Gymnastics, Figure Skating, Men’s Golf, High School Sports and Pro Boxing Rank High in Fan Interest
American consumers have typically shown unwavering support for the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, College Football and Basketball, NASCAR and the Olympics.
In fact, the latest study from Scarborough Sports Marketing shows over half (53 percent) of American adults are “Avid Fans” of one of these sports. When we eliminate these time-honored sports from the conversation, we are left with an intriguing list of fan favorites which include sports like Figure Skating, Gymnastics, Men’s Golf, High School Sports and Pro Boxing.* Scarborough Sports Marketing defines “Avid Fans” as consumers who are “very interested” and “Fans” as respondents who are “very, somewhat or a little interested” in a given sport.
American sports fans have been opening their minds and wallets to a host of diverse sports. Avid Fans of these sports are often characterized by distinct audience demographics. For instance, 73% of Avid Gymnastics Fans are female and 81% of Avid Figure Skating Fans are female. This is a unique demographic makeup since Avid Fans of sports like the Olympics, Women’s Tennis and the WNBA – classically “female friendly” sports – are only about 50% female. This notable demographic base helps explain findings such as: Gymnastics Fans are 53% more likely than all American adults to schedule a spa day, 30% more likely to visit a jewelry store and 33% more likely to visit a bridal store. Similarly, Figure Skating Fans are 28% more likely to visit a florist and 27% more likely to visit a dry cleaner. Read more
McDonald’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games
As a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement, McDonald’s is preparing to once again feed the athletes and share the excitement of the Games with millions of customers around the world during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
Feeding the World’s Best Athletes
– As the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games and the only branded foodservice retailer, McDonald’s is building three new Olympic venue restaurants: one in the Olympic Village in Vancouver, one in the Olympic Village in Whistler, and one in the Main Media Center in Vancouver.
– McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew, made up of more than 300 top performing restaurant employees from across Canada, will serve menu favorites to the world’s best athletes, coaches, officials and media at McDonald’s on-site Olympic venue restaurants.
– Spectators will be able to share in the Olympic Spirit and enjoy McDonald’s quality and variety at any of the more than 40 McDonald’s restaurants located in the Vancouver and Whistler areas.
McDonald’s Champion Kids(TM)
– The McDonald’s Champion Kids program debuted at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as part of McDonald’s ongoing commitment to children. The program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for kids from across the globe to experience the Games first hand.
– For the Vancouver Games, one child from each province and one child from the territories in Canada will join kids from around the world to attend Olympic events, meet athletes, visit the Olympic Village, tour the cultural sites of Vancouver and Whistler, and receive their own gold medals from Olympic champions.
– The children will also have the chance to serve as special youth correspondents to share their experiences with their hometown news outlets.
Giving Back
– As part of McDonald’s Olympic tradition of giving back to the host country, Ronald McDonald House Charities® will make a lasting contribution to Vancouver that will live beyond the Games.
– Ronald McDonald House Charities of Canada, in cooperation with The Province of British Colombia, the Rick Hansen Foundation and 2010 Legacies Now, is funding three world-class accessible playgrounds.
– These playgrounds – located in the three venue cities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler – will meet the needs of children with disabilities and enable these children to play side by side with their siblings, families and friends.
– The Richmond playground and the majority of the Whistler playground are planned to be completed in time for the 2010 Games; the Vancouver playground will be finished in the summer of 2010. More information to come on playground celebrations that will take place during the Games.
Environment
– In keeping with a green Olympic Games, McDonald’s three new Olympic venue restaurants will be fitted with energy-efficient lighting and equipment.
– The equipment from these restaurants will be reused and recycled at McDonald’s restaurants in Canada after the Games have ended
McDonald’s Canada
– As host country, McDonald’s Canada is activating a wide variety of programs and promotions leading up to and during the Games to celebrate Canada’s Olympic Spirit nationwide.
Activities include:
– Flying Olympic flags at select McDonald’s restaurants across Canada to celebrate their role as host country
– Exciting restaurant promotions such as Olympic-themed McDonald’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic Sport Water Bottles featuring graphics of athletes participating in popular winter sports
– Alliances with top Canadian athletes such as speed skater Cindy Klassen, figure skater Patrick Chan and Cassie Campbell, former caption of the Canadian Women’s Ice Hockey Team
– Celebrating the importance of family and community on the journey to the pinnacle of sport through McDonald’s 2010 Hopefuls, a grant program that supports the Olympic aspirations of 26 Canadian athletes and recognizes the efforts of their parents by allocating a portion of the funding to the family
– Canada holds a special place in McDonald’s history as the first country outside of the U.S. to open a McDonald’s restaurant in 1967.
