The Future of Sports Marketing: First Edition

Available on PDF only The next decade will witness the most significant changes in the way we consume sport since the emergence of mass audience television in the 1950's. The proliferation and fragmentation of media channels such as satellite and cable television, the internet and mobile telephony has undermined the traditional free television model in every advanced economy. Well managed sports will remain valuable content and many will continue to prosper. Forward thinking governing bodies will grasp the opportunity by repackaging their sports to appeal to the new broadcast landscape. Others will not.

Brand marketers have seen the effectiveness of traditional TV spot advertising fall over the last twenty years as audiences for free to air television fall year on year. The growth of sponsorship as a marketing tool is one consequence. However, sport must compete for the sponsor dollar with other forms of content such as music, the arts and culture and cause-related marketing, each of which offers a compelling alternative.

At the same time some of sports biggest stakeholders, the soft drink, beer and fast food companies, will come under growing pressure from social and political pressure groups concerned about levels of obesity, binge drinking and anti social behaviour that have become such a part of modern life.

Companies such as McDonalds, Coca Cola and Budweiser face calls to cut its ties with sport, a bandwagon which will gain momentum over the next decade. Are we facing a ban on soft drink sponsorship similar to that of tobacco? Certainly, the removal of hundreds of millions of sponsorship dollars from the sports economy worldwide would have devastating consequences. This report analyses the threat, seeking comparisons with the tactics employed by the tobacco abolitionists a decade ago.

The Future of Sports Marketing is a vital resource for marketing professionals within the sports business industry. An intelligence report from SportBusiness, this publication analyses how the relationship between sports rights holders and their key commercial partners will evolve over the next ten years. Using case studies and fresh research, it assesses the role sport will play in the strategic plans of marketers and television producers, placing it in the context of changes facing both industries.

This specialist report:

• Defines and explains the opportunities and threats facing the sports marketplace over the next decade
• Estimates the total value of sport business
• Uses case studies and examples from a wide range of sports and from a global perspective
• Assesses the impact of changes in the brand marketing environment
• Uses current rights negotiations as a gauge to predict future trends in sponsorship, broadcast, digital and licensing income for sports rights holders
• Explains the possible strategies employed by rights holders seeking to maximise their income from commercial partners
• Questions brand owners about the future role of sponsorship as part of the marketing mix
• Explores the effect of changes in viewing habits on the way sport is packaged for use as content on television
• Identifies future trends in the market for digital and internet rights
• Provides evidence of the effect of sport sponsorship on the sponsor brand, in collaboration with its research partners
• Examines the potential for future convergence between sport and other forms of entertainment such as music and film
• Provides new research into the needs and wants of sports fans and suggests future models of interaction between the two groups.