Have you heard of the Sports Legends Challenge? Well, you will. This event is a fun new first of its kind that I was lucky enough to become part of about 9 months ago. The people that came up with this idea were simply looking for a way to make really good poker for television. You see, they’d been watching TV and decided televised poker was pretty boring. And they’re not alone. (image from wickedchopspoker.com)
So, they crossed the exciting ideas of professional-level poker, celebrity pro-ams, and reality TV to create the Sports Legends Challenge, the ultimate sports fantasy and casino event. Nothing like it has ever been done. Past events that were billed as sports fantasy usually consisted of average people trying to go up against professional athletes in their own sport, such as shooting free throws against Rick Barry, playing golf against Fuzzy Zoeller, or driving a race car to beat Richard Petty. These fantasy events pitting amateurs against professionals inevitably end in defeat, and in many cases embarrassment or injury.
The Sports Legends Challenge is not asking you to try to beat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the activity that he still holds the world record for. Instead, this innovative sports fantasy event is allowing you the chance to compete with AND against legends like Troy Aikman, Mark Messier, and Reggie Jackson in a completely different field where an average guy has a good shot of beating them—at the poker table.

What is the Biggest Reason why Someone would want to do This?
Just forget that the platform for the Sports Legends Challenge is 3 golf tournaments, 28 blackjack and slots tournaments, and 5 stand-alone No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments, each paying out thousands of dollars to the winners with a total prize pool of up to $10,000,000. Forget about the fact that participants will enjoy four days of lavish living, sumptuous eating, back-to-back parties and world-class entertainment. Ignore the fact that this is a nationally televised event that will give more than 2 dozen regular people the chance to become TV stars. The biggest reason that someone should take part in the Sports Legends Challenge is the unprecedented opportunity to spend four days surrounded by the most impressive names in sports, in poker, and in Hollywood in one of the most beautiful and illustrious resorts in this hemisphere, the Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas.

What Kind of Person Would Want to do This?
The Sports Legends Challenge is not for everyone. It was never meant to be. The perfect person for this event is the sports fan who understands the potential once-in-a-lifetime experience that comes from meeting one of their heroes. True fans of the game recognize the value in waiting 4 hours in a Cleveland convention center to shake hands with Jim Brown. A true sports fan will pull down his photo signed by Richard Petty to tell his grandchildren about meeting the King of NASCAR. The perfect person for the Sports Legends Challenge is the person who remembers the very first time he or she met Joe Namath, Sugar Ray Leonard, or Ozzie Smith and realized that these incredible sports figures were at the same time larger-than-life legends while being down-to-earth people who love the game as much as we do. The perfect target market for this event are the fantasy sports fans who will pinch themselves while not one or two, but 25 of the greatest Sports Legends spend not seconds or minutes, but days with them interacting as both a competitor and a teammate in the ultimate sports fantasy and casino event.

Why Now?
The current economic situation causes people to rethink what parts of their life have the greatest value. People today have learned that they need to actively pursue their dreams, that life is short, and that it is made up less-and-less by the things you own, but more-and-more by the experiences you’ve had and the people you’ve known. The SLC is part of an idea that is very much becoming a mainstream concept—the idea of living out one’s dreams. As Americans shuffle their ideals and begin to invest their money and time into things that are of greater worth, the types of real, life-changing experiences that money can’t buy become more important. The mainstream is coming to the understanding that life is short, it is made up of the things you’ve done, the places you’ve been and the people you’ve known. Fantasy sports events like the Sports Legends Challenge are creating opportunities for more people to experience more things and live better lives than they could before.

I found this amazing video of a guy biking through the song Prisoner of Society on Guitar Hero World Tour. (If that made no sense to you, then you need to take 3 and a half minutes and watch this video.)

For more on the video, you can read this guy’s comment. As many of the nearly 1 million viewers noted, this video is good… a little TOO Good. Many YouTubers were immediately suspicious. Well, I first learned about the ad from Creativity.com, who was praising the work of Droga5, the agency that created it. So, yes, it was created by professional Ad Men. No, it was not shot by a group of GHWT loving kids in Indiana with a lot of free time on their hands, as we were deliberately meant to believe… but is that dishonest?

Another example is the band Boyce Avenue. The story is cliché and inspiring– three brothers in Florida start recording cover songs on YouTube, quickly gather 3 million views and 1 million fans, then start recording their own stuff and now they are releasing multiple platinum-selling albums and going on a national tour. I saw the video. These guys are good… a little TOO Good. You be the judge.

The inventor of Murketing, Rob Walker points out that today’s consumers assert they are not influenced by the messaging of “the Man’s” corporate broadcast media nor the silver-coated brand imaging of Mad. Ave’s Ad Wizards. But all our consumer data reports that we are buying MORE than ever before and our purchasing is (even more) based on Branding and Perceived Value.

So, in conclusion, today’s consumers want to buy, they just don’t want to be sold to.

What this leaves us is companies manufacturing “Homemade” advertising. Professional advertisers and marketers are now turning their talents to making messaging that looks like it came from amateurs. That it was made by your peers. I add my own word to the marketing lexicon-

Promateurs. noun. def. – The ad agency that made Bike Hero, the recording label that created Boyce Avenue, the makers of LonelyGirl15, and others. Antonym – Amfessionals. def. – The makers of the Doritos Super Bowl commercials.

“Who is saying that the painter is just a rehash of season 1? This entire show is just a rehash of season 1. Someone time travels, sees a bleak future, and comes back to stop it and a painter makes absolute visions of the future that take all the suspense out of things. It’s this show’s MO.”

Which reminds me of my un-published Season 2 take-away…