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SPORTS MANAGEMENT
1.INTRODUCTION TO SPORTS MANAGEMNET
INTRODUCTION:-
Like to be down in front—courtside, ringside, or on the sidelines at the 50-yard line? If
you’re not game to be a player, mascot, or coach, you can still catch all the action up
close and personal as manager of the team. Sports management lets you participate in—
and cash in on—the exciting world of sports from a business standpoint. Here, you’ll
learn about sports themselves plus the psychological principles at work behind them and
how sports fit into our society. But you’ll also gain a strong foundation of knowledge in
the field of business, examining how the worlds of business and sports interact and how
you can make those interactions more profitable and beneficial for every person and
interest involved.
The way we think of sports has drastically changed over the years; these days few
people would say that a sport is “just a game.” Indeed, sports provide serious
entertainment and big business in this country, and sports managers are crucial to
ensuring that the players, fans, coaches, and financial backers coexist peacefully. (Or, as
close to peacefully as possible.) You’ll learn how to market sports effectively and how to
plan events, diving into the areas of sports publicity, coaching, and administration. An
interdisciplinary field, sports management encompasses elements of economics,
accounting, marketing, psychology, law, and communications.
Sport management is basically about the application of business principles to the
sport industry. Sport management focuses on the business aspects of sport in culture,
sports information, interscholastic intercollegiate and professional sports, facility
management, sport ethics, sport marketing, sport law, and sport finance.
Sports management is a broad field, and the knowledge you acquire about both
business and sports makes for a whole arena of action-packed possibilities.
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WHAT IS SPORTS MANAGEMENT?
Sport employs many millions of people around the globe, is played or watched by the
majority of the world’s population, and at the elite level, has moved from being an
amateur pastime to a significant industry. The growth and professionalization of sport has
driven changes in the consumption, production and management of sporting events and
organizations at all levels.
Managing sport organizations at the start of the 21st century involves the
application of techniques and strategies evident in the majority of modern business,
government and nonprofit organizations. Sport managers engage in strategic planning,
manage large numbers of human resources, deal with broadcasting contracts worth
billions of dollars, manage the welfare of elite athletes who sometimes earn 100 times the
average working wage, and work within highly integrated global networks of
international sports federations, national sport organizations, government agencies, media
corporations, sponsors and community organizations.
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UNIQUE FEATURES OF SPORTS:
Stewart and Smith provide a list of ten unique features of sport which can assist us to
understand why the management of sport organization requires the application of specific
management techniques. A unique feature of sport is the phenomenon of people
developing irrational passions for sporting teams, competitions, or athletes. Sport has a
symbolic significance in relation to performance outcomes, success and celebrating
achievement that does not occur in other areas of economic and social activity. Sport
managers must learn to harness these passions by appealing to people’s desire to buy
tickets for events, become a member of a club, donate time to help run a voluntary
association, or purchase sporting merchandise. They must also learn to apply clear
business logic and management techniques to the maintenance of traditions and
connections to the nostalgic aspects of sport consumption and engagement.
There are also marked differences between sport organizations and other
businesses in how they evaluate performance. Private or publicly listed companies exist
to make profits and increase wealth of shareholders or owners, whereas in sport, other
imperatives such as winning premierships, providing services to stakeholders and
members, or meeting community service obligations may take precedence over financial
outcomes. Sport managers need to be cognizant of these multiple organizational
outcomes, while at the same time be responsible financial managers.
Competitive balance is also a unique feature of the interdependent nature of
relationships between sporting organizations that compete on the field but cooperate off
the field to ensure the long term viability of both clubs and their league. In most business
environments the aim is to secure the largest market share, defeat all competitors and
secure a monopoly. In sport, clubs and teams need the opposition to remain in business,
so they must cooperate to share revenues and playing talent, and regulate themselves to
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ensure the uncertainty in the outcome of games between them, so that fans’ interest will
be maintained. In some ways such behaviour could be construed as anticompetitive.
The sport product, when it takes the form of a game or contest, is also of variable
quality. While game outcomes are generally uncertain, one team might dominate, which
will diminish the attractiveness of the game. The perception of those watching the game
might be that the quality has also diminished as a result, particularly if it is your team that
loses! The variable quality of sport therefore makes it hard to guarantee quality in the
marketplace relative to providers of other consumer products.
Sport also enjoys a high degree of product or brand loyalty, with fans unlikely to
switch sporting codes because of a poor match result, or the standard of officiating.
Consumers of household products have a huge range to choose from and will readily
switch brands for reasons of price or quality, whereas sporting competitions are hard to
substitute. This advantage is also a negative, as sporting codes that wish to expand market
share find it difficult to attract new fans from other codes due to their familiarity with the
customs and traditions of their existing sport affiliation.
Sport engenders unique behaviours in people, such as emulating their sporting
heroes in play, wearing the uniform of their favourite player, or purchasing the products
that celebrity sports people endorse. This vicarious identification with the skills, abilities,
and lifestyles of sports people can be used by sport managers and allied industries to
influence the purchasing decisions of individuals who follow sport.
Sport fans also exhibit a high degree of optimism, at times insisting that their team,
despite a string of bad losses, is only a week, game or lucky break away from winning the
next championship. It could also be argued that the owners or managers of sport
franchises exhibit a high degree of optimism by toting their star recruits or new coach as
the path to delivering them on-field success.
Sporting organizations, are relatively reluctant to adopt new technologies unless
they are related to sports science, where on-field performance improvements are possible.
In this regard sport organizations can be considered conservative, and tied to traditions
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and behaviours more than other organizations. The final unique aspect of sport is its
limited availability. In other industries, organizations can increase production to meet
demand, but in sport, clubs are limited by season length and the number of scheduled
games. This constrains their ability to maximize revenue through ticket sales and
associated income. The implication for sport managers is that they must understand the
nature of their business, the level of demand for their product and services(whatever form
that may take) and the appropriate time to deliver them.
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2.SPORTS MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT
Globalization has been a major force in driving change in the ways sport is produced and
consumed. The enhanced integration of the world’s economies have enabled
communication to occur between producers and consumers at greater speed and variety,
and sport has been one sector to reap the benefits. Consumers of elite sport events and
competitions such as the Olympic Games, World Cups for rugby, cricket and football,
English Premier League Football, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and Grand
Slam tournaments for tennis and golf enjoy unprecedented coverage. Aside from actually
attending the events live at a stadium, fans can view these events through free to air and
pay or cable television; listen to them on radio and the internet; read about game
analyses, their favourite players and teams through newspapers and magazines; receive
progress scores, commentary or vision on their mobile phones; and sign up for special
deals and information through online subscriptions using their email address. The global
sport marketplace has become very crowded and sport managers seeking to carve out a
niche need to understand the global environment in which they must operate. Thus, one
of the themes of this book is the impact of globalization on the ways sport is produced,
consumed and managed.
Most governments view sport as a vehicle for nationalism, economic development,
or social development. As such, they see it as within their purview to enact policies and
legislation to support, control or regulate the activities of sport organizations. Most
governments support elite training institutes to assist in developing athletes for national
and international competition, provide funding to national sporting organizations, support
sport organizations to bid for major events, and facilitate the building of major stadiums.
In return for this support, governments can influence sports to recruit more mass
participants, provide services to discrete sectors of the community, or have sports enact
policies on alcohol and drug use, gambling, and general health promotion messages.
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Governments also regulate the activities of sport organizations through legislation or
licensing in areas such as industrial relations, anti-discrimination, taxation and corporate
governance. A further theme in the book is the impact that governments can have on the
way sport is produced, consumed and managed.
The management of sport organizations has undergone a relatively rapid period of
professionalization over the last 30 years. The general expansion of the global sports
industry and commercialization of sport events and competitions, combined with the
introduction of paid staff into voluntary governance structures and the growing number of
people who now earn a living managing sport organizations or playing sport, has forced
sport organizations and their managers to become more professional. This is reflected in
the increased number of university sport management courses, the requirement to have
business skills as well as industry specific knowledge or experience to be successful in
sport management, the growth of professional and academic associations devoted to sport
management, and the variety of professionals and specialists that sport managers must
deal with in the course of their careers. Sport managers will work with accountants,
lawyers, taxation specialists, government policy advisors, project management personnel,
architects, market researchers, and media specialists, not to mention sports agents, sports
scientists, coaches, officials, and volunteers. The ensuing chapters of the book will
highlight the ongoing professionalization of sport management as an academic discipline
and a career.
The notion that changes in sport management frequently result from developments
in technology. Changes in telecommunications have already been highlighted, but further
changes in technology are evident in areas such as performance enhancing drugs,
information technology, coaching and high performance techniques, sports venues, and
sporting equipment. These changes have forced sport managers to develop policies about
their use, to protect intellectual property with a marketable value, and generally adapt
their operations to incorporate their use for achieving organizational objectives. Sport
managers need to understand the potential of technological development but also the
likely impact on future operations.
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THREE SECTORS OF SPORTS:-
In order to make sense of the many organizations that are involved in sport management,
and how these organizations may form partnerships, influence each others’ operations
and conduct business, it is useful to see sport as comprising three distinct sectors. The
first is the State or public sector, which includes national, state/provincial, regional and
local governments, and specialist agencies that develop sport policy, provide funding to
other sectors, and support specialist roles such as elite athlete development or drug
control. The second is the nonprofit or voluntary sector, made up of community based
clubs, governing associations and international sport organizations that provide
competition and participation opportunities, regulate and manage sporting codes, and
organize major championship events. The third sector is professional or commercial sport
organizations, comprising professional leagues and their member teams, as well as allied
organizations such as sporting apparel and equipment manufacturers, media companies,
major stadia operators and event managers.
These three sectors do not operate in isolation, and in many cases there is
significant overlap. For example, the State is intimately involved in providing funding to
nonprofit sport organizations for sport development and elite athlete programmes, and in
return nonprofit sport organizations provide the general community with sporting
opportunities and as well as developing athletes, coaches, officials and administrators to
sustain sporting participation. The State is also involved in commercial sport, supporting
the building of major stadia and other sporting venues to provide spaces for professional
sport to be played, providing a regulatory and legal framework for professional sport to
take place and supporting manufacturing and event organizations to do business. The
nonprofit sport sector supports professional sport by providing playing talent for leagues,
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Figure 1.1 Three sector model of sport
as well as developing the coaches, officials and administrators to facilitate elite
competitions. Indeed, in some cases the sport league itself will consist of member teams
which are technically nonprofit entities, even though they support a pool of professional
managers and players. In return, the professional sport sector markets sport for spectators
and participants and in some cases provides substantial funds from TV broadcast rights
revenue. Figure 1.1 illustrates the three sectors and the intersections where these
relationships take place.
