Best Team Operations
Which team is doing the best job in their game operations and game presentation. We level the playing field by considering budget constraints to minor league teams. Consider creativity, value to fans, overcoming sport and budget limitations, quality of presentation, and attention to detail.
What I would consider to be the top award from Gameops.com is the Best Team Operations. This encompasses the entire operations of a team, from hiring the right people, to producing great live events and creatively delivering to their fans the most interesting game presentation.
2006 Winner was the Miami Heat, with honorable mention going to the San Jose Sharks and Hagerstown Suns.
Please nominate worthy teams using the comment box below.
Best Mascot
The mascot whose work in was creative and enthusiastic, serving as a valuable tool for their team and in their community. All sports team characters and college mascots are eligible.
This is always a popular category for the Best of Awards. Last year it lead to some entertaining fodder for late night host Stephen Colbert, when he learned a Canadian mascot had beaten out his namesake Steagle Cobeagle the Eagle. We encourage you to nominate mascots and to link any YouTube videos that might help the panel if they have not seen the mascot’s work.
Gameops.com canvasses a panel of selected industry leaders for our “Best of Awards”. Their names are not used to encouraged them to add as much information as possible. Their collective input is considered when building the final award selections.
Our panel consists of active leaders in the game operations community and people who have the opportunity to see a range of teams and leagues. We do allow our panel to nominate your own act or services, but of course that bias will be considered in the process. We also limit any awards to products and services offered by Gameops.com, or we make note of it.
Best Game Promotion
What game night promotion was most effective and creative. An example would be President’s Night Game where a team builds an game day promotion around a theme like “Presidents”, perhaps handing out US flags, and having namesakes like “George Washington, Richard Nixon, and George Bush” dropping the puck for a game held on President’s Day. Consider creativity, entertainment value, media exposure, drawing power, and execution of the operations.
I am personally excited about this category in 2007 since we have added the Promotion Database and have been tracking these promotions much more in 2007. It should add to the deliberation on which ones stood out and expand the field we consider.
I encourage you to comment below with your favorite game promotion and any relevant details. Nominate your own team’s promotions or just one you saw or read about.
Best Vendor 2006
The provider of quality services or products that are most helpful for game operations. Consider service, products offered, and value.
As noted in the past the category has been a bit of a struggle. Not that there are not great helpful vendors out there, rather we just get limited feedback on this category. With that in mind, this may the last year of this award (unless we start to hear more).
I am open to starting a new category. If you have any thoughts or nominations please feel free to add them in the comment box or email us. I am open to ideas for a new category or nominees for any of the following:
Best Contest or On-Field Promotion
What promotion or contest is the most entertaining. For example, a “Chuck-a-Puck” contest. This is a repeatable on-field promotion that is held in-game. Consider entertainment value, sponsorship possibilities, cost, and repeatability.
We have been high-lighting and nominating several promotions all year. You can nominate your own promotion or your favorite from around sports in the comment box of this blog post.
Nominations end Nov 21st, and winners will be announced in the December Gameops.com Update.
You can see the 2006 Winner (the Inflat-a-Bulls court race) in this video. Feel free to include a link to video if you have it.
KOMETS SIGN MINOR LEAGUE SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT’S PREMIER MASCOT ICY D. EAGLE TO LONG-TERM CONTRACT
Fort Wayne, IN — The Komets announced Friday that mascot Icy D. Eagle (EYE-cee EE-guhl) has agreed to terms and will resume his position of “Face of the Franchise” for the 2007-08 IHL season.
Eagle, 14, hails from Salt Lake City, Utah and was the Komets’ first pick in the 1994 Minor League Mascot Dispersal Draft, and that draft’s first pick overall.
Icy began his career in Utah with the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles before migrating to Fort Wayne, IN to make the Summit City his permanent nesting grounds.
Icy is widely recognized as minor league sports and entertainment’s premier mascot and was a widely sought-after Free Agent after concluding his 11th season
with the Komets in 2006-07.
The IHL Fort Wayne Komets have utilized mascot Icy the Eagle in a series of advertisements to promote their “Less Talk More Action” tag line. For many minor league teams mascots become a valuable resource, since they are the one performer on the field who is unlikely to be called up or traded.
Best Team Operations
