Unit 2 Sports Marketing
Chapter 3
The Sports Market
Sports Marketing
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The sports market is vast and growing
at a phenomenal rate due to the vast
range of sports played and watched by
spectators around the world.
In this chapter you will be introduced to
sports marketing with a history of
business.
Sports Marketing
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Similar to marketing, sports marketing has 4
foundations to build from and 7 functions to
perform.
In this chapter, and the chapters to follow, we
will start to explore these 7 functions of
sports marketing: Marketing Information
Management, Financing, Pricing, Promotion,
Product Service, Distribution, and Selling.
Sports Marketing
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The foundations consists of Professional
Development, Economics, Business
Management and Entrepreneurship,
Communication/Interpersonal skills.
Without these foundation cornerstones,
the functions of marketing could not
survive.
Sports Marketing
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With so many different type of sports
products on the market today, is it a
good idea for clothing companies to
produce sports apparel? Why or Why
not?
Name some sports clothing companies.
The Sports Market
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How many of you in this class collect sports
trading cards?
How many of your parents have a card
collection at home?
In the old days, collector cards were found on
cigarette packs. In 1909, The American
Tobacco Company produced cards that came
with the packs of cigarettes.
The Sports Market
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Honus Wagner’s card is the most
treasured by collectors.
Wayne Gretsky purchased the most
expensive Honus Wagner card valued at
2.8 million dollars.
The Sports Market
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The collectors cards have seen a
transformation from paper stock to
cardboard stock to a higher grade of
acid free card stock.
The Upper Deck card company changed
the way cards were made. They used
high gloss cards, special collectors
cards, and hologram cards.
Sports Marketing Profile
What is Sports Marketing?
Marketing and sports marketing are two
terms that apply to different
characteristics of marketing.
Marketing is defined as the process of
developing, promoting, and distributing
products, or goods and services, to
satisfy consumers needs and wants.
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Sports Marketing Profile
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Sports marketing can be defined as all the
marketing activities designed to satisfy the
needs and wants of sports consumers.
Sports marketing focuses on all different
types of sports played today.
Sports marketing also focuses on the
activities around sporting events, such as
planning, promotion, financing, and
sponsorship.
Sports Marketing Profile
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Sports marketing has two major
components, the marketing of sports
and marketing through sports.
For example, the promotion of the
Super Bowl, Indy 500, and the
Olympics, through TV, and Radio
advertisements is considered the
marketing of sports.
The Sports Market
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On the other hand, when Nike,
Gatorade, and Goodyear promote their
products by using a connection to
sports, such as a sports personality as a
spokesperson, those companies are said
to be marketing through sports.
Sports Marketing Profile
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The beginnings of sports marketing can be
traced through several events and people.
Many sports marketing first took place in the
early 1920’s.
In 1923, Wilson Sporting Goods signed then
professional golfer Gene Sarazen to a deal
that lasted until his death in 1999. To date,
This has been the longest sports
endorsement on record.
Sports Marketing Profile
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Bill Veeck during the mid 1900’s was
instrumental in the promotion of baseball.
Fans were missing something
He knew that the key to making sporting
events profitable was to get people interested
in watching the game as well as the activities
and events that surrounded the game.
Sports Marketing Profile
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Veeck took an ordinary sporting event
and turned it into something appealing
for both the fans and the media.
Midgets at the plate.
Martians dropping in.
Numbers and names on the player’s
jerseys.
Sports Marketing Profile
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In the 1960’s athletics and corporations were
put together by agent Mark McCormick,
founder of the International Management
Group (IMG).
McCormick and golfer Arnold Palmer was one
of the first professional athletes to associate
with corporations in a professional role. Ever
since then, the concept of industry and sports
has grown dramatically during the 20th
century. See rankings of industry on pg 55.
Sports Marketing Profile
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Sports marketing takes a simple game
no matter what it is, and turns it into an
interesting and exciting event.
Monday Night Football got started by
applying the principles of sports
marketing.
Sports Marketing Profile
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Some careers in sports marketing
include scriptwriter, producer, ticket
agent, sports agent, luxury box sales
rep, food and merchandise sales reps,
group ticket salesperson, and many
more.
Categories of Sports
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Recreational Sports- some examples
would be the YMCA & YWCA, Little
Leagues, Boys and Girls clubs of
America, Adult Leagues etc, etc. All of
these organizations participate in many
different types of sports.
