Driving Business Through Sport

• The different types of agency that exist
• How to ensure that the agency is doing its job professionally and exploiting the property fully
• The dangers involved in sponsorship and how they can be minimised

It also gives an early warning of the changes in sport and sponsorship that are just around the corner and how they can be addressed to gain a competitive advantage.

All sponsorship agencies need to know what their competitors are doing and how a broad range of clients are using their sponsored properties to address new objectives. Apart from using the report to compare other agencies' work with their own, the report is an essential reference tool with over 250 charts and tables providing data on the industry.

The report is an essential reference tool for the understanding of how a sports property offers value to a sponsor. It can, therefore, be used to help establish the value of a property, by detailing the rights costs of similar properties, and by identifying opportunities. The report also explains how, for example, the International Olympic Committee presents its case to potential and existing partners, giving a valuable insight into how such techniques can be implemented to secure commercial funding. The report also includes revenue generation schemes run in conjunction with both sponsors and non-sponsors, providing clubs with the opportunity to create major new revenue streams.

Any marketing agency, be it advertising, sales promotion, public relations or direct marketing, is increasingly likely to be involved in sports related activity for clients. Without an understanding of how sports properties can be used in the marketing mix, such agencies find it difficult to work with third party partners and cannot do justice to the clients' requirements.

Specialist suppliers such as research companies, law firms, insurers and hospitality agencies supply specific services to clients in the sports sponsorship industry. Without a full understanding of the subject and what clients can achieve using sport, such suppliers cannot offer the best possible service.

Apart from gaining a general understanding of the sports sponsorship industry, broadcasters need to keep abreast of the latest developments in sports programming and likely changes in sport as it affects television. A major section is dedicated to looking at changes in the sports broadcasting industry and there is analysis of :

• Pay television and pay-per-view
• Sports television rights costs
• Broadcast sponsorship
• Virtual advertising
• Television industry ownership across Europe
• Protected lists
• Interactive television
• The popularity of different sports on television across Europe

- Sports sites are the most popular sites on the web - the world record for hits to a site consistently goes to major sports properties. But new media owners cannot live by hits alone. To be viable in the long term requires revenue generation from the internet. A major section of the report looks at how sport is being delivered by new media and, more importantly, how it is likely to change and what the revenue opportunities are.

The sporting press is increasingly covering the business of sport. For such media, the report offers a comprehensive range of data available from no other single source. It also explains the processes behind the commercialisation of sport, from the growth of television rights costs to the question of whether sponsorship is aiding sport or adding to the cost for the fans.