One thing that sports organizations often want to do is speak to their consumers and do so using their brand. The Houston Texans football team is an excellent example of an organization who represents a particular type of brand in order to communicate with a particular type of consumer. The Texans are competing with another team in Texas, which is the Dallas Cowboys organization. And the Dallas Cowboys happen to be commonly referred to as “America’s Team.”

So, when the Texans were first launched, they had a very interesting marketing campaign. They essentially said that if the Dallas Cowboys were going to be America’s Team, then the Houston Texans were going to be Texas’s Team. They utilized their brand to speak to this idea of being Texas’s Team, and they used it to reach consumers who are actually from Texas and who really include their Texas pride among their personal values.

In terms of the actual product that the Houston Texans offer, there are a few examples of this. For one, the team’s logo is a longhorn, and that longhorn contains the Texas state flag. The team colors are also the colors of the state flag. So, essentially, everything that you will see concerning the Houston Texans and their brand really emphasizes the fact that they’re from Texas. They differentiate themselves from the Dallas Cowboys in that way, clearly saying, “The Cowboys are America’s team, but we’re Texas’s team.”

As a result, those individuals who really value being from Texas and make it a part of their identity can attend Texans games as a way of showcasing their Texas-based values. And the team embraces this. Oftentimes, you’ll see their players carrying the Texas flag out onto the field. You’ll also hear them say things like “Houston strong” or “Texas strong.” It isn’t so much that it has anything to do with the actual play on the football field. In fact, it wouldn’t really matter if the Texans were a bad team. However, sports consumers from the state of Texas are going to be attracted to them because, win or lose, they represent their state, and they show pride in it.

With online sports management education, you’ll have the chance to learn more about how a sports brand can reach its consumers, as well as many more concepts surrounding sports management and global sports. It also allows you to get your high-quality sports management education from the convenience and comfort of your own home.

To succeed in sports management education and understand the sports business, you must break it down into its two words: sports and business. You have to answer this question: “what is a sport?”

In my online sports management education career, I ask my students “who likes sports?” on the first day of class each year. They all raise their hands, which is what I hope to see.

However, this ultimately leads to the question of “what exactly is a sport?” These days, a lot of people think a sport must be a big commercial enterprise. They image a league or global sports superstructure with a large presence on TV. But does this really constitute a sport? Is that what people like about sports or sports management? How do I know if I am watching a sport?

You might say that it has to be a competition. You may also say that a sport has to be unpredictable so that you can’t ever truly predict the outcome. You might say that somebody has to win. As we narrow down the definition, we could also say that it has to be athletic.

I think there’s something to the word “athletic” that defines sport, and I think that’s what most people like. Most fans appreciate that there are classic athletic virtues in sport. These include speed, endurance, strength, grace under pressure, heart (as Ernest Hemingway called it,) and other qualities.

In 1938, a Dutch social psychologist named Johan Huizinga wrote his treatise Homo Ludens, alluding to the “play” element in culture. On Huizinga’s timeline, we first came down out of the trees, becoming “Homo,” or mankind. Then, mankind stood up, becoming “Homo erectus.” They looked around and saw that they could better master their universe by standing up and looking around. After that, mankind started trying to persuade others to do what they wanted them to do, as well as what they themselves wanted to achieve. They used their world to build, construct, and change things, becoming Homo sapien, the thinking men.

Once other thinking men thought differently, they started running into problems. They disagreed. When one thinking man tried to force another thinking man to do what they wanted to do, there was a disagreement. Sometimes one thinking man would get upset, maybe even killing the other thinking man.

After a while, men said amongst themselves: “this isn’t working.” They needed to create another space where they could act out the virtues of being alive, of being full-fledged Homo sapien human beings, without killing each other. Therefore, says Huizinga, they invented “play.” Play is a very specific human realm that is not real life.

People like to say that “sport is just like life.” I disagree — sport is not like life. Life is very complicated, a sprawling, incomprehensible thing. People have been trying to figure out what life is since life itself began.

Sport is not life. It is rather separate and distinct from life. Huizinga distinguishes between life and play — play is distinct, separate, not real life. Play has rules. And rules are supreme.

One concept you may learn about in sports management education is integrity in sports. One of the most important aspects of sports is honesty, essentially meaning following the rules, and having integrity within the sport. However, ever since athletic competitions first began, people have been doing whatever they can to bend those rules and gain an advantage, because the goal of winning often comes with prestige and rewards.

Nowadays, it comes with money and fame. So, it has been the responsibility of the different sport organizations to try and protect the integrity of their games, and try to seek out those cheaters. Unfortunately, the tools for cheating have become far more sophisticated over the past 40 or 50 years.

Doping Dilemma

One part of this is the evolution of the doping industry within professional sports. Whether it be taking anabolic steroids or EPO to increase red blood cell count and improve performance in endurance events, or technological doping, such as inserting a miniature motor that can’t be detected into a bicycle. Over the last few decades, it has been an epic battle for the people who are trying to protect the value of these sporting events. They’re doing their best to create tools for tracking cheaters that are as sophisticated and effective as the tools the cheaters themselves are using.

One interesting milestone came in the early 2000s when cycling, which was one of several global sports generating a lot of interest, was singled out as one of the most rampant offenders of the doping world. The “Michael Jordan of cycling,” Lance Armstrong, was accused of doping by a number of his competitors, who were understandably tired of spending years losing to someone who was cheating. For them, the options were to cheat and be able to continue doing what they loved, or to not cheat, and most likely fail and eventually have to stop competing.

There were a lot of things riding on these events. This whole doping industry was exposed over a number of years and multiple investigations, and it ultimately painted a far more nuanced picture for the general public to understand. It showed them that it’s not necessarily about who’s good or evil, it’s more about the pressures athletes face to perform at the highest level. And it allowed them to see that the system was set up in a way that you had to either give in to the broken system, or not participate.

The hope is that events like these have helped pave the way for a purer industry that more people can respect and appreciate. There was a time in the early 2000s when the vast majority of people who took the podium at the Tour de France were doping—something in the range of 90% or more of them. So hopefully, the result of these investigations and the actions of the people who truly care about the sport have led to a much cleaner and safer industry.

Ideally, it’s an industry where people can compete knowing that their success is a product of both their talent and their grit, and not because they’ve found a way to skirt the rules. This would create an environment that provided much better role models for kids who want to someday compete at the highest level.

Unethical Behavior in Sports

There have been many examples of poor behavior in sports. We’ve had Olympic athletes who have been stripped of their medals due to drug use. We recently had Russia being sanctioned out of the Olympics because of a state-sponsored doping program. There are many opportunities to see where sports can go awry. At Baylor, for example, there was rampant sexual misconduct happening, and a lot of key people within the program helped to cover it up. They also didn’t support the victim, and it really blew up in their face, rightfully so.

Winning at All Costs

As you can probably see, sometimes with athletic competition, winning can become so important that the cost no longer matters, and we lose sight of some of the important social aspects that we value in life and society. This is why it’s so important to focus on positive reinforcement and programming, or it may really wreak havoc on the system. Young people need to be taught that winning isn’t as important as playing the game with integrity.

You can learn more about this topic and other sports management concepts by exploring online sports management education.

More kids are consuming more things because it’s competitive. If Joey has it, Johnny has to have it. And that’s what they’re telling mom and dad.

There’s another piece of this business that’s $5 billion. The other piece of this business is something that developed over the last five to seven years. It was the fastest growing segment in travel and tourism. It’s called youth sports tourism.

See, the towns ran out of money after the 2008 financial crisis. One of the first things they cut is the free Little Leagues and things like that, so the parents took over. They started creating travel leagues. When I say “travel,” what do I mean? I mean they’re hopping on planes, trains, and automobiles, and are traveling all around the country.

Youth Global Sports Is Very Profitable

Who’s making money on that? Hotels, restaurants, planes, trains, and automobiles, as well as gas companies. Who else is making money on that? Right now, because of the $7 billion that has been assessed to pour into youth sports travel and tourism, towns that are strapped for cash are investing all of their money into creating these youth sports complexes to host these tournaments. They figure that the tourism money can flow into their little towns. They don’t have a pro team. “Come to our little town. Have a great time, eat in our restaurants. We’ve got great day care.” They set up a whole thing for them. It’s a whole business.

Who else is making money? When kids get hurt, it’s terrible, but they have to go to the doctor. Youth sports medicine is one of the most exploding fields of medicine there is. You know, I tore my rotator cuff a few years ago. You know what else? I had to go to rehab. So there’s rehab involved in that, too, right? I thought I’d see a bunch of old people – it was kids. They’re all kids in rehab – sports medicine, rehab. So they got smart. “We need to prevent these injuries.”

When you only play one sport, you only develop one piece of yourself. Playing all kinds of sports, like I did, or running around in the woods and the rocks and stuff, you fully develop your body athletically. It’s normal development. Nowadays, Nike and all kinds of other organizations have created training, which basically means, “I show you how to jump and land different ways. I show you how to fall different ways.” Things you used to learn as a kid, normally. But because you’re only playing one sport and specializing, now you don’t. They’ve created this whole business around training kids, which is no more than developing your body properly.

Who else is making money? Oh, the pressure the kids are feeling, right? I stand on the foul line. I see my dad’s face. What am I going to do? Sports psychologists. What does this sound like, by the way? Kids are practicing all year round, 365 days a year, same sport. Traveling all over the country, sometimes to other countries. Getting hurt, therapy. What’s this sound like? It sounds like professional sports.

Professional Sports Management vs Youth Sports Leagues

Where does professional sports really make money? Television, the Little League World Series. The expansion from one game a year (which was very cute), to every single game with three people in the announcing booth – full statistical analysis of every single kid.

It’s not just Little League Baseball, it’s every single sport. There are entire networks devoted to youth sport. They’re making money. Well, who’s making money? Not the kids.

Sponsors are making money. Networks are making money from the sponsors. When’s it going to happen that some parent’s going to wake up and be like, “Hold on a second, that’s my kid.” That’s the evolution of all professional sports. There came a time when the athlete woke up and said, “Yeah, I know I’m playing a game, but you’re all making money here.” Who controls youth sports? Well, the NCAA controls most of the major college sports. The commissioner of the NFL controls the NFL. There is no governing body. It’s the wild west. This is the next frontier in the last frontier. It’s absolutely pure.

Sports Management Education: Understanding Sponsorships

When I go sell a sponsorship, I research the guy. I want to spell out a youth sports sponsorship:

I research the guy and I say, “Hey, I see you’re a big Yankee fan.”
He’s like, “That’s right. I’m a Yankees fan.”
I’m like, “You got box seats, don’t you?”
He’s like, “I’ve had box seats for 30 years.”
I’m like, “I know you do. You’d never miss a Yankees game.”
He’s like, “I’d never miss a Yankee game.”
I’m like, “Is that the most important game of the year to you, when the Yankees play?”
He’s like, “That’s the most important game.”
I’m like, “No, it’s not.”

The CEO is like, “How dare you tell me it’s not the most important game?”
I’m like, “It’s not.”
He’s like, “What’s wrong with you, man? I told you I’ve been a 30-year season ticket holder.”
I’m like, “Yeah, but I know your son plays soccer and he’s in junior league. Every Saturday in the fall, they play.” I’m like, “That’s the most important game.”
And he’s like, “Yeah, that is.”

There’s so many parents who feel the same way, who are having the same experience. So, youth sports is this incredibly common and exciting, relatable experience. And it’s pure. It comes without so many of the difficulties and baggage, and controversies. It’s the next frontier.

Sports Management Education: The Future of Youth Sports

Has it been too influenced by the superstructure of professional sports? Has it lost what creates the most interesting athletes to begin with? Think of the kids in the favelas of Brazil who are just kicking a can. That’s where they learn to freestyle. That’s why the best soccer players come from Brazil. What about the kids who play street basketball in the cities of the Unites States? That’s why unsupervised, unstructured, no league – they’re the best basketball players in the world and so on.

Where should youth sports go? What’s the right way to raise an athlete? What’s the social purpose of sports? Is it to have fun, to learn to be a good citizen, a better human being? Or is it to be good at it, to be a pro, which means a vehicle of wealth?

It ties all together. Youth sports to the NCAA, to the pros, to all the businesses that want to find value in the ecosystem. That’s the chart. We just don’t think of it that way, but that’s the chart. Nike knows it. Gatorade and Coca-Cola knows it. It’s a circle. It’s not a line that ends. It’s all tied together.

The question is, as far as sports as a transformative power, whether this stays commercial or whether it moves social impact. Can the two coexist? Was Huizinga right, that play and profit are essentially at odds and always will be? Maybe they don’t have to be and maybe there’s a way to get the benefit of both. We’re starting to hit a breaking point on a number of fronts – leagues and teams, college sports, and youth sports.

Sports. Why do you like it? What does it really mean? How do I know when I’m watching a sport or am I watching a business? What is this thing to you? To understand that coldly, analytically, with no moral center. Put your ethical lens on it. Put your moral lens on it, but understand first. Then, you can do great things with it commercially and socially.

The homo ludens idea tells us that since life is complicated and overwhelming, playtime is an essential part of our culture. Since the beginning of humankind, we have all faced the hard reality of earning a living, of trying to fall in love, of trying to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. It’s all we think about. The pain is real. The pressure is real.

When we watch sports, someone else acts out those challenges. Global sports culture allow us to indulge in these challenges and take risks that we might not take in real life because the consequences of loss would be too great. That’s an important point to keep in mind as you approach sports management. When we play sports or watch them, we experience the vicarious pleasure of being alive within the full range of feeling, including risk, triumph, and loss.

Online sports management education helps us to understand how people get to experience all that without the consequences of death, of pain, of bankruptcy, of all kinds of very real life challenges. There are very few arenas and very few places in life where we get to explore those feelings.

You might be able do it in acting or in practicing your faith. But sports, especially, engage you physically and emotionally. As you continue your sports management education, it will help to think of sports in terms of escape from the challenges of daily life in a very real way, a way of consequence.