Sports Marketing Categories of Sports

1. Amateur 2. High school 3. College 4. Professional

Sports consumers are attracted to professional sporting events, but they also find interest in the sport and the classification, or level of the sport

Amateur Sports Amateur athlete is a person who does not get paid to play a sport but they have the desire and drive to play a sport  Includes high school, college, recreational player Amateur sporting events attract a large number of fans, attention and money Many communities have youth leagues, senior leagues, and a variety of other athletic organizations that attract people who have a strong interest in participating or watching a particular athletic event

Young Amateur Sports Youth league tournaments in many cities attract many people including:  Fans  Players’ families and friends  Potential sponsors  Colleges and universities

Did you know? (p.13) Many athletes have moved into the realm of acting. While appearing in a Buick commercial, golf superstar Tiger Woods surprised some amateur golfers and challenged them to a game. One of the amateurs won, and Woods handed him the keys to a new Buick. However, according to the U.S. Golf Association, an amateur cannot accept more than $500 in prizes, or else he or she is considered professional. The man was suspended from amateur golfing events for a year. Though he received royalty cheques as an “actor” in the commercial, his 15 minutes of fame put his amateur athletic career on hold.

Recreational Sports Recreational sports include peewee league, youth leagues, YMCA, etc.peewee league  These rely on community funds and donations to sponsor teams (e.g. local businesses to sponsor youth teams)  Also include nontraditional events, though noncompetitive, are classified as sports (e.g. scuba diving, rollerblading, skydiving, rock climbing) Focus:  Inspire people to improve their skills and exercise their physical abilities while enjoying recreational time

High School Sports High school sports have impact on the school and the community  School spirit  Local media attention (e.g. Mississauga News)  Community is proud  High morale  Sports are a part of tradition that encourages people in the community to rally around the games  E.g. The movie, Remember the Titans examines the power that high school sports has on the community and vice versa  OFSAA OFSAA

College and University Sports Sports at this level are popular and extremely competitive in all regions Variety of sporting events are offered such as rugby, rowing, water polo, fencing, etc National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a national organization that governs athletics and oversees important decisions pertaining to athletics Canadian NCAA

NCAA E.g. An NCAA rule is that players are not allowed to accept any form of payment from a school or from companies The rule encourages legitimate, amateur competition without unfair influence from businesses or individuals It regulates all collegiate athletics, including the marketing of sporting events If the rules and regulations are broken, the NCAA has the power to eliminate teams from playing an entire season and can terminate an athlete’s college scholarship

Professional Sports Professional athlete is an athlete who has the will and ability to earn an income from a particular sport A professional athlete’s income is paid by his or her employer, who is the team or organization Professional sports are the most costly and heavily marketed of all sports categories

Other Categories of Sports The wider world of sports includes the following: Olympic Sports Paralympics (athletes with disabilities) International Sports Women’s Sports Extreme Sports

Olympic History According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles, son of the Greek god Zeus. The first recorded evidence of the Olympic Games shows that the first Olympic competition was held in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece The only event was a run of approximately 192 meters In 1890, a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin began the revival of the Olympic games with 79 delegates who represented 9 countries

Olympics Today The Olympic goal is “To contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sports practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” Each time the Olympics are held every four years, the IOC increases its global membership Who hosted the last summer games? Next? Who hosted the last winter games? Next? 4 cities (Toyko, Rio, Madrid and Chicago) were bidding for the 2016 Summer GamesToyko, Rio, Madrid and Chicago

Olympic Sports cont. However, the Olympics have experienced problems such as traffic congestion, terrorist attacks, illegal drug use, boycotts, noise, smog and potentially increased crime Cities hosting face huge costs for improvements for infrastructure, such as streets and highways, areas, transportation, and medical services, security, cultural events and many other necessities for handling so many people and events

The Amateur Rule The amateur rule has prohibited professionals from competing in Olympic events and plagued athletes and officials since the beginning of the Olympic games The overturn of the amateur rule in 1986 allowed professional athletes to compete the Olympics Television viewership increased  In 1992, the Dream Team: Michael Jordan, Erwin “Magic” Johnson, and Larry Bird  The Dream Team was responsible for the enormous boost in popularity of basketball on an international basis

