SPORTELAmerica Stokes Virtual Ads.

Exhibitors at the fourth annual SPORTELAmerica, which takes place March 20-23 at the Wyndham Hotel in Miami Beach, will no longer be jockeying for space as the market will be expanding into a third exhibitors hall. According to Bill Vitale of Vital Communications and marketing representative for SPORTEL organizers, SPORTEL is expanding "in response to great interest of having more stands and more space. For the first two years, we used one hall, last year we used two halls, and this year, it's three halls." And market figures seem to support that need. Some 208 companies registered for the first event, the number of attending companies was kicked up to 277 in 1998, and last year saw another jump to 283 participating companies. Vitale predicted yet another leap in attendance figures this year.

Events for market-goers in 2000 include a breakfast meeting on HDTV sponsored by NABA, and a seminar outlining virtual advertising and the uses for digital technology in live-event broadcasts presented by the SPORTEL organization jointly with Sport Business International.

Earlier this year, CBS tipped off a virtual-advertising controversy when they digitally replaced an NBC banner with one of their own during a live broadcast of the New Year's Eve Times Square festivities. These are exactly the issues for which the Virtual Imaging Alliance (VIA) was formed to address. According to Damien Barilko of France's Symah Vision, one of the organization's founding companies, "The goal of this alliance is to have some lobbying power amongst the European Commission on one hand and other sports and advertising federations on the other." Barilko noted the necessity of addressing two key virtual-advertising issues: One, the fear associated with manipulating live images and two, the legal implications of virtual advertising.

Of the five VIA members, Princeton Video Image, based in New Jersey, was the virtual-advertising placement company associated with the CBS debacle. Sam McCleery, vp of Business Development at Princeton, explained, "What we do is provide the equipment to them in much the same way you would provide any graphics machine to a broadcaster. They have all editorial control over the use of the equipment. We simply provide the technology via the computer." McCleery further clarified, "One of the issues that VIA addresses is that we all agree to abide by the editorial decisions of the rights holders." The question then becomes, what rights did NBC have over its prominent advertising in Times Square during a rival network's live broadcast?

This is also an issue digging into the sides of event organizers who usually sell sponsorships to fund sporting events. The value of a sponsorship will be greatly diminished if a broadcaster places its own advertising using virtual technology. Matthew Straeb, president of North American Operations of the Manhattan-based Orad (also a member of VIA) commented, "One of the reasons a lot of the leagues are worried about signage is because virtual advertising could be used in a way that's not appropriate....Our policy is we don't replace signs." Don Meek, vp of International Networks for Columbia TriStar, didn't think this would be an issue for long. "It makes a lot more sense for a rights holder and a broadcaster to work collectively with a sponsor....It just allows for much more targeted use of inventory and if everyone works collectively, you end up with a pretty powerful marketing vehicle," he asserted.

Sports organizations such as FIFA and the NFL already have policies in place governing virtual advertising. As more and more professional leagues develop similar standards, concerns on inappropriate use may be alleviated. "If a company doesn't follow the regulations or standards, it risks not being able to do business with that league or those teams," warned Orad's Straeb. "That's a valid penalty," he added.

Sports programmers were generally optimistic concerning the new technology. Kery Davis, director of Programming at HBO Sports, expressed his interest in virtual-ad placement in the boxing ring. Although HBO does not sell advertising on its cable channel per charter regulations, Davis conveyed, "We have talked about that regarding some of our pay-per-view matches. Right now, one company buys the ring mat and another company or two buy the ring posts, but if you ever get into a situation where the mat changes every round or the post changes every round, then you could obviously sell more sponsorship and advertising space." The director of Business Development at Fox Sports International, David Sternberg, concurred, "It has the potential to be a useful vehicle for a broadcaster, particularly on events where we sell out of all of our typical advertising inventory."

Placing advertisements isn't the only use for this technology in sports; production value can also be enhanced. In American football broadcasts, a yellow line can be placed across the field delineating the first down marker, also a strike zone can be digitally placed for viewers watching a baseball game. For soccer, broadcasters can place distance markers during a live broadcast, and even tabulate the speed of a kick onscreen. In addition to digitized game enhancement, Orad is experimenting with placing tracking chips on game participants to be used in conjunction with webcasts.

In other news, Bombo Sports and Entertainment is looking to kick off its international distribution arm this year in Miami. Bombo has been producing sports specials for CBS, NBC and Fox since 1984, but this is their first foray into the international playing field. For this endeavor, Bombo recruited Doug Schwalbe, formerly senior vp of Sales and Co-Productions at HBO, to lead its international effort. Bob Potter, president of Bombo, commented, "We're currently shooting in eight different countries, so we know how to operate abroad." Bombo's 2000 slate includes the feature film Manchester United in the New Millennium, which sports player bios from one of the World's leading sports franchises, and Shadow Boxers, a film in step with the Dutch fighter Lucia Rijker.