International
Sport
Chapter 9
Introduction
• Sports is increasing in interaction and expansion
across international borders.
• Thanks to internet-based technology, access to
major sport leagues from anywhere in the world is
easier than ever.
• Globalization does not mean Americanization.
• Club system form of sport organization is more
common outside of the United States.
Introduction: Club System
• The club-based system is separate and distinct from
the education system (i.e., one does not have to
attend college to play at the elite level).
• The primary purpose of the club sport system is to
fulfill social and fitness functions, rather than to
promote superior athletes.
• The club system allows anyone to participate and
take advantage of good facilities that are often
maintained by local or state government.
• Promotion and relegation in global sport leagues
History
• Sports first spread across international borders
through imperialistic efforts.
– As nations such as Great Britain colonized
various areas of the world, sports were used to
impose the conquerors’ culture on colonized land.
• Sports have fueled feelings of nationalism.
– Platform for political and social protests and
boycotts
• As the United States attempts to expand its major
leagues overseas, so too does FIFA attempt to
expand football (soccer) in the United States.
Globalization of Sports
• Corporations have begun to adopt a global strategy in
selling their products.
• Corporations create products with appeal to generate the
same demand in all corners of the world.
• Technological advances and increased accessibility of
technology worldwide have been major driving factors in
the globalization of sport.
• Globalization is largely influenced by countries with
dominance over worldwide media, leading to high-profile
sports receiving greater media exposure; however,
globalization is not dependent on media alone.
– Need to be cognizant of cultural differences
Global Strategy: Global Brand
• Cooper (2010) suggests the following five strategies
for building a successful global brand:
1.Build a strong consistent brand culture.
2.Be borderless in your marketing.
3.Build yourself an internal hub.
4.Adopt a “global” structure.
5.Make customers your co-creators.
Corporate Involvement with
International Sport
• Activities can be grouped into two categories:
1.Efforts by manufacturers of sport-related products,
such as athletic shoes, athletic equipment, and sport
drinks
2.Efforts by nonsport-related companies that sponsor
international sporting events, teams, and athletes to
gain name recognition and thus sell their products in
new global markets
Corporate Involvement:
Efforts of Product Manufacturers
• North American markets are becoming saturated.
• Average consumer purchases only a certain amount
of sport products and merchandise in a given year.
• Sport corporations are attempting to broaden their
product distribution by focusing on global markets,
or even playing a direct role in the development of
sports in new markets.
• Case Study: Since 2000, Nike has sold more
products overseas than in the United States.
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus
• Professional sport leagues seek to increase the popularity
and consumption of their products overseas.
• Each league has created an international division to guide
such efforts and maintain offices abroad.
• International efforts focus on:
1. Broadcasting
2. Licensing and merchandising
3. Playing exhibition and regular season games
4. Cultivating participation in sports throughout each
country (grassroots efforts)
5. Placing teams in international markets
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Broadcasting
• Visual images are easily exportable commodities.
• Access to television and internet increasing at
rapid rate
• Major corporations now own major media outlets
in countries throughout the world.
• Case Study: ESPN International
• Leagues often rely on actual game broadcasts and
also utilize highlight shows to build an audience.
• Case Study: 2012 NFL Super Bowl televised in180
countries
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Licensing and Merchandising
•
Sport leagues are increasingly using the sales of
logo merchandise as a means to increase league
popularity overseas.
– Especially with increase in online shopping
• Team-logo merchandise provides people with a
means to identify and associate with favorite
teams.
• Sale of licensed merchandise serves as a
promotional vehicle for the team or league.
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Exhibition and Regular Season Games
•
People in different countries have the opportunity
to witness the sport “live.”
• Examples
– NFL has played exhibition games outside the
United States since 1986 and plays 1 regular
season game on foreign soil.
– MLB has Opening Day series in Japan every
year and opened season in Australia in 2014.
– NBA has had exhibition games overseas since
1988 and plays regular season games overseas.
