The 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium is being held today in Princeton, NJ. Some of the brightest minds from the sports industry will be on hand to discuss current events in sports business. For more information on the Princeton Sports Symposium, visit their official website at www.sportssymposium.org. Below are a few widgets to help keep up with what’s going on at the Symposium for those who cannot make it out to the event.

Here’s a little glossary to help navigate the widgets:
Orange: The Princeton Sports Symposium has asked that everyone attending tweets with the #psports hashtag. This widget is a culmination of everyone using the hashtag.
Gray: Tweets from the @sportssymposium, the official Twitter account from the 2009 Princeton Sports Symposium.
Light Blue: Tweets from Joshua Duboff, the Founder of The Sports Business Exchange.
Brown: Updates that mention @sportssymposium somewhere in their tweet.

Updated 12/10/09: The Twitter searches for @joshuaduboff and @sportssymposium have been disabled

Today’s guest blog comes from Tim Cary. Tim has covered college football from the Illinois, Louisville, Ohio State, and Purdue press boxes for BleacherReport.com. Currently, Tim serves as a Bleacher Report featured columnist and writes about college football at FirstandBigTen.com. He can be reached via e-mail (carryingonabout@yahoo.com) or Twitter (@TimCary).

The BCS has taken to social media to state its case.

And at first glance, that doesn’t seem to be a good thing.

College football’s Bowl Championship Series has been debated, criticized, and even termed illegal by frustrated fans since its inception in 1998 as it struggles to produce an undisputed national champion for one of America’s favorite sports. With this week’s decision to hire Bill Hancock as its first executive director, the BCS appears ready to utilize Facebook and Twitter to help convince its detractors that the system is not as flawed as many want to believe.

The series’ official Twitter account, @InsidetheBCS, has especially drawn attention this week.

But again, that’s not necessarily a positive sign.

Since (and including) its first tweet Wednesday, the Twitter feed in question features a grand total of four messages. One is a welcome, two are links to pro-BCS stories, and one is a pro-BCS quote from Florida football coach Urban Meyer, who termed the series “not perfect, but…great for college football”.

One of the reasons the BCS has drawn so much hatred and criticism is its perceived lack of concern for what college football fans have vocally and repeatedly expressed a desire to see: a full-fledged playoff system. Personally, I am an unabashed proponent of the playoff, but I have resigned myself to the fact that the university presidents and other powers-that-be won’t change the system until it’s in their best interests.

I am of the opinion that it would take a complete boycott of college football by fans everywhere: one season worth of not buying tickets, not watching on television, and not attending bowl games. Until fans are willing to make this sacrifice so that their voice can be heard, the decision-makers involved with the BCS have no financial motivation to change.

However, this week’s entrance of the BCS into the world of social media gave me hope that at least the new executive director was interested in an honest dialogue with fans, not just regurgitating PR spin.

And perhaps, the @InsidetheBCS account will be used for exactly that purpose. Unfortunately, the fact that it hasn’t in its first 36 hours of existence may have doomed the social media experiment before it even started.

Let’s face it: football fans aren’t exactly a patient bunch (just look at all the second or third-year coaches who are about to get fired before they’ve even seen their first recruiting class graduate). So when a widely-despised entity sets up an account that only appears to be a public relations mouthpiece, the impatient fans pile on in a hurry.

And pile on they did. Twitter users responded to the Meyer quote with quotes of their own, most notably Yahoo! columnist Dan Wetzel, who referenced sentiments of USC’s Pete Carroll (“I think it stinks”), Penn State’s Joe Paterno (“I think we ought to have a legitimate champion”), and even Meyer himself (“The system is a failure. You’ve got to blow it up and start over”).

Some tweeters were polite: “Please implement a college football playoff system as soon as possible. It’s the right thing to do. Thank you.”

Others were sarcastic: “Can you explain why you continue to ruin College Football in under 140 characters?”

Snarky anagrams (“Inside the BCS= SEC’s Behind It”), one-liners worthy of a late-night comedian (“Isn’t it a bit contradictory for you to have more than two followers on Twitter?”), and wondering amazement (“If the balloon boy dad set up a Twitter account, even he would not draw the level of venom @InsidetheBCS is right now”) ensued as word spread of the series’ Twitter feed.

Meanwhile, replies to the questions of the masses were nowhere to be found. As the hours dragged on (an eternity in social media), tweets began to question why the BCS would subject itself to this kind of criticism and feedback without a strategy for utilizing Twitter to its advantage.

A sampling: “You should have known better than to tangle with social media unprepared,” “worst sports media idea of 2009,” and “The biggest problem…is how they’re using it. It’s like they didn’t think it through at all.”

Those questions continue to this very moment. If the BCS does in fact intend to dialogue with fans, maybe change isn’t as far off as I previously thought. However, dialogue (Facebook Page encourages playoff proponents to submit their suggested models, since “this should be fun”, which doesn’t seem to bode well for serious queries), the whole social media exercise is a waste of time and merely opens Hancock and his organization up to more serious and widespread criticism than they faced previously.

Count me among the hopeful that honest, personalized responses start flowing from @InsidetheBCS to its questioners sooner rather than later, and maybe social media will achieve what undefeated, complaining, excluded football teams like 2004 Auburn, 2007 Hawaii, and 2008 Utah couldn’t as their national title dreams were brutally dashed by—ironically—a computer.

This week’s featured young sports business professional is Jeff Brunelle from Carrot Creative and Lacrosse All Stars.

Name: Jeff Brunelle
Age: 23
Email: jeff@carrotcreative.com
Company: Carrot Creative, Lacrosse All Stars
Website: http://carrotcreative.com
Favorite professional team(s): Portland Trailblazers, Seattle Sonics (RIP), Yankees
Favorite college team(s): Oregon Ducks, Alabama Crimson Tide, Gonzaga

Please briefly describe your background in sports business:
I am currently Director of Sports & Entertainment at Carrot Creative, a new-media marketing agency located in New York City. Specializing in social media, our sports and entertainment department provides custom development and communications planning for athletes and sports organizations. Prior to Carrot, I worked in Time Inc’s Consumer Marketing division as an assistant marketing manager for Sports Illustrated. Before working full time for Sports Illustrated, I was a campus representative throughout college and I did a summer internship in Consumer Research for SI. After graduating college, I also co-founded LacrosseAllStars.com with my friend Ryan Craven; the site is now a leading content hub for lacrosse news and fan commentary.

Even as a leader, most young professionals are still sitting in a cubicle at this point in your career. What’s your most prized possession that you display in your cubicle?
My younger cousin Patrick made a lacrosse player out of clay for me when I graduated college. It has a green and yellow jersey and wears #12 like I did. Patrick is a HUGE Oregon State fan, so the fact that he made something in University of Oregon colors meant a lot. I’ll always keep it with me.

Do you think you have encountered any unique challenges or advantages because of your age?
Yes and no. When I worked in a corporate role I often felt like my age hindered my opportunities, especially since many of the people I worked with were older. When I switched over to Carrot, I felt like my age was a positive thing. They recognized my drive right off the bat and offered me a lot of responsibility. Now whether or not it’s a challenge or an advantage usually depends on the client I’m working with.

What campaign do you think is working right now?
I want to say something else besides Nike, but I can’t. Those Nike Pro Combat commercials with Adrian Peterson are one of kind; when it comes on TV I stop everything to just watch. In terms of social media, another great example is Nike’s Leroy Smith campaign (The Man Who Motivated Michael Jordan). They made a lot of noise with that one.

What’s one issue in sports that needs to be addressed immediately for the betterment of the sport?
Depression. That might sound odd, but if you look at today’s athletes we’re seeing more and more come out publicly with their problems. Take Stephon Marbury or Michael Beasley for example, pro athletes have so much weight on their shoulders – if I could change one thing it’d be to take a few pounds off.

If you could give one piece of advice to young sports business professionals coming up the ranks behind you, what would it be?
Work hard and mind the details. People remember if you make mistakes, but if you get things right every time you’re accountable. That can go a long way.

Today’s guest post is by Trevor Turnbull of Sport-Fan Connect and his upcoming northeast tour (video below).

Without a doubt, social media is changing the way that sports teams, executives and players are interacting with their fans. You only have to reference the recent rules implemented by the NFL and NBA to understand that many of the professional sports leagues and teams are still fearful and trying to figure out how to respond to social media.

The truth is though, the glass is half full. There are a number of great examples where leagues, teams and players are embracing social media and using it as a means to connect with their fans, building real relationships online. And, those that are embracing social media are seeing real returns in the form of brand exposure, ticket and merchandise sales, fan loyalty and best of all—word of mouth marketing [which is an inexpensive and effective form of marketing]. Some of my favorite examples of leagues, teams, players and fans engaging in social media include the NHL Tweetup (http://www.nhltweetup.com – started by @dani3boys), the Phoenix Suns – Planet Orange Social Network (http://www.planetorange.com”) and Shaquille O’Neil on Twitter (www.twitter.com/the_real_shaq).
Social media is dramatically changing the landscape of how sports teams communicate with their fans. What used to be a one-way conversation has turned into a collective conversation; now there are a number of like-minded thought leaders in the sports industry that are generating awareness around this new opportunity. Currently, some of my favourite contributors include: www.sportsnetworker.com, www.thebusinessofsports.com, www.ryanstephensmarketing.com, www.jasonfpeck.com, www.directcontact.ca and, of course, www.thesportsbusinessexchange.com.

At Sport-Fan Connect (www.sportfanconnect.com) our mission is to share a 360-degree view of the sport experience—from the perspective of sport executives—to the media—to the fans. The Sport-Fan Connection Tour is a multi-city sports tour–a sports fan dream vacation, transformed into a research opportunity.

This week, Mike and I will be touring the North-Eastern United States: attending games, interviewing fans, players and sports executives. In order to establish the current reality or state of the sports industry, the information we gather will help us surmise the connection between sports and their fans and how social media is impacting this connection.

Even though our mission has just begun, the success of this project is a directly impacted by feedback and collaboration from those who want to see social media impact sports in a positive way. Our mission is not to preach, sell, or influence—but to listen to all the varying and relevant perspectives; from old-school stalwarts to new media dreamers. This is a listening tour. We want to ask the right questions; to record, analyze and share. And, of course, this concept is nothing without the feedback from all of the online contributors and thought leaders that are presently impacting the connection between sports and their fans.

We look forward to connecting with everyone on this tour. If you know or are someone we should talk to, please connect with us at http://www.twitter.com/sportfanconnect.