Sport in Abundance Abundance in Sport

Published: February 20, 2010
Sport in Abundance Abundance in Sport

Joan MacDougal is the Owner and Managing Director of Macrison. She is also the owner and the Chief Executive Officer of jjAbb Co. Joan has been a sales and marketing professional for 20 years! Considered an expert in behavioural marketing and with a vast and varied career; from time to time she shares her insights through these blogs. She hopes you enjoy them and welcomes comments!

As we move into the twilight of Australia’s summer for 2010 I was pondering the abundance of sport we have enjoyed here already this year. As the director of a company with an emerging sports management business I couldn’t help but assess this summer based not only on the abundance of great sport but also on the abundance in sport!

There is no question that sport is part of the fabric of Australia’s culture and that it plays a vital part in our international identity and national morale. There is no question that there is an enormous amount of money invested in sport in general as well. So far we’ve witnessed amazing feats at the Australian Open Tennis, sport of the highest standard. We’ve followed the Australian Cricket Series, which has produced only mediocre performances, not as a result of the Australian’s but more the average quality of the oppositions.

Now we are witnessing the Winter Olympics in Canada and gearing up for the footy season. The footy season is a blog in its own right! A nation of 25 million people trying to support four different codes; the economics in that needs a very close look! As I reflect, I find I am torn by a love of sport and a desire to see people achieve some of the greatest feats of the human spirit. Then I see the waste in sport, amateur administration, over professionalism in under performance, gender difference especially in sponsorship, arrogance in athletes who think they are above the game and perhaps worst of all, professional business people taking advantage of and exploiting young talented athletes who don’t know any better.

We only have two athletes on our books at the moment but they are two very capable and talented young people. Both have played a part in our emerging sports management business! You see both came to my attention because well intentioned supporters realised these kids were being exploited by managers and or sponsors. Whilst it was never in my business plan to add sports management to an integrated marketing and communications business, I felt compelled to address these wrongs! It is clearly a cost in our business at the moment, but being a part in their development and watching them work so hard to achieve their goals is as much a reward to me as the remuneration.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not providing our services for nothing! However our fees are negotiated such that they aren’t a burden that effects their performances. As they improve and acquire wealth our returns grow proportionately. Sure it’s a risk, but we take steps to mitigate that risk. We don’t just take on any athlete. We review each request for support very carefully. We look closely at the athlete’s chance of success. We review their marketability; we assess their character and their family and friend support network. All this, before we even consider taking someone on!

The emergence of our sports management business has caused me to look far more closely at an industry that I have just accepted and in many ways taken for granted. Abundance in sport must constantly be evaluated. In a capitalist framework, sport is the epitome of aspiration, hard work and achievement. Yet as I watch the Olympics I am reminded that there are possibly an infinite number of potential gold medalists who through the circumstances of their birth and a world full of underprivileged and poor; will never get the opportunity. And what of a more socialist approach to sport! I was once told if every person in the world shared every dollar in the world, we’d all be poor! I don’t really know the truth or the economics of that statement. Nor do I want to undermine the efforts that are made to take sport to the world. I simply question if the balance of the investment is right!

The media and marketers of sport (of which I am now one) have had enormous influence in the money that is now in sport. Mark McCormack the force behind IMG first brought professionalism to athelete’s when he arranged for Arnold Palmer to be paid for wearing a watch. Prior to this, sport such as Tennis and Golf, were struggling with the ethics and opportunities of the transition from amateur to professional sport. There is no question that professionalism has taken all sport to new levels of achievement and quality. Yet even with this we have seen a legacy! Who will forget the highs and lows of Ben Johnson’s gold medal dash in Seoul? To learn that is was drug induced was shattering. The Marion Jones experience in Sydney was no less devastating. I have often said, I wonder if Flo Jo could be asked today whether a gold medal was worth being dead for at 42, what she would have said!

In the eyes of marketers and the media sport is entertainment and people will pay to be entertained! The relationships between the paying public, the athlete and the sport remain a model for the generation and turnover of large amounts of money. For the small part I play in the industry, my goal is to uphold the ideals of sport! The relationship I strive for between sponsors and athletes is that the athlete is engaged to maximize awareness and profile for their product and brand. In return I ask sponsors to encourage and work with us to facilitate the best performances and results our athletes can achieve.
Similarly I work hard with our athletes to engage positively with the public who watch and follow their performances. I urge them to compete to the best of their ability but uphold the ideals of good sportsmanship and camaraderie in competition. I train them to engage with the media with confidence! I try not to engineer their words; I want the media and the public to really know the athletes we manage. I have the confidence in the athletes I manage that they can be themselves.

Lastly I recognize the responsibility I now hold in managing athletes and working in the sports industry. The responsibility lies in recognizing the abundance of great sport and athletes that I compete with for our athletes. Furthermore, it is my responsibility to guide our athletes through the abundances in sport and their responsibility in honoring that which comes their way.