In areas where there is a high rate of poverty, nonprofits will go in and find ways to bring equipment, coaches, and support systems to places that may never have been offered those opportunities. Sports offers an opportunity to escape to some degree.

They also try to find ways to educate the people in these areas. Education can help move someone out of that poverty or give them an opportunity that they never thought possible, simply because they’re now interacting with different groups of people.

That’s a lot of what these nonprofits do — use global sports to promote change. They provide sports as the hook, and then educate based on whatever needs arise. This means that people in these areas could potentially see new opportunities outside of what they’ve known or considered.

How do we get people to come in and participate so that we can then help to educate them? Street soccer is one example of a hook. It gives people an opportunity to come in and play a sport, but then it also gives them opportunities for mental health counseling, education, housing, and getting back into society.

Street soccer offers great opportunities to pull those people in with something that might be of interest to them, and then helping them with life skills, in some cases, for their mental needs, physical needs, or just general support.

Sports management education or online sports management education can be so much more than just sports management. Sports really are a way to bring people together, and from there, a multitude of possibilities open up.

Part of a good online sports management education includes understanding how sponsorships affect sports. Sponsorships are major sources of revenue for sports management teams and athletes, but they can cause problems.

In 2015, Nick Symmonds was a successful American athlete who dominated in global sports events. He was an 800-meter runner and an eight-time national champion. He had competed in multiple Olympic Games and was about to compete in the track and field world championships with Team USA.

His personal sponsor was Brooks Running, but Nike sponsored the USA track and field team. All the athletes had to sign a release saying that they would only wear Nike products while representing Team USA. This type of conflict isn’t something typically covered in sports management education.

Symmonds felt that it was unclear if or when he could wear his Brooks Running gear. He refused to sign the release and had to forfeit his eligibility to compete in the world championships.

Sports sponsorships are definitely something that can impact athletes in their careers if these kinds of rivalries crop up and they’re asked to represent one brand as part of a group while as individuals they’re supposed to represent another.

The venue is a really important place for consumers. Not only do they spend a lot of time there, but it’s a direct representation of any given sports organization. What sports teams have done in the present time, according to online sports management education, is try to represent their brand through the given venue.

This can be seen through different examples, whether they want to just have a kind of fun, playful atmosphere. There’s a minor league baseball team specifically named after a Simpsons episode. Anytime Homer Simpson plays a game in any one of the Simpsons episodes, he’s known to play for a team called Isotopes. There is a minor league baseball team that has named itself the New Mexico Isotopes and it actually utilizes its field as a way to kind of showcase The Simpsons. The venue has a number of different Simpsons characters all over the venue, and it’s a way to kind of represent their brand, not only as a baseball team, but it’s a way to represent the brand that speaks to the idea that they are a fun team — that they’re a fun fan team that’s willing to interact with the fans through various different types of fun gimmicks.

Sports Management Using the Venue for Brand Emphasis

There are a number of different examples of how sports teams can utilize their stadium to represent their brand. The New York Mets are a great example with Citi Field. Their Citi Field venue is constructed and looks almost identical to what was Ebbets Field. This was an old New York team that would go and play at the Ebbets Field, so the New York Mets are able to construct a field almost as a kind of memorable way to remember Ebbets Field. It doesn’t mean that we are an old-school New York team. It’s more so emphasizing the fact that the New York Mets are a New York team, and that speaks to the brand. The idea of constructing the stadium after Ebbets Field really speaks to the idea of honing in on their New York side of the brand.

Venus can help the community kind of come together because they share some collective meaning in terms of what the brand means to them. If they want to represent themselves as New Yorkers and they want to go to a Mets game, they want to feel that the Mets can allow them to see themselves as New Yorkers. When they go to the venue and they see Ebbets Field, it reminds them of old school New York. And it kind of re-emphasizes this whole idea that, “I’m a New Yorker visiting this New York historic site.”

It’s interesting that the Mets within Citi Field also have a dedication as the Jackie Robinson rotunda where the number “42” is there. It allows certain members of the community (the African-American community specifically), to kind of feel a connection with the Mets that they can say, “the Mets truly represent something that I value,” which is the whole idea of an important player that’s very relevant to my history.

As to what consumers would want in any given ballpark, it’s going to depend on the sport. Sports management education explains, for example, a football game is going to be a lot of consumers directly paying attention to the football game. It’s all filled with action, but there are only actually eight full-time home games so consumers only get a chance to go to one stadium eight times throughout the year. Whereas with baseball, for example, there are 162 games in the season and therefore 81 home games. In fact, baseball might not be as action-packed as would a basketball or football game. You have 81 different chances to go to a sporting event and there’s kind of some downtime throughout. What you’ll see is that football stadiums are not as likely as baseball stadiums are to offer community events. Baseball stadiums offer a social setting because the sport and the season allow it to have these types of social gathering opportunities.

One thing you might learn about in sports management education, is that playing sports can frequently be one of the best ways to boost your confidence and develop a sense of self-worth that can last you for a lifetime. However, for this to happen, it requires both a strong support system and a safe space to fail.

You need someone who’s going to be constructively critical of the mistakes you make, and also make it clear that you’re going to improve. Without having that, sports can become a venue for developing a significant fear of failure, especially if someone’s in your ear beating you down every time you do something wrong.

Really, it falls back on parents and coaches and the programming they use to build a culture around children that enables them to feel good and strong, even when they lose or perform poorly. This kind of thing has the potential to build that confidence and self-esteem, and we can see it when it happens.

We see it come through in education. We see it come through later on in life and career. When treated the right way, sports can absolutely instill these wonderful values, self-worth and confidence. But it has to be directed, at least to a degree, because otherwise it could have a negative effect instead. Having people around you who are positive, encouraging and supportive can really make all the difference in the world.

If you’d like to learn more about the role of sports in personal development, as well as many other useful lessons concerning sports management and global sports, consider giving online sports management education a shot.

Sports has the power to impact society in a profound way. It has the ability to elevate the marginalized and unite people who otherwise have significant differences. These are just a couple of the ways in which it can have a major positive effect.

So, why is that? What is it about sports that makes it so impactful? Well, first of all, it has enormous reach and penetration. In the United States, 81% of all people follow these activities in some capacity or another. And the fact that they reach so many people means that they’re pervasive, touching followers in many different ways.

There’s something about it that really engenders a deep emotional connection. It draws us in; it bonds us. It also makes the athletes and teams that we follow influencers. Because they have that impact on us, it means that they have a voice, and they can create change.

Yet another way that sporting competition has an impact lies within the very nature of the concept itself—the construct of it. The rules essentially create fair play. When you think about it, this means that on the field of play, gender doesn’t matter, race doesn’t matter, religion and political beliefs don’t matter. Everyone is coequal.

What distinguishes athletes is their effort, their performance on any given day, and their skill. In a way, it’s the ultimate meritocracy. And this is powerful, because in our everyday lives, it’s not always like that, is it?

These are some of the things that make sports unique and different. As a result, there are so many examples of the ways that it is transforming society. Chelsea FC of the English Premier League is a great example of this. They’ve embarked on a “Say No to Anti-Semitism” campaign. They have used their influence to essentially point out the darkness of anti-Semitism.

We have a faculty member from our program at the NYU Tisch Institute who spent part of her summer in Rwanda teaching young girls how to play soccer. She has many stories about soccer’s ability to empower these young women and make them realize there is a world out there that they otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to. We could go on and on with similar examples about the positive impacts that sports can have.

If you dig deeper and learn more about these topics, you will see many examples of how athletic competition can impact society, not only in terms of its ability to engage fans but from a participant’s point of view as well. It can also do so much to build self-esteem and improve our very health and physical fitness.

Do you have interest in a career in sports management or the world of global sports? If so, consider online sports management education. You may just find that gaining a sports management education can be much simpler and more pleasant than you expected.

The next stage of the global sports ecosystem is immersive technology. And it goes in two different directions. One, you can be immersed in a sporting event in your home through VR. Though in regard to sports management, I don’t think you’re monetizing as much value of the fan through VR because they aren’t in your building.

However, immersive sports production and theatrical production in sports facilities and theaters that is 360 degrees are coming to both Europe and to the United States. You only have to look at the Las Vegas sphere and see what’s happening there to get a glimpse of what’s happening in the ecosystem in sports and in a live production in the near future. Online sports management education explains the benefits of this innovative combination.

For any given league, team, or athlete, these individuals will often utilize certain sponsorships to speak towards their brand. For example, if a sports team is going to represent their brand in accordance to values that are commonly used in Texas, they will want to strategically represent certain Texas values. Even if they’re being offered a massive amount of money from a certain sponsor, they might not always make the deal because of what it would do to their brands.

Another example is, if they’re being offered a sponsorship partnership with New York pizza, it’s likely they wouldn’t make that partnership even if it meant that they would get a massive amount of revenue from it. It’s because of the fact that they know that these sponsors speak toward their own brand. Teams, leagues, and athletes are likely to team up and/or sponsor with certain brands that can represent what their own brand speaks of.

With any of these sponsorship opportunities and sponsorship partners, it’s sometime very difficult to configure what the return on investment would be. If Verizon, for example, puts up a given sponsorship opportunity with a particular global sports team, it’s sometimes difficult for them to determine if they’re getting a return on investment from what they paid. For this, a lot of the times, individuals who are in charge of deciding if sponsorships are worth it, will work with the sports management, and adhere to the value of being S-M-A-R-T.

