According to TNS Global Market Research's ESPN Sports Poll, the average Sports Fan follows six to eight different sports, and is an "Avid" Fan of two to three sports. National Football League has the largest avid fans at 85 million, followed by College Football (64 million), and Major League Baseball (53 million). Furthermore, half the households in the U.S. own a gaming console, and of those 69% of the avid sports fans own at least one sports video game. And "38% of sports video game players say they spend as much or more time playing a sports game as they do watching that same sport on TV during its season."

Given all of that, it's easy to understand why the Executive Director of the ESPN Sports Poll would state, "Today's interactive entertainment enables fans to engage with their favorite sports on a platform that looks incredibly close to the real thing. When a person is engaged in the video game, there is no channel surfing, and the game is paused only for necessity. This is a terrific way for real-world advertisers and sponsors to develop incremental affinity for their brands."

Obviously this represents a great opportunity for sponsors to take advantage of, especially those who have integrated 'real' interactive methodology in their approach. The report also emphasizes that IEG Sponsorship estimates about $12B, or 68 cents of every dollar, is spent on sponsorship that is sports related. Those sponsorship investments require activation to be effective. And this is where your sponsorship and/or interactive agency can create, develop, and convert into action a successful campaign that's sure to guarantee a positive ROI and ROO.

Considering professional sports teams generally like to have about 100 sponsors on their roster, why wouldn't the major league franchises themselves get into the playing field and kick off their own 'games' with the help of their own sponsors? Win-Win!

Of course as with any interactive campaign, the sponsors should be engaging not annoying. Let me know if I can be of any help; I love those 'you-can't-lose' challenges.