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WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT SPORTS MANAGEMENT?
Sport managers utilize management techniques and theories that are similar to managers
of other organizations, such as hospitals, government departments, banks, mining
companies, car manufacturers, and welfare agencies. However, there are some aspects of
strategic management, organizational structure, human resource management, leadership,
organizational culture, governance and performance management that are unique to the
management of sport organizations.
Strategic management
Strategic management involves the analysis of an organization’s position in the
competitive environment, the determination of its direction and goals, the selection of an
appropriate strategy and the leveraging of its distinctive assets. The success of any sport
organization may largely depend on the quality of their strategic decisions. It could be
argued that nonprofit sport organizations have been slow to embrace the concepts
associated with strategic management because sport is inherently turbulent, with on-field
performance and tactics tending to dominate and distract sport managers from the choices
they need to make in the office and boardroom. In a competitive market, sport managers
must drive their own futures by undertaking meaningful market analyses, establishing a
clear direction and crafting strategy that matches opportunities.
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Organizational structureAn organization’s structure is important because it defines where staff and volunteers ‘fit
in’ with each other in terms of work tasks, decision-making procedures, the need for
collaboration, levels of responsibility and reporting mechanisms. Finding the right
structure for a sport organization involves balancing the need to formalize procedures
while fostering innovation and creativity, and ensuring adequate control of employee and
volunteer activities without unduly affecting people’s motivation and attitudes to work.
The relatively unique mix of paid staff and volunteers in the sport industry adds a layer of
complexity to managing the structure of many sport organizations.
Human resource management
Human resource management, in mainstream business or sport organizations, is
essentially about ensuring an effective and satisfied workforce. However, the sheer size
of some sport organizations, as well as the difficulties in managing a mix of volunteers
and paid staff in the sport industry, make human resource management a complex issue
for sport managers. Successful sport leagues, clubs, associations, retailers and venues rely
on good human resources, both on and off the field. Human resource management cannot
be divorced from other key management tools, such as strategic planning or managing
organizational culture and structure, and is a further element that students of sport
management need to understand to be effective practitioners.
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Leadership
Managers at the helm of sport organizations need to be able to influence others to follow
their visions, empower individuals to feel part of a team working for a common goal, and
be adept at working with leaders of other sport organizations to forge alliances, deal with
conflicts or coordinate common business or development projects. The sport industry
thrives on organizations having leaders who are able to collaborate effectively with other
organizations to run a professional league, work with governing bodies of sport, and
coordinate the efforts of government agencies, international and national sport
organizations, and other groups to deliver large scale sport events.
Organizational culture
Organizational culture consists of the assumptions, norms and values held by individuals
and groups within an organization, which impact upon the activities and goals in the
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workplace and in many ways influence how employees work. Organizational culture is
related to organizational performance, excellence, employee commitment, cooperation,
efficiency, job performance and decision-making. However, how organizational culture
can be defined, diagnosed, and changed is subject to much debate in the business and
academic world. Due to the strong traditions of sporting endeavour and behaviour,
managers of sport organizations, particularly those such as professional sport franchises
or traditional sports, must be cognizant of the power of organizational culture as both an
inhibitor and driver of performance.
Performance management
Sport organizations over the last 30 years have undergone an evolution to become more
professionally structured and managed. Sport organizations have applied business
principles to marketing their products, planning their operations, managing their human
resource and other aspects of organizational activity. The unique nature of sport
organizations and the variation in missions and purposes has led to the development of a
variety of criteria with which to assess the performance of sport organizations. It makes
us understand the ways in which organizational performance can be conceptualized,
analysed and reported and how these principles can be applied in the sport industry.
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3.HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SPORTS
WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT?Human resource management, in business or sport organizations, is essentially about
first, finding the right person for the right job at the right time, and second, ensuring an
appropriately trained and satisfied workforce. The concepts that underpin effective
human resource management are not particularly complex. However, the sheer size of
some organizations, as well as the difficulties in managing unusual organizations in the
sport industry, make human resource management a complex issue to deal with in
practice. At the same time, successful sport leagues, clubs, associations, retailers and
venues all rely on good human resources, both on and off the field to get their jobs done.
Conversely, organizations with staff who lack motivation, are ill-suited to their work,
under-paid or under-valued will struggle to perform. Human resource management is a
central feature of an organization’s planning system. It cannot be divorced from other key
management tools, such as strategic planning, financial planning or managing
organizational culture and structure. Human resource management can both drive
organizational success, and is a consequence of good management and planning. Human
resource management involves a process of continual planning and evaluation and is best
viewed as part of a cycle in which an organization aims to meet its strategic goals.
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Human resource management is therefore an holistic management function in that it can
be ‘both person-centered and goal-directed’.
Human resource management can mean different things to different organizations,
depending on their context and outlook. For professional sport organizations that are
profit driven, such as the American National Basketball Association (NBA), Indian
Premier League (IPL) or National Hockey League (NHL), successful human resource
management is equated with profitability, long-term growth and success (on and off the
court, diamond and rink). This is not to suggest that these things are sought after at the
expense of employees, but rather that the success of the employees is measured by
dispassionate business indicators and human resource management is a tool for driving
the business towards its goals. For example, player welfare and development programmes
within professional sport organizations are designed to produce socially, morally and
ethically responsible citizens. This is viewed as a good human resource strategy, not only
because of the intrinsic value to the athletes, but for the extrinsic value that results from
better public relations and sponsor servicing. In other words, better behaved athletes
mean greater profitability and overall success for professional sport teams and franchises.
For not-for-profit sport organizations, successful human resource management is
usually not always about bottom line financial performance. It can also encompass a
range of strategies and outcomes depending on the organizational context. A local
sporting club that has had a problem with alcohol consumption among its junior players
may develop a range of programmes to educate its players, coaches and administrators
(who may be paid or volunteer staff) in order to encourage a more responsible club
culture. This player welfare programme may actually be part of a human resource
management strategy, as the inappropriate club culture may have been making it difficult
to attract and retain volunteers with expertise and commitment. In the case of the
professional team context the player welfare programme can be used to manage image
and maintain brand credibility. In the case of the local community sport the player
welfare programme can be used to retain volunteers who were being driven away from
the club by poor behavior and a dysfunctional culture. From these two examples it is
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clear that human resource management can be both person-centred and goal-directed at
the same time.
IS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SPORTS SPECIAL?
Many of the core concepts that underpin human resource management apply to all
organizations, whether they are situated in the world of business, such as soft drink
manufacturer Coca-Cola or mining company BHP Billiton, or in the world of sport, such
as the South African Rugby Football Union or the Canadian Curling Association. This is
not surprising, given that all these organizations employ staff who are expected to
perform a range of designated tasks at an appropriate level of performance. These staff
will manage finances, undertake strategic planning, and produce products like Fanta,
ironore, coaching clinics and national championships. There are, however, significant
differences between business and sport organizations, which result in modifications to
generic human resource management practices.
In particular, professional sport organizations have special features, which present
a unique human resource management challenge. Sport organizations, such as the
Cincinnati Bengals in America’s National Football League, revolve around three distinct
types of employees. First, the Bengals employ people in what they call ‘the front office’,
such as the business development manager or the director of corporate sales and
marketing. Second, the Bengals employ people in what can be referred to as the ‘football
operations department’, such as the coaches, trainers and scouts. Finally, the Bengals
employ people that comprise ‘the team’, the players, who are the most visible people of
any professional sport organization. It could be argued that non-sport businesses operate
in the same way, with different levels of management, from the chief executive officer all
the way through to the employee on the factory floor. The obvious difference in the
sporting context is that the human resources at the bottom of the staffing pyramid are the
highest paid employees in the entire organization. The difference between sport and non-
sport organizations is illustrated in Figure1.1. It should be noted that sport organizations
have employees that could be considered ‘the lowest paid’, but relative to non-sport
organizations they are not equivalent, and as such a checkered arrow has not been
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included for the sport organization pyramid (sport organizations are not completely
unique in this respect, however, for in many forms of entertainment, such as film or
television drama, the actors are the highest paid).
Figure1.1. Pay and organizational level in professional sport and non-sport
organizations.
In non-sport organizations, chief executive officers, general managers and other
senior executives often receive performance bonuses and have access to share options
that allow them to share in the wealth and profitability of the company. The workers
producing the product (at the Fanta bottling plant or the iron ore mine for example) do
not have access to performance schemes and bonuses that might be worth millions of
dollars. In professional sport organizations the situation is reversed and the performance
bonuses are available to those who produce the product, the players. It is important to
keep this special feature of sport in mind when considering the human resource
management needs of professional sport organizations specifically and sport
organizations more generally.
Additionally, a significant proportion of staff in semi-professional and not-for-
profit sport organizations are volunteers. The distinction between volunteers and paid
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staff in the effective management of these groups is a challenge for human resource
management in sport organizations.
THE ESSENTIALS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMNET:-
Human resource management in sport organizations aims to provide an effective,
productive and satisfied workforce. Human resource management refers to the design,
development, implementation, management and evaluation of systems and practices used
by employers to recruit, select, develop, reward, retain and evaluate their workforce. The
core elements of the human resource management process are represented in Figure.
The following phases are considered the core functions of human resource management,
although it is important to keep in mind that these functions will differ significantly
depending on the size, orientation and context of the sport organization in which they are
implemented.
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Phase 1: Human resource planning
Human resource management planning is essentially about assessing and forecasting the
staffing needs of the organization and is often referred to as the most important phase for
effective human resource management. The planning phase of human resource
management is short and fairly static for organizations in which the staffing levels remain
fairly constant and the types of jobs performed by staff members vary little..
In the planning phase an organization must assess whether current staffing needs
will be adequate to meet future demand (or alternately, whether fewer staff will be
required), whether staff turnover is predictable and can be accommodated, whether the
ratios of paid, full-time, part-time, casual and volunteer staff are appropriate or adequate,
whether there are annual or cyclical fluctuations in staffing that need to be met and
managed, and whether specific capabilities will be required in the future that the
organization is currently lacking.
Once an organization decides that a new staff member is required or a new
position is to be created, the organization must undertake a job analysis, in order to
determine the job content, requirements and context. Once the job analysis has been
completed in as much detail as possible, the organization is ready to develop a job
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description (a document that covers the job content and context) and a job specification (a
document that covers the job requirements, especially skills and knowledge base)
Phase 2: Recruitment
Recruitment refers to the process by which an organization tries to find the person most
suited to the job that has been designed. The greater the pool of applicants, the greater the
chance the organization will find a suitable candidate. Generating a pool of applicants is
not always simple, however, particularly if the job requires specific skills, knowledge,
qualifications or experience that are in demand or short supply. However, recruiting an
attendant to check membership tickets at home games of the professional club might only
require a small advertisement in a local newspaper. Finally, recruiting 10,000 people to
act as volunteers for a major hallmark event might require a nationwide or international
advertising campaign across various media forms. Increasingly, recruitment processes are
becoming more sophisticated as organizations take advantage of rapidly developing
communication technologies.
