How Professional Sports Can Benefit From A Recession
Posted: October 15th, 2008 | Author: Christian | Filed under: Idea Drunk's Ideas | Tags: Crosby, economic times, idea drunk rant, marketing, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Ovechkin, recession, sports teams | 3 Comments »
In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past couple of weeks, this just in – we are in the midst of a global recession. Get out your umbrella, because it’s a shit storm. Governments, politicians and banks are debating about what to do … but I’ll be honest. I really don’t care about that. I care about professional sports. Yes, that’s right. During the most tumultuous market conditions in recent history, I care about the sports leagues, their billion dollar franchises and their millionaire players. This lead me to this question from Fast Company Magazine: Will sports teams earn more or less money during the economic downturn?
The answer is simple – only the good ones will make more money. Those are the teams that are able to deliver the winning feeling to their fans. During hard times, people turn to sports franchises as a means of feeling happiness and hope. People will think, “I just lost my job. That sucks. But the New York Giants just won the Super Bowl. Awesome.” People latch onto the victories and wins that their team provides. What does this do? It creates more passionate fans.
How Sports Leagues Take Advantage
There are always going to be teams that are losing. To overcome this, leagues should encourage people to expand their portfolio of teams. Then the leagues should make it easy to access and be adopted into the fandom of winning teams. They have to create stories around the teams and key players. They need to give people a reason to care. For example, in the MLB playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays are clearly enjoying the early offseason. However, there is a story to tell to get Blue Jays’ fans to cheer for Philadelphia – Matt Stairs. He’s a former Jay who’s playing really well right now. And Philidelphia fans also booed Sarah Palin … which is enough reason for me.
The NHL is doing an excellent job of this by showcasing their star players. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals have been steadily growing their fan base by marketing two of the best players in hockey – Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
How Teams Take Advantage
Now how do the franchises take advantage of the realities of the new environment? Easy. The winning teams steal fans from the other professional sports franchises in their market. Let’s use Boston as an example. If the Red Sox (MLB), Patriots (NFL) and Celtics (NBA) all suck, but the Bruins (NHL) go on a run, than it gives the opportunity for the Boston Bruins to gain market share in an extremely crowded marketplace. They have the opportunity to go from the 4th sports attraction in New England to maybe the 1st or 2nd, depending on the season.
It’s an interesting opportunity. The recession is driving people to become more passionate fans … but only for winning teams.
- Christian
I heart the Blue Jays. And am now cheering for the Phillies, thanks to Matt Stairs–my doppelganger.
Love the post. I was just thinking about how brands that give people something to believe in during tumultuous times will be the ones to thrive. This belief could be making the world a better place (Newman’s salad dressings), a cleaner place (method, etc) or the brands that give people daily pride, belief or something to dream about (Civic pride?, sports teams, political candidates, etc).
It was when I was contemplating exactly this that I came across the quote below from Hugh Elliot on Gaping void.
“The market for something to believe in is infinite.”
Chowner,
Yeah, it’s a good story. I understand that it’s hard for Toronto residents to cheer for Philly teams on principle.
Paul,
Those are some good thoughts. I agree. I think that escapism from all of the panic reported in the news is what people are looking for. Nobody likes to worry all the time. But everyone likes to dream and believe.