Internet Adds New Meaning to Sportelamerica.

Sports on the Web. This notion has everyone in the sports world in a frenzy. Everyone who attends the SPORTELamerica market in Miami FL., May 7-10, 2001, wants to entice fans to become athlete couch potatoes all year long. But will they click away at their computers waiting for a basketball highlight to download? Live streaming video coverage has been available for some time, but will it now change the relationship fans have with sports?

The XFL's meteoric rise and subsequent dive into ratings oblivion, the burgeoning popularity of wrestling, the baseball subway series (between New York's Mets and Yankees), the return of basketball fave Patrick Ewing and the 2000 Summer Olympics' invasion of Sydney, Australia -- images like these will one day conjure up memories in our lives. Would they muster up the same nostalgia if we had experienced them on the Net? This is what sports programming execs need to know. One of the major problems is that execs do not believe that fans will hover over their computers if they can watch the same program on television.

The fact is, sports programming is a business and SPORTELamerica is a key player in making sports visuals part of our everyday lives. People may not clamor to watch a whole game on the Net, but they may want to catch a spectacular hockey clip. The personalized potential for sports streaming is enormous, but there are obstacles. Why change the big-money contracts with traditional broadcasters? Also, Internet transmissions of the sports feeds are often poor in quality. And, as previously mentioned, viewers tend to do what they feel comfortable with, which is watching sports on television, not the computer.

While many sports sites' reps are skeptical about streaming sports, some just want to find a winning revenue model. One of the more successful is Broadcast.com, which offers highlights of certain players and games according to the surfers' preferences. The site also streams at 300Kbps, ensuring topnotch picture and sound quality. This year's SPORTELamerica will play a part in answering this Internet inquiry.

Another part of the market is the competition, which leads to entertainment edging its way onto the courts, fields and rings. The side-show spectacles are part of what dazzles us and pours money into sports programming distributors' and broadcasters' pockets. This market helps continue the tradition of adding dollars to the sports programming biz. SPORTELamerica, as well as its sister market in Monaco (October 4-7, 2001) is a must for those who work in sports entertainment. While the October event has a worldwide focus, the Miami event concentrates on the Latin TV market. Due to its new location at the Doral Gold Resort and Spa in Miami, Florida, the event is a hot-spot for U.S. and Latin American execs. However, exhibitors from across-the-ocean will be on the scene as well. Where last year's event attracted 874 participants from 352 companies and 50 countries, the upcoming market is expected to meet, if not exceed, previous statistics with an excess of 1,000 attendees representing up to 60 countries.

Sports is no longer a business of dollars and cents. It now deals in the multi-millions and even billions. Take the Olympics -- back in 1976, ABC paid just $10 million for the winter games and $25 million for the summer games. Jump ahead to the 2006-2008 games, which NBC acquired for the bargain price of $613 million for the winter games and $894 million for the summer games. That's quite a leap. The Olympics' skyrocketing profits are a radar for the international sports market and the competition on the field is nothing compared to the business battle behind it. The 2000 Summer Olympics ignited a war between the major networks. After a financial battle, NBC finally won with an offer of $2.3 billion for the broadcasting rights for the 2004, 2006 and 2008 games. In the end, the International Olympic Committee broadcast revenue totaled $1,331.6 billion. If one looks at the Olympics as a barometer, the price tag on TV rights for all sports will continue to rise.

SPORTELamerica may be on the top of the list for sports heavyweights, but MIP-TV reps want in on the action too. With SPORTELamerica taking place in May, MIP-TV provides some coveted information for those on their way to Florida in the upcoming month. MIP-TV 2001 spotlights professional recreation with a "Focus on Sports Programming" supplement. In issue two of MIP-TV News, sports programming will be examined domestically and internationally. It will also pinpoint such topics as top-dogs in sports programming distribution, the fight for rights in the sports ring, the popularity of "minority" sports and its effect on mainstream sports, the U.S. market and the growing Asian market, audience trends, the Web, the 2000 Olympics and sports entertainment formats.