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Marketing Foreign Athletes
•
•
•
•
Decrease in barriers as more top players play in
top professional sport leagues in the world
Presence of foreign players has enabled
professional leagues to increase popularity
overseas.
Case Study: NBA had 84 international players
from 37 countries on rosters during 2012−2013.
Exposure aided by the rise of satellite television
and increasing exhibition games held in foreign
countries featuring some of these foreign stars
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Sport Tourism
• Increased ease and convenience of international
travel have brought increase in international sport
tourism.
• Three types of sport tourism:
1. Travel to participate in sport activity
2. Travel to view a sport activity (led by groups
structuring trips, see Barmy Army, etc.)
3. Travel to visit sport hall of fame, stadium, or
museum
4. Travel to volunteer at sport events
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Sport Tourism (cont.)
• Benefits to host destination driving blending of
sports and tourism: economic gain, social benefits
for community, generation of tourism for megasport events, and holidays to increase involvement
in sports
– Now common for cities to compete fiercely to
host Olympics to justify sport facility
expenditures and enhance sporting profile of
country
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Grassroots Programs
•
Programs and activities undertaken to increase
sport participation and interest in a particular
international region
• Focused on two areas:
– Increasing participation
– Educating people about the specifics of a
particular sport
• Long-term popularity and interest can be achieved
only when there is a knowledgeable fan base and a
significant number of participants
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Sport for All
• International movement that seeks to promote mass
participation in sports without discrimination
• Purpose is not competition, but participation for
participation’s sake
• Sports viewed as both a human right and a key
component to healthy lifestyle
• Seeks to involve all sectors of population regardless
of age, gender, social or economic distinction, or
physical or mental ability
• Advocated by IOC and UN
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Sport For Development and Peace
• Use of sport as a tool to promote positive social
change (Beutler, 2006)
• This broad area of international sport is referred to
as sport for development and peace (SDP).
• Objective: Use of sport to educate youth, to provide
leadership opportunities, and to bring communities
together to help others less fortunate
Pro Sport Leagues’ International Focus:
Sport For Development and Peace (cont.)
• SDP programs can be divided into several
categories based on their primary purposes,
including:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Peace-building
Post-disaster response
Empowerment of girls and women
Sport for persons with disabilities
Health, education, and economic development
Career development
Olympic Movement: Olympism
• A philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a
balanced whole the qualities of body, will, and mind
• Conceived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, on whose
initiative the International Athletic Congress of Paris was
held on June 23, 1894
• There the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was
constituted as the supreme authority of the Olympic
Movement.
• The Olympic Games provide a space where countries
from around the world can unite through a shared interest
in festival and sport.
Olympic Movement: History
• Began in 1896 in Athens, Greece
• Prior to 1980s, focused on amateur sport
• 1984 LA Olympic Games marked turning point
for commercial involvement; over $200M in profit
• Amateurism dropped for 1992 Barcelona Games
• “Celebrate Humanity” begun in 2000 to highlight
Olympic ideals
• Olympic Games returned to Athens in 2004.
– Now included 200+ nations, 300+ events, billions
of viewers worldwide
Olympic Movement:
International Olympic Committee (IOC)
• Governmental, nonprofit organization based in
Lausanne, Switzerland
• Olympic Charter: Codification of fundamental
principles, rules, and bylaws adopted by the IOC
• IOC has final authority on all questions concerning
Olympic Games/Olympic Movement
• Governed by its self-selected members, who make
up three bodies:
– The session
– The executive board
– The president
Olympic Movement: National Olympic
Committees (NOCs)
• Organized regionally
• Responsible for developing and protecting the
Olympic Movement in their respective countries,
in accordance with the Olympic Charter
• Authority to designate cities that may bid to host
Olympic Games in their respective countries
• Example: USOC includes:
– Officers
– An executive committee
– A board of directors
Olympic Movement:
Organizing Committees (OCOGs)
• An Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games
(OCOG) is formed when a city is awarded the
Games.