Categories of Sports
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Young amateur sports- such as youth
league basketball tourneys in major cities
which attract many people from the players
to promoters to the player’s families and even
college coaches.
An amateur athlete is defined as a person
who plays a sport for the love of the sport.
He or she does not get paid for participating.
This includes High school and College players.
Categories of Sports
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High School Sports- All students who
participate in sports for their schools. Schools
make sure that students benefit from a
balanced educational and athletic experience.
College and University Sports- Sporting
events at this level are very popular and very
competitive in all regions of the U.S. some
experts say that college sports are more
competitive than professional sports.
Categories of Sports
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The NCAA is an acronym for The
National Collegiate Athletic Association.
It is the organization that governs all
aspects of college sports. Guidelines for
the NCAA are posted online at
www.ncaa.org. An example of a NCAA
rule says that no player is allowed to
take any money from anyone to play.
Categories of Sports
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The NCAA has regionalized the teams
and put them in divisions such as- The
Big Ten, The Big East, The Pac Ten, The
SEC, The WAC, etc, etc.
The bigger the event for the college,
the greater its chance to make a name
for itself.
Categories of Sports
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Olympic Sports
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First created in 776 B.C. in Olympia Greece
Only one event, the marathon run
Now there are over 77 nations competing
in many events in the summer and winter
Olmypics.
The Olympics face modern day problems of
terrorist attacks, illegal drug use and
political boycotts.
Categories of Sports
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Once truly amateur in nature, Olympic
participants now include professionals.
In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttman of England
created the Paralympics for participants who
had spinal injuries.
In 1968, Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized
the first Special Olympics for special needs
participants with developmental disabilities.
Categories of Sports
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Professional Sports- a professional
athlete is one that is paid to play by the
team’s owner. Owners rely on a paying
public and corporations to help pay the
salaries of the athletes. The athletes are
also allowed to become a spokesperson
for products to augment their income.
Categories of Sports
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Professional sports are the most costly
and heavily marketed of all sports
categories. Teams are considered a
business whose main purpose is to
make money, in order to get the best
players available in the draft, or sign
them as a free agent.
Categories of Sports
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Professional sports are always
competing for a bigger share of the
entertainment pie. Professional sports
are competing against movies, plays,
concerts, and even vacation time.
Customers have limited disposable
income for only so many activities.
Categories of Sports
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International Sporting Events- in
the early days, the Wide World of
Sports presented by ABC TV was the
only way to view international sporting
event. Other TV networks followed the
lead by Roone Arledge, who produced
the international events on ABC.
Categories of Sports
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International Sporting Events- such
events as Rugby, Tennis, Golf, Soccer, the
Tour De France, the Harlem Globetrotters,
daredevil Evil Knievel, were now seen by the
American public.
Famous announcers such as Jim McCay, and
Howard Cossell, were instrumental in the
success of the Wide World of Sports.
Categories of Sports
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Women’s Sports- the popularity of
women’s sports has been increasing
over the past century and especially
over the past twenty years.
New markets have opened up in
basketball, volleyball, track, cycling,
boxing, softball, and many others.
Categories of Sports
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Olympic gold medalist, Mildred “Babe”
Didrikson Zaharlas excelled in many
sports and also became a great sports
promoter.
She had a line of golf clubs, wrote
books, and made personal appearances.
She played at the amateur and
professional levels.
Categories of Sports
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On June 23, 1972, the enactment of Title IX,
the Education Amendment, advanced girls
participation in sports.
It bans gender discrimination in schools that
receive federal funds. As a result, over a
twenty year period , the number of girls
participating in high school sports programs
has increased nearly tenfold.
Categories of Sports
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In 1970-71, only 294,000 high school girls
competed in interscholastic sports in the
United States. By 1998-99, more than
2,652,00 girls participated.
Billy Jean King was instrumental in the
advancement of women in sports. She won
over twenty Wimbledon tennis titles in her
career from 1962 to the 1980’s.
Categories of Sports
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She then continued to spur women to
play sports by defeating Bobby Riggs in
a battle of the sexes tennis match
which she won.
See the history of Women in sports on
page 67.
Categories of Sports
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Extreme SportsNon-traditional sports
Daring stunts
In the late 1980’s, extreme sports
became popular.
Snowboarders of generation X started
the trend.
Dirt Bikes, BMX, and Skateboarding.
Categories of Sports
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Extreme sports is one of the many
categories of sports whose
characteristics help identify target
markets. Sports marketers use these
characteristics and new categories of
sports to sell games, teams, and
products