The NBA was right to cancel “Magic City Monday” - a promo night for the Atlanta Hawks and the Magic City Strip Club.
I’m not here to police what adults do in their own time, but a local sports game is one of the last somewhat family friendly spaces we have. Maybe we keep it out of this one?

I’ll speak here as somebody who specializes in sports marketing and who is raising the next generation of sports fans.

The Hawks are dead last in ticket sales and attendance the last two years. In their desperation, they should look to somebody having success in, oh I don’t know… selling sports, not sex.

Like the Savannah Bananas right down the street who are reimagining sports as a fan-first experience, which often means family-first. Or Overtime, who figured out how to tap into youth culture in a meaningful way. Or the Atlanta Falcons who had the revolutionary idea to not price gouge their fans. Selling reasonably priced concessions was seen as revolutionary and widely celebrated.

Here’s what’s really going on. The leagues realized they couldn’t grow the pie fast enough, so they started fracking it- a term my friend Ethan Strauss coined. Leagues and franchises used to see kids as the next generation of customers and a long-term relationship. But big growth can’t happen fast enough, so they extract value from within instead.

The biggest example of these short term incentives has been the legalizations of online sports gambling. And a strip club promo night is just the latest version of that same short-term thinking.

I’ve been in these conference rooms. Nobody gets cool points for doing the family friendly thing. But you know what’s cool? Kids who actually love their local sports team. They’re the ones who keep showing up no matter who is load managing, no matter what stupid GM traded their favorite player. Because they actually just love the game.

It’s been amazing to rekindle my love of sports through the eyes of my kids. My kids won’t be seeing Magic City Monday. They’ll keep watching the Savannah Bananas, Dude Perfect, and Overtime Elite who are selling out stadiums- something the Hawks can’t seem to do.

Maybe they should take notes instead of taking desperate swings?

Further Education:

⬆️My Latest YouTube video is LIVE. This time, I visited Golf’s biggest event, The PGA Show. This is where all the brands and business in golf gather to show off what’s coming in 2026 and it did not disappoint! Enjoy…& Subscribe to the Channel if you like it!

⬇️The BrandFathers new episode is out! Paul Graham finally admitted what marketers have known for years: we’re in the Age of Brand. We break down why the founding marketer is now worth more than the engineer, why McDonald’s CEO went viral for all the wrong reasons, why the Staples Baddie won’t last 30 days, and the employee creator playbook no one’s talking about.

Last week, I joined SOBA GOLF, a recovery podcast for those in Golf. Check us out if you want to hear about my journey with recovery and the game.

Interesting:

The PGA Tour X NFL Films collaborated to capture The Players Championship behind the scenes. This is a clear sign from the PGA Tour’s new CEO who just joined on from the NFL media business. This is so simple and should have been done LONG ago, but glad to see the progress.

The Aforementioned Ethan Strauss’ “Fracking the Pie”

Also, another great mind in Sports. Joon Lee calls it “Mining Fandom”

Blessings:

My wife and I went through a lot of challenges when we wanted to have kids. Four miscarriages. Way more emergency rooms than we wanted. We nearly gave up hope. Ten years later, I’m filling out brackets with my son for March Madness and taking my girl to Daddy Daughter dances.
This reflection also happens to be on the eve of my 23rd year in recovery.
Sometimes life in the future is better than you possibly could imagine. Allow yourself to imagine, even when things are really hard. 🖤