Sport Management

first exam

What country is considered the birthplace of sport management?

The English Aristocracy

Why is the Aristocracy the birthplace?

The influence of the British Empire/Britain’s school system

Three Sport Management Building Blocks

Leagues, Clubs, and Professional Tournaments

2 main premises of Sport Management

Honesty and Inclusion

Who controlled clubs?

Most powerful people in society

Why were clubs created?

The need to control honest play

When was the Jockey club established?

1750

Responsibilities of the Jockey Club

Governed Thoroughbread racing

establish rules

determine eligibility

designate officials

regulate breeding

discipline rule-breakers

settle disputes

Thoroughbread Racing Audience

Very diverse, no admission

Made for entertainment, prestige > money

How did Thoroughbread Racing evolve

Need for a more complex club system because of the desire of owners to breed and train fast horses and the increasing complexity of gambling

1830s: Rail system allowed national competition

2024 study on how student athletes felt about gambling

Men defended gambling at a much higher rate than women. Both were under 30% in being uncomfortable about sports gambling.

NCAA 2023 survey found

1/20 students had lost more than 500$ gambling in a single day.

Black Sox Scandal

1919 World Series, the Chicago White Sox threw against the Reds for money

What percent of sports gamblers have watched sports more frequently since they started gambling?

63%

What percent of sports gamblers enjoy watching sports more when they have money on the game?

73%

Big 4 Leagues

NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA

Leagues

A group, organization, or alliance of people, teams, or nations joined together for a common purpose

William Hulbert’s same principles: Revenue Sharing, Higher Ticket Prices, Weighted Drafts, Player contracts, Player Codes of conduct, and Fan Codes of conduct

William Hulbert (1832 - 1882)

“Czar of Baseball” Believed that teams would enjoy stability and success only if they were run like businesses

Why do we tend to leave sports?

When we feel they’re dishonest

William Hulbert (1832 - 1882) Legacy

Strict rules by the League.

Created the concept of the “pennant race” to promote baseball as a

series of important games, not one-off events. Kept the league small

so that every team had an opportunity to win the title

Created revenue sharing

National Association of Professional Baseball Players

Formed in 1871, the first-ever professional league

Any club willing to pay players can join

Cincinatti Red Stockings

First ever professional team, lost 3 games at the end of 1870 and fell apart

First popular sport in US, for working class

Harness Racing

William Hulbert’s League

1876, National League of Professional Baseball Players

Called owners of the best baseball clubs and laid the groundwork

8 teams, closed league

Revenue Sharing

Reservation System

Owners agreed to respect player contracts for one year. Other non-league clubs could pay a fee to ensure the league wouldn't poach their players. Limited movement of players. 

Fred Corcoran

Architect of the professional golf tournament, became tournament manager in 1937 of PGA

How did Fred Corcoran revolutionize golf?

Used athletes/tournaments to sell advertising space. Tournaments were used to promote other things.

How did the tournament style differ from other sports?

Players governed themselves.

First official staging of olympic games

1896

Dr. William Penny Brookes

Organized the Shropshire Olympian Association in 1861 because of his festival, which led to the founding of the National Olympian Association four years later

Modern Olympic Games

Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, a French physical educator

Amauters in the Olympics

1888 professional’s are allowed to participate

Fan Identification

Social Connectedness/Belonging with a team. “We won the game”.

Research shows that when we support a team, it can become part of our identity – like ethnicity, race, gender.

What is a “Fan Code of Conduct”?

An official set of behavioral rules established by an organization to create a safe and respectful environment for attendees.

Marleybone Cricket Club

1788

Pugilist Society

1814 – Boxing in England

Harness Racing

America’s first national pastime, built for spectator interest. Died out because of rigged games.

EB Henderson (1883 - 1977)

Sport manager & promoter in the first half of 20th century. He was African american. He formed the first African American athletic conference (Interscholastic Association; ISAA). Promoted basketball.

Effa Manley

Worked with the black leagues in Baseball; One of the first female sport managers. She fought MLB owners when MLB teams started to sign black League players, insisting compensation for the clubs players. After Larry Doby signed for Cleveland and Bill Veeck paid his black League club $15,000 in compensation, it became standard practice for MLB teams to do so. 

Billie Jean King

Following her retirement from playing, she was instrumental in establish the WTA, was a founder of Women Sports magazine, World Team Tennis, the Women's Sports Foundation, and the Billie Jean King Leadership Institute. 

Mark McCormack

Inventor of sport marketing agency IMG. His first client (1960) was Arnold Palmer. He invented athlete endorsements, taking athletes and making them marketable.

NBA: Why did they have to establish fan code of conduct?