Paralympics In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttman organized a sports competition involving World War II veterans with spinal cord related injuries in England 4 years later competitors from Holland joined the competition, and the international movement now known as the Paralympics began Today, the Paralympics are elite sport events for athletes with a disability. They emphasize, however, the participants' athletic achievements rather than their disability. Sochi Medals

Special Olympics In 1968, Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized the First International Special Olympics games at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois Concept started for people with developmental disabilities Special Olympics serve approximately one million people in more than 200 programs in more than 150 countries Dignity, acceptance, and a chance to reach one’s potential – these are human rights worth promoting for everyone. For more than four decades, Special Olympics has been bringing one message to the world: people with intellectual disabilities can and will succeed if given the opportunity.

International Sporting Events ABC producer, Roone Arledge realized that American TV viewers might be interested in watching sports from around the world Created TV show called The Wide World of Sports showing wrist-wrestling from Petaluma, California, cliff diving from Mexico, figure skating from Prague, Czech Republic. ClipThe Wide World of SportsClip Introduced sports icons such as the Harlem Globetrotters, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, daredevil Evel Knievel

International Sporting Events Advances in media technology and globalization of television brought sports to all corners of the globe Soccer aka Football is one of the world's most popular sports (e.g. FIFA World Cup soccer) Tour de France bicycle race has athletes spend 28 days racing their bikes over 2,200 miles Other popular international sports include cricket, rugby and jai alai

Women’s Sports The status of women in sports has advanced since the 20 th century Let’s examine the history (turn to page 66 and 69 in your text) What are some modern-day professional female sports athletes and what sport do they play? World’s Highest Paid Female Athletes

Extreme Sports Extreme sports are sports that involve nontraditional, daring methods of athletic competition  Skateboarders  Roller bladers  Stunt bikers  Snowboarders  Surfing Corporations began to market products towards this new target market by promoting extreme sport drinks (e.g. energy drinks), clothing, video games, etc. Red Bull Commercial GoPro

Extreme Sports cont. Efforts by ESPN and X Games have added success of extreme sports Extreme sports have caught the attention of major corporations

Assignment You will be assigned a group and a sports category  Young amateur sports  High school sports  NCAA sports  Professional sports  Professional women’s sports  Olympic sports  Special Olympics

Working in your assigned group, as a team:  Select a specific team within your category. OR select a league within that category (i.e. WMBA)  Identify you team’s sport, the composition of your team (key players of the organization/hierarchy), perhaps a brief history  Identify the attributes that make the team easy to market and the liabilities (your challenges) that make it hard to market  Decide on one marketing strategy that would work well for your team. What is your marketing goal and how will you achieve it? For example: Goal: To increase awareness of our team Strategy: Utilize of social media as our marketing tool to achieve our goal We plan to: ….  Present your ideas to the class.

Group Share Rubric CriteriaLevel 1 (1-3) Level 2 (4-5) Level 3 (6-7) Level 4 (8-10) Total Thinking/Inquiry Identification and Analysis -Presents concepts with limited logical analysis. Limited identification of attributes. -Presents concepts with some logical analysis. Some identification of attributes. -Presents concepts with considerable logical analysis. Considerable identification of attributes. -Presents concepts with a high degree of logical analysis. Exceptional identification of attributes. Communication Delivery -Communicates with audience using limited confidence, eye contact, enthusiasm, and responsiveness -Communicates with audience using some confidence, eye contact, enthusiasm, and responsiveness -Communicates with audience using considerable confidence, eye contact, enthusiasm, and responsiveness -Communicates with audience using a high degree confidence, eye contact, enthusiasm, and responsivene ss Communication Collaboration -Share tasks with others with limited effectiveness -Share tasks with others with some effectiveness -Share tasks with others with considerable effectiveness -Share tasks with others with a high degree of effectiveness