Sports & FoodThe convergence of two powerful platforms

“Think back to the first professional sporting event you ever went to. It was probably a parent taking you to the game. What do you remember? Do you remember the score? A home run? A jump shot? A pass play? Or do you remember who you were with? I remember being with my dad at a Pirates game. My dad and my uncle at a Steelers game. Think about your fondest memories at a sporting event. We don’t sell the game; we sell unique, emotional experiences. We are not in the business of selling basketball. We are in the business of giving you a chance to create shared experiences.”

-- Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban

“You have that nostalgic flavor memory of a lot of things when you think of childhood food. My mom's goulash and the French fries wrapped around the burger blanket [thin-cut pickles] that I describe with my Uncle Norm [in the book]. That's the beauty of a food memory—as soon as I take a bite of that, I'm transported back to when I was 7 years old. It's a powerful, powerful thing.”

-- Award-winning Chef, Grant Achatz

Letter from Connect

The quotes on the previous page are from two very influential people in their respective industries and speak volumes as to why sports and food are such a large part of our culture.

For me, the moment I enter a baseball stadium and walk through the tunnel to see the bright green grass and infield diamond, it brings me back to when I was a kid with my dad going to Red Sox Games at Fenway. Similarly, when I smell banana bread or eat wonton soup, its conjures very specific memories of my childhood with my mother in the kitchen. It’s these types of sensory engagements that evoke triggers in everyone’s brain, transporting them to important, emotional experiences from their past. If you take a moment to think about your strongest memories, how many of them involve food? The smell of a great red sauce or chicken soup might remind you of your grandmother or a certain beer (for me Natural Light) which takes you back your High School friends or a specific type of fruit that conjures thoughts of your kids.

The point is, food & drink, much like sports, have the ability to tap into our inner emotion and connect us with our surroundings and past experiences. It’s for this reason that the culinary world is becoming a larger part of our culture and finding itself intertwined with other large scale platforms, such as sports, music and fashion. In the pages following, I wanted to highlight and show some of the ways food & drink experiences and marketing tactics are blending with sports (and vice versa), and examples of how brands, properties and media are leveraging the space. Since I made the shift to the culinary world 4 years ago, I’ve found that it’s important to be in a constant dialogue about my observations in the marketplace, as I truly believe that food & drink should be a primary option when considering how to speak/engage with consumers, fans, brand and media. Hope you enjoy, happy eating and enjoy the football season!

Lonny Sweet – CEO, The Connect Group

My daughters first game (only regret is it wasn’t Fenway)

Both of my girls in the kitchen

Sports & Food: What’s the Connection?

Beyond the obvious (we all like to stuff our faces while watching games), the sports and food vertical are loaded with similarities:

- Sports fans & “foodies” are passionate, enjoy sharing their experience with others (often via social media channels) and are willing to spend discretionary income on their experience

- Sports and food have a wide demographic reach, spanning across age, social class, race and gender• Food tends to skew slightly stronger toward woman, while sports tends to skew slightly more toward men, but are still strong with both genders

- Food & sports evoke strong memories, leading to deeper emotional engagement and higher propensity to impact purchasing decisions• Numerous studies have shown scent to be one of the strongest memory triggers, which is why people connect certain scents (such as a cookie or

ballpark frank), with specific memories

- Both sports and food are participatory by nature • While both are aspirational, cooking feels more attainable, as it can be a learned skill (I don’t think you can learn to be built like Lebron James or

Peyton Manning, a myth disposed by Bobby Brady years ago)

- Chefs (the new “Rock Stars”) and athletes are central to the communication, from a marketing perspective, for both food and sports

- Whether it be via concessions, tailgating or a catering in a luxury box, food is, and always will be, an integral part of every sporting event

- And now for the obvious – Sports fans love to EAT• Tailgating is estimated to be a $20 Billion dollar industry• 41% of tailgaters will spend more than $500 annually (per person) on a tailgate-related purchase. If an average tailgate group is 8-10 people, that’s

$4,000 - $5,000 per tailgate group annually• During Super Bowl weekend, more than 1.25 billion Chicken wings, 4.4 million pizzas and 71 million pounds of avocados are consumed

Why does this matter?

With the cultural shift toward culinary, teams, leagues, properties and other sports entities have begun recognizing this transition and are adapting accordingly:

- Demand for more options and higher quality stadium food, have forced teams, leagues and properties to elevate their offerings

- Teams, leagues & properties are figuring out how to not only use food & beverage as a tool to increase fan satisfaction, but more importantly as a way to generate incremental revenue

- Events, programming and strategic alliances between sports and food have become a more regular part of the overall offering

- Brands are looking at customized food & beverage programs as more central part of their partnership activations

- Broadening scope of content and programming is bringing new fans to the table for each vertical

Who’s doing what?

There are many sports entities dipping their spoon into the sauce. Here are just a few to show some examples (yes, some of these are from us at The Connect Group)

The 50 Yard Lounge (The Connect Group owned property)

50 Yard Lounge became one of the premier 2014 Super Bowl VIP hospitality destination in NYC -fusing the football, culinary, music and corporate communities. Featuring more than 80 of the best chefs and restaurants in NYC throughout the week, ranging from Iron Chefs and Michelin-rated restaurants, to the top street food vendor and pizza joints, 50 Yard Lounge was also home to NY Jets Super Bowl hospitality venue, the “Jets House”. 50YL generated more than 1 BILLION impressions and counted NY Jets, USA Today, ESPN Radio, Celebrity Cruises, Rums of Puerto Rico, Jim Beam, Nespresso, Fiji Water, 888 Poker, Klipsch, California Almonds, Breville, The Daily Meal and others as partners. www.50yardlounge.com

New York Jets

In addition to “Jets House” at 50YL during Super Bowl week, the New York Jets have done an incredible job leveraging the passion for food & beverage in the Tri-State area to generate fan excitement and programs to offer clients and fans. This includes a strategic alliance with the New York Wine & Food Festival (brokered by TCG) in the creation of Jets & Chefs, Jets Cooking School, a licensed NY Jets Wine, Taste of the Jets annual fundraiser and several brand activations for their team partners. They are on the cutting edge of culinary programming and continually lead the charge on creative thinking for their partners.

MLB All-Star Pepsi Summer Block Party (culinary program curated and produced by The Connect Group)

Major League Baseball and Pepsi brought to life a three day culinary offering to align with the Futures Game, Home Run Derby and All-Star Game. Serving out of five (5) MLB/Pepsi branded food trucks, the best chefs and restaurants in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region offered up tasty bites inspired by the All-Star Game and Major League Baseball. In addition to local chefs, MLB and Pepsi brought in several nationally recognized chefs to amplify the messaging, PR and to add an extra level of engagement. These chefs included:

- Andrew Zimmern (Minneapolis, MN) - Host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods- Nicholas Elmi (Philadelphia, PA) - Winner, Top Chef Season 11- Bryan Caswell (Houston, TX) - Food & Wine Best New Chef, 2009- Graham Elliot (Chicago, IL) - Judge, Master Chef- Michelle Bernstein (Miami, FL) - James Beard Award Winner

On Monday, July 14th, in advance of the Gillette Home Run Derby, a MLB Hot Dog Derby competition took place. Chefs Zimmern, Elmi, Caswell, Elliot, and the Taste of Target Field Truck all created their own one-of-a-kind hot dogs to be judged by fans and a panel of judges that included Mpls. St. Paul Magazine restaurant critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Dwight “Doc” Gooden, a four-time MLB All-Star and three-time World Series champion and Ted from Minneapolis (fan from the crowd). Bryan Caswell took home the crown and bragging rights for the year.

Top Chef winner Nick Elmi and MLB Legend Doc Gooden

Forty Ate

In celebration of Super Bowl XLVIII, the NFL opened its first-ever Super Bowl-themed pop-up restaurant FORTY ATE, giving fans a taste of Super Bowl hospitality in the days leading up to the game. Forty Ate was located at the Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel (714 Seventh Avenue at West 48th Street) and offered unparalleled views of Times Square and Super Bowl Boulevard. Forty Ate provided diners with the ultimate Super Bowl experience. Danny Meyer's renowned Union Square Events (USE) in collaboration with the Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel operated the Dining Room and Bar.