Phase 3: Selection
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Selection and screening is the process condensing the candidates that applied for the
position during the recruitment phase to a short-list. The selection phase will usually
include at least one interview of the short-listed candidates, which will supplement the
application form and curriculum vitae submitted by the applicants in order to determine
whether they are appropriate in light of the job analysis and which of the applicants is the
best person for the job. Depending on the geographic location of the applicants, the
interview might be conducted in person, via telephone, via video conferencing or via an
Internet link.
An interview is the most common way of determining whether a prospective
employee will be best suited to the organization and the position. However, other
techniques, such as sophisticated personality and intelligence tests, are increasingly being
used to determine whether the applicant has the job requirements identified in the
planning phase (skills, competencies, qualifications and experience).
Phase 4: Orientation
Once the employee has successfully navigated the recruitment and selection processes,
they are ready to begin work in their new job within the sport organization. Before they
start, however, they need to be orientated and inducted. This phase of human resource
management is important, as a good quality orientation and induction programme can
make an employee feel both welcome and empowered, but a poor programme, or no
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programme, can make a new employee feel as if they have travelled to a foreign country,
in which they can’t speak the language, don’t know where to go and can’t read any of the
signs. In short, being in a new organization can be a daunting and frightening experience.
Successful orientation and induction programmes revolve around forthright and
effective communication of information about the organization and its operations. The
focus on orientation and induction is usually magnified when a large number of
volunteers are required by the organization, such as at an Olympic Games. A total of 60
422 volunteers participated in running the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, 47 000 in Sydney in
2000 and the Athens Olympics in 2004 received in excess of 160 000 volunteer
applications from all over the world.
Phase 5: Training and development
Training and development is at the heart of an organization that seeks continual growth
and improvement. Sport organizations that do not engage in systematic training and
development programmes are destined to operate far below their optimum, not only
because they will fall behind in current trends, practices and skills, but because they will
not see themselves as learning organizations. At its most basic, training and development
is a process through which new and existing employees learn the skills required for them
to be effective in their jobs. Where training was once a fairly mechanistic activity, it now
includes more generic organizational skills that require development and implementation,
such as when a Indian premier league sport franchise ensures product or service quality,
or when a national sport organization develops an organizational culture that encourages
compliance from state or regional sport organizations.
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There are five-step training and development process that is useful for sport
organizations. Step one is to complete a ‘needs analysis’, in which the organization
identifies the necessary skills for its employees, analyses the current skills base and
develops specific training objectives. Step two involves developing the actual training
programme, which may be done internally or externally. Most sport organizations, as
previously noted, are too small to have sophisticated human resource management
departments that have the skill and experience to design, develop and implement
sophisticated training programmes. Sport organizations will most often use external
training providers, such as universities or consultancy firms, to provide tailored or
standard programmes, depending on the needs analysis. Step three, validation is an
optional step in which the organization is able to validate that the training programme
that has been developed or contracted satisfies the needs analysis. Step four is the
implementation of the programme, during which the staff are trained .In the fifth and
final step the training programme is evaluated. The successful programme might be
expanded to include more employees or more skills, while the unsuccessful programme
needs to be discontinued or re-worked, which requires the organization to re-assess the
needs analysis. Like the entire human resource management process, the training and
development process is best viewed as cyclical.
Phase 6: Performance appraisal
This phase of the human resource management process is potentially the most dangerous,
as it has the inherent ability to pit ‘management’ against ‘employees’ at the macro level,
and at the micro level cause managers to feel uncomfortable in judging others or cause
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employees to feel unworthy, as part of a negative appraisal. The performance appraisal
process must be approached carefully by sport organizations and human resource
managers within an organization must seek to develop a collaborative process in which
the employee, as well as the manager, feels empowered. In this respect the performance
appraisal process within any sport organization, whatever its size or type, must be seen
within the simple, but effective ‘plan, do, review, improve’ scheme, which is usually
associated with the quality assurance agenda.
In professional sports organizations in particular, the performance appraisal
process is often very public, if convoluted. Athletes and coaches are constantly rated on
their performance. In basketball the number of points, rebounds, assists, turnovers, steals,
fouls and blocked shots are recorded meticulously. From year to year, goals are set for
athletes and their ability to meet targets in key performance indicators can result in an
extended contract with improved conditions. On the other hand, not meeting the targets
can mean a player in a sport like baseball has to return to the minor leagues, to return to
form or to see out their playing days. For coaches, performance appraisal is often based
on one statistic alone, the win-loss record. The fact that the coach is adept at making the
players feel good about themselves or has a great working relationship with the
administrative staff, will count for very little when it comes to negotiating a new contract
if he or she has posted a losing record.
Phases 7 and 8: Rewards and retention
Once a sport organization has planned for, recruited, selected, orientated, trained and
appraised its staff, it makes good sense that it would try to retain them. Retaining good
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quality staff, whether they are in a paid or volunteer capacity, means that the organization
will be better off financially and strategically. Organizational knowledge and intellectual
property is lost when a sport organization fails to retain its staff. Constantly losing staff
will mean that the organization may have the opportunity to encourage and develop new
ways of thinking, but the more likely scenario is that it will lead to wasted resources,
unnecessarily diverted to rudimentary induction programmes.
The first six phases of the human resource management process all contribute to
retaining staff. Poor orientation, training and performance appraisal programmes in
particular can all have a negative impact on staff retention. On the other side of the
retention equation, rewards and compensation can encourage employees to remain with
an organization. At a professional sport organization this may mean, rather than
attempting to keep wage costs low, the senior managers will be prepared to pay the
‘market rate’. In a primarily voluntary organization, the reward may take the form of a
letter of appreciation for being part of a successful event and an invitation to participate
next year. In other words, the reward and retention strategy will depend greatly on the
context in which it is being implemented and the existing level of job satisfaction.
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4. SPORTS MARKETING
Sports marketing is building a highly identified fan base such that fans, sponsors, media,
and government pay to promote and support the organization for the benefits of social
exchange and personal, group, and community identity within a cooperative competitive
environment.
Sports marketing refers to the specific application of marketing principles and
processes to sport products (e.g., teams, leagues, events, etc.) and the marketing of non-
sports products (e.g., beverage, TV, cigarettes, beer, mobile phone service, tyre, garments
etc.) through associations with sport.
Sports have been increasingly organized and regulated from the time of the ancient
Olympics up to the present century. The explosive growth of sports marketing came with
the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when corporate sponsors used the Games as
a platform to market their brands. Coca-Cola, for example, spent nearly $30 million in
support of its official sponsorship of the Games. Industrialization has brought increased
leisure time to the citizens of developed and developing countries, leading to more time
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for them to attend and follow spectator sports, greater participation in athletic activities
and increased accessibility. These trends continued with the advent of mass media and
global communication. The entertainment aspect of sports, together with the spread of
mass media and increased leisure time, has led to professionalism in sports.
Professionalism became prevalent, further adding to the increase in sports popularity, as
fans began following professional players through radio, television and the internet—all
while enjoying the exercise and competition associated with amateur participation in
sports.
Some might argue that sports marketing is a “special case” of marketing, meaning
that there are theoretical and practical dimensions of marketing that are peculiar to sports
marketing. sports marketing better explains and predicts effective marketing when
compared to other product and services marketing, then one might argue that marketing is
actually a special case of sports marketing.
Sports marketing as an application field of marketing.
Sport marketing has some unique characteristics that differentiate it from the marketing
applications in the general marketing. These differences require a significantly adapted
approach in formulating sport marketing strategies and plans. The critical differences lie
in the unique characteristics of sport as a product or service and the unusual marketing
environment in which sport marketers need to operate.
Sports as a product or service has certain unique characteristics
Unique characteristics create “unusual marketing conditions in which the sport has to be
marketed. These characteristics can be summarized as follows:
a) Sport organizations compete against each other but at the same time, also work
together.
In the first instance, various variables are observed in the market for sport products and
services. No sport organization can survive in isolation, because sport is based on
competitive action. Where an organisation has to compete against opponents, it has
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voluntarily co-operate with the opponents in order to arrange a sporting event. Ass to this
that sport users usually regard themselves as experts while the outcome of the sport being
played is totally unpredictable. This explains partly why the marketing of a sport product
or service is unique. No other business is perceived as simplistically by the spectator or
user, as is the case with sport, and to make the matter even more complex, no business
situation exists where the user of the product identifies so intimately with the business as
in sport.
b) The sport product is usually also subjective, and not measurable.
Sport spectator experiences are totally subjective. This makes it very difficult for the
sport marketer to measure the success of the sport product or service. For instance, a
number of supporters of a certain team may attend a match and numerous different kinds
of feedback may be given regarding the degree to which the satisfaction has been
achieved.
c) The sport product is not constant and is totally unpredictable.
A match contested today, will probably offer a totally different result a week later, even
though it involves the same players, officials and facilities. And a totally different result
and a different product or service outcome is possible. Even with individual participation
where two tennis player, for instance, may play against each other, the product or service
may differ form one match to another, even though the facilities and the players may
remain the same, the unpredictable result of the end product or service of a sporting event
leads to tremendous mental participation by sport users ranging from fanatical support to
psychological frustration.
d) Emphasis is placed on expansion of the sport product and not the product itself.
Because sport marketers cannot foresee the outcome of a match, they tend to, and are
forced, to place the emphasis on sport expansions and not the sport product as such. With
events such as the world rugby tournaments, the value of sport expansion was realized. A
large industry developed around the world cup. Although world cup marketers had no
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control over the outcome of the matches, there is a consistency in the quality of products
that were manufactured and marketed as a result of the event.
e) Sport has a universal impact.
Sport penetrates virtually into all levels of society. Sport is geographically presented in
virtually every population group on earth, and up to now, it played a significant part in
most cultures. Sport is also played and watched by all demographic segments of the
population. Sport can be indeed be regarded as a bridge builder across different cultures –
rugby and soccer in south Africa are good examples. Sport is also associated with all
aspects of leisure-time acticities and it satisfies the most basic needs of individuals. For
instance sport is associated with relaxation, entertainment, exercise, eating habits,
drinking habits, sex, gambling, stimulants, physical violence, social identification, the
economic and legal environment, religion, business and industries.
