Partner Article

Are you awake to the Business of Sport opportunity?

As you push your way through the turnstile to watch your favourite team, or take your seat in the athletic arena or strain to get a view of the finishing post, it’s easy to forget that your chosen sport is also a business.

Like any business it needs to be supplied and that can mean opportunity for your organisation. Welcome to the Business of Sport!

Research by Coventry University’s International Business of Sport School, showed that, in Glasgow, Rangers and Celtic contribute over £200 million to the local supply economy. It’s said that the two Manchester’s of City and United contribute together over £400 million to their local economy. So it is big spend. And that’s just football. Take time to consider all the other sports around you and awaken to their need and your opportunity as a supplier.

But winning the business is not all plain sailing – just saying you are an avid supporter won’t get you the contract! To win requires perhaps a little mind-set change and certainly some preparation and skills improvement.

I’ve been involved with what I call “supply to sport” for many years including helping businesses win contacts around London 2012 and I’ve seen continuous change. Our partners in Australia, IMS Compliance, are actively involved with 100’s of sporting clubs and they too are seeing change and even leading it in areas of compliance and management.

Change is happening because sport, being a business is starting to act like a business.

Costs are being managed, rigid governance and compliance is being applied, the value of IP is understood and CSR and environmental issues are coming to the fore amongst other matters.

Interestingly, supply chains are being optimised. For example, Manchester United came to one of my The Preferred Supplier presentations recently and told me they have cut back from 250 catering suppliers to 50 and in doing so upped quality, improved management and margins. Watch Bdaily for news and opportunity for you there as we discuss a large Business of Sport event with them!

So what do you need to do to be a preferred supplier to sport? Over the coming issues, I’ll be giving you some keen insights including the bigger picture opportunity of selling your skills to sport worldwide. I’ll also be showing you what you need to do to win those contracts starting with understanding the Business of Sport.

Your start until the next issue is to consider what you sell and how it can give gain or take away pain for a sporting club. Are you already supplying sport and if so why do they buy from you? Do you want to start selling to sport and are you prepared to make the effort to understand the business and the opportunity?

You can email me at sport@bizvision.co.uk about what you do or can do for sport but how about starting to tell your story here on Bdaily? Let us know the opportunities you can bring as well as the challenges you think you face. In this so-called “decade of sport” opportunity is knocking!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by The Preferred Supplier .