000 on his contract for 2009.

This was the commissioner’s second high-profile disciplinary decision in the last three weeks. On July 27, he conditionally reinstated Michael Vick(notes) after the quarterback served 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring.

Police said Stallworth had spent the night drinking at a Miami Beach club and had a blood-alcohol level of .126, above Florida’s .08 legal limit. Besides jail time, his sentence included two years of house arrest, eight years of probation and other restrictions.

Prosecutors have said surveillance video showed Reyes running across MacArthur Causeway and being hit by Stallworth’s 2005 Bentley. On a recorded 911 call, Stallworth said that Reyes “came out of nowhere.” A police report said Reyes was rushing to catch a bus home.

A college star at Tennessee, Stallworth has also played for the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints. His first year with Cleveland was marred by injuries. He hurt his leg in training camp, sidelining him for most of the season.

When the Browns signed Stallworth in 2008 they hoped he could be a complementary No. 2 receiver and take pressure off Braylon Edwards(notes). But Stallworth never got going because of the injury and made only seven starts. Edwards spent the season dropping important passes and Cleveland finished 4-12.

Once it became apparent Stallworth could miss time, the Browns signed 12-year veteran David Patten(notes) and drafted Brian Robiskie(notes) and Mohammed Massaquoi in April to add depth at receiver.

and that clears the way for Vick to sign with a team.

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Aug 13^th, 2009 at 12:19pm:

Another player who decided to seek fame & fortune away from the Pats.
Instead found booze & weed & killed a guy in a crosswalk @ 343AM.
What a country.

Not having Stallworth will cost the Browns 3 games. So now they will finish -2 and 14.......

Point.  Stallworth was suspended indefinitely initially.
He went to Goodell to plead his case.  Goodell changed it
to one year.  IMO Goodell should have left him in the abyss.
Don't give him a decision.  Keep him in purgatory, pondering
his fate.  The legal system was compromised with the what
Stallworth got.  Goodell had no reason to change this, other than
cave to Stallworth. 

With Vick, Goodell rewarded him because he did fed time for a time
frame consistent with the crime. 

Summary is Stallworth should have got more time than Vick, however,
in jail vs. the NFL

Nellcote wrote on Aug 13^th, 2009 at 3:25pm:



Nelly for the next NFL commish.

Nellie, with Brady eager to play in all of the exhibitions, how many reps will Coach Bill be giving Michael Vick?

Yo Nellson, football on tv tonight??