• Example: ROCOG is the committee for the 2016
RIO Olympic Games.
• The OCOG is responsible for planning,
implementing, and staging the Games, including the
following duties, among others:
– Venue construction
– Athlete accommodations
– Accreditation and security
Olympic Movement:
Organizing Committees (OCOGs) (cont.)
• OCOG duties:
– Logistics (medical services, protocol, technology,
tickets, transportation, operations)
– Host broadcasting and communications
– Finances and risk management
– Government relations
– Volunteer services
– Sports competition
Olympic Movement:
International Federations (IFs)
• Nongovernmental, international governing bodies
recognized by the IOC to administer one or more
sports at the world level and encompassing
organizations administering such sports at the
national level
• Each IF sanctions international competitions and
establishes its own eligibility rules for the sport(s) it
governs.
Olympic Movement: National Governing
Bodies (NGBs)
• Organizations governing a specific sport in each
country
• NGBs approve and sanction competitions open to
all athletes in its country.
• NGBs set national policies and eligibility
standards for participation in their respective
sports.
• NGBs are responsible for training, development,
and selection of Olympic teams in their respective
sports.
Paralympic Games
• Introduced in 1960 in Rome
• Where the world’s elite athletes with physical
disabilities compete
• Wide variety of athletes: Amputees, wheelchair
athletes, the visually impaired, dwarfs, athletes with
cerebral palsy, and athletes with spinal cord injuries
• Challenge: Raising money to cover operating costs
– Not governed or funded by IOC
Career Opportunities
• Sport marketing agencies
• Professional sport leagues
• Sport Mega Events and International Sport
Competitions
• International Sport Federations
• National Sport Confederations
• Sport for Development and Peace
• Sporting Goods
• Corporate Sponsors
• Organizing Committees for Olympic Games
• National Olympic Committee
• Paralympic Committee
Current Issues:
Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• When selling products overseas, some degree of
adaptation to the local or regional culture is
necessary.
– Example: Nike tailors the presentation of its
products to the markets it serves.
• A lack of cultural awareness can negatively affect
efforts of companies sponsoring international
events.
Current Issues:
Foreign Student-Athletes in the U.S.
• Colleges began recruiting older student-athletes who
had prior experience with international teams.
• NCAA implemented rule whereby a student-athlete
loses a year of eligibility for every year that studentathlete competes after his or her 20th birthday.
• This rule has not had dramatic effect on recruitment
of foreign student-athletes because participation of
foreign student-athletes is on the rise.
Current Issues: Marketing the
Olympic Games − Broadcasting
• Broadcasting rights account for 47% of all Olympic
revenue, representing billions of dollars.
• Olympic Movement Strategy:
– Increase broadcast revenue while avoiding market
fluctuations
– Establish long-term rights fees contracts with profitsharing to provide more programs and improved
global coverage
– Forge stronger links between sponsors, broadcasters,
and Olympic family to promote agenda that goes
beyond games
Current Issues: Marketing the
Olympic Games − Sponsorship
• Olympic Partner Program
– Pay for official sponsorship for four years
• NOC Sponsorship Program
– Target domestic sponsorships
• OCOG Sponsorship Program
– Finds own sponsors
– Needs approval from IOC and NOCs
Current Issues: Doping
• The deliberate or inadvertent use by athletes of
banned substances or methods that may enhance
performance
• 1999: World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) created
• International cooperation among countries allows
worldwide standard of definitions and procedures,
replacing isolated and disjointed efforts by
individual governing bodies
– Provides testing and education, funds research,
and conducts athlete outreach
Summary
• Today, more than ever, corporations, sport leagues,
and sport governing bodies are attempting to increase
their popularity and revenues in international markets.
• Technology greatly enhances the ease with which
sport managers can introduce their products to foreign
markets.
• Both corporations and professional sport leagues are
attempting to improve the global appeal of their
products, and to do so they must hire people with
experience in international sport management.