Another angle on defining sport marketing is the sport industry segment
model:Figure1.1:- sport industry segment model
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This model postulates that sport marketing might have a three-pronged approach in terms
of target marketing. These segments being:
The sport performance segment (a participation or spectatorial product)
The sport production segment (products which will influence quality of sport
performance)
The sport promotion segment (tools to promote the sport product)
Sponsorship is included in the third segment but the sponsorship decision-making process
id unfortunately not described. This model is valuable in terms of describing that target
marketing applies in sport marketing as it does in other forms of marketing and it also
aids the understanding of how traditional marketing principles can and should be applied
to sport marketing.
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Defining sport marketing and applying the marketing concept:
sport marketing is the specific application of theoretical marketing principles and
processes to sport products and services; the marketing of non-sport and sport-
related products and services through an association – such as a sponsorship – with
sport; and the marketing of sport bodies and codes, their personalities, their events,
their activities, their actions, their strategies and their image.
A question arises whether the marketing concept, as a theoretical marketing principle, can
be applied to sport marketing. It is argues that by referring to how sport marketing
activities are integrated toward achieving organizational goals such as profitability and by
determining and satisfying needs and wants of sport target markets, then the marketing
concept can be applied to sport marketing.
The marketing concept as applied to sport therefore rests on four pillars:
The organizational goals of sport sponsors, sport marketers, sport bodies and
codes:
Outcomes of the sport marketing programme such as profitability:
Integrating sport marketing activities into the sport marketing programme; and
Satisfying the needs of sport users, including participants, spectators, and
sponsors.
Defining sport marketing management:
Sport marketing management can be defined as :
The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and
distribution of sport events, personalities, ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges
that satisfy individual and organizational goals.
Defining the strategic sport marketing process:
The entire sequence of managerial and operational activities required to create and
sustain effective and efficient sport marketing strategies and the six major stagesl
Identifying and evaluating opportunities in the general marketing environment,
but in particular, in the sport marketing environment;
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Analysing sport market segments and selecting sponsorship appropriate sport
target markets;
Formulating appropriate sport marketing objectives eg: increase in the awareness
of a brand after a specified sponsorship time frame or sponsored event;
Planning a sport market position and developing a sport marketing mix strategy
eg: sport body is committed to development of previously disadvantaged groups;
Preparing a formal sport marketing plan for marketing sport products and
services, integrating sponsorship as part of an organisation marketing plan or a
stand-alone marketing plan eg: for sport bodies and codes, their events,
personalities and thir image;
Executing the sport marketing plan through an integration of marketing and
marketing communication variables; and
Controlling and evaluating the results eg: measuring sponsorship effectiveness
and the return on investment in terms of sales and \or increased business.
Defining sport marketing strategy
A sport marketing plan identifies sport marketing goals and objectives, selects target
markets, develops and maintains a sport marketing mix that will produce mutually
satisfying exchanges between the sport marketer and the sport target markets. That target
markets can be applied and adapted from the sport industry segment model. In the
following section a comprehensive debate is offered on how the sport marketing mix
should be formulated.
Constituting and defining the sport marketing mix
“The sport marketing mix is commonly associated with promotional activities such as
advertising, sponsorships, public relations, and personal selling. Sport marketers are also
involved in product and service strategies, pricing decisions, and distribution issues”.
This definition does not differentiate sport marketing in clear terms from general
marketing but further debate will now be offered.
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The scientific development of a sport-related marketing mix should focus on the
following:
Defining sport as a service product;
Adapting the other traditional Ps – pricing , place and promotion to be included in
a sport marketing mix;
Critically examine and properly address how sponsorship fits into the marketing
communication mix, and
Adapting the marketing communication mix to differentiate sport marketing from
any other application (such as retail marketing).
The elements of sport marketing mix
Marketing mix
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1. The sports product
It can be defined as a good, a service, or any combination of the two that is designed to
provide benefits to a sport spectator, participant or sponsor. The sport product is therefore
a bundle of benefits that offers need satisfaction to sport consumers and consists of a core
product and certain product extensions which can be regarded as the augmented product.
a) Sport as a product is a bundle of characteristics
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A product can be described generally as any bundle or combination of qualities,
processes and capabilities that a buyer expects will deliver want satisfaction. The sport
product can be bundled in a unique way, and is presented in the following figure
FIGURE1.2:- THE BUNDLE OF CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPORTS PRODUCT.
The figure illustrates that the importance of special bundling for the sport product. At its
core the sport product covers basic consumer needs such as health entertainment,
sociability and achievement. The sport marketer must understand why a consumer
chooses to satisfy a given want or need by purchasing a sport product rather than any
other type of product.
b) Sport as a service
The unique characteristics of services can also be related to sport. The following
summary is a description of factors that differentiate a tangible product from service.
The sport product is invariably intangible, experimental and subjective.
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It is not really possible to define exactly what participants and spectators receive and
experience from consuming sport. Performance, experience, atmosphere, mood and
expectation might be relevant. These aspects are definitely intangible.
The basic sport product is simultaneously produced and consumed.
Sport services cannot be stored and are time dependent. Unsold tickets to a sporting event
is lost revenue. It is perhaps commodity that must be pre-sold and there are no
inventories. sport consumers are typically also producers, they help create the game or
event – providing pre-match excitement, spectator involvement during the event and
after-event participation- that they simultaneously consume, pre-selling of season tickets
or yearly memberships cannot guarantee consumption. Spectators and participants need
to be present at the sporting event to maximize revenue from the product extensions as
well.
c) Sport is also a business-to-business product
Marketing theory classifies products into two categories: products consumed by an end
user, called consumer goods, and products used by a manufacturer in the production of
another product, called industrial goods. Sport is produced as an end product, called
industrial goods. Sport is produced as an end product for mass consumer appeal for both
spectators and participants. Business and industry that sponsor events and sport
broadcasts also consume spectator and participant sports. Organizations also use sport
figures to represent, endorse and promote products. The marketing actions of sport bodies
and codes aimed at gaining corporate sponsorship can also be regarded as business-to
business marketing.
2. Pricing
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It is difficult to price the individual sport product unit by traditional costing methodology.
Pricing the sport product is often based on the marketer’s sense of consumer demand. A
number of pricing aspects is important to note:
a) Price reflects value
It is argued that price should reflect value. Sport-users decide whether they want to spend
money on travelling to a sport event, buy food and beverages, and buy an entry ticket or
stay at home and watch the event on television. If live attendance is regarded to hold a
more valuable experience then the sport-user will be willing to spend a part of his/her
disposable income on attending. The value is based on the benefits the sport user
perceives to be getting. The higher the perceived benefits the more such a sport user will
be willing to pay to attend an event.
b) Price can be presented differently
Price can presented to the sport-user in different ways. One of the tactics is to soften the
word “price” as illustrated by the following examples that can be found in the sport
industry.
A licensing fee is the price a sport clothing organization pays to the south African
rugby football union for the right to sell a t-shirt with the springbok logo on it.
The ticket charge is the price paid to enter a facility and watch a match.
A membership fee is the price to use a fitness gymnasium’s facilities
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Rental is the price paid to gain the right to use a corporate box at a sporting
facility for a prescribed time period such as a session,
A league fee is the price a club team has to pay to enter and participate in a
league.
Commission is the extra bonus-oriented price a sport marketing organisation
would pay its sales people for their services.
Shipping and handling are the price a sporting goods organization pays to import
sport products from another country.
A consulting fee is the price a sporting body pays a sport marketing organization
to design and negotiate a sponsorship package with the sponsor.
A franchise fee is the price an owner pays to enter a team in a professional sports
league.
c) Price determination
There are three important aspects that should be considered when price determination is
applied to sport:
The consumer aspects such as value for money, previous experience, the success
rate of their team. Other important aspects for the marketer are inter alia age,
income, education, geographic location, race, sexual orientation and gender of the
sport target market. some consumer will be willing to pay for the season ticket
and bear the risk that matches might be cancelled and their team under-achieve,
while other consumer will select the attend certain matches.
The competitor – competitive pricing strategies and the consumer’s perception on
the difference in value between competitor’s prices – it must be kept in mind that
the sport consumer not only has to select which sporting events to attend on a
particular day but his/her income is also diverted to other forms of entertainment
or leisure.
The organization cost structure and profit objectives will influence price setting.
Operating costs need to at least be covered. Even in commercial health and fitness
clubs, the indirect cost also need to be covered. Many sport bodies have rarely
been required to operate on a for-profit basis which is perhaps one of the reason
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why sport marketing did not receive the professional status it deserves. Sport
bodies and codes will have to market themselves at a “good price” and as a “safe
investment” and as a “good return on investment” to their sponsors.
d) Market sensitivity
It is argue that market sensitivity need to be surveyed when price changes are considered.
The demand/supply ratio, the availability of substitutes, and the price-increase history are
important factors. Sport marketers need to do frequent research and scan the sport
marketing environment to determine consumer tastes and the consumer pricing
evaluation process.
3. Place
The distribution of tangible sport goods such as sport equipment follows the same
approach as that of any consumer good. The sport goods are marketed through
distribution channels and a range of intermediaries such as wholesalers and retailers are
involved to ensure that the right product is available at the right time, at the right price
and in the right quantities.
Sport as an intangible product or service holds unique distribution characteristics.
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a) The sport facilities
The sport, and all its encompassing support services are consumed at the particular
facility – i.e attending a rugby match in Johannesburg, parking in a secure parking area,
buying a match ticket and programme at the gate, consuming food and drink, attending an
after match party.
The following spectator aspects are important when the facility is regarded form a “ place
perspective”
The atmosphere and mood-creation of the facility;
Equipment and novelties;
Type of seating;
Facility layout;
Facility image;
Media coverage;
When sport is regarded as a service the physical evidence integration with the face
variable is visible through the sport facility itself. Aspects such as the name of the facility
and high- tech scoreboards are important to create atmosphere and excitement.
b) The media as a distributor of sport
The various media such as television radio, magazines, billboards, and even the internet
can be considered as the intermediaries that deliver the sport to the final consumer. The
sport format delivered ranges from preliminary reviews and live coverage to match
reports and results.
In the past sport depended heavily on publicity from the media as the primary
promotion vehicle. Virtually every newspaper has a sports section and reports on a wide
range of sport. As a result Organizations also want to be associated with sport, because
sport is followed closely by specific consumer segments and organizations can use the
wide availability of media vehicles to promote their own products and services to these
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Within a strategic approach a product or service is a very strong bonding factor between
the marketing mix elements. In sports marketing, sport as a product is difficult to define.
