The Emergance of Sports Marketing

Sports marketing is a relatively new concept within marketing. Some of the concepts were introduced up to 150 years ago, with the first advertising of sports products. Andrews et al suggests that sports marketing has seen massive growth since the 1970’s, and coincides his theory with the globalisation and commercialisation of sport. Shank, 2005, relates to sports marketing as the “specific application of the marketing principles and processes to sports products”. It is crucial that the sports industry is well understood to appreciate this statement. The sporting industry as a whole is worth $114 billion at present (Pricewaterhousecoopers, 2011). It is clear that people often attend sporting events regularly and sport is unique in its ability to attract repeat consumption. The value of the industry is ever increasing, with an annual growth rate of 3.8 percent predicted in the next 2 years (Pricewaterhousecoopers, 2011). Unlike many events, sporting events are spontaneous and unpredictable. This can lead to positive influences, and enhanced similarities with entertainment. This has led to the term “sportainment” being adopted.