Winning: Mark Cuban

In my second entry on 'Winning,' I shift my focus from the NFL to the NBA.  Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is clearly winning.  Cuban started off small in 1982, working as a bartender in Dallas and then as a salesman at a software company.  Mark then proceeded to start his own company, MicroSolutions, with the support of previous customers from his work as a salesman.  By 1990, Cuban sold MicroSolutions for $6 million, personally retaining $2 million in the sale.  Cuban continued his entrepreneurial ways by starting Audionet with a partner, combining their interest in college basketball and webcasting.  This company becaome Broadcast.com, and by 1999 was earning $13.5 million in revenue.  Taking advantage of the dot com boom, Cuban allowed Broadcast.net to be acquired by Yahoo for $5.9 billion and diversified his assets to secure his wealth.

As the current owner of the Mavericks, whom he purchased in January 2000, Cuban changed the culture around the fans and the atmosphere in the arena.  Once he became the owner, Cuban did not upgrade his previous seats to luxurious box seats, instead choosing to cheer next to his common fans.  Cuban also encouraged fans to email him with questions and complaints about the team, and introduced a three-sided shot clock, which allows anyone from the arena to see it!  Since Cuban took over the Mavericks, they have made the playoffs in all ten seasons, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2006 where they lost 4-2 to the Miami Heat.  Despite his strong fervor for his team, Cuban has been fined over $1.3 million dollars for bad behavior by the league!  However, for every $ he is fined he donates an equivalent amount to charity.

In addition to the success of the Mavericks, Cuban has attempted to buy several other professional sports teams, most notably the Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.  Cuban submitted a bid of $1.3 billion to the Cubs in July 2008, yet was not invited to participate in the final bidding process in July 2009.  More recently Cuban bid to purchase his in-state Texas Rangers.  He managed to outbid a group led by Nolan Ryan, with a bid of nearly $600 million dollars, yet lost his deal to Ryan's group. 

Besides his business ventures, Cuban has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, and in various films and tv shows, most notably Entourage this past season.  His rash attitude and indifference to other's opinion makes him a polarizing, yet quite interesting figure.  Why else is Mark Cuban winning? He has lashed out against the current BCS system here, and vigorously campaigns for a new system.  He also appeared with Charlie Sheen on Jimmy Kimmel several weeks ago, and is trying to start a reality TV show with the former 'Two and a Half Men' star on his HDNet channel in addition to potentially broadcasting some of his tour on HDNet.  If that's not winning then I don't know what is!

Winning: Chad Ochocinco

I've decided to incorporate a new weekly post titled 'Winning.'  These posts will reflect on athletes and their Q-ratings.  So without further adieu, who better to start with then Mr. Chad Ochocinco!

Ochocinco has done an impressive job branding himself as much more than just a Wide Receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals.  Most recently, Ochocinco tried out for Sporting Kansas City of the MLS, formerly the Kansas City Wizards.  Suprisingly, Ochocinco was rewarded a spot on their reserve team, although designated as an 'honorary member of the team' by Manager Peter Vermes.  Considering reserve teams for most squads like these feature young players who are working towards making the first team, it's surprising they would offer a spot to a player with zero chance of making the actual roster.  However, this is where the Q-rating and celebrity status of an athlete like Ochocinco comes into play.  The publicity in this relationship is beneficial to both parties. 

Part-time football player, full time entrepreneur

Ochocinco gets media coverage for trying to make the jump to professional soccer, and  the MLS gets increased recognition through the courtship of a star athlete.  Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald sums it up by stating, "Ochocinco usually draws eye rolls with his publicity stunts, but this one makes sense from his end."  On point with the second part, but eye rolls? How about rolls of bills!  This guy reaps profits from people pointing and laughing at him!  Ochocinco ranked as the 5th most hated athlete in a study done by the Q-Scores company, yet why should people hate him?  His contemporaries on that list include mega-stars with a bad rap sheet such as Michael Vick, Tiger Woods, and Ben Roethlisberger. Ochocinco happens to market himself so well that ESPN and other sports networks and sites happen to catch them all.  He was recently rated the '2nd most powerful Twitter user' by researchers at Twitalyzer. Twitalyzer measures influence by how people shape the conversation on Twitter, in terms of being mentioned and having their own tweets re-tweeted, and not just how many followers a tweeter reaches. So Ochocinco, whose Twitter account features breaking stories from the Ochocinco News Network, is more influential on Twitter than celebrities like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, who have far more followers than he does.  Ochocinco was also featured on 'Dancing with the Stars' and his own reality tv show: Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch on VH1.

Now that Ochocinco is such a figure in the social media community, what prompted his rise?  Touchdown celebrations!  I'll let you watch them as opposed to describing them myself, but the publicity he gains from them are substantial.  I'm interested in calculating the opportunity cost of the fines he receives for his on-field antics compared to the profits he gains from the increase in publicity.  The way the media covers him, they are basically encouraging him to disobey NFL rules because its beneficial to his bank account!