Building sports properties
N my inaugural column for ‘She’s Got Game’, I’d like to focus on the topic - Building Sports Properties.’ I would like this piece to reflect my insights as to how both foreign and local sports organizations understand this practice, if I may call it that, and how important this is in establishing value for both the sports organizations and the athletes themselves.
I remember my first day at Harvard Business School a couple of years ago. In our first session, we were all asked to introduce ourselves. So everyone, the over one hundred of us, went about the usual, ‘I am so and so…” When we were all done introducing ourselves, the professor says, “That is not how you introduce yourself. You have to immediately establish your value. You have to introduce yourself in a manner by which you would want to be recalled or needed by the person in front of you.” Not in those exact words, but that was the message that the professor conveyed on Day 1.
In my opinion, this is how sports organizations should set forth their business of running their respective organizations. It is with this understanding that you make each and every crucial decision to grow the team or the league and make the venture fruitful and worthwhile for both the management team, sponsors, and the athletes involved. You have to immediately establish your value and make your team, league or athletes, worth following or worth that amount of sponsorship that you are asking for.
Campaign Live in a 2017 article noted that the “entire global sports market is valued to be worth $700 billion and is growing more rapidly than global GDP.” And in this era of global economy, local sports organizations should realize that if you want that piece of the pie – that you are in fact competing head-on with other organizations outside the country. Decisions are made by corporates in Singapore and your proposal would be reviewed and compared with other sports organizations across South East Asia, and this is something which Philippine sports organizations must understand. How would your sports team based in the province for example add value to the sponsor that you are getting, when your audience base is far from being comparable to those in Malaysia or Thailand? Do you even have TV coverage to begin with that can attract sponsors and a loyal fan base?
Sometimes it is about the mindset. Sports marketing is not that hard to understand. But there are those who are “purists” if I may call that, and just look at the sport, from within the pitch let’s say. They think it is just about the sport purely, the technical side of it. Yes, perhaps if you keep on winning and become No. 1 ranked in your sport, you wouldn’t need to understand sports marketing. But no one can be assured of that, and thus, sports marketing is a very valued practice that would ensure your sustainability as a sports property. (To be continued) author at: