Test 3

Sales Strategies: Up-Selling

"Escalator concept" - Sport organizations strive to move customers up the escalator from purchasing single-game tickets to miniticket plans to season ticket packages. • Sponsorship sales - Increase company's involvement with your sport organization. • Never be satisfied with simply renewing a customer at his or her current level of involvement.

CRM: Three primary methods

- Direct mail: Mail campaigns that reach only those people the organization wants to reach. - Telemarketing: Utilizes telecommunications technology as a part of the wellplanned, organized, and managed sales effort that features the use of non−faceto-face contact. - Personal sales: Face-to-face, in-person selling

5 Factors that Influenced Growth in Sport Agency

1. Evolution of players' associations - Through collective bargaining, the MLBPA negotiated the right for players to be represented by agents and labor grievance arbitration. 2. Reserve system: onset of free agency granted to players through the Messersmith-McNally arbitration decision 3. Need for tax and financial planning with increased salaries 4. Development of competing leagues created competition for players and thus higher salaries 5. Increased opportunity for athletes to increase income through endorsements with expansion of television and entertainment industries

Fees Charged by Agents - 4 Methods

1. Flat Fee Arrangement • Athlete must pay agent an amount of money agreed upon before the agent acts for the athlete 2. Hourly Rate 3. Hourly Rate with a Compensation Cap 4. Percentage of Compensation Method - Often covers negotiation plus all of the work related to the provisions of the contract over its term; most popular

3 common models of sport agency firms

1. Freestanding Sport Management Firm - A full-service firm providing a wide range of services to the athlete/client 2. Law Practice-Only Firm - Lawyer performs many legal tasks (contract negotiation, arbitration, legal counseling, dispute resolution, and the preparation of tax forms) 3. Sport Management Firm Affiliated with a Law Firm - Each fills a void by providing the services the other does not offer. • No set agency firm "blueprint"

History: Arenas

1927: Hockey owners followed the lead of baseball owners and built arenas to host their teams. • Needed to fill empty seats in arenas on nonhockey nights: Hosted boxing matches on some nights. • Basketball enters arena picture, and arena owners earn revenue from two tenants.

"Truisms" of the Sales Function

A sales staff needs to be trained and prepared to sell either a winning or a losing team. • The major emphasis should be on identifying and satisfying consumers' wants and needs instead of focusing simply on selling. • A priority needs to be placed on the collection and effective use of customer data. • Simply handing out free tickets to a sporting event sends a distinct message to fans about the perceived quality of the product: If it's free, it can't be worth all that much.

Sales Promotion

A variety of short-term, promotional activities that are designed to stimulate immediate product demand" (Shank, 2009, p. 312). • Efforts also aim at increasing brand awareness, broadening sales distribution channels for products or services, and getting new consumers to sample products or services

Broadcasting

A wide variety of broadcast outlets are available for sporting events. • Radio/television broadcasts add credibility to an event and provide increased exposure, benefiting sponsors. • If a broadcast outlet does not feel an event will be attractive to a large audience, limiting the ability to sell advertising time, then the outlet will not be willing to pay a rights fee to televise or broadcast that event. • Sport organization have begun to look at online sites (MLB.com, YouTube)

Facility Marketing: Marketing

Account for location of venue, culture of community, and production of events. • Internet has allowed easier booking of events. • Using online tools, the manager can quickly react to inquiries for available dates and can establish a routing for a program or show. • Saturated markets with several venues in the local vicinity. • Local economy will be driving force for ticket sales.

Advertising

Advertising expenditures are a very minor portion of an event's expenses. • Advertising sought through one of two means: (1) media sponsors, or (2) attachment to corporate sponsor advertisements. • Nearly all successful events sell sponsorships to media outlets. • In-kind sponsorships: Event provides the typical sponsorship benefits in exchange for a specified amount of free advertising space.

Athlete Contract Negotiation

Agent must be knowledgeable about the sport and the rules, regulations, documents (contract, collective bargaining agreement, constitution), and common practices of its governing body - In many cases, agents must pass standardize tests by the Players Association in order to represent athletes. - Example, NFL PA Certification • Agent must understand the value of the player's services. • Agents must administer the contract and ensure the parties comply with their contract promises - In some circumstances a lawyer must be present. • Negotiable Terms - Bonuses, deferred income, guaranteed income, a college scholarship plan, roster spots

Types of Public Facilities

Arenas - Indoor facilities that host sporting and entertainment events for one (or more) prime sports • Stadiums - Outdoor or domed facilities for baseball, football, and outdoor soccer teams. • Convention Centers - Built to lure conventions and business meetings to a particular municipality • University Venues - Consist of stadiums and arenas that operate under different economic factors. • Metropolitan - Venues located in large cities • Local Civic - Smaller capacity and are located in towns or small cities

Marketing the Athlete/Coach

Assess the athlete's current image and marketability. - Q Score • Develop a "branding" plan and polish client image. • Select endorsement opportunities that support the developing brand and are consistent with plan. • Keep in mind that client's career and public persona may be short-lived; with salary restrictions, market deals more important. • Be familiar with restrictions that may limit an athlete's or coach's marketing opportunities.

Top 10 Biggest Sponsors of Events and Sports

Barclay's Adidas GM Anheuser Busch MillerCoors Toyota Verizon AT&T Yum! Sprint

History: Modern Era

Baseball-only stadiums were becoming obsolete during the 1960s. • Team owners could make a great deal of money by having their host city build their stadium rather than building it themselves. • City leaders believed that publicly built stadiums were good investments and added to quality of life. • 1990s: Trend toward one-purpose stadiums again - Soccer specific stadiums (SSS)

Who was cited as the fist sport agent?

C.C. "Cash & Carry" Pyle worked with Susan Lenglen and Red Grange in 1920s

Agency Functions of Event Management

Client representation: Acting on behalf of a client in contract negotiations • Client marketing: Locating appropriate endorsement opportunities, booking appearances, and developing entertainment extensions • Event development and management • Meeting increased demand for television production and development work • Soliciting corporate sponsorships

Sales Promotion: In-Store Promotion

Companies often leverage sponsorships at retail level. • Premiums - Merchandise offered for free or at a reduced price as an inducement to buy a different item or items. • Contests/sweepstakes • Sampling - One of the most effective sales promotion tools to induce consumers to try a product • Point-of-sale or point-of-purchase materials - Used by marketers to attract consumers' attention to their product/service and their promotional campaign at the retail level • Coupons: Free-standing inserts (FSIs)

Financial Planning

Covers banking and cash flow management, tax planning, investment advising, estate planning, and risk management • Sport agents often attempt to take on this function without proper skills and training. - Doing so can lead to allegations of incompetence and negligence. • Disability insurance plans to protect athletes from career-ending injuries. • Recent surge of companies offering athletes predraft lines of credit.

Event Management Functions: Finance/Budgeting

Critical to successful sport event management • Budgeting attempts to predict revenues and expenses for a particular event • Zero-base budgeting: Review of all activities and related costs of an event as if it were the first time • Cash-flow budgeting: Accounting for the receipt and timing of all sources and expenditures of cash

Sales Strategies and Methods: CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) - A system that enables sport organizations to build and utilize a database of demographic and psychographic information, as well as past purchase behaviors, for existing and potential customers. - Demographics (e.g., age, gender, education level, occupation, ethnicity). - Psychographics (e.g., motivations, interests, and opinions). - Sales analytics are readily retrievable through CRM systems and software, dramatically changing the sales landscape. - Archtix, Flash Seats, and Prospector.

Tournament Operations

Divided into pre-event, actual event, and post-event • Pre-event: Determine type of event and the event's goals • Script: Specific, detailed, minute-by-minute schedule of activities throughout the event 1. The time of day and what is taking place 2. The operational needs (equipment and setup surrounding each activity) 3. The event person(s) in charge of each activity • Post-event: Activities surrounding completion of event

History: Reasons for Sponsorship Growth

Enable corporate marketers to reach specific segments, such as the following: - Heavy users, shareholders, and investors; or specific groups that have similar demographics, psychographics, or geographic commonalities. • Today, sport sponsorship has become a discipline involving serious research, large investments, and strategic planning. • Buying decisions have become much more sophisticated, requiring sellers to provide compelling business reasons to the prospective sponsor. • Return on investment (ROI)

Current Issues:Sport Sponsorship

Ethnic marketing - Sport organizations have begun to adopt strategies to target ethnic groups more effectively. • Over commercialization - Do consumers have an emotional threshold for accepting a constant bombardment of corporate names, logos, and messages? • Gambling - Sport organizations have embraced gambling (LGEs) as a growing source of sponsorship revenue.

Volunteer Management

Events from local races to the Olympic Games rely on volunteer help. • Volunteer management staff supervise the volunteers involved with an event. 1.Working with event organizers and staff to determine the areas in which volunteers are needed and the quantity needed. 2.Soliciting, training, and managing the volunteers

Sponsorship Packages: Sponsor Benefits

Exclusivity in one's product or service category • Official designations - Leagues and teams offer multiple designations tied to the sport and to the sponsor's product or service category • Rights to utilize the sport organization's intellectual property in advertising and promotion campaigns • In-stadium signage and promotional announcements • Access to tickets • Potential new business through access and opportunity

Facility Marketing: Facility Revenues and Expenses

Facilities generate revenues from tickets, luxury suites and club seating, concessions, parking, sponsorships, and rentals. • Primary expenses are mortgage and rent, maintenance and repairs, utilities, taxes, marketing and sales, personnel, and insurance (Ammon, Southall, & Nagel, 2010). • Ticket sales represent significant percentage of revenues. • Ticket Rebate: Surcharge on ticket that goes to facility. • Ancillary Revenue: Sale of food, beverage, parking, fees, and sponsorships. • Marketing Fund: Profits from other shows put aside to invest in future programs.

Facility Ownership and Management Staff

Facility ownership generally falls into three categories: 1) Community or state, which may have a "plethora of regulations and procedures in place" 2) Colleges, where "funding is based on continued student growth, gifts, and institutional subsidies" 3) Private facilities, whose motive is solely for profit (Farmer et al., 1996). • Management Staff Goal: To provide a clean, safe, and comfortable environment for patrons. • Functions: Security, cleanup, marketing and sales, scheduling and booking, operations, event promotions, and finance and box office operations.

Facility Financing

Federal government allows state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds. - Tax exemption lowers interest on debt and thus reduces the amount that cities and teams must pay for a stadium. • Convention centers are almost always publically financed. - Often by initiating or raising taxes on the state or local hospitality industry (e.g., hotel room taxes, restaurant meal taxes, and rental car fees). • From the 1960s through the early 2000s, professional sport venues of the Big Four (MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL) have cost approximately $24 billion, with 64% of this being funded through tax dollars (Crompton, 2004; Crompton, Howard, & Var, 2003).

Registration

First time event staff members come into contact with participants • Registration system: Crucial for making a good first impression on clientele • Determining information that needs to be collected and disseminated during the registration process

Types of Agencies

Full-service agencies perform the complete set of agency functions (e.g., IMG, Octagon). • Specialized agencies limit either the scope of services performed or the type of clients serviced (e.g., Redmandarin). • In-house agencies are formations of separate departments or divisions dealing with event management within major corporations.

Sponsorship Platforms

Governing body sponsorship - Entails securing "official sponsor" status • Team sponsorship - Appropriate platform for local/regional companies or companies with smaller marketing budgets • Athlete sponsorship - Involves some type of endorsement of the sponsor's product or service

Current Issues: Unethical Behavior

Great deal of criticism and a public perception that the behavior of those in the agent profession is excessively unethical. • Five key problems in the profession: 1. Income mismanagement 2. Incompetence 3. Conflicts of interest 4. Charging of excessive fees 5. Overly aggressive client recruitment

Sponsorships Trends

Green Partners program today numbers over 20 companies ranging from Eaton Electrical (which supplies electric vehicle-charging stations) to MillerCoors (Mickle, 2013) • Social media space - Among the most active sponsors is the location-based social networking site Foursquare, which over the past several years has inked sponsorship arrangements with sport properties ranging from the U.S. Open Tennis Championships to the NFL, NHL, and Major League Soccer (MLS) (Botta, 2013).

Facility Financing Mechanisms: Taxes

Hard" and "soft" taxes - Hard taxes include taxes on local income, real estate, personal property, and general sales, and often require voter approval because the burden of payment becomes that of the public (Sawyer, 2006). - Soft taxes include added taxes to car rentals, taxis, hotels/motels, restaurants, "sin" (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.), and players (additional tax imposed on visiting professional athletes), and affects a much smaller portion of taxpayers, making it easier to levy (Sawyer, 2006).

Small Firms vs. Large Conglomerates (Large Firms)

In larger firms, the agent may be part of an international conglomerate representing many athletes in a broad range of sports. Advantages of large firms include: - Provide one-stop shopping for services - More history, reputation, and contacts - Have other star players - Increased bargaining position • A disadvantage may be that there is often a large stable of clients, and an athlete may feel like a "small fish in a big pond.

Sales Inventory: Advertising Inventory

Includes both electronic and print inventory • Electronic advertising inventory includes television, radio, and team Web sites. • Some teams have brought their television and/or radio rights in-house. • Team bears the production costs of its broadcasts but has the opportunity to retain all of the advertising sales. • Print inventory: In-game programs, media guides and newsletters, ticket backs, ticket envelopes, scorecards/roster sheets, and team faxes

Representing Individual Athletes

Income dependent on consistent performance in events, appearance fees from events, and the ability to promote and market athlete's image. • Agent often travels with athlete, tending to daily distractions so athlete can stay focused on playing. • Large firms doing individual representation are often involved in all aspects of the sport (event management/marketing, broadcasting, consulting). - Possible conflict of interest? • Olympic Movement is growth area. • Athlete branding important aspect of job.(No capped commission for Agent)

Sales Promotion: In-Venue Promotion

Increase the amount of "value-added" benefits that teams provide their paying customers • Traditional giveaways: Sponsor underwrites the cost of a "premium" item in exchange for its logo on the item and advertising support that pre-promotes the event • Continuity promotions: Require fans to attend multiple games to obtain giveaways • Success of promotion varies widely based on time of season, teams' win-loss record, day of promotion, opponent, and perceived quality of the item. • Incremental increase in fans

History: Reasons for Sponsorship Growth

Increased media interest in sports. • Companies can "break through the clutter" of traditional advertising. • Sponsorship can reach its target consumer through consumers' lifestyles

IMG

International Management Group began in 1960, Mark H. McCormack is the founder, began representing golfer Arnold Palmer

Cross-Promotion

Joining together of two or more companies to capitalize on a sponsorship is becoming increasingly popular and effective. • Creates more "bang for their buck" under the premise that two sponsors working together can generate more interest and awareness among targeted sport consumers. • Used to gain exposure in nontraditional and unexpected retail settings. • It has become increasingly important to think outside the box as to how sponsors can be joined to increase the overall effectiveness of sponsorship investments.

History of Event Management

Late 1800s: Focus turned to the professional aspects of managing sport events because of a desire to increase profits (Albert Spalding). • Barnstorming tours: The touring of star athletes and teams to promote the popularity of a particular sport. • Emergence of sport management/marketing agencies (i.e., IMG) initially established to represent the legal and marketing interests of athletes. • Agencies are businesses that act on behalf of a sport property (i.e., a person, company, event, team, or place). • Agencies have expanded to incorporate myriads of functions beyond representing athletes.

Evolution of Sport Agencies

Late 1990s saw creation of "uberagencies." - Convergence of entertainment and sport - Large firms bought up smaller firms to diversify. • SFX, Octagon - Some firms ultimately broke up due to internal strife. • 2000s saw rise of CAA and Wasserman. - Same strategy of buying up smaller firms - WME and Silver Lake Partners acquiring IMG for 2.3 billion in 2013

What Makes a Good Salesperson

Laugh: A salesperson needs a sense of humor. • Make sure sale makes sense for prospective customer. • Don't take rejection personally. • Know as much as you can about the sales prospect. • Sales is about volume—make a lot of calls and see a lot of people. • Knock on old doors. • Consult, don't sell. • Develop the art of listening. • Believe in what you're selling and believe in yourself. • Close the sale: Ask customers what they want.

Sponsorship Agencies

Many companies engaged in sport sponsorship outsource the negotiation and/or implementation of their sponsorship programs. • They rely on agencies because they do not possess the expertise, experience, or resources to negotiate and implement sponsorship programs

Facility Financing Mechanisms: Private

Many universities across the country go this route through their athletic development and fundraising departments. • Ways to gain private funding for a facility project include naming rights, food and beverage rights, luxury suites and premium seating, and advertising rights. • The University of Maryland was able to pen a 25-year agreement with Comcast Cable for the naming rights of its basketball arena (Howard & Crompton, 2004) • Private donors to university athletic departments also will provide funding and have their names placed on the new facilities.

Career Opportunities

Marketing Director • Public Relations Director • Event Director • Booking Director • Operations Director • Advertising, Sponsorship, and Signage Salesperson • Group Ticket Salesperson • Box Office Director

Sponsorship Platforms (cont.)

Media sponsorship - Companies that purchase advertising or programming during sport-related broadcasts • Facility sponsorship - Enables companies to tie directly to the event atmosphere • Event sponsorship - Tie directly to event atmosphere • Sport-specific sponsorship - Enables company to direct its sponsorship efforts to a specific sport

Facility Financing Mechanisms: Bonds

Money to build facilities usually obtained by issuing bonds. - Promise by borrower to pay back lender a specified amount of money, with interest, within specified time period. • Tax-exempt bonds used by government entities are available in two types, general obligation and nonguaranteed. • General obligation bonds: backed by the local government's ability to raise taxes to pay off the debt. • Funded AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, and the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa (Kurilo & Preston, 2012).

Event Management Functions

Nearly all event managers must oversee the following critical functions: - Finance/budgeting - Risk management - Tournament operations - Registration - Volunteer management - Event marketing

8 Main Functions of the Sport Agent

Negotiating and administering client contracts • Marketing the client • Negotiating marketing and endorsement contracts • Financial planning • Career and postcareer planning • Dispute resolution • Legal counseling • Personal care

Current Issues: Niche Sports

Niche sports are unique and appeal to a distinct segment of the market, whether defined by age, such as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y (the teenagers and 20-somethings of today), or socioeconomic class. • The most popular niche sport today may be UFC MMA, or Ultimate Fighting Championship Mixed Martial Arts. • With the exception of the action sports, many of these niche sports suffer from a lack of exposure and corporate support beyond their small demographic cohort.

Fundraising

Not-for-profit events can use fundraising as a means of revenue generation. • Most often, not-for-profit events center around raising money for some charitable enterprise. • Cause-related marketing efforts by corporations are another instance in which fundraising may be appropriate.

Registration Considerations

Number of participants who will be registering • Information that needs to be collected from or disseminated to the participants (e.g., waiver forms, codes for sportsmanship conduct, inclement weather policy, event schedule) • Registration fees that must be collected through the merchant gateway. • Whether identification is needed (e.g., regarding age limitations) • Collect information manually or via a software. • Whether the event involves minors, who require the signature of a parent or guardian on a waiver form

Facility Financing Mechanisms

Opportunities are available to combine private and public funding in order to build a new facility. • Denver voters approved to subsidize $300 million for the construction of a new football stadium for the Broncos while the ownership was required to provide $100 million of their own funds and cover the cost of any overruns (Crompton et al., 2003).

Sales Inventory: Naming Rights

Opportunity to sell entitlement of arena/stadium, practice facility, or the team itself • New phenomenon resulting in a significant new revenue stream for teams. • Includes clauses designed to ensure that sport organizations get back for free their ability to sell their facility's name if the purchasing company becomes insolvent

Sales Strategies and Methods

Organizations have recognized the need to expand and enrich their relationships with current and potential customers. • Critical determinants of success of a sales department: 1. The ability to accurately identify and understand the needs of potential and current customers. 2. The ability to maximize the generation of sales leads.

History:Sport Sponsorship

Origins traced back to ancient Greek Olympics • Increasing commercialization of modern sports has led to tremendous growth in sport sponsorship - $11.3 billion spent on sport sponsorships in 2009 • 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games - Watershed year in the evolution of sport sponsorship - "Less is more" sales strategy (President Peter Ueberroth) • Signed a limited number of companies to exclusive official sponsorship contracts - The first Olympic Games to turn a profit for the host city

Top 15 U.S. Sport Sponsors

Pepsi Coca-Cola Anheuser-Busch Nike AT&T GM Toyota MillerCoors Ford Verizon Sprint PG&E Bank of America FedEx UPS

Elements of Successful Customer Service Program

Personal calls, emails, and personal notes • Direct-dial phone numbers and email addresses given to each season ticket holder for contacting his or her personal service representative • In-seat visits by sales account reps in the arena • Maintenance of a customer sales and service booth in arena • Invitations to attend "Fan Forums" with the team's general manager and team president • A handbook or manual sent to season ticket holders describing the goals and values of the team's on-ice product

Fee Issues

Players' associations limit amount of agent fees. • Agent fee "ceilings" set between 3% and 6% • Fierce competition for clients has driven average fees down closer to 2%−3%. (Example, $10,000,000 Player Contract, agent gets = $300,000) • Limitation only exists for the fees the agents can charge for negotiating the athlete's contract, not for marketing deals. • Marketing fees charged by agents generally range between 15% and 33%. - Mclory $250 Million with Nike - Rose $260 Million Adidas - Woods $105 Million Nike

Sales Strategies: Benefit Selling

Promotion and creation of new benefits to offset existing perceptions of the sport product or service. • Understand which objections customers have to your product or service, and why. • Once benefits have been identified, they must be publicized and must be judged by the consumer to have worth or value. - Flex books and open houses

Sales Inventory: Additional Options

Promotions: Giveaway items, on/off field or floor experiences, scoreboard promotions, etc. • Community: School assemblies, camps, clinics, etc. • Miscellaneous: Fantasy camps, off-season cruises with players, venue tours, fanfests, and road trips • Creative development of new inventory, thus generating new revenue streams by selling companies the opportunity to associate with their sanctioned events

Event Management Functions: Risk Management

Protecting the organization from anything that could possibly go wrong and lead to a loss, such as financial loss, equipment or property damage, loss of goodwill, and loss of market share • DIM Process: Developing, implementing, and managing the risk management plan • Waiver and release of liability: Form signed by participants and volunteers that releases venue and event managers from negligence • Purchasing insurance: Provides security to an event regarding potential financial losses

History: Stadiums

Public assembly facilities have existed since ancient times. • Many facilities today bear the name of an ancient facility. • Gain in the popularity of modern sport, such as professional baseball and intercollegiate football, launched construction of stadiums. • Constraints of urban space limitations dictated the irregular sizes and shapes of the older ballparks (e.g., Fenway Park). • Early NFL teams played in baseball stadiums until new stadiums were built

Introduction: Facility Management

Public assembly facilities must be large enough to accommodate large numbers of people. • Facilities include arenas, stadiums, convention (or exposition) centers, theaters (or performing arts facilities), racetracks, and amphitheaters. • International Association of Auditorium Managers (IAAM) is the professional trade association for the facility management field.

Sponsorship Packages: League/Team Benefits

Rights fee • Multiyear commitment • Advertising commitment • Commitment to team-oriented promotions

Licensing/Merchandising

Sale of items that display an event's name or logo: Usually only beneficial for large, televised, multiday events. • Beneficial in a number of ways, including advertising and brand recognition of the event as well as a potential revenue source through sales generated • To cover the costs of inventory, staffing, and space allocation, significant sales must be achieved for the event to make a profit.

Introduction: Sport Sales

Sales function accounts for the vast majority of revenues for any sport organization. • Regardless of your position in the sport industry, it will entail some level of sales. • There has been a shift in emphasis from product-oriented to consumeroriented sales.

History of Sport Sales

Sales has developed into a dynamic discipline. • Certain myopias initially slowed the growth of the sports marketing profession. - One-size-fits-all packages, lack of foresight in marketing • Evolution of marketing occurred through increased competition for the entertainment dollar and through professionally trained sport marketers.

Sales in a Sport Setting

Sales: Revenue-producing element of marketing • Four ingredients to selling: - Identifying the customer - Getting through to the customer - Increasing awareness/interest - Persuading customers to act on their interest • Four factors that cause consumers to purchase: Quality, Quantity, Time, Cost • Selling point: The emotional presence and element of excitement that exists within sport

Selling Sponsorship Packages

Schedule a meeting with the sponsorship decision maker. 2. At the first meeting, listen 80% of the time and sell only when you have to. You are there to observe and learn. 3. Arrange a follow-up meeting for the presentation of your proposal before leaving this initial meeting. 4. Create a marketing partnership proposal. 5. Present the proposal as a "draft" that you will gladly modify to meet the company's needs. 6. Negotiate the final deal and get a signed agreement.

Sales Inventory: Ticket Inventory

Season ticket equivalencies 50% • Advance ticket sales 25% • Group sales 20% • Day-of-game/Walk-up sales 5% • Club seats, luxury seats complete with catered food service, private seat licenses (PSLs), and VIP parking, among others

Small Firms vs. Large Conglomerates (Small Firms)

Small firms find greater success representing athletes in one sport and focusing on one or two services for the athletes or coaches. • In smaller firms, an agent works alone or with a small group of employees. - Advantage may be that athletes receive increased attention and are actually represented by the person he or she originally signed a contract with. - Disadvantage may be that a solo agent often cannot offer as many services as a large firm

Current Issues: Agent Regulation

Sport agents today must maneuver through a maze of conduct-governing regulations. • Many organizational policies and by-laws regulate agents: - Players' associations • Agents register with unions and pay fee - States (43 currently have some form of regulation) - Federal government (SPARTA of 2004) - NCAA • Athletes can also seek recourse under tort, criminal, agency, and consumer protection laws.

Ticket Sales and Social Media

Sport organizations use social media to connect and engage with fans by sharing news, posting videos, and hosting contests. • They also are using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest to drive ticket sales. • Increasing reliance on social media in the sales process has also created many new entry-level sales positions.

Types of Events Hosted

Sport: Specific seasons, dates determined by league • Family: Disney, Nickelodeon, and Sesame Street shows; also ice shows • Concerts: Typically booked months in advance - Size, age of the arena, and the building's technology capacity can dictate the types of performers who will appear. • Trade Shows: Multiday events often in convention centers • Religious Events: Mass worships, often in the summer • Convocations: Graduations, speaking events

Ticket Sales

Sporting events rely on ticket sales to varying degrees. • For medium-sized and smaller events, ticket sales are a less effective way to generate revenues. • Ability to charge admission is dependent on where the event occurs and how easily the event manager can control entry to the event (e.g., golf). • Impact of technology

Career Opportunities with Sport Agency Firms

Sports Event Manager - Manage events owned by sport agencies • Sports Marketing Representative - Coordinates all of the marketing and sponsorship activities for sports properties • Sports Account Executive - The agency's corporate clients servicing their needs and leading sales and marketing efforts • Sports Agent - May perform just one function (e.g., contract negotiation) or may have many staff performing functions for clients

Why Cities Subsidize Sports

Sports facilities are thought to improve the local economy in four ways: 1. Building a facility creates construction jobs. 2. People who attend games or work for the team generate new spending in the community, expanding local employment. 3. Team attracts tourists/companies to the host city. 4. New spending has a "multiplier effect" as increased local income causes still more new spending and job creation.

Facility Marketing: Promoting

Task: Keep financial risks low and profit margins high • Co-promotional Model: Facility and promoters split the risk and revenue • Rental Agreements: Promoters pay specified amount up front and other costs covered by promoter • Majority shows brought by outside companies - Live Nation, AEG Live, Feld Entertainment

Why was it rare to have an agent until the 70s?

Teams generally refused to deal with agents athletes sometimes held out for more money (Koufax) No free agency until 1976, so little leverage to negotiate

Evaluating Sport Sponsorship (cont.)

The evaluation of sponsorships has become a necessary component of the sport sponsorship process. • Difficult to determine precisely how much incremental sales are directly attributable to a specific sponsorship program. • Many companies conduct periodic consumer surveys to determine ROI. • Companies often hire professional sport research firms to perform media evaluation research that examines corporate sponsorship and brand exposure through television and print media coverage of sports events (Performance Research).

Career Opportunities- Event Management

The event management field offers one of the most fertile areas for career opportunities. • To be successful in event management, one must be prepared to work long and typically inconvenient hours. • Careers in event management involve working with one of three types of organizations: sport management/marketing agencies, events, and charities

Representing Coaches and Management

The number of coaches (and even general managers) with agents is growing. - Increased income potential - Increased job movement - Added pressures on coaches to succeed - "Modern-day CEO" • Increased complexities of coaching may make having an agent to rely on for advice and counsel almost a necessity. - Financial Adviser - Contract Negotiator - Finds Sponsorships - Arranges Public Appearances

Sponsorship Activation

The sponsor commits financial resources in support of its sponsorship through promotion and advertising that thematically includes the sport property's imagery. • The oft-cited rule of thumb for activating a sponsorship is 3 to 1; that is, $3 in advertising/promotion support for every $1 spent in rights fees.

Sales Inventory: Signage Inventory

Traditional revenue streams include dasherboards, scoreboards, outfield signs, and concourses. • New revenue streams include the playing surface itself, the turnstiles, and the marquees outside the venue, among other locations

Facility Financing Mechanisms

Two types of taxable bonds issued by private entities: - Private-placement bonds - Asset-backed bonds • TIF - tax-increment financing - TIF is available in a specific square mileage of land around the facility (usually an urban area that has been identified for renewal or redevelopment) where the tax base is frozen and any additional taxes added are used to repay the TIF bonds (Sawyer, 2006). - For example, the KFC Yum! Center is owned by the Louisville Arena Authority, Inc. and is home of the University of Louisville men's and women's basketball teams and women's volleyball team, and is surrounded by a TIF district with a 6-square-mile radius.

Evaluating Sport Sponsorship

Vital due to growing financial commitments necessary to effectively activate sport sponsorship programs • No one exact formula for measuring ROI. • For ROI, companies use the following: - Internal feedback, sales/promotion bounce-back measures, print media exposure, television media exposure, primary consumer research, dealer/trade response, and syndicated consumer research

Introduction:Sport Sponsorship

What is sponsorship? - Cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that property • One of most prolific forms of sport marketing • Sponsorship fees often exceed $5,000,000 per year and are structured as multiyear deals • Provides a company with association, value, exposure, and opportunities to leverage their affiliation to achieve marketing objectives

Coach Contract Negotiation

When negotiating a contract for a college coach, an agent must be familiar with the sport, the NCAA and conference rules, any applicable state open records laws, and common concerns of collegiate athletic directors and university presidents. • Negotiable Terms - Duties and responsibilities, term of employment and tenure, compensation clauses, termination clause, buyout/release of contractual obligations by either side, support of the team by athletic program or ownership, support staff, etc.

Sales Inventory: Sponsorships

Why do you believe the targeted company would be a good fit for your organization? • The sponsorship sales process requires a great deal of up-front research, creativity, sales acumen, and patience. • Sponsorships often entail a much larger emotional and financial commitment on the part of the potential customer. • Process of selling sponsorship packages must allow the company sufficient lead time.

why is the sports agency industry highly competitive?

client pool is limited, many agents no clients significant consolidation (mergers and acquistions) has led to the evolution of major firms interpublic group

law of agency imposes

fiduciary duties on the sport agent

Sports agent

intermediary that markets talent and determines an athlete's worth in a market.

Areas for growth for representation

rep. of coaches and management personnel in pro sports and division 1 college programs Canadian Football League

large multiservice agency firms have evolved to include

sport marketing and global event management