This acronym is used when evaluating your sponsorship and seeing if there is a return on investment:

S – You want to be specific.

M – Make sure it’s measurable.

A – Make sure your goals are achievable.

R – Make sure it’s results-oriented.

T – Make sure it’s time-bound in nature.

Be as specific as possible in terms of what we have placed in our partnership. We want to know exactly what we are measuring. For example, if we’re looking at the months June to August, we may ask, “How have attitudes towards our organization changed?” We are results-oriented, so we want to make sure that we know if attitudes have changed from positive to extremely positive from June to July.

We’re also dealing with the whole idea of being time bound. Being S-M-A-R-T (specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and time bound) is a great way for sponsors to kind of evaluate if their partnership is working out or not. Online sports management education says certain sponsors may be more valuable depending upon where they are placed.

If we were talking about hockey, a sponsorship that is within center ice is going to be that much more valuable because individuals from the sponsorship side know that the consumers who are watching this sporting event are seeing this more often. If it’s center ice, the camera may be going back and forth, but one thing that’s constant is that center ice logo. From the consumer perspective, individuals are likely to see that center ice logo that much more. Whereas, some type of signage that may be over in the corner may not be seen as much.

When we talk about innovation and disruption in sports, it could also be in terms of sports leagues and sports models that are actually created. One of the interesting concepts is the Fan Controlled Football League. Now, this is a very different concept that looks nothing like the legacy leagues that we’ve had for decades.

This is a situation where the fans themselves not only watch the games but actually call the plays. You may ask, “How does that work?” Instead of fans spending their money on tickets to watch or attend games, they actually can get the feed of the game over the internet, directly to their iPad or their smartphone. What they pay for are tokens, which allows them to vote on a menu of plays that are going to be called.

Think of this as an arena football game, but the difference is when your team has “first and 10” at the 40-yard line, the coach puts up four plays where you then have 30 seconds to vote on your smartphone for which you’d prefer. Based on the number of tokens you’ve bought, that gives you a total vote. That vote total gets blended in with everyone else’s to pick from three or four plays that the coach puts out there.

Embracing Fan Participation Through Local and Global Sports

It’s a different way to think about sports but think of the aspect of the fans wanting more than just a passive experience of watching. We want to participate as fans. It doesn’t mean getting on the field with your shoulder pads, but it does mean being a part of the leadership of the team and actually having an impact on plays that are being called.

Think about the ability to do this all over the world. You could be in Thailand and call plays for your team back in the United States, who is actually operating in this league. It’s a whole new experience.

What enables it is something called the blockchain. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about it as it is much talked about. It allows the capture of data, as well as presents transparency and verification to ensure each person is voting solely with the amount of tokens that they have. The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is impacting so many things in our world, including everything from financial flows of currency to cryptocurrency. It also has a role in the sports business.

Ways to Incorporate Blockchain Into Sports Management

Sports collectibles is one promising area where blockchain can have an impact. The Los Angeles Dodgers hosted a digital Bobblehead Night supported by blockchain, where fans were able to download a limited-edition digital bobblehead. They can trade or sell them as digital assets to other fans. This could become a valuable commodity at some point.

Also, the Major League Baseball Players Association has introduced digital baseball cards that can be traded. Each MLB player will have a list of fans who owns his digital card.

Blockchain is similarly playing a role in the fantasy sports area. Some fantasy leagues are awarding cryptocurrency as prizes for winning or scoring points in the fantasy league. From a fan engagement standpoint, there are four billion soccer fans worldwide. The London Football Exchange is developing a new form of fan engagement, where tokens can get them special access to tours, receptions, discounts on merchandise, and more.

Also, many European soccer teams have partnered with cryptocurrencies in order to forge a deeper bond with fans. Fans can purchase a branded club token to join a club of like-minded fans around the globe.

Another really fascinating application is that blockchain can power a mobile voting platform for fans to offer input into certain decisions. And even in the area of club ownership, teams are exploring ways to give fans ownership in their club, utilizing blockchain as this immutable, fraud-proof method of recording and transacting changes in ownership.

An additional area is managing the player transfer market for global soccer. Blockchain can be useful in tracking and recording transfer fees for players, making it far more efficient. It could also provide a level of transparency by showing who receives the various transfer fees and what percent goes to the agent, as well as the percentage that goes to different people in the whole value chain.

Another fascinating area for blockchain is ticketing transactions. Tickets for a Super Cup match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid were distributed to mobile phones via blockchain technology. Fans could be assured that the tickets were legitimate since blockchain is a trusted, verified source.

And yet another area where blockchain comes into play is that many athletes are jumping on the blockchain bandwagon and endorsing it. Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki is an ambassador to Lympo, a blockchain-based app that gives users rewards for achieving their fitness goals and sharing their fitness data. And in the eSports realm, blockchain is already widespread with platforms like Play to Live, which allow gamers to stream their play to fans globally and get paid for the entertainment that they provide by playing their video games.

In the sports betting area, blockchain could play a major role. The overall transaction cost of betting automatically drops because blockchain provides the functions that banks or other financial intermediaries would play. So, blockchain can lead to instant cash settlement on bets.

Blockchain Offers Opportunities For Beginners and Professionals

There are no currency conversion fees, and there’s a reduction in fraud. Because of blockchain’s transparency, it’s nearly impossible to manipulate the system.

There’s another area that’s really intriguing – thinking of athletes as investments. There’s even a way for athletes to raise capital by issuing tokens in an ICO or initial coin offering. It’s the blockchain version of an IPO that we think of in the stock market. Even amateur athletes who are disadvantaged economically, who believe in their talent level, can sell off a small portion of their future earnings in exchange for cash today. Perhaps that cash will be used to help improve their skills and enhance their future income opportunities in their sport.

Expanding Knowledge in Online Sports Management Education

The opportunities are really boundless in the role that blockchain can play in sports. There’s no question that technology is having a profound impact on sports today. It has so many ways in which it can change the game. The areas of impact range from wearable technology that will give us better data on athletic performance to neuroscience that will help us monitor the brain waves of athletes to help optimize their performance. And the 5G network that is emerging and expanding around the globe will allow a much faster transfer of massive amounts of information and data.

There are so many different ways in which technology can impact sports. Blockchain has so many different applications. It can help fans be more deeply engaged in their sports teams. It has an impact on how athletes can do initial coin offerings to raise capital for themselves as individual investments. And it could even play a role in fantasy sports.

One of the things we’re seeing is a lot of sports organizations investing in technology through accelerators or incubators in partnership with venture capitalists to really accelerate the development of technology and integrate it into sports.

Today, sports teams are becoming much more strategic about how they go to market. When I say go to market, I mean how they present themselves to the fan or the prospective fan, the consumer. In doing so, they’re segmenting the fan base. They understand that a 35-year-old with two young kids is a very different consumer than a 21-year-old male who’s single.

Sports Management Education and Understanding the Sports Audience

When you look at that versus, say, the 60-year-old who’s taking his grandkids to the game, those are three entirely different segments. Their motivations are different. Their seat preferences are going to be different.

Examining Global Sports Segments

Perhaps, the 21-year-old wants to go to an area where there’s a bar, and there’s access to social media. The one with the young kids is going to treat it very differently, even than the grandfather or grandmother with their two grandchildren.

Marketing for Students of Online Sports Management Education

Knowing all of this allows you to tailor customized ticket packages to these three very different segments. It enables you to have a much higher hit rate, a much higher probability of making the sale and getting them into the stadium. That’s because you’ve customized and tailored the package to their wants and needs.

If you’re from a sponsorship organization and you’re willing to spend a lot of money, you have to take into consideration where the eyes of the consumers will be watching. However, it’s not just about the eyes. It could also be about the ears. For example, baseball games will often refer to the seventh-inning stretch. There’s an opportunity here for global sports organizations and sponsorship organizations to put in their sponsorship. They could arrange it so that the seventh-inning stretch is brought to the fans by a particular organization.

If you’re a sports manager who’s in charge of operating sponsors and thinking in terms of placement, you need to consider where the organization will perceive that the consumers are concentrated the most. And perhaps you’ll want to associate your sponsor with something that is heard often. So, sponsors really have to get unique and creative in terms of how they can offer their sponsorship opportunity. A unique example is the New York Yankees.

The New York Yankees in Sports Management Sponsorship

The New York Yankees, when one of their pitchers records a strikeout, has a sponsorship in place with P.C. Richard & Son and their famous whistle. With each strikeout by a Yankees pitcher, the P.C. Richard whistle is played. This offers two incentives for the company. One, a formerly dead space is now a space for the P.C. Richard whistle. Two, it offers a unique instance where you can transfer over a positive feeling, associating the feeling of a Yankee pitcher striking somebody out with this P.C. Richard & Son whistle.

Lessons To Learn for Online Sports Management Education Scholars

With sports sponsors, you have to be careful of what we call clutter, when a sports organization has a vast number of sponsorship organizations all in one place. This eventually leads to the consumer being overloaded with message capacity. If they are overloaded with messages, even though there may be 20 sponsors available for viewership, none are actually being taken in because the consumer is perceiving that there’s an overload.

Once overload hits, the consumers are not likely to retain any more information. As a sponsor, you have to be really careful where you place your sponsorship sign, for example, because you don’t want it to be part of the clutter created by other signs. You want to make sure that it sticks out. You want to make sure that it’s unique. And you want to make sure that it’s remembered by the consumers.