Michael Shear informs us that there are a lot of data points fans hit when they attend a game. They are hitting data points when they use their mobile devices to buy tickets, enter the building or come in through a particular gate. Data points also track where the crowd goes once the game starts, whether they stay in their seats during halftime or leave, if they visit the concession stand and what their food and beverage choices are. This information is all pertinent.

He tells us that one of the first questions he was asked when he started was how many people turned left when they came into the main entrance of the building. This seemed like an off-the-wall question until he realized that Budweiser asked it. They were asking because they had signage to the left of the main bar and wanted to know how many impressions they were getting right out of the gate.

The way that he figured out the answer to that question was by looking at the ticket scans. Out of all the people who had their tickets scanned at the main entrance, he could deduce how many of them went to the concession stands on the left-hand side. From there, he figured out the percentage.

Sports Management Improves With Technology

Years later, after gaining more advanced Wi-Fi systems and mobile ticketing devices, he and his colleagues were able to verify that the initial hypotheses and percentages they came up with were correct. This showed that things were only becoming more impactful. As we enter more of the mobile space, teams are now relying on these things. They include mobile ticketing, mobile transactions, cashless arenas and other items of that nature.

We’re talking about broader data sets and how to manage them. How are teams going to capitalize on that, whether it’s to drive ticket sales or sponsorship sales? These data sets are only getting more extensive and more complicated to manage. They continue to be a challenge because teams need to focus on the fan experience. In some instances, a data warehouse would be beneficial.

What separates going to a live event or game from watching it in the comfort of your own home? This is the challenge that teams have to figure out. The data helps to leverage the personalization aspect and help put fans in seats.

Michael Shear says that when he first started this job, he thinks it was right at the beginning of the trend of leveraging data and analytics in sports. For example, there weren’t many teams that even had an analytic team or an analysis department. He and his associates more or less acted as the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for the team.

Some teams were just using their ticketing system as a CRM platform, so they didn’t really know that much about their buyers. They weren’t aware of who the ticket holder’s favorite players were or what size shirt they wore. These details can come into play as marketing tactics. Before mobile ticketing, it wasn’t possible to accurately know the fans. You could know who purchased the hard ticket, but you couldn’t know who they were bringing with them.

The Future of Global Sports Relies on CRM

Now, things are definitely more about the big data aspects. The advent of mobile technology has made a major difference. Teams now have entire departments devoted to analytics and business strategy. For example, the CRM of a sports team usually has to keep track of their fans. So, a fan buys a mobile ticket, and that sale goes into the CRM platform, which allows you to track that ticket’s behavior. For instance, you can follow what the fans are buying and what they like to buy, where they live, their geography, their demographics, if they’re married, if they have kids and things of that nature. This is a way for the service team to keep that line of communication open and try to either upscale the fan or personalize their experience.

“With data analytics, there are a number of different opportunities not only on the field, but off the field,” says Dr. Brandon Brown. “You can be a data analytics tracker in terms of understanding which metrics are going to influence game outcome.”

“One key career that I see moving forward in the sport industry,” adds Dr. Andrea N. Geurin, “especially related to marketing and sports management, is going to be in the marketing analytics space. This is where people have the ability to take a lot of data and look at it and make decisions and understand how that data impacts the organization. Everything that is done in marketing — it does have a very creative twist to it now — is very much tied to data. And data is driving the decisions that we make.”

So in marketing analytics, business analytics is a really important role that organizations need and will be hiring for. I think in terms of marketing and global sports, it’s also a space where people working in sports marketing need to have the ability to use digital media. They need to be able to do video editing. They need to be able to put little promotions together.

They need to have really strong writing skills because when you put something out on social media, again, it needs to have a specific voice, a tone. It needs to just kind of match the brand. So, having the ability to write well and write in different voices is an important skill. Digital media managers and social media managers will be hugely important for sport organizations as we move forward.

Sales is a hugely important piece to every organization. A lot of people, when they start their career in sports, will look to starting in sales. One of the reasons that’s so important is because if you work in sales — and you can show that you have added this much value to the organization this year — that’s a really great personal marketing piece to be able to move up through the organization and to continue a career in that organization or in that field.

Sales gives you some really hard numbers that you can point to in terms of saying, “I created this many new clients this year, or I generated this much in sales this year.” It’s a really important career that sometimes gets overlooked, but it can definitely lead to moving through an organization very quickly.

In the past, I’ve taught sport sales courses. My students have always done hands-on projects where we’ve worked with an organization. The students actually have to get on the phone, cold call people who might want to buy tickets. They have to learn to sell, but they get a lot of guidance from the organization.

It’s been absolutely wonderful for those students because some of them were able to get internships or jobs with the organization that we partnered with in the sports management education course. It introduced them to the idea that, “I could go into sales. This is a really valuable skill.”

I’ve seen so many of my former students who have taken positions in sales. Their careers have skyrocketed within a few years because they did really well at that role, and they were able to move up quickly in organizations and also to get new opportunities with other exciting organizations.

There are so many parts of the sports ecosystem. We tend to think that it starts out with teams or players and fans. But it’s so much more. Sports touches so many different parts of our world. It touches business. It touches government. It touches the nonprofit sector.

Almost everywhere that you turn, there’s probably something that, in some way or another, is connected to sports and sports management. Maybe the drink that you have by your side right now is a company that sponsors something in sports, or sports sponsors something that the company is doing. Or, maybe it’s both.

This really speaks to where global sports is at today in our world. Sports is a reflection of society, and society is a reflection of sports. It’s really something that, in today’s world, in today’s day and age, the relationships of companies, of organizations, and institutions, really connect around sports. Sports, increasingly, is a way to develop all of those.

This is information provided in the sports management education course.

Is golf a sport? The Supreme Court said in the case of Casey vs. The PGA that basic ambulatory skill walking is not required in golf. Casey was disabled. He said, “I don’t need to walk in between holes.”

PGA said, “Yes, you do.”

“Well, that’s not what golf is,” said Casey. “It’s just hitting a ball. I don’t have to walk.”

How can you call something a sport? Walking isn’t needed, but it’s a sport. Is it a sport just because it’s on ESPN? Poker is on ESPN. Is that a sport? Is hot dog eating contest a sport? What tells me it’s a sport? Is it training? Is it practice? Is it competition?

Competition. That’s what it is. Well, brain surgeons are competitive. Are they athletes? Artists are competitive. Are they athletes?

You get to this question very quickly in sports management when you start to talk about esports. Are these people athletes? Well, if you think about the classic athletic traits of speed, strength, endurance, I don’t know. It’s hard to say.

Who wins a running race? A fast baseball player, a fast golfer, or a typical esports athlete? Are they athletes or is just this something that we put the word sports on, put the structure of professional sports around it to make money off of it, and then we say to ourselves, “Yeah, that’s a sport.”

It’s a sport because they have reflexes like a race car driver. It’s a sport because they have to sit for a long time. It’s a sport because of concentration. I suppose you could make up all kinds of arguments for and against. There’s a definition of what is sports business that the North American Sports Management Association provides, and roughly, it says, pretty much anything: anything that’s sports related in global sports or any activity involved in or related to sports.

So, you see, lots of things begin to become sports business. The answer really is, when we’re talking about sports business, we’re not always talking about sports. That’s important because you may run into an existential problem with the business you’re running when people no longer are turned on by the activity or turned on by the human quality that makes a human or one human exceptional vis-a-vis another human. All that you’re really interested in is the pop cultural or commercial elements of the enterprise.

I don’t know if esports is a sport. I don’t watch it.

These are existential problems to consider for students in sports management education.

American sports facilities these days are very cutting edge when it comes to corporate sponsorships, and the way that they’re able to activate them and incorporate them into the stadiums themselves. One example of this from the early 2000s was with Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, which is the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team. They had a sponsor called HHGregg, which was an appliance store that sold refrigerators, televisions, ovens, etc.

So, in Lucas Oil Stadium, they had a large section just outside of one seating area, which was essentially designated as the HHGregg corner. This section also was not sectioned off with walls, so it allowed people walking through the stadium to very easily pass through it. And when they do so, they’re walking past washers, dryers, refrigerators, and televisions. Plus, every screen that you’d see anywhere in the stadium was an actual item that you could purchase at HHGregg. Essentially, the organization did a great job of promoting their sponsor company, and created a setup where people could actually shop there during games.

We also know that historically, the NFL is viewed as a kind of family experience to watch games and cheer on your favorite team. So at the games, you’ve typically got husbands and wives who may be walking around and realize that they happen to need a new washing machine or other appliance. When that happens, they’re conveniently able to just make that purchase right there at the stadium. This is one example of a very natural, effective way to incorporate a sponsor into a stadium.

Another interesting example is what Major League Baseball has done with Taco Bell. They have held a really interesting promotion in conjunction with the fast-food restaurant, which they call “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” and have run during the World Series. And during this promotion, if any one player steals a base during the series, Taco Bell announces a date and time that anyone in the United States can visit one of their restaurants and receive a free taco. This way, the league integrated the sponsor, Taco Bell, with not only the fans at the stadium, but the fans watching at home as well.

How sports brands integrate corporate sponsorships, sports management strategies, and global sports marketing are just a few of the concepts you can learn about with sports management education. And, with nothing more than an internet connection and desire to learn, you can give online sports management education a try.

The Golden State Warriors are known for a couple of things. For one, they’ve been an excellent basketball team in recent years and have boasted some of the most recognizable players in all of sports. Additionally, they’re located right in the heart of Silicon Valley, so they represent a lot of technology and advanced media, which they love using to re-emphasize their relationship with their fans.

In this vein, there was one really neat example in which a fan was caught on the “dance cam,” a common feature at sporting events. The camera scans the crowd at the stadium in an attempt to catch people dancing. At one game, there happened to be this mother in the crowd who was dancing, and she got caught on that camera. When the shot of her was up on the big screen, instead of backing down, she really went at it. She kept dancing, and the video became a sort of viral Internet classic.

Afterwards, the Warriors not only pushed this video and interacted with their fans by tweeting it out, putting it on Instagram and circulating it through the various social media platforms, but this woman also became such a hot topic for fans of the team that they actually created a bobblehead of her. However, it wasn’t technically a bobblehead—more like a bobble-body—and these were then handed out to the fans.

This is just one great example of how you can engage with consumers. Once you start to engage with these consumers, they start to feel as if they are actually part of the brand. And once they feel that way, they will go out and become an ambassador for it.

With sports management education, you can learn more about these concepts and how they tie in with sports management, global sports, and building a brand. Online sports management education allows you to learn without the cost or stress of attending class in person.

In today’s world of global sports and sports management, sponsorships are changing in new and exciting ways. Learning about these interactive sponsorship agreements is essential to anyone wanting to pursue sports management education or online sports management education.

Sports organizations and sponsors will work together in terms of how they want their sponsorship. While we’ve been talking a lot about the fact that sponsorships can often come in terms of announcements or signs, there can also be interactive sponsorship agreements.

Verizon could, for example, be offering a virtual reality experience within a soccer match. Soccer fans would not only go to the sporting event, but they would step aside and go into a fan tent created by Verizon for a virtual reality experience. While Verizon may not have a sign up, they still do have a partnership agreement with said soccer team that not only offers Verizon’s exclusive agreement. Verizon is being seen by the consumers, but the consumers are now interacting with a particular Verizon device.

Needless to say, sponsorship organization and sports organizations work hand-in-hand in terms of how they deal with and how they implement each and every sponsorship. Sponsorships are getting unique. They’re not only signage or advertisements in terms of announcements. What they’re offering is unique experiences where consumers can interact with the given sponsor.

For example, Florida State had a tailgating event where they offered consumers the ability to play the new Nintendo Switch Super Smash Brothers game. This was an event that was partnered with and sponsored by Nintendo. It wasn’t just signage. Consumers were able to go up to the tailgate and have the ability to play with the new video game.

In today’s sports world, customer relationship management systems or CRM systems, as they’re referred to, play a big role. One of the things CRM systems do is give us a 360-degree view of the fan. What does that mean? According to online sports management education, it means that it triangulates data from all different data sources.

Every time a contact is made by a salesperson from a global sports organization, it’s entered into a database. Data is pulled from other public data sources, such as surveys that are done in the field, and it’s all aggregated into one spot. It means, at any point in time, sports management or an employee who has authorization can go into the system and learn everything that is known about an individual ticket holder or prospect.

ESPN’s strategy on streaming is very interesting. They’ve had to contend with declining cable TV subscriptions by cord-cutters. So they’ve launched ESPN Plus as their streaming service.

They’re using a modest monthly subscription rate model, similar to what Netflix and Amazon Prime are doing. They’ve included specific properties on the ESPN platform and things like their impressive stable of 30 for 30 documentaries. It’s a renowned award-winning series.

Following ESPN strategy for students of Sports Management Education

For ESPN, this is a way to go after the segment of super avid fans of multiple sports-sports junkies who will try anything sports-related. You can make the case that these fans are not served by today’s TV offerings. But there are different strategies out there.

A Different Approach to Media Sports Management

For example, Bleacher Report, a Turner Sports brand, has tried to price specific properties in an a la carte model, like the Champions League games or the pay-per-view Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson golf matches. There are really different approaches. You’re seeing different media companies experiment with alternatives.

Now Is the Time for an Online Sports Management Education

The media landscape is changing dramatically. It’s one of the biggest areas of change within the whole sports ecosystem. We’re seeing big changes in the way linear TV is perceived. Linear TV viewing is down. Cord cutters are prevalent. We’re seeing direct-to-consumer, over-the-top networks proliferating. Whether they emerge in a specific sports league, or they’re banded together by legacy media companies, like ESPN with their ESPN Plus brand. It’s a very exciting time right now. It provides a wonderful opportunity for those who want to enter the sports media business.

In this module, sports data and analytics, we’ll be covering a wide range of topics, all of which are very important in today’s global sports business and sports management world. We’ll be talking about analytics in the field. How are teams looking at information and data to improve their performance on the field and to provide a winning product to their fans? We’ll also be looking at analytics off the field.

How are they used in the sales and marketing suite? How are they used by front offices and business people at sports organizations, leagues and teams, and even athlete management organizations to build brands, sell tickets, fill stadiums, and monetize sponsorships and broadcast revenues? We’ll also talk about the way some of the new technologies and data-capture devices have impacted sports analytics today.

These are helpful tips from our online sports management education course.