Preview

Online Marketing of Professional Sports Clubs: Engaging Fans on a New Playing Field

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
587 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Online Marketing of Professional Sports Clubs: Engaging Fans on a New Playing Field
Executive summary

Online sports marketing has become the best foundation for building fan communities for professional sports league and teams. With the development of more powerful technologies, access to the internet has increased. Websites are now including media such as audio and video files, podcasts and live broadcasts of league games. More powerful media has also enabled more user interaction and user empowerment. Two key elements in the increasing use of online services to increase the effectiveness of online sports marketing are multimedia and user interaction. Together, they provide an increasingly sophisticated, powerful and user-based medium that offers marketing challenges and opportunities to business organisations including professional sport organisations.

Related to improved user engagement is the increasing sophistication of sports websites. Creating value for fans has become more difficult because they want more benefits from online experiences, including the development of social connections. Teams could take advantage of fans' attachment by creating interactive web spaces, extending team experiences and building fan loyalty.

In Europe and North America, the world wide web (the web) hosts 234 million websites and has 1.8 billion users. By 2011, advertising revenues from online advertising at sports sites will likely exceed US$1 billion, a three-fold increase since 2006. Many teams have incorporated media-based content and opportunities for fans to interact online with teams and with each other.

This study reviews recent literature about the evolution of the web, identifying and discussing opportunities for a sports organisation to increase its fan base and online user interaction as a key marketing strategy. It also investigates use of the web for enabling fan interaction by 12 professional sports teams in four top-tier leagues (hockey, football, rugby, soccer) in North America and Europe.

All 12 teams in the sample investigated
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Rising Professional Sport Ticket Prices
    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Rising Professional Sport Ticket Prices

    The rise of ticket prices for sporting events in America has spiraled out of control into a nosedive that may prove to be impossible to recover from. Dedicated fans of most economic status are becoming more inclined to watch sporting events on television than ever before, turning many families into perpetual couch potatoes. This is a direct result of the current greed of professional sports as a whole and continued rising ticket costs. With price increases ruthlessly applied over the years, the impact of increased ticket prices on middle class, and even professional sports “sticking it” to their season ticket holders, the effects have become devastating for sports fans.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Super Bowl
    • 3803 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Super Bowl

    In the US, the Super Bowl is annually the nation’s highest-rated TV programme and the most watched single-day sporting event. But could the Super Bowl, like other sporting events that traditionally attracted millions of people, fall prey to competition? This case study argues that despite the increasing fragmentation of viewing audiences, Super Bowl is an event in itself. The case describes the marketing and social environment encompassing the Super Bowl, and addresses the metamorphosis that has helped it maintain its competitive edge. The study concludes with a discussion of buzz marketing as a complete solution for maintaining competitiveness in today’s sporting environment.…

    • 3803 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mark Edmundson: Student Customer Metaphor
    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mark Edmundson: Student Customer Metaphor

    Athletic teams strive off marketing and really rely on the fans, or in other words, customers. They call us fans, but to them we are just another customer who will pay outrageous prices for a shirt or a beer at the ball park. Do athletic teams really care about fans, or do they just really want our money? We pay so much money for parking, the tickets to get in, and then for food at the venue. It is almost like they take advantage of us and just use our money. Athletic teams try so hard with the marketing mix to get our business, because they have so many more teams to compete with. Athletic teams are in some way a huge business and do require a lot of money to operate. It makes one realize where this “customer metaphor” can really take…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Greenemodule5olympics
    • 1237 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Greenemodule5olympics

    One point missed by the authors is another factor that will continue to escalate broadcast rights fees – that 's the continued growth of digital video recorders. The use of DVRs has made the live aspect appeal of sports even greater for advertisers. Commercials aren 't being skipped over as the ones aired in shows consumers watch on their DVRs. Sports gives advertisers the captive television audience they have spent decades learning how to market to. It 's high-demand content that isn 't available on digital only platforms such as Netflix (Spangler, 2013). The Olympics are no exception and perhaps they 're even more. Media companies are now using sports to cross the gap from over-the-air and cable to Internet ventures. For the 2014 Winter Olympics, NBC used the event to roll out “new platforms, new programs and new talent across its apps, the Web and its family of…

    • 1237 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why Nfl Viewership Decline
    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Why Nfl Viewership Decline

    Consumers are watching sports in a variety of ways in the current day in age. Led by live TV via cable, many are starting to migrate to over the top services, social media and illegal streaming. Why watch the game when you can see all of the stats and highlights on Twitter? Or why pay for an expensive cable bill, when a simple Google search can locate an illegal stream of games. Also, many bars are starting to carry NFL Sunday ticket which means dozens of fans can watch games for “free”. The day of age where consumers would watch live TV at home is starting to…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Sports Fan Executive Summary
    • 8522 Words
    • 35 Pages

    Sports Fan Executive Summary

    the local team (53 per cent) and that the fan was born in the town or city (10…

    • 8522 Words
    • 35 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Fan One Essay
    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Fan One Essay

    The world of sport marketing is founded on one thing. Whether involving promotional giveaways, television contracts, or jersey sales, it all comes back to one thing: the fan. Without fans there is no world of sports like we see today. The incredibly peer pressured fanatic sports culture that we are knee deep in, wouldn’t be the same without the millions of supporters who pledge their loyalty to one team or another. The value of a fan base is crucial in order to provide a quality sports team.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sports and Entertainment Marketing
    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sports and Entertainment Marketing