Malace in the palace (2004)

The Principles of Scientific Management

 Book published in 1911 by Frederick Taylor. Laid the foundation for the scientific management movement (Taylorism)

Human Relations Movement

Started by the Hawthorne studies conducted from 1927 to 1932 (Elton Mayo). Also popularized by the writings of Mary Parker Follett. Transformed management's focus into thinking of people's behavior as a component of the workplace

Organizational Behavior

Characteristic of the modern approach to management: Combines scientific and hr management styles.

Rooney Rule

2003 NFL teams are now required to interview at least two external candidates who are persons of color and/or women for vacant head coach, GM and coordinator positions.

Order of functional goals

Planning

Organizing

Leading  

Evaluating

Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

Created charity golf tournaments in pro-am format for WWII fundraising. Fred Corcoran help.

3 Common elements of management principles

Goals/Objectives, Resources, and People

Communication Skills

Oral and written skills very important

Perks of Diversity

Gains in worker efficiency 

Reduced turnover costs 

Access to more markets 

Increased innovation 

More positive public image & social cohesion 

Decision Making

1. Problem statement / framing - Defining the goal to be achieved or the problem that needs solving 

2. Generating alternatives - Determine as many courses of action as possible 

3. Evaluate alternatives - Analyze the cost / benefit of each action 

4. Select the best alternative - Implement the final decision made by the manager 

Organizational Politics

Individuals follow their own self-interest, as a manager you have to work with that.

Business Operations vs Team Operations

BO sets up the big-picture systems and strategies to run the whole company, while TO manages the daily tasks and tools to help a specific group do their work.

Sports Broadcasting Evolution

Sport broadcasting used to be much more factual. Roone Arledge created ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1961 and it made broadcasting much more exciting.

What is marketing?

Creating, promoting, and delivering goods and services to consumers and businesses. Creating Demand.

3 steps to create demand

Get your Attention

Make you Feel

Call to Action

Undifferentiated Marketing

Mass marketing. Product appeals to all different types of people; big corporations use more because it’s cost efficient.

Target Marketing

A specific group of people is targeted.

Types of Market segmentation

1. Demographic Segmentation – Age, gender, family size, income, occupation, religion, race

2. Geographic Segmentation-countries, areas, neighborhoods

3. Usage-based Segmentation – how often, how much

4. Product Benefits-benefits consumers seek from the product or event

5. Psychographic Segmentation - lifestyle, personality,

opinions, values, social standing.

Marketing Mix (4 p’s)

product, place, price, and promotion. 5 if you count public relations for sport.

What’s different about the product for professional sports compared with other markets?

Core product may not be easily identified

Limited control over the product itself

Consumers consider themselves experts

Product is perishable

Price

Never discount/Dynamic pricing.

Higher prices do not equal higher value.

Place

Where you’re playing controls fan experience. It’s important to market different places in different ways.

Promotion

How will you get word our about your product?

Public Relations

Managing the image of an organization to the public

Bill Veeck (1946 - 1986)

Most lucrative owner of all time. Came up with the notion that a team must provide: 1. moments of pleasure beyond the game, 2. make the game more of an experience, and 3. create conversation.

Ambush Marketing

A planned attempt by a third party to associate itself with a major event without actually paying for the privilege.

Albert G. Spalding

Used the “official” status of Spalding as the MLB’s ball.

Matt Levine

Credited as the guy who formalized customer research. In 1974 he came up with the “audience audit”. Levine is famous for discussion groups and on site interviews (intercepts).

Audience audit

1974 - Used to capture demographic and psychographic info about fans attending games

The first modern Olympics were held when and where?

Athens, Greece in 1986

The Olympics was held when and where?

1908 in London

Roone Arledge

The first person to recognize that sport televised in prime time had to be more than sport—it also had to be entertainment. He incorporated that philosophy into Monday Night Football

What is Return On Investment?

The extended dollar value return on each alternative investment, stated as a percentage of the original cost of each investment.

What are the two basic steps of decision making?

Gathering information and Analyzing that information.

Associated Price

Price of a game is more than the ticket: parking, food, concessions, and so forth

First sport management degree

1966 Ohio University

James G. Mason & Walter O'Malley 

First guys to come up with Sport Management curriculum in 1966

How do we create demand

Get Attention, Make them Feel, and Call to Action

The Flow of Funds

Revenues (Assets) - Expenses (Liabilities) = Profit (Income)

What is finance?

How an organization generates funds and how an organization allocates those funds

Finance is

Forecasting

Decision making

Evaluating

Tracking

To increase profit:

Increase revenues OR Decrease expenses

Personal Seat License

A one-time fee paid per seat

Paid to guarantee a specific seat location

Not included in the price of season tickets

Obligates fan to purchase season tickets or forfeit the fee

Seat location can be sold or gifted to others for the life of the

stadium

Key financing mechanism for new stadiums