Final Research Project Marc Cerniglia

Interdisciplinary Research Question/Problem  In the business of an athlete agent, what are the difficulties of procuring a successful sports sponsorship?  This question includes:  Difficulties of communication amongst parties  What makes successful branding and marketing  What are the legalities involved  The challenges of a new media and integration and convergence of media, sports and entertainment.

What is Sponsorship?  Before we can tackle the research question, it is important to understand the world of sports sponsorships.  Companies use both sporting events and athletes to help them advertise both their brand and products.  Visa had great success in being recognized as the official credit card of the Olympic games by 56 percent of viewers. (Broughton, 12)  Subway added Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin to their already impressive lineup of athletes who endorse the company. Subway uses these athletes in their commercials causing consumers to want to eat where their favorite athlete eats. (Lefton, 14)

My Disciplines  My research is divided into three different disciplines of approach to the topic; sports management, mass communications, and hospitality management.  Sports Management  The sports management approach helps us to better understand the challenges of a sports sponsorship through the eyes of the sporting world.  Studies include:  Coaching, Sports Law, Sports Event Marketing, and Sports Ethics

My Disciplines….Continued  Mass Communications  This discipline assists in the understanding of effective communication between parties in both developing a sponsorship and what makes an effectively communicated sponsorship to an audience.  Studies include:  Media, Broadcast, Technology and Society, Public Relations and Advertising.  Hospitality Management  This is the wild card of the disciplines. It helps in very diverse ways.  Studies include:  Management, Accounting, Entertainment, Event Planning and Guest Services.

Justification of Interdisciplinary Approach  I will show that these studies each make great contributions to the research question. The agent business itself is very diverse and requires multiple fields of knowledge and approach. Not only to each of these disciplines provide great insight to the research, but they cross-over and effectively use each other to create a well rounded approach to the research. The study from each discipline, combined together, creates a very successful approach to the research question.

Sports Management Discipline  Here is an in-depth view of how the discipline of sports management helps with the challenges of sponsorship.  Athlete agents are negatively perceived in most eyes. There have been many unscrupulous and illegal activities committed by agents. It is important for agents to have an understanding of the law and a strong sense of ethics. (Shrosphire, 2000)  One of the challenges in getting a sponsorship is the athletes naming rights. The law says that people have the right to their name and their likeness. Making sure an athlete gets paid when their name and/or likeness is attached to something is important.  From an ethical standpoint, it is important that an athlete only attaches him or herself to a product or company it truly supports.  Additionally, the sports management discipline teaches us to always look for additional ways for revenue. Many successful sponsorships are in new and creative ways. For example, a WNBA team recently put sponsorship on their jersey’s, which no other team has done.

Mass Communications Discipline  Mass Communications helps us understand the world of media and sponsorship. In some form, today almost everything is public relations or advertising. It is important to understand the medium for which the message travels.  One of the ways mass communication helps our research is by analyzing the medium of sponsorship. This is one of the biggest challenges of sponsorship; how am I going to communicate my message? Commercial, billboard, event, internet, social media, or maybe something new…  Mass Communication also teaches us the effect of media on society. Using this we can better understand the effect of media sponsorship on society.  One of the things mass communication talks about is convergence. This is when multiple formats of media come together. This is an effective way to create sponsorship. The NFL and Verizon Wireless have partnered and are using cell phones to create new avenues to connect with fans. This convergence created the opportunity for sponsorship between the NFL and Verizon. (Ourand, 42)

Hospitality Management Discipline  In my opinion, this discipline is the surprise of the bunch in its effective and diverse results to answering the research.  First in foremost hospitality teaches how important relationships are in business. It is extremely common for pre-existing and positive relationships to result in sponsorship. At IBG Sports, an existing relationship with a company as a sponsor for an event resulted in a sponsorship for a newly signed athlete (Gomez).  The Sports Business Journal staff recently interviewed multiple executives from professional sports teams on the importance of maintaining and developing relationships for season ticket sales (Staff, 31-35) It is no different in sponsorship!

Hospitality Management Discipline ….Continued  Hospitality Management also teaches about the management of funds and accounting. “An Athlete’s Guide to Sponsorship” talks about the importance of establishing a budged when soliciting sponsorship. This includes what you are willing to spend in the effort, as well as what your goal is for income. (Drury, 2003)  There is much opportunity for sponsorship in the world of events. Event planning is a major part of the hospitality industry. If an agent has a good understanding of the events industry, they will be able to more effectively procure sponsorship for clients.  One of the major challenges in getting a sports sponsorship is the lack of brand equity with an athlete. Companies want someone with popularity and status who is going to move their product or communicate their message to a large audience. The hospitality discipline includes studies of the entertainment industry. More and more athletes are building their brand and popularity by being both athlete and entertainer.

Experience  My service project was with Champ’SoL Management, a sports marketing agency based out of Houston, TX.  Volunteered as part of Orlando team.  Spent most of time making contact with sponsors and creating interest.  Researched new opportunities for sponsorship.  I was able to apply all of my disciplines into my experiences with Champ’SoL. A few examples are:  Sports Management-Tried to capitalize during super bowl with many events taking place in Miami, FL.  Mass Communications-Learned effective ways of ing and cold calling and what works best for making contact.  Hospitality-Most importanlty I built solid relationships within the company. One day I will be their colleagues.

Experience….Continued  In addition to my service project, there are two other major contributors to the application of my disciplines and my research problem. Athlete Management Course from Sports Management Worldwide, a full-service sports agency. Here I was taught by agent Dr. Lynn Lashbrook. In addition to sponsorship, I learned about all facets of being an agent. My career pursuits have recently led me to a position with IBG Sports, a marketing agency in Miami, FL. Since joining we have created sponsorship for both events and athletes.

Conflicts & Problems  The conflicts that exist in the procuring of a sponsorship are:  Illegal use of an athlete’s name and likeness  Ethical support of a sponsor  Where will revenue come from?  Is there a better medium for my message?  How do I make contact? Cold calls, follow-up, etc? What method?  How do I maintain positive relationships in a conniving business?  Do I have enough money to go after sponsorship? Will I make enough?  What if my client does not have the social status or popularity to warrant good sponsorship?

Solutions  Here are some of the solutions I arrived at from my research:  Use media skills and technology to keep taps on the use of your athletes name and likeness (ie-google alerts).  Use understanding of events and new media to find different opportunities for sponsorship to create revenue.  Phone calls and in person meetings are the best way to make contact, and they are efficient.  Budgeting is important, and so is knowing the numbers. That being said sometimes you have to take a risk to land a good sponsor.  Use social media, public events and anything else to create a following for your clients and develop their brand through public image.

Common Ground Statement  The common ground between all of the disciplines and the research problem is that it all points towards developing an image. Sports management, mass communications, and hospitality management all have facets that help in the development of a public image and branding of a client. Without this, sponsorship is practically impossible. In addition, all other problems in procuring a sponsorship are irrelevant if there is know image. Therefore, the common ground between all the disciplines and the research is the need to create a following for your client, developing their brand and PR.

Conclusion  In conclusion, there a variety of challenges and difficulties in getting a sports sponsorship. That being said, the research proved successful. The disciplines of sports management, mass communications, and hospitality management each have a variety of input to task. Additionally, they all work well together. The disciplines both help to reveal the conflicts, but also provide an approach to success. Research and problem solving are a key to success in any walk of life. I am very confident moving forward that my experience and disciplines will help me to become successful in the field of an athlete agent.