Sport products such as running shoes are marketed through the traditional product
marketing approach. It is unsubstantiated perception that a lifestyle marketing approach
had led to the positioning of sport equipment and facilities as niche or lifestyle products
and services.
Sport participation, as athlete or spectator, can be physical or emotional. This is
where the problem of defining sport, marketing lies. Sport as product contains both
tangible and intangible features. Intangible features such as being a fan of a specific team
is internally generated but cannot be separated from physical properties such as living
close to team grounds, attending a sport event, or collecting team memorabilia
5. SPORTS SPONSORSHIP
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Sponsorship is defined as the relationship between a sponsor and a property in which the
sponsor pays cash or in-kind fee in return for access to the exploitable commercial
potential associated with the property. Sponsorship is not a donation. A donation involves
resources freely given with no expectation of anything in return. Sponsorship is a
strategic marketing activity requiring resource allocation (usually cash) with expectation
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of return on investment. Sponsorship is the financial or in-kind support of an activity,
used primarily to reach specified business goals.
"Sponsorship should not be confused with advertising. Advertising is considered a
quantitative medium, whereas sponsorship is considered a qualitative medium. It
promotes a company in association with the sponsee”.
Sport sponsorships are becoming hugely popular as one of the best ways to create
brand awareness, advertise one's services, as well as reaffirm the company's reputation as
a responsible corporate citizen in the business world.
The strength of sports sponsorship lies precisely in its capacity to leverage the
passion that consumers nurture towards sport. Sponsorship is not merely a question of
appearing with one's logo on a competitor's shirt or on the advertising hoardings at an
event. Above all, it means projecting the specific values of the sport onto the company
and its brands and ensuring that this association registers with the target group in
question.
Sport is an extremely flexible tool, as it allows businesses and advertising agencies
to communicate with different types of target and to put together modular campaigns that
can be shaped according to the specific requirements of the sponsor. It is also an effective
medium because it permits actions to be measured on a case-by-case basis and to
transform the activity into promotional campaigns whose purpose is to leave their mark
on different types of public, off the field of play as well as on it.
MODELS OF SPORTS SPONSORSHIP:
The tradition of sports sponsorship shows how, until now, throughout the entire
sponsorship world, two different models have been applied. The first is the classic
model, in which the sponsor purchases a package that has already been devised and is
only involved in the final stages of the event. Another model, which is certainly more
current, is the one in which the sponsor plays an active role in the creation of the event,
taking part in the planning stages and fashioning it around its own goals and values. The
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latter model, if it is coordinated effectively by a competent advertising agency, is without
doubt the best, as it allows event-moments to be crafted that are rich in meaning for the
consumer.
The prevailing trend, then, is to move away from the 'Buy model' mere
sponsorship of an event to the 'Create model' the creation of an event. For each
sponsorship project the company carries out an analysis of the market and of current
trends at an international level. What is emerging at the present time is the fact that the
state of the art is moving towards a model that is different yet again, a model that we
might define as the 'Create and Manage' model, in which not only is the event created,
but all activities pertaining to it are managed too.
Every company’s sports sponsorship approach is to pursue this direction, which
maximises the capacity of the events that are devised or sponsored to capture their
audiences. This is possible through careful monitoring of media coverage, an extension of
the timescale of the event that enables the pre- and post-event stages to be lived and, still
further, through the creation of a community that garners consumer loyalty and engenders
a sense of belonging.
Global giants- Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Miller although not
directly linked to sports industry, are the top in terms of corporate sponsorship spending.
This shows how corporate leverage sports sponsorship as one of the most potent
promotional tool.
Among the most common reasons why corporations sponsor sport are:
Increase brand loyalty
Through sport, corporate sponsors seek to build brand loyalty by tying their products and
services to the athletes, events and venues their customers care about.
Create awareness & visibility
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The exposure sport properties receive in electronic and print media provides sponsors
with vast array of publicity opportunities.
Change/reinforce image
Sponsorship can create, change or reinforce a brand image. For example, Volvo changed
its boxy, conservative image by sponsoring the Volvo Ocean Race and introducing its
new sleeker styled vehicles at harbors along the race route.
Drive retail traffic
Companies use the assets of their sponsorships to create traffic building promotions. For
example, F1 sponsors bring show cars and top drivers to retail outlets. Some fast food
restaurants sponsor basketball tournaments and when the home team scores a certain
point total, the game ticket stub can be redeemed for a free food item, which inevitably
leads to additional store purchases.
Showcase community responsibility
Corporate social responsibility has become the prime factor that influences a person’s
impression of a company – more even than brand quality.
Drive sales
Companies use sponsorship as a hook to drive sales.
Sample/display brand attributes
Sponsorship allows companies to showcase product benefits. On-site sponsor kiosks
permit spectators to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear sponsor products.
Targeting
Sponsorship allows companies to hone in on a niche market without any waste.
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There are several issues associated with corporate sponsorship of sport including
ambush marketing, tobacco company tie-ups, and sponsorship during bleak economic
times – each are briefly addressed.
Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing refers to the intentional efforts by a non-sponsor to counteract or
disrupt the effectiveness of a rival company’s official event sponsorship platform.
Official sponsors and sport property managers consider ambush marketing to be unethical
and poor form. In a highly competitive, profit motivated marketplace, others argue that
ambush marketing is a necessary business strategy.
Sport properties have gone to extreme lengths to protect their sponsors from
ambush marketing tactics, including removal of billboard advertising of non-sponsors
near sport venues, and prohibiting spectators from wearing clothing or other items that
bear the name of non-sponsors.
Tobacco Sponsorship
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There is a mismatch between the addictive nature of nicotine and other negative health
risks of tobacco products and the positive benefits of sport participation, yet sport has
been the most popular sponsorship forum for tobacco companies prior to 2008.
Governments in Europe and North America 2005: Formula 1 severed ties with tobacco
sponsors in 2004 (i.e., Marlboro Racing Team); NASCAR ended its association with the
Phillip Morris Company (i.e., Winston Cup Series) and women’s professional tennis
found a new title sponsor, dropping Virginia Slims for Kraft. Tobacco advertising is now
banned in and near sport stadia in the U.S. and most countries around the world including
India.
Sponsorship in a Recession
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The economic recession in North America has hit motor sport sponsorship the hardest. In
the midst of bankruptcy, massive employee layoffs, and federal government bailout,
General Motors severed ties with Tiger Woods, withdrew its sponsorship of the 2009
Super Bowl, and scaled back its automobile racing sponsorships. Elsewhere, Bank Credit
Suisse terminated its sponsorship of Formula One team BMW Sauber, having sponsored
the team since 2001. ING will end its F1 sponsorship in 2010. Subaru and Suzuki
withdrew from the 2009 World Rally Championship due to economic pressures.
However, some companies have come off the sidelines and into the sponsorship game
during the recession. Richard Branson’s Virgin has come on board as sponsor of Brawn
GP.
CASE STUDIES:-
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The following section offers two examples illustrating the power of sport sponsorship in
india. The first concerns with the Indian Premier League (IPL) for cricket, one of the
world’s most profitable sport properties. The second vignette pertains to the Board of
Control for Cricket in india (BCCI) and its rise to prominence and profitability through
corporate sponsorship.
1:- Indian Premier League
Sponsors’ dream; Spectators’ delight
IPL has emerged as a sports entertainment phenomenon like never witnessed before by
an Indian spectator; the sheer magnitude of deals struck under the IPL Sponsorship
Offerings umbrella is astounding! All these revenues fall under the Central Pool, 40% of
which will go to IPL, 54% distributed to franchisees and 6% to prize money. The money
will be distributed in these proportions till 2017, after which the share of IPL will be
50%, franchisees 45% and prize money 5%.
World Sport Group (WSG) won the marketing rights from BCCI for their sporting
extravaganza- the Indian Premier League by committing a whopping $1.026 billion
spread over 10 years. WSG India is a part of the Singapore-based WSG, a global sports
management, marketing and media company.
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Venu Nair, president (South Asia), World Sport Group, said, “Ground signage’s
provide continuous visibility to the sponsors throughout the match, unlike the short
television commercials which come and go in a flash. We have a method whereby we can
show exactly where and how the advertisers will get visibility for their brands” (Business
World June 2008). According to an internal study done by WSG, an average cricket
match gets a TRP (television rating point) of 5 to 6, while the IPL matches are expected
to enjoy double the TRP, in the range of 7 to 10 every match. The company would
achieve such a high rating by having live entertainment shows before, after and
throughout the matches, produced by each of the franchisees. These shows would include
performance by Bollywood stars and artist. “This would mean a perfect marriage of
Bollywood and cricket, as both are the most popular forms of entertainment in India,”
said Nair.
Unlike the earlier practice of allowing several sponsors in the same category to
advertise on the cricket ground, these deals will allow the sponsors to have an exclusive
presence in their business category. This would reduce the clutter of brands displayed on
the ground. A sponsor such as Hero Honda, for example, would be the only automobile
company to advertise on the ground. These deals do not include the 30-sec television
commercials spots. Those would be sold by Sony Entertainment Television, which has
won the rights to broadcast IPL.
WSG will also develop a special application for the mobile users. The users will be
able to download this value-added service (VAS) on their mobile and get live updates on
the matches.
The number of brands an average Indian Consumer has been exposed to through
the first two seasons of IPL has been remarkable. Moreover, the viewership which the
television channels have experienced has been unprecedented as reflected by their TRP
ratings. What this has meant is unparalleled exposure opportunities for a swarm of brands
on board.
2:- BCCI
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From Rags to Riches
Cricket is the unofficial national sport of India and the Board of Control for Cricket in
India, or BCCI, is the apex governing body for cricket in the country.
In the last 20 years, Indian cricket — like India itself — has been transformed.
With the arrival of global television networks, mass-media coverage and multinational
sponsors, cricket has become big business and India has become the economic driving
force in the world game. For the first time, a developing country has become a major
player in the international sports arena.
The wealth that BCCI is enjoying right now is astronomical and its income for the
year 2008-09 is Rs 1000.41 crores. Things were not the same 2 decades ago. This kind of
success was made possible by one man: Jagmohan Dalmiya. It was in 1979 that Dalmiya
first stepped into the corridors of power of the BCCI along with his friendturned- foe I.S.
Bindra. He became treasurer in 1983; the year the Indian cricket team won the World
Cup.
Dalmiya, along with Bindra, can claim the credit for gaining the right to stage the World
Cup in India in 1987, which brought big money into the subcontinent. Even then, BCCI
books showed a deficit of Rs 81.60 lakhs in the early 1990s and things started looking
bleak. It was then Dalmiya became the Secretary of BCCI and led the commercialization
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of the game through the ‘television rights revolution’ at that time, and recorded a profit
within a year.
