Sports marketing

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Sport marketing (or "sports marketing" in the US) (1) the specific application of marketing principles and processes to sport products (e.g., teams, leagues, events, etc.) and (2) the the marketing of non-sports products (e.g., cigarettes, beer, long-distance phone service, etc.) through associations with sport.

The first sports management firms, which managed endorsement deals and contract negotiations for professional coaches and athletes, began forming in the 1960s and early 1970s with Mark McCormack's International Management Group (IMG), Bob Woolf (Woolf Associates), and Donald Dell's ProServ.

Similarly, the first full-service sports marketing and sponsorship agencies were founded in the mid-1970s with Millsport LLC (now part of The Marketing Arm) and ProServ, which had expanded beyond athlete management into event production and sponsorship negotiations.

The explosive growth of sports marketing came with the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when corporate sponsors used the Games as a platform to market their brands. Coca-Cola, for example, spent nearly $30 million in support of its official sponsorship of the Games.

As CEO and chief organizer of the 1984 Olympics, Peter Ueberroth, a former senior executive with Trans International Airline and Transportation Consultants International, is credited with demonstrating the power of sports marketing. After the Olympics, Ueberroth served as commissioner of Major League Baseball (1984-89). Today, he serves as Chairman of the Board for the United States Olympic Committee.

According to the Sports Business Journal, an industry trade publication, today, sports marketing is a US$250-billion industry and includes sports-related advertising and venue signage, athlete endorsements, facilty construction, sporting goods and licensed merchandise, event management and marketing services, sponsorship and ticket sales, media broadcast rights, and multimedia — including sports-related websites, magazines, books, and video games.

A rising player in the sports marketing industry is rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports marketing and media agency who in 2005 announced a strategic partnership with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to offer unique hospitality to the semi-final and final games of the 2006 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. This marked the first time in the event’s history the NCAA offered "The Tournament Club," a unique and convenient hospitality venue adjacent to the RCA Dome. [1]