Many organisation ask and wonder how/why do you get into the industry? What are the benefits of such an investment for the organisation and the sports team?
The sports business industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries worldwide, estimated to be worth $213 billion in the United States alone. It is far more than twice the size of the U.S. auto industry and seven times the size of the movie industry.
The man most credited with launching the sports marketing industry was IMG’s Mark McCormack.
The commercial success and acceptance of sports marketing as a key component of the marketing mix came with the Americanization and Commercialization of the modern Olympiad in the Summer Games of 1984 in Los Angelas, when corporate sponsors used the Games as a platform to market their brands. Coca-Cola for example, spent nearly $30 million in support of its official sponsorship of the Games. Below are a number of updated articles relevent to the sports marketing industry.
The origination of the marketing discipline known as sports marketing, coincided with the open era of the professional sports of tennis and golf. From the mid-seventies to early eighties, the corporate sponsorship of Lamar Hunt’s WCT Tennis Events and PGA Tour golf tournaments, first launched this modern-day marketing discipline that morphs advertising, sponsorship, promotion, sales promotion, and public relations into one of marketing’s most effective tools to reach and touch consumers.
The first full-service sports marketing and sponsorship agencies were founded in the mid-1970s with Millsport LLC (now part of The Marketing Arm), International Management Group (IMG), World Sports Group, and ProServ, which had expanded beyond athlete management into event production and sponsorship negotiations. Later, several executives and partners left ProServ to form Advantage International and the sports marketing agency business began to take root. Virtually every pioneer of the sports marketing profession, got their start in professional tennis or golf since, at the time, Major League sports like the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, and NHL did not have free agency and the marketing and promotion of those sports had yet to accelerate. David Falk, Michael Jordan’s agent and founder of the FAME agency, got his start managing pro tennis players for ProServ.
The man most credited with launching the sports marketing industry was IMG’s Mark McCormack. Former IMG CEO, Bob Kain, got his start working the Colgate-Palmolive Tennis Grand Prix. Other long-time sports marketing pioneers who cut their teeth in professional tennis and golf were Donald Dell and Frank Craighill, the founders of ProServ, Jerry Solomon (Nancy Kerrigan’s husband), Ray Betton, and Nye Lavalle, founder of Sports Marketing Group.
The commercial success and acceptance of sports marketing as a key component of the marketing mix came with the Americanization and Commercialization of the modern Olympiad in the Summer Games of 1984 in Los Angeles, when corporate sponsors used the Games as a platform to market their brands. Coca-Cola, for example, spent nearly $30 million in support of its official sponsorship of the Games.
As CEO and chief organizer of the 1984 Olympics, Peter Ueberroth, a former senior executive with Trans International Airline and Transportation Consultants International, is credited with demonstrating the power of sports marketing. After the Olympics, Ueberroth served as commissioner of Major League Baseball (1984-89). Today, he serves as Chairman of the Board for the United States Olympic Committee.
At first, sports marketing was delegated to major ad agencies such as DMB&B, Leo Burnett, DDBNeedham and other leading advertising agencies. At that time, major ad agencies controlled the flow of marketing and advertising dollars into the sports industry. Later, specialized promotional agencies such as DMB&B’s Clarion, created sports marketing departments. Ric Dudley, CEO of Octogon, one of the world’s largest sports marketing firms, got his start with Clarion before stints and the head of promotions and sponsorship with Major League Baseball and the NHL.
In 1991, the first study of the economic size of sports marketing and the business of sports in America was conducted by the Associated Press and Sports Marketing Group. It documented that the entire sports industry was one of the largest industries in America totaling $180 billion a year.[1] Of this amount, $23.5 billion was spent on sports marketing.” The Sports Business Journal, an industry trade publication, now conducts a similar study that shows the sports industry in America has grown to a US$250-billion industry. This includes sports-related advertising and venue signage, athlete endorsements, facility construction, sporting goods and licensed merchandise, event management and marketing services, sponsorship and ticket sales, mobile text messaging, media broadcast rights, and multimedia — including sports-related websites, magazines, books, and video games.
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