Hello, my name is Dee Rambeau and I'm the Founder and Managing Partner of DVCO Technology in Denver, Colorado. What does that have to do with sports and sports marketing you ask? Well, I'd list as my qualifications the following:
--I spent 12 years as a freelance sports television producer, writer and host
--I'm an avid fan and season ticket holder of the professional sports teams here in Denver
--I'm an active participant in many outdoor sports, both team and individual
--DVCO Technology has a division called DVCO Media, which produces sports programming for cable networks and the Internet
My complete bio is listed here in my company mediaroom.
I am hosting this week's sports blogfest to bring together experts from around the world of sports marketing, television, sponsorships and advertising. Some have contributed ideas and case studies that have helped me build the agenda for this week. Some will be quoted here. Some will be posting guest comments. I'll introduce them to you when relevant.

Discussing sports in general would take many more days and pages than we have here this week, so our discussions this week will revolve around how the sports industry is using the Internet to further its cause. Sports fans as an audience tend to be passionate and active. Promotional ideas and new technologies are often tested on the sports fan audience because of their willingness to participate.

Here is a rough outline of some of the ways the Internet and online communications have been used by the sports industry...we'll drill down on some of these this week.
--news and information delivery
--merchandise sales
--contests and registrations
--fan chat rooms
--surveys and polls
--real-time feedback of on-air television programming
--promotional and advertising extensions such as campaign or message-specific web sites
--ticket purchases
--streaming audio and videocasts of games
--online betting
--viral email campaigns

In the first installment (next post) we'll look at a highly recognizable campaign for Microsoft's XBox put together by Alan Taylor Communications. This New York City agency is one of the leaders in the sports and lifestyle promotions industry. Managing Partner Bret Werner will be joining us here for commentary throughout the week.