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Today is the fourth in a series of posts (a new post each day) with thoughts from some pretty smart folks to try to answer the question of why people should care about the intersection of sports and social media. You can see the first three posts below:

• why should fans care?
• why should teams care?
• why should athletes care?

Even if you already know why this is important, I hope you enjoy getting a variety of perspectives on this subject. If you have bosses, colleagues or friends that still don’t get it, maybe they’ll find some value in this series if you share it with them.

Today’s topic is agents. Agents need to stay on top of social media and what their clients are doing to:

• educate them on what to do and what not to do
• research what potential clients are doing well and not so well (you want to identify potential liabilities now, rather than later)
• understand where new monetization opportunities exist for athletes
• understand how to do damage control if necessary
• in some cases, to keep athletes from violating terms of their contracts

See below for a variety of thoughts from other smart folks about why agents should care about sports and social media.

Jackie Adkins – Your athletes will probably use some form of social media, whether it be a personal Facebook page or a fully integrated social media presence. No matter what it is, you have to realize that everything spreads quicker in the social age. This means naked photos, mug shots, un-kosher tweets, and stupid comment sin post game press conferences. Make sure your athletes know what to say and what not to say in these mediums, because they don’t want to end up on Deadspin.

Dennis Allen – Management sees what the fans are saying about teams and players. Agents need to be aware of this to properly position and market their assets before, during and after contract negotiations.

Anthony De Rosa – Agents should care because they have less control over their clients. Agents want to control the message and the story around their client, but it’s harder to do that when they have so many outlets they can speak through at a moment’s notice.

Ash Read - It’s essential that agents understand social media and they need to make sure their clients have adequate social media training to avoid the potential pitfalls. We all talk about the endless opportunities social media provides but someone needs to make sure athletes understand what they’re doing. Agents also need to understand the commercial benefits of social media and how they can make it pay off for their clients. Once an athlete has built up a following on social media there are endless ways they can utilise it and make it a part of endorsement details.

Brian Reich – Agents are in the business of selling athletes — they negotiate large contracts, put together endorsement deals, and manage public relations on behalf of their clients, with the goal of enhancing their value in the eyes of owners and sponsors. For an agent to demonstrate that an athlete is valuable, they need to show the passion of fans, and the prospect of converting interest into revenue. As social media becomes a more embedded part of all aspects of life, it redefines consumer culture — so agents must understand that community and accountability and transparency (values that you see on display across all types of social interaction online) contribute to the ways people get/share information, and what motivates someone to buy a product, and thus should be applied to their work with athletes as well.

Russell Scibetti - Agents should care for the same reason that athletes need to care. If an agent is going to best represent their client’s interests, they need to be just as aware, if not more aware of the impact that social media has on their client’s brand. How their clients interact with fans on social media can affect everything from player contract negotiations to maximizing the athlete’s endorsement and marketing opportunities.

Trevor Turnbull – Athletes turn to their agents for advice on all kinds of topics including contract negotiation, financial planning, legal advice, investments, marketing and promotions. Agents that choose to ignore the power of social media are taking a huge risk. After all, their clients have the ability to positively influence the profitability of an agency. If the agent does not assume the role of guiding their clients with regards to social media best practices, the athletes can say and do whatever they want. Therefore, it is in the best interest of a sports agent to provide guidance to their athletes on how to represent themselves via social media in a manner that is best for their career.

Brendan Wilhide – Social media is a great way to build awareness about your clients and “tell their side of the story.” Agents can use social media to break news about their clients, too, and even scoop the media sometimes.

Joseph Yi - For agents, social media is a great tool for networking. As social media creates a free flow of information, social networks like Twitter act as a business card into some athletes who may be looking for representation. Similarly, professional social networks like LinkedIn give agents a professional presence/resume online.

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Now it’s your turn – why do you think agents should care?

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, which will examine why coaches should care about social media/sports.