Since then BCCI has never looked back and the present status of this elite Cricket
Board finds it to be the richest Cricket body in the world.
As discussed, sport sponsorship has evolved significantly over the years,
transforming into a multi-million dollar industry worldwide. The wave of sponsorship
which had hit the Indian sporting arena in various forms – IPL(Indian Premier League),
PHL(Premier Hockey League) and NFL(National Football League) etc – taking sports to
an altogether different level. In addition, athlete endorsements have also scaled new
heights of late. The multi- million dollar transfer fees exchanging hands in the world of
soccer is a fact well known. This has offered marketers newer avenues to market their
brands by associating with some of the most lucrative sporting personalities that appeal to
a similar consumer base as that of their products and with images aligning with that of
their offering.
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6. SPORTS AND MEDIA:- A DEFINING RELATIONSHIP
Sports and media Sports and the media, two of the most important elements in contemporary society, are
interdependent on each other to prosper and are also deeply ingrained in our daily lives.
Sports influence our daily lives by playing a significant role in our socialization and
entertainment. The growth of sports in the last few decades is mainly due to the
proliferation of the media (television/newspaper) is to every household. Sports media
have also bridged the differences among nations, leading to globalization. However,
media does not mean only television and newspaper but also, magazines, books, movies
and the Internet. It is also pertinent to note that since media coverage is driven by power
and wealth, the images shown, and broadcasts will generally be consistent with these
factors. Extensive media coverage has shaped the growth of sports persons, in turn
leading to a growth in revenue to the sports person, media and advertisers alike. The
positive growth circle will encourage more people to look at sports as a source of
livelihood and not only recreational activity.
Do sports depend on the media? Does the media depend on sports?
In reality, they have a reciprocal relationship, depending on each other. Sports produce a
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unique form of news and entertainment. Media coverage of sports enhances enjoyment of
daily life. However, it has to be kept in mind that mass media does not shape sports, but
rather intensifies and extends the process and effects of commercialization of sports.
They bring us information, interpret it for us and entertain us. This process “re-presents”
reality. As Real and Mechikoff (1992) state, specific media technology and commercial
advertising provide the structure through which the public accesses media sports.
Sporting events are becoming more common in society because of media, that provides a
connection between sports audiences and favorite teams and athletes. Sports have many
dimensions, not just the shape presented by the media. And there is much more to the
media than sports. In newspapers, there is more daily coverage of sports than any other
single topic elsewhere in the edition. Televised sports events, a major part of
programming, have continued to gain advertising revenue. A number of channels are now
exclusively dedicated to sports and sports events – focused media packages satisfying
people’s demonstrated needs.
THE NEXUS
The word nexus has its etymological roots in Latin and is a derivation of the word
nectere, which means to bind. In essence a nexus is a connection, bond or tie between
two or more things. The use of the word nexus in the project is deliberate. It is meant to
signal that sport and the media are not two separate industries that have been juxtaposed
coincidently. Rather, their evolution, particularly throughout the twentieth century, has
resulted in them being inextricably bound together. Furthermore, the word nexus can
refer to the core or centre. In this respect the use of the word nexus is meant to illustrate
that the relationship between sport and the media is at the core of contemporary sport.
Whether in reference to the way in which children are socialized through sport, the power
of player associations and unions, or the use of talent identification programmes to foster
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elite development, the relationship between sport and the media is likely to reside at the
very centre of the issue or problem. Thus, the sport media nexus refers to the relationship
between sport and the media industry generally, the relationship between sport and
specific media institutions such as television, the relationship between sport and media
employees such as journalists and finally, the ways in which sport is presented in specific
media texts, such as a radio broadcast or newspaper article.
NEXUS
FIGURE 1.1 SPORT MEDIA NEXUS 1
Figure 1.1 represents the sport media nexus in its most basic form. In this diagram, the
sport and media industries are represented as two equal partners and the nexus is the
point at which they intersect. Although simple, Figure 1.1 also illustrates that not all of
sport is part of the nexus. Rather, a proportion of sport is mediated. Similarly, not all
media is sport related. However, this diagram does not represent the reality of much elite,
professional and competitive sport, nor does it represent the importance of the media in
daily sport consumption.
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FIGURE 1.2 SPORT MEDIA NEXUS 2
In this respect the nexus is more accurately represented in Figure 1.2. Elite and
professional sport is enveloped by the media. In this case sport might accurately be
described as media sport, because without the nexus or bond between the two, the
product would not exist. Consumers of sport must necessarily consume a mediated
product. As the sport media nexus develops, the amount of sport consumed by the media
increases (the circles in Figure 1.1 move closer together), as does the commercial
importance of sport to the media (the black circle in Figure 1.2 grows larger).
WHAT IS DRIVING THE SPORT MEDIA NEXUS?
Sport nor the media are static industries and their relationship has enhanced both the rate
of change and the fluidity of each at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The
following identifies a series of drivers that influence sport, the media and the relationship
between the two: technology, commercialization, convergence and globalization.
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Technology
Technological change has been a key driver in the relationships between the media and
all aspects of society, not to mention the nexus between sport and the media. In simple
terms, the transition from newspapers to radio, to television and then to the Internet
illustrates a rapid development in communication technology. In turn this development
has had an impact on access for consumers, as well as power and influence for owners
and operators. As a result of technological change, in a relatively short period of human
history, a transformation has occurred. People who were previously limited to
information that related to their local surrounds now have access to information on a
global scale. The currency of this information was previously bound or constrained by the
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lack of technological development. Whereas information might have taken days or weeks
to reach its audience, through advances in mobile technology in particular, this
information is now effectively immediate.
Commercialization
The relationship between sport and the media is not predicated on benevolence or
generosity. The media does not report on sport as a function of public service, nor does
sport provide the media with access merely to increase public awareness. Rather, the
sport media nexus is driven by commercial forces. Since the late 1960s sport has become
a commercial vehicle for media organizations, sponsors and advertisers. As a result,
professional sports in particular have become increasingly wealthy, as well as dominant.
Professional athletes and teams are often referred to as products, properties, commodities
or businesses. Professional football teams in Europe such as Manchester United in
England, Real Madrid in Spain and AC Milan in Italy are estimated to have annual
revenues of between US $250 million and US $1,250 million. By any measure these are
significant businesses. Importantly, their wealth has been driven by the media. Where
their revenue was once derived primarily from match or gate receipts, they are now
dependent on broadcast rights or commercial sponsorship that is directly proportional to
the amount of media coverage they generate. Professional sport is now a commodity that
can be bought and sold by the media, as well as a vehicle through which other businesses
can promote and sell their products.
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Globalization
It could be argued that globalization is the most important driver of the sport media
nexus, however, it is more useful to view technological change, commercialization and
convergence as drivers that have all led to the increasing globalization of media and sport
media. Without advances in technology and increases in access to information,
globalization would not have occurred to the extent that it has. The commercial
imperative behind the sport media relationship has driven sports and media organizations
to find and then reach new markets, often on the other side of the world, while the rise of
media conglomerates has facilitated, not hindered globalization. It should be noted that
there are other important factors that have had an impact on globalization, such as
economic trade, labour migration and the ease of international travel. However, the media
remains the most important driver of globalization in the world today. The media is both
an essential feature of daily life and the most tangible indicator of globalization.
At one level globalization has driven and accelerated changes in the relationship
between sport and the media, while at another level sport and its media partners have
played an important role in the globalizing process. Sports like cricket and rugby union
created World Cups to determine a world champion in the sport every 4 years, despite the
fact that only a handful of nations are proficient at an international level. World
championships such as these are the direct result of the global appeal of sport, as well as
the increasing amounts of revenue available to sports through broadcast rights
agreements. On the other hand, sport has been used as a conduit of globalization. The
popularity and appeal of the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games are examples of
the impact of sport and sport media in the globalizing process.
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ARTICLES RELATING TO SPORTS MEDIA:-
“An Overview and Development of Sports and Media”
Sports and the media, two of the most prevalent elements in contemporary society, not
only rely on each other to grow but have become an essential part of an individual’s life.
Sports have become the revolving point of entertainment and topic of discussion at social
gatherings. The growth of modern sports is considered to provide an interesting example
of globalization. Sports not only provide an attraction to bring people together, but they
also work to attract media involvement. The media includes not only broadcasters but
also newspapers, magazines, books, movies, and the Internet. The media often serves the
interests of people who have power and wealth, usually emphasizing images and
messages consistent with dominant ideologies. The impact of global processes on sports
may emphasize either globalization or processes such as modernization and post-
modernization, as well as cultural imperialism and cultural dominance (Donnelly, 1996).
Through television and the other media, we can appreciate the outstanding performances
of elite players and athletes. This process will get more people involved in sports,
bringing more media participation, creating a positive circle. More the sports broadcasts,
the larger the audience involved in sports.
“Sports in India: As an Entertainment Industry”
It draws attention to the fact that sports and television media channels are deeply
rooted in the Indian culture and have been a part of life for the Indians. Enthusiasm for
sports has also been part of the development of sporting activities and proliferation of
sports channel. Although India has adopted much of the modern day sports including
Cricket, Hockey and Lawn Tennis etc., yet Cricket remains the most popular of all the
sports played and followed in India. Today, sports and media have become multi billion
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dollar industries that cater to the entertainment of millions of sports enthusiasts. The
Indian sports and electronic media industry are growing at a tremendous pace with
Cricket leading the industry in a big way. Sporting events have become a very huge
marketing platform involving mind boggling amounts of money and high audience
support. Sports channels have contributed to the growth of sports as a major
entertainment industry. Sports magazines and portals have also contributed to the growth
of the industry in the country.
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Unbalanced Sports Coverage in the Indian Media
Case Study: Sportstar
1. SCOPE
The aim of this article is to show the unbalanced sports coverage prevalent in the Indian
media (online, television, print), by means of a case study of the leading English
language Indian sports weekly Sportstar that is published from Chennai.
This article focusses on the cover stories of Sportstar in 2002 and 2003. Cover stories
have the benefit of prominent real estate on the magazine cover, a couple of in-depth
articles inside the magazine, colour photographs accompanying the text, and sometimes,
a related editorial, interview or poster. A star or a sport gets much more exposure when
featured on the cover than when hidden as an ordinary article in the inside pages of the
magazine.
This article makes occasional references to the weekly magazine Sports Illustrated of
USA. The context of these references is print media coverage of sports in USA and India
using the comparable medium of leading sports weeklies, and is not meant to serve as a
springboard for a broader discussion topic such as sports culture or sporting infrastructure
of USA vis-à-vis India.
Having defined the scope of this article, the following case is being made against
Sportstar magazine:
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Sportstar ignores Indian sportswomen
Sportstar neglects non-cricket Indian sports
2. SPORTSTAR IGNORES INDIAN SPORTSWOMEN
a. Sportstar ignored Anju Bobby George
In August 2003, female long jumper Anju Bobby George became the first Indian athlete
ever to win a medal, a bronze, at the World Athletics Championships, with a leap of 6.70
metres.
Ignoring the significance of this effort, the 5 Sportstar issues in August 2003 featured a
total of 10 foreigners on the covers (Beckham, Anna Kournikova, Clive Lloyd, Steve
Waugh, Mike Brearley, Hanse Cronje, Graeme Smith, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and
Shane Warne).
b. Sportstar ignored Indian women's hockey
The Indian women's hockey team won the 2002 Commonwealth Games hockey gold in
Manchester and the 2003 Afro-Asian Games hockey gold in Hyderabad. In both cases,
the Indian team upset much stronger teams like England, South Africa, New Zealand and
South Korea en route to the titles.
Should not Indian women's hockey's double-triumph on the world stage be deserving of a
cover story? Many of India's women hockey players are tribals from the Jharkhand-
Sundergarh area of India, who came up the hard way in sports, and in life itself. Can't
Sportstar do a human interest story on our tribal golden girls?
3. SPORTSTAR NEGLECTS NON-CRICKET INDIAN SPORTS
a. Sportstar neglected Indian football
Baichung Bhutia's team, East Bengal, was the first ever Indian club team to win an
international tournament on foreign soil, when they won the LG ASEAN Club
Championship on July 26, 2003. Baichung was voted the Player of the Final and the
Player of the Tournament, scored an incredible 9 goals in 5 matches, and then went on to
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sign a 2-month contract with Perak FC of Jakarta and an endorsement deal with Nine
Yards, a marketing firm in Mumbai.
Instead of doing a cover story on Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia in its
subsequent August 2-8, 2003 issue, Sportstar instead did a cover story on footballer
David Beckham, with the cover line being 'Celebrity like no other'. Sportstar has got its
priorities wrong. For Indian football fans, Baichung is a celebrity like no other, only then
followed by Beckham and others.
b. Sportstar neglected Indian hockey
The Indian junior hockey team, with budding stars like Gagan Ajeet and Jugraj Singh,
won the Junior World Cup in Australia in 2001. En route to the title, India beat strong
teams like Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Argentina.
However, the cover stories of Sportstar around the time of the Junior World Cup
(October 9-21, 2001) were devoted to India's cricket tour of South Africa. On what basis
did Sportstar highlight an Indian cricket team that lost matches to Kenya and South
Africa in the tri-series, while ignoring an Indian hockey team that won the world
championship?
4. CONCLUSION
As its responsibility to Indian sports, Sportstar should highlight a wider range of sports,
and put more Indian non-cricket stars, both male and female, on its covers and posters.
Sportstar can do that by not blindly giving the top spot to cricket on its covers, posters
and lead articles, regardless of whether India is playing or not, regardless of whether
India is winning or not, and regardless of whether cricket is in the season or not.
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7. FUTURE SPORTS MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
The main challenge for the sport manager of the future, from this perspective, is to be
culturally sensitive, and not only seek the ways in which sport can be introduced in new
markets, but also ensure that a particular sport can be linked to the (cultural) sporting
needs of that market.
Six key market segments for sport consumption will play a major role in the future
and also in order to present an overview of the type of products that will be consumed in
the sport marketplace of the future. These products will have major implications for sport
managers in regard to what they manage, and how they manage it.
1. Sport Entertainment
2. Sport Quality
3. Sport Fantasy
4. Sport Identity
5. Sport Tradition
6. Sport Conscience
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SPORT MANAGEMENT CHALLNEGES
1. Sport entertainmentSport consumers have an increasing emotional need for adventure, as evidenced by the
escalation of activities such as bungee jumping and extreme sports. People do not attend
sporting contests merely to watch the game ment. Sport consumers of the future can be
better entertained by satisfying their need for adventure, which will ultimately lead to
some form of participation in the game. In other words, in order to realize their emotional
peak they must have some influence on the game. If interactivity is the key to success,
then new technology will be used and applied to facilitate a spectator’s emotional
connection to the sport product by engaging them in a variety of ways. In the future,
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super technology may well lead to a situation where people can artificially experience
what it means to perform at the highest level of sporting achievement. For example, a
sport consumer may be able to run the 100 metre Olympic final against the stars of the
past and present. They might simply ‘log in’ their brain and select from a range of
programmes which are on offer at the right price for the sport organization.
2. Sport fantasySport fantasy products are all about the satisfaction of people’s emotional need for
togetherness, about the creation of consumption situations that can bring people together.
At the heart of this emotional requirement is the desire for comradeship and direction and
the role that sport has played in migrant communities in building new communities and
facilitating friendship and social interaction through community sport. This is also true in
the arena of professional sport. In the future people will continue to select local sporting
clubs to get together and be drawn to winning teams because they provide a convenient
opportunity to experience the pleasure of togetherness. However, how sport managers
will communicate with those club members and fans will dramatically change, as will the
ways in which these people get together. It will not come as a surprise that the Internet
will provide mass market opportunities for the bigger sport organizations. For the club
members and fans it will provide a convenient way of communicating and participating
in fan forums with people from all corners of the globe, meeting and greeting online.
3. Sport qualityThe sport quality consumer segment is focused on satisfying the need for people to ‘care
about others’, combined with a sense of pure enjoyment of sport. Many people involved
in sport at all levels will seek quality sport experiences that reach a deeper level, where
they can fulfill their need to show they care intensely about their sport and the quality at
which it is played. For athletes to appeal to this group of sport consumers, they need to
care as well. Athletes increasingly realize that they should be viewed and positioned as
‘good corporate citizens’ and this is of particular interest to the sport managers of the
future. They are required to balance the need to maintain the sports’ and athletes’
integrity and purity with the pressure to make the sport as commercially attractive as
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possible in order to secure operating funds. It is noted that ‘where economic imperatives
drive the amount of money associated with sport and force the evolution of new “elite of
elite” leagues, and foster the development of super athletes to perform in these
competitions, the sport quality segment will happily consume sport. [Superathletes, by
the way, will not simply be “the best” in the way that today we look up to Ian Thorpe,
David Beckham and Annika Sorenstam. The athletes of the future will be genetically
modified and surgically adjusted “freak” athletes, and increasingly, overambitious
parents will be in a position to medically “select” their preferred “child athlete”.]
However, where these pressures erode the quality of the game, or manipulate it to an
extent that the pure element of the game is lost, then the segment will react
unfavourably’. Sport managers, beware!
4. Sport identitySport identity is about satisfying the emotional need to answer the question ‘who am I?’
Jensen (1999) refers to this as the ‘who-am-I’ need, and sport fans have a history of
eliciting a sense of identity and meaning from their association with sport teams and
clubs. For the sport manager of the future to successfully operate in the market for sport
identity, he or she has to look beyond the focused sport watchers who closely follow the
state of the game and their team, and who are obsessed by the most trivial team-related
information. What they really are looking for is self-definition. The team or club needs to
offer opportunities for a personal identity to be merged and moulded with a club or a
supporter group. But in a world of hyper commercialism these sport consumers can also
be easily alienated. If sport managers interfere with the identification process in ways that
are harmful to the sport consumer, for example, when fans are locked out of venues in
favour of corporate ticket holders and hospitality services, there will be a distancing of
the fan from their beloved club, and a consequent weakening of their identity.
5. Sport traditionSport organizations have always placed great importance on their heritage and history
and in the DreamSport Society there is a particular segment of consumer who wants to
satisfy the emotional need relating to ‘peace of mind’, or in other words, reminiscing
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about the good old days. In a way they are the sporting traditionalists, usually older
spectators who are sophisticated in the way they assess the value of sport participation
and sport watching. They will become interested when sport can offer them a chance to
re-ignite past values. This is why commercialism and corporatization can disenfranchise
them. On the other hand, commercial exploitation of sport in the form of corporate
hospitality, for example, can offer some of the special treatment that the traditionalist
needs to satisfy their sense of personal service and value.
6. Sport conscienceThe market segment of sport conscience is a reflection of the emotional requirements of
consumers who are more interested in the big picture, rather than only looking at sport or
clubs themselves. Sport conscience consumers have a sincere desire to accomplish
something worthwhile that affects people in more ways than merely enjoying playing or
watching sport. Sport conscience consumers are on a mission to serve their communities
and in this context, are concerned with the needs of others in their association with sport.
They participate in sport at all levels of involvement (play, manage, govern, watch, etc.)
to please others and to contribute to the community interest.
The sport conscience segment includes the mothers and fathers who bring the half-
time tea or oranges, provide the taxis and coach the team, to the individuals who turn up
to the local game because the team ‘needs the support’, or because they view it as a
manifestation of their community pride. The ‘morally righteous’ needs of sport
conscience consumers often are fulfilled by being able to create and deliver benefits to
the community, or at least to people other than themselves. Sport is their ‘charity’, and to
express their conscious mind they will only purchase the shoes that were manufactured in
‘appropriate’ circumstances, consume healthy, organically grown foods and attend
sporting contests and events that show themselves to be worthy community contributors.
These consumers may well become the leaders of popular sport opinion and turn into the
moral sport knights that guard the pure domain of sport, actively working against
movements in which performance enhancing drugs are becoming the norm rather than the
exception.
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8. SPORTS MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATIONS.
INDIAN SQUASH PROFESSIONALS
HISTORY
BACKGROUND: – ISP(Indian squash professionals)
Indian Squash Professionals (ISP), a non profit making organization, was formed by Mr.
Mahendra Agarwal in 1993, with the sole aim of promoting the game of squash in India .
In January 1993 ISP conducted the first ever squash tournament (since 1947) only for
Professionals, or Markers as they are known in India , and also the first Doubles squash
tournament in Hotel Leela, Mumbai.
From January 1993 till date, ISP has organized 92 tournaments, 35 free coaching
camps all over India (Rajkot, Jodhpur, Mussorie & interiors of Maharashtra) and adopted
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five players (Arif Paul, Deepali Anvekar, Priyanka Yadav, Abhishek Pradhan and Ankita
Sharma).
ISP has its own website, www.ispsquash.com, which is the only active squash
website in India. This is updated daily and receives about 150,000 hits each month. ISP
also publishes a news magazine, "PROSQUASH", which is distributed to 3000 squash
players free of cost and read by 15,000 squash lovers throughout the country. This
magazine has completed 51 issues.