McDonald’s Olympic Games History
McDonald’s became an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1976 and has a long-standing commitment to the Olympic Movement, which first began more than 40 years ago. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald’s airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for McDonald’s food. Since then, the company has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, coaches, their families and fans. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games mark McDonald’s seventh Olympic Games as a Worldwide Partner and eighth as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games. McDonald’s current sponsorship will continue through the 2012 Games in London.
Source: McDonald’s
Olympics is a tourism problem
One of the benefits claimed for the Olympic Games is a boost in tourism to the host city. This boost, according to data obtained by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), is wholly illusory. Indeed there are indications that the impact of the Olympic Games is detrimental.
ETOA has looked at visitor arrival statistics for the past Olympics in Beijing (’08), Athens (’04), Sydney (2000), Atlanta (’96), Barcelona (’92) and Seoul (’88). Whilst some of these games saw a peak in demand during the games, all saw a major disruption to their normal tourism market and none revealed any conspicuous tourism growth.
The latest data from Beijing is particularly striking. From the spring of 2008 international visitor arrivals to Beijing plummeted and in the month before the Games, they were 30% down on the previous year. In the months after the Games, the tourism slump continued with international arrivals more than 20% down.
The data needs to be seen in context. 2008 was not a strong year for tourism in the whole Asia Pacific region but Beijing fared considerably worse than the rest of China: demand for mainland China may have fallen by 2%, Beijing lost 18% of it prior year’s total.
Over the past two decades tourism has grown consistently on a worldwide basis. As a consequence, one would expect most cities to show tourism growth year on year. For the Olympic cities, tourism growth tends to be stalled and the stall becomes most apparent when a comparison is made with competitor destinations.
For example, in the five years prior to the Olympics, Australia’s and New Zealand’s tourism was growing at the same rate but Australia’s growth lost ground significantly straight after the Olympics.
It is clear that the Olympics did not materially help Australian tourism, or if it did, it made very little difference. Sydney’s even underperformed against the rest of Australia. The situation became so pronounced that Australia ran an advertising campaign to promote itself as a destination with the now infamous slogan “Where the bloody hell are you?”.
Tom Jenkins, Executive Director, ETOA said: “Every city is unique, and each city handles the Olympics in its own way. But we have yet to have a games where tourism has not been disrupted, and disrupted in a way that causes real harm. Even in the case of Athens, where they carefully restricted new capacity, there were considerable losses before and after the games both in the Capital and throughout Greece.”
For London, the news from Beijing is concerning. Last year London had nearly 15 million visitors, bringing in over GBP8 billion. (2) It is already bracing itself for an influx of atypical visitors during the games, whose spending habits are not those of usual tourists. If London followed the pattern of Beijing, it could see over 2.5 million fewer visitors at a loss of GBP1.5 billion.
(1) Source CNTA and Singapore Tourist Board http://app.stb.gov.sg/asp/tou/tou0201.asp
(2) IPS, Office for National Statistics, 2009
Source: European Tour Operators Association (ETOA)
Last Day of Special Olympics Minnesotas 2009 Summer Games
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar to visit Healthy Athletes Village and hand out awards
Today is the last day to catch Summer Games action at the University of Minnesota! U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar will visit Healthy Athletes Village today from 9:30-10 a.m. and will hand out awards to Special Olympics Minnesota athletes from 10-10:30 a.m. at Bierman Field.
Healthy Athletes is an initiative designed to increase the health and fitness of people with intellectual disabilities, a medically underserved population. The Healthy Athletes program works to improve access to health care by providing free screenings, making referrals to local health practitioners and training health professionals and students about the needs of people with intellectual disabilities.
Healthy Athletes Village will offer MedFest, Opening Eyes, Health Promotion, a Health Fair and blood glucose screenings by the International Diabetes Center from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. today. MedFest, which runs from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., is an opportunity for current and prospective Special Olympics Minnesota athletes to receive a free sports physical, a requirement for Special Olympics registration.
