Unique Aspects of Sport Management

1
Unique Aspects of Sport Management
2
Nature of Sport and Financial Structure

• Sport is a perishable product
• experience is highly subjective and contingent on
  many aspects
• outcome of games
• weather, etc.

3
Nature of Sport and Financial Structure

• Fiscal structure not based on a fee for the
  product
• profits generated from services
• concessions
• parking
• merchandise
• sponsorships

4
Nature of Sport and Financial Structure

• Cost of the ticket represents a small portion of
  revenue
• sport managers compete for revenue with
• other sports
• restaurants
• theaters
• other forms of
• social entertainment

5
Nature of Sport and Financial Structure

• Amount people spend is contingent on
• discretionary funds money people spend after
  necessary expenses are paid
• typically a set amount
• Presence of sports team does not generate new
  spending
• a transfer of spending from one entertainment
  activity to another

6
Unique Career Paths

• Big break comes through networking with others
  in the field
• volunteer time until someone notices skill and
  potential for contributions
• few sports organizations advertise permanent
  positions
• typically filled by interns who work without pay
• most sport management programs require one
  semester of full-time work in a sport agency in
  order to graduate

7
Sport as a Social Institution

• Recreational play and games to highly organized
  professional and international competition
• Many countries fund development of athletes and
  national teams
• highlights importance of having an international
  presence and being competitive on world stage

8
Sport as a Social Institution

• Sport has the ability to remove social barriers
• Nationalistic fervor reigns during international
  competitions such as the Olympics
• fans are united by
• common experience

9
Sport as a Social Institution

• Sport can be used as a medium for social change
• interwoven with politics and the fight for
  equality and tolerance
• United States leads boycott of 1980 Olympic Games
  in Moscow
• protest of the Soviet Unions military occupation
  in Afghanistan
• Soviet Union retaliates in 1984 with a boycott of
  the Los Angeles Olympic Games
• 2008 Olympics in China brought increased
  attention to issues of human rights, air
  pollution, and protection of property rights

10
Sport as a Social Institution

• Tommie Smith and John Carlos used sport as a
  vehicle for social change
• 1968 Mexico City Olympics
• the American track athletes raised their fists
  during the medal presentation to symbolize racial
  solidarity

11
Sport as a Social Institution

• American tennis star Arthur Ashe traveled through
  South Africa in the 1970s to bring attention to
  apartheid
• His death from HIV infection caused by a blood
  transfusion focused attention on the worldwide
  AIDS crisis

12
Sport as a Social Institution

• Sport can help bring awareness to may types of
  social injustice
• homophobic beliefs
• the Gay Games
• segregation of persons with disabilities
• the Special Olympics
• the Paralympic Games