The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company’s Post

Check out the Know Before You Go document below. Great information to get you to Cleveland this weekend!

The first-of-its-kind event Fanatics Fest is set to become one of the largest and most influential events in the sports world. A groundbreaking event that brought together fans, athletes, celebrities, card collectors, big sports brands, and sports legends under one roof. To be exact, over 70,000 people visited Javits Center from August 16-18. SportProsUSA, played a role in bringing the vision of FFNYC to life. We were honored to set the stage—literally—by building the courts that hosted some of the event’s most iconic moments. National Basketball Association (NBA) Brooklyn Nets At its core, FFNYC is all about building dreams—especially for the fans who got to live out their athletic fantasies in the most exciting ways possible. This ethos of dream-building is something we at SportProsUSA understand deeply. "Being part of the first-ever Fanatics Fest Event in New York City is an incredible honor for us at SportProsUSA. This one-of-a-kind event is a testament to the power of sports to unite people and inspire dreams. Our reputation as America’s most trusted court builder is what gets us hired, but it's our passion for building dreams, one court at a time, that drives us. It's always about the people, especially the young sports fans. We're not just setting up courts—we're helping to ignite dreams and create experiences that will last a lifetime." — Thomas Petersen, President and Founder of SportProsUSA. #FanaticsFest #SportsInnovation #BuildingDreams #SportProsUSA #FanExperience #NYCEvent

What came first, the chicken or the egg? There is zero question that women in sports make far less than their male counterparts. The question is: How do we get more investment in women's sports? And the counter-questions we hear are: is the "product" in a place to create the demand? _______________ So, let's look at some recent numbers: - Women's Championship game: 18.9 million viewers > Men's Championship game: 14.8 million viewers - WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) game this past Sunday drew a crowd of 6,842 fans to see Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever take on the Chicago Sky. Compare this to the NBA, which drew an average of 18,300 fans per game. - The PWHL (Professional Women's Hockey League) drew an average of 5,448 fans and also had a record-breaking 21,500 fans at the Montreal vs. Toronto game. Compare this to the National Hockey League (NHL), which averaged 17,759 fans per game. _______________ Takeaway: The draw for men's sports is stronger than for women's sports. However, the gap is closing—and quickly. _______________ In business, the time to invest is early in the growth trajectory following proof of concept. Women's sports have clearly achieved the proof of concept by drawing fans across all sports. The growth trajectory is very strong. _______________ As a leader in business, I would invest in the game that has fully hatched and is growing. Oh, before I forget, the egg came before the chicken. Look it up. Let's go! #cultureFIRSTleadership #womenINsport #TitleNine

For us, March will always be synonymous with two things: Basketball, and the Conrad Suite at the Hilton Chicago, former site of the IEG Annual Conference. So it’s fitting that the latest episode of False Market Value takes a slow-motion look at the sponsorship program for the Two-on-Two for Brotherhood Basketball Tournament from 1992’s ‘White Men Can’t Jump,’ which was released 32 years ago tomorrow. Jonathan Kander, Head of Beyond the Bottle Strategy at Gatorade and Dan Kowitz, current Founder & CEO of JSB Partnership Consultants and former sponsorship lead for Ameritech and Mervyn’s California, break down how tournament organizers should have (in Jon’s words) “put a face to these monolithic brands” back in the early 90s, and how sponsors can—and should—activate around grassroots events like the T.T.B.B.T. in 2024 to maximize partnership ROI. Our key takeaway? Sponsorship isn’t just one, big organic globule from which one extracts what one needs; event organizers should work with brands to create authentic, meaningful engagement with their local communities. You can hear our conversation on Spotify here https://lnkd.in/gETSZdAt or anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks as always to Lauren Jannicelli and David J. Kruzer from KSD Studios for creating the look and sound of False Market Value. Follow False Market Value on Spotify and QUANT LLC for updates about future episodes, including our upcoming deep-dive into Aurora, IL, media partnerships circa 1992. Game on! #rethinksponsorship #falsemarketvalue

It only took 36 hours to prove 22 million people wrong! It is March Madness! The greatest time for college basketball fans and those who love to see the unexpected happen. We are waiting to see who this year’s Cinderella will be, there is always one team that the “experts” say does not belong that makes it to the second weekend and beyond. ESPN had 22,114,647 million brackets filled out this year. After day one, only 1,800 of those brackets were perfect. Less than 1% picked all the winners. By the end of day two, there were zero perfect brackets left. This is the best sporting event around. Everyone gets a chance to prove it on the court. The small schools get to compete with the large schools. It is a win-or-go-home format. Have a bad game, you are done. One player gets hot and cannot miss a shot, their team advances. Legends are made over the course of this three-week tournament. My bracket was busted on day one. After the first game, it was no longer perfect. I am excited about the games happening the rest of the weekend and seeing the stories that we will be talking about all week. BTW, the women’s tournament has also started and it is going to be as good if not better than the men’s tournament. Did you fill out a bracket? If so, how is it looking? #collegebasketball #marchmadness #expecttheunexpected #sports #socialsaturday #BruceTalk

CAP is part of the Youth Sports Betting Safety Coalition, which educates young people on sports betting dangers. Learn more here

Favoritism in Sports: The LeBron Influence on Young Players In this video, we explore the impact of parental influence in sports, focusing on how LeBron James's fame may create challenges for his son in the league, including favoritism and the reaction of peers. Discover the complexities of talent versus legacy. #LeBronJames #SportsFavoritism #YoungAthletes #ParentingInSports #AthleteLegacy #BasketballCommunity #YouthSports #SportsDynamics #TalentVsFame #NBAInsights

🔥 Introducing Stat Legend - Revolutionizing Youth Sports! 🔥 Are you tired of seeing your child's passion for the game fade away? We were too, and that's why Stat Legend was born! After a disappointing summer of youth baseball that left everyone questioning the true essence of the game, our founders Chris and Nick decided it was time for a change. They asked themselves, "Why can't youth sports be more than just the game?" 🤷♂️ With a burning desire to make a difference, they set out to create something extraordinary - Stat Legend! At Stat Legend, we believe that youth sports should be about more than just winning or losing. It should be about fun, inspiration, and engagement! 💯 Our mission is simple: make youth sports more fun. ⚾️ To do that we started creating youth sports cards. This is one of our first cards of Ben, a baseball player that needed some inspiration. #StatLegend #GameFreakingOn

The youth sports market is projected to hit $69B by 2030... And this is pushing 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 products/people into the space. Just yesterday, Fastbreak.ai announced they're entering youth sports with the acquisition of Tourney Pro. 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 (𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄): • Pro Leagues (NBA, NHL) • Mid-Tier Leagues (AHL, MLP) • College (SEC, A-10, AAC, etc) • Now entering the broad space of youth sports via acquisition And this makes sense... Youth sports leagues face 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 scheduling challenges as professional leagues, including travel logistics, venue management, and competitive balance. 

Favoritism in Sports: The LeBron Influence on Young Players In this video, we explore the impact of parental influence in sports, focusing on how LeBron James's fame may create challenges for his son in the league, including favoritism and the reaction of peers. Discover the complexities of talent versus legacy. #LeBronJames #SportsFavoritism #YoungAthletes #ParentingInSports #AthleteLegacy #BasketballCommunity #YouthSports #SportsDynamics #TalentVsFame #NBAInsights