    Many advertisers take on the role of sponsoring sporting events or teams to bolster popularity and gain recognition through the team or event. Sport marketing urges memberships, sales, and recognition. These factors represent the biggest benefits for the companies, the athletes, the associations, the leagues, and sport event managers. Well thought out, effective marketing helps to understand the customer and the marketplace. Also, informed marketing decisions help increase status and importance in people's lives, sport is considered a profitable and sustainable marketing source. At large sporting events, sponsors like to take advantage of the large crowd to advertise products (handout products, freebies, contests, etc.) because more people will be able to see it. Therefore this is significant because not only is it a simple way to announce a product but it is also efficient due to the amount of people who would see it at a large event. “Another example of sports marketing through sponsorships, is the renovation of the contract between Adidas and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In August of this year the CEO of Adidas Herbert Hainer in companion of the president of the FMF, Justino Compeán announced the renewal of the contract in order to permit Adidas to continue producing and designing the uniform of the Mexican teams until 2018. This is an example of sports marketing because as it was define, sports marketing is a marketing strategy in which companies related to sports products or services promote their trademark through design, production or other resources. In this case Adidas, which is completely related to sports, is the company that is using sports marketing as a strategy, by designing the uniforms of the football team and as a consequence its trademark is being promoted every time there is a game.” (Wikipedia, Sports Marketing)…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Social Media Influence On Sports
    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Social Media Influence On Sports

    Social media has paved the way for businesses, media outlets, and a host of other organizations to have direct conversations with their costumers, allowing for a truly unparalleled level of audience engagement. Sports franchises and clubs have also found ways to leverage this new marketing tool, working to realize the dream of any sports executive: to create a passionate, invested fan base. Through social media, fans can connect with sports teams and leagues. But, the athletes themselves have accounts which allow potentially millions of people to connect with them personally. This has allowed fans to now be a part of the sport organizations story. Marketing insight is easier to come by in these days and times. Books are available, newsletters…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Information System: Workshop Questions
    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Information System: Workshop Questions

    A website creation for NRL/AFL/A-League teams will consist of organisation problems. Different levels and specialties in an organisation make rise to different interests and points of view. This may lead to conflict over how the company should be run and how resources and rewards should be distributed, thus affecting the setting up of the website. Technology issues that will be encountered are the maintenance of the protected website. An information system will be able to analyse player and team performance, which will eventuate to improved performance and increase revenue for the teams.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Hobo
    • 10677 Words
    • 43 Pages

    Hobo

    Introduction The new complexity of the sport sector has a strong impact on the implementation of sport products that nowadays are an expression of manifold subjects. Planning, production, distribution and communication of sport contents involve numerous actors who participate in the implementation of sport with diversified roles and importance: sport organizations, athletes, institutions and local administrations, sponsors, media, etc. Fans and supporters are of course of central importance to sport service production. The passion, excitement, involvement expressed by the audience has a crucial role for event implementation and value creation. Due to the importance of fans as “co-producers” of the sport service, the hypothesis of this research is that a fan community is a salient stakeholder in the value co-creation process. This research focuses on a fan community of a specific professional football case, the ACF Fiorentina the Florence, Italy football club - a “rich” example for identifying and analyzing the manifold influences and interactions that fans can engage in with their team, the local context and the network of actors as a whole. The knowledge of this case study has profited from several investigations, research and theses carried out within the Master‟s Degree in Sport Management at the University of Florence. We started to monitor the football club and the relations with the local stakeholders since the year 2003 - after the club‟s failure and its “rebirth” when the team went to an owner that for the first time ever was “non Florentine” - up to the last 2009/2010 football season. To develop this case study a quali-quantitative methodology was used. The analysis of the fan community starts with an examination of the Fiorentina‟s ticket season holders database that…

    • 10677 Words
    • 43 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Popularity Of The NBA
    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Popularity Of The NBA

    Social media is a huge help for the NBA. All the players and coaches have some form of social media.That means with a single post from a athlete people will be intrigued to watch it. Millions of people are on social media. So in reality it is not hard for them to get fans. It’s almost free advertisment. It plays a huge role for the whole league.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Introduction to Marketing - Unit 3: Q&As
    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Introduction to Marketing - Unit 3: Q&As

    Most of this use is a positive effect because fans will most likely share good information to their followers instead of bad information that could hurt the teams. 8. Describe how social media has changed sports and entertainment marketing. a. Social media has created a new way for people to watch and talk about sports. People now can have discussions online, watch live games, and read live updates from ESPN or their friends.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Case study : Akamai for NBA
    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Case study : Akamai for NBA

    Increasingly, fans want and expect high quality game videos, RSS feeds, widgets, and Fantasy leagues.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Global Playground
    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Global Playground

    Technologically speaking, sports become more appealing and easier to follow because of satellite television, print media and radio. I don’t recall the case study noting the most international accessible news source in the world - the world wide web. This makes it extremely easy for fans all round the world to follow the standings, scores and rankings of athletes. I imagine there is quite the market for web advertising. I am not a sports fan, but even I notice and see sports advertising for international sports events such as the World Cup and the Olympics. I believe this would carry through for all sorts of international trade and business. It is easy, inexpensive and efficient for international marketers to reach potential customers around the world.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics