Everything we do with technology is about giving fans the choice of how they want to watch the race. We're exploring and testing the next generation of in-car cameras with DirecTV right now. We think we can enhance this package to include driver- and team-specific produced content. You could watch all the Dale Earnhardt Jr. in-car cameras, all of his pit stops, the isolated-race camera on his race car, his car data, etc. The idea is a television race broadcast specifically produced from the perspective of your favorite driver.
We're also not forgetting about the fans who come out to the speedways. We've developed a handheld device called the NASCAR Nextel FanView that we first implemented this year at the Daytona 500. In one device, it brings together video, audio feeds, and data feeds so the fan sitting in the grandstand--who for so many years has been in that single fixed seat to watch the race--can cycle through seven or eight in-car cameras, get the television feed, data feeds, radio broadcast, and listen to the drivers. It's early, but they've sold out at every event. I would give anything if [NASCAR founder] Bill France Sr. could have held one of these things in his hands."
Van Court, 33, oversees ESPN360, a broadband computer application that lets users create a customizable interface to watch sports and original programming, and track statistics. Since its inception two years ago, it has been downloaded by more than 7 million people.
"The sports entertainment junkieS want to go deeper into everything that they see in the world of sports. ESPN360 really caters to what fans are looking for and enables them to go in and get their fill of what they want. We have this great video asset called ESPN, and there's lots of ways people want to use that: video on demand, condensed versions of games they've missed that are sorted and customized by them. Everything a fan would want to do with sports footage, they can do in one central location. When every ESPN outlet showed the Duke-UNC basketball game in March, we thought through how fans would want to consume the game online versus how they would want to consume it on television, and a data-rich video stream was one of the solutions that we came up with. For example, in the first half, both teams stole the ball from the other quite a bit, so the 360 production of the game featured stats on the number of steals that each player had, who had stolen the ball from whom, and so on.
Sports lends itself to all of the things that are great about what technology can do today. In the future, we're going to build more community applications around the video, because we see that's going to be of paramount importance to our fans. You'll be able to watch a game with all your friends and send chat messages back and forth, have your fantasy league watching the game at the same time and tracking your league standings while watching the game. We can make it much more than television on your computer. That's not what we're trying to replicate at all. The appetite for video on demand online is growing, and a year from now, it's going to be insatiable."
Since joining the professional basketball franchise as CEO in January 2005, Yormark, 39, has helped revamp Nets culture. The result has been soaring attendance and a 90%-plus renewal of season-ticket packages.
"When I was with NASCAR, I learned that the stars being accessible to fans successfully sold the sport. Coming here, I decided I wanted to make the Nets the most accessible franchise possible. On the heels of the brawl between players and fans during the Indiana-Detroit game last year, people would not have defined NBA basketball as being an accessible sport. In fact, the NBA was going to get away from that, given what had happened. In addition, I faced the perception that the Nets couldn't draw any fans in the next couple of years because of our planned move from New Jersey to Brooklyn. The question was, How do we stay true to our core fans, many of whom are from northern New Jersey, and encourage sampling of Nets basketball throughout the metropolitan area?
We're fortunate to have great character guys like Jason Kidd and Vince Carter on our roster, so if I can exploit that in a positive way, why not? Our All Access campaign puts them in touch with fans, be it through Pancakes & Hoops, where fans have breakfast with them, or our Ticket Influencer program, where they come to a party we hold at the home of a season-ticket holder and have him invite other potential ones. We've also focused on the great things the players do for the franchise and the community.
Through these programs, we humanized the players. And then, in turn, I've been able to monetize it all. Thanks to the environment we've been able to create here, more people are sampling our product from outside New Jersey than ever before, including a lot of fans from Brooklyn. And our fans from New Jersey are voting yes with their wallets: We're setting all kinds of home attendance records this year."
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