ISP was instrumental in introducing several well-known squash coaches from
countries like Egypt , Canada & Pakistan to India . Jahangir Khan's coach Rahmat Khan
(Pakistan) was the first to conduct a coaching camp in the year 1997 followed by Abdul
Shaikh (Canada), Sammy Farrag (Egypt), Hanny Ezzat (Egypt), Khalid Atlas Khan
(Pakistan), Tarek Solemn (Egypt) and Ahmed Yosef (Egypt).
GOVERNMENT RECOGNITION:
ISP was also instrumental in getting the Government of Maharashtra’s State recognition
for Squash in May 2000, in association with Squash Racquets Association of
Maharashtra (SRAM).
ISP, in association with SRAM, has spread the game of squash to the interiors of
Maharashtra (districts Nanded, Beed, Satara, Pimpri, Kolhapur , Solapur, Aurangabad ,
Thane & Nashik) through coaching camps, tournaments and building squash courts with
the help of local Government officers.
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT:
ISP also helped Joshna Chinappa, who became the first Indian girl to win the British
Junior Open 2003 & is runners up in Under-19 World Championship 2005, get
sponsorship from SWITCHER through our Hon. Member Rakesh Lakhanpal, and
Government grant in 2005 with the help of late Mr. Sunil Dutt (Sports Minister,
Government of India)
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ISP has taken the initiative to import quality squash rackets from Taiwan and make them
available to the players at subsidized rates to promote the game.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:1. To create a Squash Culture in India
2. To produce a world beater from India
3. To identify talent and foster competitive spirit amongst the youngster by
supporting them to prepare them for participation in International events.
4. To enhance better working environment for our Professionals, who are the
backbone of Squash In India.
5. To promote Indian Squash through our mouthpiece “PROSQUASH”, India’s
only Squash Magazine.
6. To upgrade our already popular website www.ispsquash.com having news of
Squash in India/World.
7. To adopt talented youngsters through sponsorship.
8. To be helpful as mediators for any problems that may arise and threaten the
interests of the sport in India.
9. To create a world class infrastructure – viz. Squash Academy in Mumbai.
10. To provide exposure to international coaching by inviting coaches/physical
trainers to India and sending players abroad for coaching.
ACTIVITIES: Launching of PROSQUASH Magazine (India's leading squash magazine) : 11
Dec 1996
We Introduced Rahmat khan (coach to legendary Jahangir Khan former World no
1 ) : 7 Feb 1997
We Felicitated Akhil Behl 23 Jan 1998 (for winning the national championship)
ISP Launches 1st Website (www.squashindia.com) : 9th September 1998
Life Time Achievement Award (to Shyamlal Verma (14 times national champion)
& Others: 4 Feb 1999
ISP Launches Website (www.ispsquash.com) : 16th November 1999
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ISP-SRAM Jointly Associates in S quash Recognition in Maharashtra : 1 June
2000
Squash Rackets Federation in Gujarat
Felicitation of Vikram Malhotra for winning 3 international tournament : 5 Aug
2002
25th Issue of "PROSQUASH" : 15 Jan 2003
Booster Machine Introduced for the 1st time in India : 7th September 2003
ISP roped in Switcher to sponsor Joshna Chinappa.
ISP brought top foreign coaches like: Samy Farang from Egypt in May
2007, Hanny Ezzat from Egypt in July 200 7, Khalid Atlas Khan from Pakistan in
August & November 2007, Tareek Soleman from Egypt in Jan 2008 and Ahmed
Youssef (Physical Trainer from Egypt in Jan 2008) to train top junior squash
players from India.
The ISP have adopted a few sports prodigy who will be the future of the Indian sports in
the near future.
Squash prodigy adopted:-
1:- Arif Paul ( 2004 )
He has been India’s no 2 ranked junior in 2004. He was sponsored by ISP to play in
Professional Squash Circuit by Subhash Wali, director of Indian Squash Professional.
Paul played in England, Scotland, Germany and France. In German Open in May 2004 he
finished 11th in a field of 48 losing to German No 2.
In Scotland, he trained under Dr. George Meiras and played in interclub tournaments
there. Dr. Meiras emphasis on the mental aspects of the game benefited him. In the
French Junior Open in Strasbourg, Paul reached the semi-finals before losing to the top
seed Lars Harms, the Switzerland No. 1. He won the playoff for the third place, beating
Holland no 1.
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After his successful trip in Europe, Paul won the under- 19 nationals in India. He was
also the captain of Indian team for the World Junior Championship at Cairo. On the
basis of his performance he gained scholarship at Denison College, Ohio, USA.
Paul has also been successful in the US Circuit events. He won the Denison Open
defeating Omar Alvo of Columbia, becoming the first ever not to drop a game in the
final. In Chicago he won the Windy City Open beating Chicago pro Phil Yarrow 9-0/10-
9/9-3. He represented the city for Columbus in the national five team competition and
won all his matches at the number one spot. At present he is among the top 10 in
American University Ranking.
2:-Abhishek Pradhan
A champion is always born, seldom made. This proved true in
the case of Abhishek Pradhan, who drew praise from one and all
the moment he stepped on to the squash courts, even for the first
time, when he was a total novice at the game. The attributes that
were noticed were the tremendous power the ten-year-old
Abhishek packed into his shots, the manner in which his game
improved every time he stepped on to the court and his never-
say-die temperament.
Within no time, Abhishek was challenging the best in his age group and very soon he
had overtaken them to make the under-11 age group his personal domain. His never-
say-die attitude was much evident in two tournaments the youngster featured in
recently, where, in spite of suffering considerable pain from being hit by his rival's
racquets, he went on to win the title.
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Magazine launched
"PROSQUASH" the only squash magazine in India having readership of 15000 players
is being distributed to 250 Institutions, Schools, Colleges, Clubs & Hotels having squash
court/s and also to 3000 squash players throughout India at no cost. Its published
quarterly since December 1996 and it contains news regarding squash in India & World.
Website: http://www.ispsquash.com
The only active Website of Squash in India, which is being updated daily and it contains
all news regarding squash in India and World. It has 1,50,000 hits every month.
The Indian squash professionals are been in the squash fraternity for a very long time
now. They are doing their best to promote the game to a priority level in the minds of
the people.
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VISIT REPORT
Mr. Mahendra Agrawal Founder DirectorIndian Squash Professionals
“Its encouraging as we are seeing more and more multinational coming in for games other then cricket.”
Q.What is the future of the Business of Sports in India?
Its encouraging as we are seeing more and more multinational coming in for games other
then cricket. Like Vijaya Mallaya who spent 500 crore to buy force one, Lakhmi Mittal
trust have committed 40 crores in next 5 years to be spent on sponsoring players.
Q.What according to you are the areas of growth for the Squash in India?
At present major cities like mumbai, bangalore, chennai, delhi, Calcutta and in future
small cities like pune, nashik, thane, jaipur, jodhpur, noida, gurgaon.
Q.Should more Indian Co??s invest and focus on nurturing young sports talent?
Yes they should focus more on young sports talent since they are the bright future of
Indian sports and they will be able to show their talent at the highest level.
Q.Should companies focus on other athletes other than cricketers?
Yes at present they are only concentrating on cricket. We need more Indian companies to
invest in young sports talent in boxing, shooting, wrestling, football & athletics which are
being lag behind by cricket mania.
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Q.Should Squash be a part of Olympics and CW games.
Its already a part of Common wealth game in India 2010. The world squash body is
trying squash to be part of Olympic in 2016.
Q.How ISP is helping nurture young talent in India.
By adopting players and having more tournaments being held in Maharashtra and every
squash playing state so that the players can showcase their talent and also gain some
experience so that they can give their best at the international stage.
Q.What role the govt and private companies should play in developing sports.
The government should come out with a proposal that 1% of a companies turnover
should be given to sports other then cricket. If this could be made possible the Indian
sport will go places and could be a force to reckon with.
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CONCLUSION
As you may have noticed, there are a number of core management principles that
underpin the quality of sports management. When implemented, they will endanger a
culture of strategic thinking, continual improvement and customer focus. Several
environmental factors influence the way sport organizations operate, namely
globalization, government policy, professionalization, and technological developments.
The sport industry can be defined as comprising three distinct but interrelated
industries: the State or public sector, the nonprofit or voluntary sector, and the
professional or commercial sector. These sectors do not operate in isolation and often
engage in a range of collaborative projects, funding arrangements, joint commercial
ventures and other business relationships.
Effective human resource management in sport organizations relies on the
implementation of an interdependent set of processes. Good human resource management
allows sport organizations to deal with some of its unique and particular challenges, such
as the place of athletes in professional sport organizations and the large casual and
semipermanent workforces required by major events (annual or periodic). On the other
hand, poor human resource management can result in a workforce that is not only
uncommitted, but also subject to low levels of morale and job satisfaction. In short,
effective and systematic human resource management should be seen as an important
management tool in any sport organization, whatever the size or type.
Professionals best practice management in sport therefore requires a holistic
approach, where the interdependencies between processes are recognised and where, for
example , a change in marketing programs may require a strategic rethink, a budget
review, a staffing analysis and a change in organizational structure therefore the people
should take the ‘big picture’ approach and recognize that the role of the good sport
administrator involves not just the abilities to seize opportunities, but to also convert
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them into realisable programs that fit the resource base and parameters of their sporting
body.
The observations and research tell us that the best performing sporting enterprises
are those that are continually seeking out ways of doing things better, whether it is
running a major sport event, or managing the office arrangements of a state sports
governing body. Common sense is not enough to ensure a prosperous future. Common
sense may enable a club official to conduct a meeting in a moderately efficient manner.
However, it does not replace an effective strategic plan, a systematic human resource
management program or safety management procedures.
Sport can no longer be managed as if it was something set apart from the
commercial world, where all that matters is preserving a few old traditions and sporting
artifacts, organising a few tough disciplinary committees and enforcing anachronistic
dress codes.
Future challenges for sport managers in regard to strategic management,
organizational structure, human resource management, leadership, organizational culture,
governance and performance management. This discussion was founded upon the
principal factors that drive global change in the world of sport.
Finally I want to acknowledge this project’s limitations. It has not paid much
attention to the behavioural aspects of sporting organizations like morale and motivation,
interpersonal communication, networking, lobbying, group dynamics, leadership and
conflict management. It is not that these issues are unimportant, but rather that I have
focused on the foundation management practices that set the performance agenda. All the
interpersonal and people skills in the world will fail if they are not underpinned by best
practice tools and techniques.
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