How is it that the UFC and WWE are the only “sports” that truly understand the power of social media during their events. And before you ask, sports is in quotation marks because WWE isn’t real. WWE is awesome, and the wrestlers are super athletic, but it’s not a sport.
When you watch the a WWE or UFC event, there is always a hashtag on the screen at all times so you know how to connect with other fans. It’s awesome and I love going on twitter and following the hashtags to see how other fans are reacting. Whether it was a great play, or the Jets massively screwed something up, the online conversation is always fun to follow. Honestly, that’s part of the fun of sports, especially during the CoVid era. Since we can’t be in a stadium hear the real-time reactions of fans, twitter is the next best option.
What I don’t understand is how the major four sports (NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB) are so far behind the trend. You would think during a national broadcast, the leagues would encourage social media engagement and direct fans to a specific hashtag. Other than the championships like “StanleyCup or #WorldSeries, for the most part the leagues just have fans figure it out on their own. A recent example is the epic Browns vs Ravens Monday night game this past week, aka The Poop Game. You had to search out twitter for Browns, Lamar, Ravens, etc to find the comments on the what was going on, there was no clear hashtag that fans to follow. What’s worse, it a game that was that awesome, how do you not have a hashtag trending? How hard would it be for the league to push #MNF or #MondayNightFootball to simply direct online traffic.
Here’s the craziest part, a lot of these teams have amazing social media teams. They are constantly posting and engaging fans with amazing content. Whether its past highlights, player interactions, or promotional information, teams spend a ton of money and time making sure they have a strong online presence. But the leagues do nothing to support it.
I understand the leagues wanting to control the messaging during these broadcasts, but why do nothing? And if they are already doing something, clearly they are doing a bad job because I actively look for it.
