Want to play hoops with a legend? It'll cost you

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Business of Tennis
The sport of tennis is actually growing during these tough economic times, reports CNBC's Darren Rovell. With Dave Haggerty, Head USA president & CEO and John Muir Wilson Racquet Sports GM.

The Business of Bowling

Real Madrid hopes Ronaldo brings in big money

Aon to take AIG’s place on Man United jerseys

The business of Madden

Many camps survive without a headline name to lure fans — and some work even when the supporting cast lacks star power. The pitch for the NBA All-Star Game Fantasy Camp in Las Vegas this past February at $5,000 per person included: “Your teammates, NBA legends Darryl Dawkins, Michael Ray Richardson, Norm Nixon and Artis Gilmore, stand by you as you release the game-winning shot.” When one of your main draws is Dawkins, a backboard-smasher best known as Chocolate Thunder — who may not even be able to touch the rim these days at his advanced age — something is amiss.

The creator of a fantasy camp doesn’t need to have played in the pros to draw customers. Take Duke University basketball coach Mike Kryzyewski, who finished his fifth year running Coach K Academy this summer. About 60 Blue Devil fanatics shelled out $10,000 apiece for five days, taking part in everything from tryouts to a championship tournament.

The crème de la crème of fantasy camps is Michael Jordan’s Senior Flight School. Featuring basketball minds from Hubie Brown to Dean Smith (and complete with free-throw line taunting from Bill Walton), the camp at the Mirage in Las Vegas checks in at a whopping $17,500 per person. More than a decade old, the camp benefits not only from Jordan’s name recognition but from the fact he can still dazzle on the court during the four-day session. And it won’t take just anyone; only those 35 or older need apply.

For athletes whose glory has passed, fantasy camps are a great way to make money while guaranteeing an adoring audience. For camp goers, the fantasy is hard to beat – until the bill snaps them back into reality.

Last, but not least …
During the 118 years it has catered to wealthy clients, Northern Trust has sponsored opera opening nights and museum exhibits, but never a pro sports event. That changed on Monday, when the Chicago-based company announced it had struck a five-year pact to rename the PGA Tour’s Los Angeles stop the Northern Trust Open.

Why now? “It’s a time when we feel we should shine a spotlight on our brand,” said Kelly Mannard, the head of global marketing at Northern Trust, one of the biggest independent banks in the U.S. “The brand is undiluted. We don’t have any M&A angst.”

Mannard sees the event at Riviera Country Club, scheduled for February, as a strong fit for Northern, especially since L.A. boasts the second-largest number of millionaire households in the country “and the people who follow golf mirror our demographic,” she said.

Mannard suggested Northern — which replaces Nissan as the title sponsor — could start sponsoring players and put together a sports marketing group sometime next year. “We don’t tend to do one-shot deals. We start with something we think will be successful and build on it,” she said.

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David Sweet, a sports business writer in the Chicago area, can be reached at dafsweet@aol.com.

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