I had a great time yesterday at the 140 conference in Washington, DC. Check out the video to see some smart guys giving their perspective on sports teams and social media. These guys actually do social media/digital marketing for some of the area’s pro teams – Washington Wizards, Capitals and DC United.

The video features Andrew Rosen (Washington Wizards), Mark McClure (DC United), Sean Parker (Washington Capitals) and Steve Cobb (Activ8 Social). Hope you enjoy.

Sports Teams on Social Media – 140 Conference Video from Jason Peck on Vimeo.

I highly recommend you check out a 140 conference in your area if you get a chance. The events, put on by Jeff Pulver, are a great way to learn about “the state of now” and how real-time tools and technologies are affecting a variety of industries and businesses.

Yesterday I was in New York for the 140 Conference, which brought together some amazing, smart people to talk the effects of the real-time web on people and businesses. Like some of the other conferences I’ve been to lately (such as Social Fresh), the content was stellar. But what I really enjoy about these types of conference is meeting new people and hanging out with other people I’ve met before.

Ok, on to the sports stuff. Here are my notes from a panel titled “How Social Media is Changing the Face of Golf.” Panelists included:

• Dennis Allen (@dennis_allen) – Golf Industry Veteran
• Kathleen Hessert (@kathleenhessert) – President, Sports Media Challenge
• Ryan Ballengee (@waggleroom) – Blogger
• Scott Gutterman (@PGATOUR_EP) – Executive Producer, PGATOUR.com

As you might be able to guess from the title, the panel focused on the intersection on how social media is changing golf. This topic is very interesting to me because I play golf  and watch the tournaments occasionally, but don’t really think of myself as an avid fan. I always root for Phil, since us left-handers have to stick together, but I don’t feel a strong connection with any one golfer.  Like baseball, golf is tough for me to watch live on TV, because it’s pretty slow. I think the more golf can utilize social media to help make the sport and golfers more accessible and interesting to casual fans, the more the game will grow.

Please see below for some of my notes and thoughts on the panel.

Why does social media matter?

Kathleen kicked off the panel by asking why social media matters in golf. A big plus is that information moves so quickly through social media compared to golf, in which things typically move slower. Kathleen highlighted an Arnold Palmer quote: “Watching golf on TV is like watching paint dry.”

Scott mentioned that social media is enabling an interesting thing to happen; fans who aren’t able to attend the tournaments in person are acting like an online gallery. They’re talking about the tournament and players as the action unfolds. And some moments (ex: Brian Davis calling a penalty on himself to give up a shot at his first TOUR win) generate a considerable amount of conversation on Twitter.

Kathleen revealed that she had posed a question on Twitter asking for people’s thoughts on the future of golf in a social media world. She shared on of the more interesting answers she received, which predicted the formation of virtual clubhouses. This is a very interesting concept. On one hand I really like the concept of exclusive communities; on the other hand, the exclusive/off-limits notion of golf that people have is a detriment to the game.

Here’s a half-example of a virtual clubhouse. American Express has its Members Clubhouse, a microsite which highlights the company’s golf-related sponsorships and gives cardmembers access to exclusive golf deals and discounts. The site is very well-done, but all good things can be improved, right? If I were them, I might take it a step further and integrate more social elements to turn it into more of a community where golfers/cardmembers can connect with each other, share travel and course reviews, talk about golf, and also learn more about how American Express can help people live the golf lifestyle to the fullest. American Express has done a great job with its OPEN FORUM, a resource/community for small business owners. Maybe they can do this with golf. What do you think?

Back to the panel. Dennis Allen shared the news that he’s starting a golf entertainment network called “The Back 9.” The network aims to make golf more accessible and interesting to average people. Golf by the fans, for the fans. If they can figure this out, I think it definitely has potential to shake up the golf world.

What will change about golf?

Kathleen wrapped up the panel by asking participants what will change about golf in the future. Ryan said that social media will enable fans to get to know golfers more and see more of their personalities. News will continue to spread faster, he added.

Scott said there will be more focus on getting people to interact with golf and the tournaments no matter where they are. I’m excited for this. One of the social media’s strengths is being able to compliment real-life events and extend their reach and interactivity.This should bring more fans to golf and more revenue opportunities for brands involved in the sport.

Dennis offered the final thought of the panel – that in the near future, more focus will be around developing golf programming based on fan feedback. From the  short chat I had with Dennis, it sounds like this is the approach they’ll be taking with “The Back 9.” I’m looking forward to seeing how this unfolds.

Thanks for reading my thoughts about the panel. What do you think about how social media will change golf?

On a side note, I was recently nominated for a Business of Sports Award (best Twitter account). There are a lot of other smart folks who have been nominated for awards there, too. If you’d like to support me, drop a comment on the  site. Either way, I’d encourage you to check out The Business of Sports. It’s a great resource!

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about any sports events, but I wanted to share this one on behalf of my friend Darren Heitner.

On January 29 sports agents, litigators, salary cap analyst and sports law students will meet at the University of Florida Levin College of Law for the 2010 UF Sports Law Symposium.

The 2010 UF Sports Law Symposium, “Discussion: Bargaining Collectively,” presented by UF’s Entertainment & Sports Law Society, will bring together sports law experts and representatives from the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball to discuss why CBA’s exist, how they help players and owners, and to identify contract terms that will likely be argued before the agreement expires. The free event, set to kick off at 11 a.m. at UF Law’s Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom 180, will offer CLE credits.

The keynote speaker for this year’s symposium will be Harvey W. Schiller, Ph.D., who has served as president of the International Baseball Federation since 2007 and is also chairman of the board and CEO of GlobalOptions Group, a multidisciplinary international risk management and business solutions company located in New York. Prior to joining GlobalOptions in 1994, Schiller held posts at Turner Broadcasting System, served as the executive director/secretary general of the United States Olympic Committee and was the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.

Closing the day-long symposium will be Donald Fehr who served as the general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players Association beginning in 1977, and as its executive director for 26 years from December, 1983. In his role as executive director, Fehr served as the players’ chief negotiator in collective bargaining with major league owners and was responsible for contract administration, grievance arbitration and pension and health care matters. Fehr will address the role of collective bargaining in professional team sports, and discuss his experiences in his role with the players association.

To view the symposium agenda, speaker profiles and designated CLE credits, visit http://www.ufsportslaw.com/symposium.html.

For more information regarding the symposium, contact Darren Heitner at heitner@gmail.com.

2009 has been a breakout year for sports and social media. Athletes, teams, leagues, coaches, media and sponsors have finally started to take note of how social media impacts sports and fans. There have been some really great executions and ideas as well as some missteps.

It is my pleasure to present the ebook, Sports and Social Media Predictions 2010, which features 16 smart people and thought-leaders who have graciously shared their opinions, thoughts and predictions for sports and social media in 2010.

Feel free to download this, read it, blog about it, and share with your friends and coworkers. I hope you find it interesting.
Sports Social Media Predictions 2010

Thank you all for your participation. It’s been great connecting with you this year!

Special thanks to Ash Read for helping with the design/layout of this.

I had a great time at York College and was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak on a panel in front of about 250 sports management and business students last night as part of their first ever professional panel and charity event. Thanks to Erik Eitel for inviting me to speak (and picking me up from DC) and thanks to Madeiline Ludt for driving me to the BWI airport this morning.They both helped put together an awesome event.

I also want to thank Dr. Tim Newman, the Coordinator of the Sport Management Program at York College for recommending me to Erik and sharing some of his time with me. I met Tim early this year on Twitter, then in person at the CSRI Conference in Chapel Hill. It was good seeing Tim again and meeting his wife and one of their daughters. Here’s the video interview Tim did with me. Tim-thanks for the opportunity and hopefully, I’ll see you again soon. And have a safe trip/awesome time in Malaysia!