Inning 1:

Singapore American School

The Pro Sports Product

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Has Sports Become a Business?

Of course, pro sports is a business …

Leagues and teams are selling a product that blends athletics, business, and

entertainment.

The Big Four American Sports

There’s plenty of fan crossover between sports, but

each of the “Big Four” — baseball, basketball,

football, hockey — has its own unique appeal.

BaseBall

BaseballThe Uniqueness of Baseball

“The sanguine baseball fan,” writes Washington Post columnist

Tom Boswell, “knows, of course, that his game, more than most, is not

about the final score. It’s about the stories along the way.”

(from left) Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig

season is Long.

Greatest Players Fail More than Succeed.

No Cheerleaders.

No Clock.

• Complaints– Out of sync with modern life– Football and Basketball better suited for TV as there is more

action. – Only middle aged and elderly still care

“Its beauties,” writes political columnist and baseball fan George Will, “are visible to the trained eye, which is the result of a long apprenticeship in appreciation.”

Baseball

• Modern economic realities have not always been kind to a leisurely paced game that requires an open-ended time commitment.

• Busy parents say they don’t have the time to just sit and watch a game. They want to pack as much entertainment as they can into their non-working hours.

Baseball

• The fact that baseball is out of sync with the rhythms of modern life may prove to be one of the game’s saving graces.

• If it can steer clear of labor squabbles and market its strengths more effectively—- two very big “ifs” - —baseball may yet win back the hearts (and the entertainment dollars) of fans seeking a haven in a hectic world.

Baseball

FootBall

Forget about “the stories along the way.” Winning is the

only thing. Football is war !

FootBall

The games are a tribal experience, a bonding ritual, a gathering of the clans.

FootBall

The Uniqueness of Football

Each contest means more in football than it does in other sports because the NFL’s regular season schedule is only 16 games long.

Sport Regular Season

Each game as % of season

Football 16 6.25%

Hockey 82 1.22%

Basketball

82 1.22%

Baseball 162 0.62%

FootBall

1 Game a week makes it a very social event. Perfectly suited for TV

FootBall

o Lots of Breaks in the action

o Set plays

o Hits and lots of action

o Lots of time for instant replay

o Even people who do not understand the rules would enjoy the atmosphere.

BasketBall

James Naismith never appeared in a sneaker commercial. He never heard of a slam dunk; probably never even saw a jump

shot. So why is he in the basketball hall of fame? Because all he ever did was invent the game.

BasketballHistory of Basketball

The 30-year-old physical education instructor had no idea what he was starting when he hung two peach baskets from the balcony

walls of a YMCA gym in Springfield, Massachusetts. He just wanted to relieve the boredom of his snowbound students during the winter

of 1891.

Basketball

Naismith’s creation has seen a lot of changes since the day when two nine-player teams— dressed in long sleeve wool shirts and full-length pants took to the floor

for the world’s first game of “basket ball.” The game that started out in gym class has transformed itself into a colossal money-maker that rivals the

popularity of baseball and football.

Basketball

But the transformation took a while. Fans and sportswriters in 1949 greeted the National Basketball Association’s first

season with a yawn. Even the league’s founders didn’t expect much. Many of them

were arena owners and sports promoters who were

happy just to fill a respectable number of seats when there was no boxing match, ice show, circus, or

rodeo in town.

Basketball

Finding a ticket was rarely aproblem. The games were low

key, low-scoring events. Theplayers were a collection of

no name gym rats and collegekids.

Most of them were white.All of them shot with twohands and kept both feeton the ground.

Basketball

Fast forward to 1992Professional basketball is now the very essence of the hip, glitzy, affluent side of urban American life.

Basketball

• NBA games feature high-flying action, high-priced tickets, and multiple celebrity sightings.

Basketball

• League officials have done a masterful job of marketing their product. They have used star power, slam dunks, the Dream Team, and sneaker chic to

capture the interest of fans from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

Basketball

• Containing labor disputes

Basketball

HOCKEY

• Economic Issues– Back in 1980 when the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team defeated the heavily

favoured Soviets and brought home the gold. The entire country celebrated, and hockey appeared to be headed into an era of renewed popularity and prosperity.

HOCKEY

– But the cheering faded, and the “Miracle on Ice” became just another sweet memory. Not long afterwards, basketball began the surge that transformed it into the dominant winter sport.

HOCKEY

– During the mid-1990s, hockey was again poised to make a comeback.

– A series of Disney movies—Mighty Ducks and its sequels—boosted the sport’s popularity with young fans, and colorful hockey jerseys started to catch on with the fashion conscious.

HOCKEY

• Then a long, bitter NHL labor dispute dealt hockey another setback.

HOCKEY

Hockey & TV• Hockey doesn’t come across

very well on TV.• The qualities that make the

game so enjoyable to watch at rink side:

speed,colorthe gritty courage of its playersThe puck is small, the action is fast

• TV people haven’t yet come up with the production techniques to capture the essence of the game

HOCKEY

• Dedicated Fans

CanadiansNew EnglandUpper MidwestSun Belt

HOCKEY

Is Canadian national game might be losing touch with its Canadian roots?

• What’s the outlook for hockey? The answer depends on how well the sport can play to its strengths. Savvy marketing and innovative TV production will help. But the real question seems to be whether the game can make the most of new opportunities such as the heightened popularity of women’s hockey and the developing synergy between ice hockey and street hockey

HOCKEY

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