Volleyball will take place at the University of Minnesota’s Recreation Center (1906 University Avenue SE) from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and tennis competition will be held at the University of Minnesota’s Baseline Tennis Center (1815 4th Street SE) from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. In addition, artistic gymnastics competition will start at 2:30 p.m. and conclude at 5:30 p.m. at Mini-Hops Gymnastics Club in Minnetonka (131 Cheshire Lane, Suite 100). Festivities will continue in Olympic Town, adjacent to Bierman Field, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Special Olympics Minnesota offers children and adults with intellectual disabilities year-round sports training and competition. Through Special Olympics’ athletic, health and leadership programs, people with intellectual disabilities transform themselves, their communities and the world.
2009 Summer Games Schedule of Events
Saturday, June 20
University of Minnesota Bierman Athletics Complex
– Track and Field Competition 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
– Olympic Town 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
– Healthy Athletes Village
Opening Eyes 9 a.m. – noon
Blood Glucose Screening 9 a.m. – noon
MedFest 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Health Promotion 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Health Fair 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
University of Minnesota Recreation Center (3rd Floor)
– Volleyball Competition 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Baseline Tennis Center
– Tennis Competition 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Mini-Hops Gymnastics Club, Minnetonka
– Artistic Gymnastics Competition 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Source: Special Olympics Minnesota
First day of Special Olympics Minnesotas 2009 Summer Games
More than 1,100 athletes from across the state to compete
More than 1,100 athletes from across Minnesota will take part in state-level track and field, volleyball, tennis and gymnastics competition at the 2009 Special Olympics Minnesota Summer Games June 18-20. Track and field competition kicks off today from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Minnesota’s Bierman Athletics Complex (corner of 15th Avenue SE and 5th Street SE). Athletes will continue to compete Friday and Saturday with the support of more than 1,600 volunteers and coaches, as well as countless family members and friends. All competitions are free and open to the public.
Between events, athletes will have the chance to spend time in Olympic Town, opening at noon today. Among the activities offered is Healthy Athletes, a free health screening initiative designed to increase the health and fitness of people with intellectual disabilities, a medically underserved population. The Healthy Athletes program works to improve access to health care by providing free screenings, making referrals to local health practitioners and training health professionals and students about the needs of people with intellectual disabilities. The 2009 Healthy Athletes Village will offer seven screenings throughout Summer Games, including Healthy Hearing, Fit Feet and Health Fair through 4 p.m. today.
In case of inclement weather, track and field competition continues in light rain but may be delayed or cancelled if there is a heavy downpour, lightning, high winds or other severe weather. Gymnastics and volleyball competitions are held indoors and will proceed regardless of weather. Tennis competition will go forward in dry weather but will be delayed or cancelled if there is rain.
For more information, visit Special Olympics Minnesota’s Web site at www.specialolympicsminnesota.org.
Special Olympics Minnesota offers children and adults with intellectual disabilities year-round sports training and competition. Through Special Olympics’ athletic, health and leadership programs, people with intellectual disabilities transform themselves, their communities and the world.
2009 Summer Games
Schedule of Events
Thursday, June 18
University of Minnesota Bierman Athletics Complex
– Track and Field Competition 11:30 a.m. -3 p.m.
– Olympic Town Noon – 4 p.m.
– Healthy Athletes Village
Healthy Hearing Noon – 3 p.m.
Health Fair Noon – 3 p.m.
Fit Feet Noon – 4 p.m.
Friday, June 19
University of Minnesota Bierman Athletics Complex
– Track and Field Competition 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
– Olympic Town 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
– Healthy Athlete Village
FUNfitness 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Special Smiles 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Health Fair 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Opening Eyes 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Healthy Hearing 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Blood Glucose Screening 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Mini-Hops Gymnastics Club, Minnetonka
– Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
University of Minnesota Bierman Field
– Pre-Ceremonies Entertainment 5 – 7:20 p.m.
– Celebration Ceremonies 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 20
University of Minnesota Bierman Athletics Complex
– Track and Field Competition 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
– Olympic Town 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Healthy Athletes Village
Opening Eyes 9 a.m. – noon
Blood Glucose Screening 9 a.m. – noon
MedFest 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Health Promotion 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Health Fair 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
University of Minnesota Recreation Center (3rd Floor)
– Volleyball Competition 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Baseline Tennis Center
– Tennis Competition 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Mini-Hops Gymnastics Club, Minnetonka
– Artistic Gymnastics Competition 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Source: Special Olympics Minnesota