While noisy mobile phones and chattering girlfriends may be understandable distractions that regulators want to avoid, but Twitter? It seems that tennis regulators have decided to ban the practice of tweeting about their games to avoid breaking non-corruption laws. Maybe I’m infatuated with Ron Artest and Shaq’s nuggets of text, but I kinda think Twitter is one of the greatest channels of entertainment, and that Twitter would have little negative effect on the game. In fact, the sports world could use more transparency, offering incentive to those who tap into their favorite players. Sure there’s definitely some shy and even stupid players who don’t deserve the attention, but it is surely just another learned skill, like handling a racket. It seems Andy Murray has a handle on the practice (no pun).

Social media has given sports fans a level of in-your-face, personal access to their favorite athletes, in a way that carefully-worded press releases, photo ops and on-air interviews could never do. Of course, you can’t blame coaches for wanting to ensure that their players aren’t tweeting when they should be focusing on a game, or leagues, for trying to keep their brand image favorable to sponsors.

Regardless, of the intention on the ban, this kind of decision shows the shortsidedness of the pro sports organization, because this kind of athlete branding is just what will drive ticket sales. In fact, I bet the large number of empty seats for this year’s Open would be filled with the proper effort. No Twitter is not some magic force, but there is a special sauce. I mean, who wouldn’t want to follow the journey leading up the the US Open and then grab a ticket to see the outcome, or at very least catch the telecast?

via Paid Content