Forty Ate featured NFL artifacts curated by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well as the full set of 47 Super Bowl rings. In addition, there were appearances by various NFL players dining at the restaurant throughout the week. http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/48/events/forty-ate

Taste of the NFL

Since 1992, the Taste of the NFL (a 501c3 organization) has rallied the country's top chefs and the NFL's greatest players to raise money in support of food banks throughout the United States. The Super Bowl Taste Of The NFL - The Party with a Purpose® is held on the eve of Super Bowl in the host city. This event is a unique way to experience exceptional cuisine, meet NFL players and coaches, and support our fight against hunger. Through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers who help make “Taste of the NFL – Party With A Purpose” the single most successful charitable event at the Super Bowl, the Taste of the NFL organization continues to help feed the 37 million Americans who have turned to their local food banks for assistance. Millions of needs, thousands of families and dozens of new hunger projects have been affected by this major volunteer effort. http://www.tasteofthenfl.com/

Visa at London Olympics As part of their Olympic activation in London, Visa created a VIP Lounge available exclusively to Visa Chase card members. In addition to a series of meet-and-greet events with Olympic Athletes exclusively for card members, the VIP Lounge partnered with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to create a pop-up restaurant at the venue during the Olympic Games. Visa Chase card members enjoyed a wide selection of Iron Chef Morimoto’s favorite dishes from his Asian-inspired menu as well as his take on more traditional British and American fare.

Nespresso at America’s CupAs part of their America’s Cup activation, Nespresso brought together 6 of the best Chefs from across the country to execute an incredible dinner for 300 VIP, Media and Invited Guests at the famed Ferry Building in the heart of San Francisco. The dinner was during championship weekend and the culmination and celebration of Nespresso’s partnership with America’s Cup.

Click for Video

Sports Illustrated & South Beach Wine & Food FestivalIn celebration of their 50th Anniversary of the SI Swimsuit issue, Sports Illustrated partnered with the South Beach Wine & Food Festival to create a Beach Volleyball event, featuring Celebrity Chefs and Swimsuit Models, all benefiting the Armed Forces Foundation. The tournament was a highlight of the festival and drew national media attention and was the perfect proving ground of how powerful brands from different genres can come together for the benefit of all.

Stadium Concessions

Some of the incredible food being offered by Celebrity Chefs (in partnership with concessionaires) at stadiums across the country includes:

Bourbon Steak Chef Michael Mina

Levi’s Stadium

Shake ShackUnion Square Hospitality

Citi Field

B-SpotChef Michael Symon

Cleveland Browns Stadium

Little BigsChef Bryan CaswellMinutemaid Park

AZ CanteenChef Andrew Zimmern

Target Field

Kevin Rathburn SteakChef Kevin Rathburn

Turner Field

Federal DonutsMichael SolomonovCitizens Bank Park

Aramark Chef partnerships at Lincoln Financial Field

What’s to come?

While no one knows what the future holds, it’s clear that the convergence of sports & food is here to stay and rapidly growing. Here are some things to watch for:

- Deepening engagement between teams, leagues, properties & governing bodies with the culinary community

- Creation of multi-dimensional sports & food properties, both as stand alone events and as sponsor activations around major events and properties

- Continued evolution of food at stadiums via strategic alliances with leading culinary and beverage personalities

- Increased licensing opportunities and ways to broaden the spectrum of licensing revenue

- Brands increased utilization of food & beverage as activations for their sports partnerships (and increased creativity by these sports organizations on how to use food & drink to pitch new partners)

- Continued development of content (TV, Digital, etc), which combines sports & food, in a way which speaks to both audiences

Summary

• The sports and food industries are becoming more aligned, resulting in creative executions of the two verticals for brands, leagues, properties and media entities alike

• Convergence of sports and food is leading to stronger fan satisfaction and generation of new revenue streams

• We are just now scratching the surface of this intersection and will see more and more collaborations between sports and food in the days, weeks and years to come

Lonny SweetLsweet@theconnectgrp.com

617.905.5711