The Perfect Script
Hardly a week passes by in the world of sport without the media, athletes, teams, fans or sponsors expressing their joy or outrage at the latest developments.
Most fans celebrated Rodger Federer’s 8th Wimbledon title in addition to the Australian Open after taking six months out to recover from injury in 2016. The Women’s European Championship hosted and won by the Netherlands was a credit to developments in the women’s game. The involvement of PSG’s Qatari owners in the transfer of Neymar Jr from Barcelona to the Parisian club for €222 million was simply outrageous. And, no-one had planned for Justin Gatlin to spoil Usain Bolt’s party during his final appearance in the 100 meters at the World Athletics Championships. As Lord Coe, President of the IAAF admitted ‘sport rarely follows the perfect script’. And, perhaps that is the reason why sport generates so much interest – and business.
Some years ago, I was privileged to work for IMG, the agency founded by Mark McCormack. He used to talk about the unpredictability of sport. McCormack said when you went to the opera or listened to an orchestra you knew what the outcome would be. It was still entertaining and enjoyable but sport was different and as long as sporting contests remained unpredictable, sport would be able to sustain a high level of interest from all stakeholders.
The media, sponsors and fans gravitate towards unexpected events and controversial decisions that drives sport to new heights. When the English Premier League started 25 years ago, no-one could have imagined a UK subscription based TV station called Sky would now be paying £11 million per match for 126 football matches per season. Even less, that another telecoms provider in the same market, BT, would be paying £7.6 million per match for 42 matches per season. And, the cumulative deal is £5.1 billion over three seasons.
When all the shouting dies down, people should remember professional sport is also a business and each player, manager, team, club, event and governing body is trying to create value for their customers, partners, owners and stakeholders. Some benefit from natural advantages more than others. Football is a global business with massive economies of scale which drive market forces, in simple terms, supply and demand. From a moral or ethical perspective, we do not have to agree with all of the principles but if they are not illegal, you have to accept them or move on. Like Lord Coe said of Gatlin, ‘I’m hardly going to sit here and tell you I’m eulogistic that somebody who has served two bans in our sport would walk off with one of our glittering prizes, but he is eligible to be here.’
After every major sports event, there is discussion in the industry about the best sponsor activations, which sponsor offered most value for the fans or visitors to the event. After the men’s 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the general consensus amongst marketers was ‘brand Germany’ was the winner beating all the official FIFA sponsors. Germany as a host nation was warm, welcoming, well-organized and delivered a great football tournament for all concerned. Nobody complained, in fact many other countries and cities recognized this and viewed sports events as a way of re-branding their own cities, promoting tourism and re-generating business in partnership with sport. In essence, Qatar is following in the footsteps of Germany, London and many others who have staged mega-sports events over the years. The fact the Qatari backed club allowed Neymar Jr to buy-out his break clause and move to Paris may be good for football and sport in general. For some years now, the UEFA Champions League has become predictable, maybe even boring in the group stages. The more competition for the existing elite, the better. Whilst the talents of Messi and Ronaldo are impressive, a predictable performance reduces the interest for millions of casual fans. If PSG can create more unpredictability, surely that is good for the competition.
The simple reality is that the investors, sponsors and marketers of today are repeating what brands like Coca-Cola, Canon, Marlboro, Sharp or McDonald’s were doing 20 or 30 years ago. Trying to reach more customers, generate more engagement through sport and ultimately sell more products. Today we are faced with Rakuten, Qatar and Fly Emirates who are willing to invest significant amounts to achieve similar objectives.
Looking ahead over the next 10 years more changes will take place as the delivery and consumption of sports content evolves. As terrestrial TV networks struggle to retain the signature sports events, subscription networks like Sky are under pressure from Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and possibly Netflix. For a relatively small amount of £10 million, Amazon Prime will broadcast all ATP Masters and 500 tennis tournaments starting in 2018. This is Amazon’s first deal outside the US where it secured 10 Thursday night NFL matches for $50 million, fighting off some of the other tech companies. Small steps but expect more media rights acquisitions as live sports content continues to attract eyeballs, advertisers, sponsors and fans.
As the investments in sport increase, the fans can and should expect more from their athletes, teams, clubs and sponsors. Manchester City recently launched a new fan engagement platform to connect fans and build the ‘Cityzens’ community around the world. Ferran Soriano, CEO for City Football Group, said: “Community has always been at the heart of Manchester City. As we continue to grow around the world, this ethos remains at the core of everything we do. Our mission is to bring people together and empower better lives through football – technology helps us to do this on a global scale.”
On a similar note, Juan Mata has pledged 1% of his salary to ‘Common Goal’ a collective fund that supports football based charities around the world. Mata is encouraging fellow professionals to make the same pledge and looking for a ‘Starting XI’ to lead the movement forward. Athletes have been supporting charities for years but the advances in technology allow initiatives like this to spread wider and faster than ever before. And, relatively speaking 1% of a player’s salary today is significantly more than 30 years ago!
As fans, sponsors or marketers, we can search for the perfect script. It rarely happens and there will be more disappointments than success. Instead of criticizing or picking holes in new initiatives or unexpected events, we should embrace and explore new forms of collaboration. No-one could have predicted the global growth of professional sport in the last 25 years. In 25 years’ time, we will be looking back with the same reflections on new players, new leagues, new sponsors, new media, new sports and new owners. Same script, different generation. Enjoy it while it lasts!