Introduction

Football is one of the most famous sports we have in the world. The popularity of the sport has been increasing over the years and consequently making it a multi-billion dollar global industry.  It is nevertheless essential to understand that there are different parties involved in the industry such as the government, media, sponsors and players agents just to mention a few. All these people have a direct impact on the football industry. The inter-relationship between the different players in the football industry is essential for the development of football business (Baron, Conway and Warnaby, 2010). It is prudent for the players in the industry to ensure a sound organizational structure that will be beneficial to all. This paper will have an in-depth analysis of the interrelationship that exists between the different players in the football business.

Football and sponsors

Sports sponsorship has been in existence for several years and in various sports including soccer. The relationship between sports sponsors and sports entities is crucial to the success of the industry. Since sponsors are of different types and natures, it is imperative to understand the relational aspects of the sponsorship. In most cases, sponsors engage on a contractual agreement with sporting entities that involves the exchange of financial resources and communication rights. It is imperative that the interested parties be fair and open with the intention of engaging in the agreement if the football sector is to thrive (Khoshtaria, 2015). The sponsor’s primary objective is to enhance its reputation to the football fans while the football clubs need money to finance the football activities. The receiver of the payment should maintain loyalty to the sponsor and act within the provisions of the agreement, and the same should be the case on the side of the sponsor.

It is prudent to note that some sponsors are interested with short-term sponsorship while others are interested in long term engagements. For a sponsorship deal to excel, it is imperative that both the sponsor and football club have the same objective.  Some sponsors tend to be opportunistic in nature where they assess the relative costs of the planned sponsorship deal. This is also the case for some football clubs who are much interested in financial gains from the sponsorship rather than the overall benefit of the deal (Honeycutt and Thelen, 2007). The success of this relationship could be hampered by the selfish interests of the involved parties. It is worth to note that a perfect sponsorship relationship will only exist where the contractual obligations are followed to the letter. Clubs and other footballing entities that fail to fulfill the contractual obligations due to selfish interests’ leads to the collapse of such contracts and damage the image the industry (Baron, Conway and Warnaby, 2010). In essence, the sponsorship relationship should not be exploitive but rather should be mutually beneficial.

Besides the financial gains and communication rights involved in sponsorship deals, it is prudent for the participants to involve other considerations. The sponsor and the football club should consider investing their time, know-how and people to the sponsorship to ensure that the deal works to the best interest of the involved parties. A good sponsorship deal should focus on the long-term benefits rather than short-term objectives and hence calls for strategic alignment.  It is imperative that the concerned parties consider the sponsorship as a lasting relationship (Vrontis et al., 2014). The players in the football industry to ensure that they show total commitment in the sponsorship deals. It should be noted that these sponsorships are a business-to-business relationship between professional football organizations and the sponsors and it’s based on reciprocity. Although most of the sponsorships are commercial deals, it is imperative that both the sponsor and the sponsee go beyond the commercial aspect and show extra commitment aimed at long term relationship.

Football and media

Just like any other sporting activity, today’s football has lots of relationship with the media which has brought about a social, economic and technological change in the twenty-first century.  The increasing number of fans in the football industry has made it essential for the media to cover major sporting events and consequently a thriving relationship between football and the media. Although they are two distinct industries, they are tied together in a complex network of relationships. Although the relationship is based on economic gains, it is prudent that the parties in the football industry take the relationship a notch higher. The financial gains resulting from the relationship should be secondary to other benefits such as popularizing the sport and developing talents.

Football like any other sport is a human activity that attracts a lot of o interest from the citizens. It is prudent to note that majority of people are passionate about this sport and also enjoy being part of the sport either passively or actively. The media becomes increasingly important in the football industry as it enables public participation in football events even in cases where participants are very far. For instance, the English Premier League and other European leagues are covered live by the media thus making t possible for football fans all over the world to be part of the game (Scott, 2015).  With technological advances in the recent years, the media have had additional features such as the replays, different camera positions and close-ups that give the viewers extra advantage. In some instance, the media makes football on the screen better than being an audience in the stadiums since there are some things viewed that audiences in the stadium miss.

Just like the sponsorship deal, it is also imperative for the players in the football industry to ensure that the relationship between the sport and media is for the best interest of the industry. However, this is not always the case since the organizations involved are always after financial gains. For instance, the football organization will always be after revenue from media organization just like any other commercial organization (Beech, 2008). As a result, there will be a temptation to sell the broadcasting rights at exorbitant prices to the willing media companies. This is the same scenario in the sponsorship deals where these organizations are only after the most lucrative sponsorship deals.  It is nevertheless imperative to note that this may not be to the best interest of the industry. The fans are the most important aspect of any sports and hence it is imperative that their interests are guaranteed at all costs. Such high prices may keep the off major television and media organizations from the relationship, and consequently, less number of fans will have access to the sport.

On this note,   media/sports relationship that is revenue oriented will have to transfer the extra cost to the fans or the viewers. This implies that viewers will have to pay extra for a subscription to a pay-television channel and hence the number of viewers will reduce significantly since pat of the public may not afford the pay-television channel. Besides, most of these media companies get revenue from adverts and promotion of products from commercial organizations.  These business organizations want to reach as many people as possible through the press and denying media an opportunity to reach several people hinders this objective (Honeycutt and Thelen, 2007). Commercial organization depends on the increased viewership to enhance consumer awareness of existence and prices of their products, services, and brands. On the other hand, the public is interested in access to football coverage on television for free reasonably low prices. A viable sport-media relationship should ensure that there are commitment and goodwill from all the participants. The football fans should get an opportunity to watch their favorite’s games on television while the commercial organizations and media houses should also benefit from the deals. It is prudent for the players in the football industry to ensure that their relationship promotes in popularizing the sport and increase sports attendance through increased media publicity. It is essential that actors in the media football relationship should not be pre-occupied with financial gains resulting from the relationship but instead should focus on a relationship that takes the sporting experience a notch higher.

Football and government

As aforementioned, football remains one of the most popular sports in the world and enjoys a global following. It is prudent to note that there exist some relationship between the football sector and the governments of the day. This relationship thrives because of the closeness that exists between culture, politics, and football. Just like other relationships in sponsorship and the media, there are instances whereby the football-government relationship is exploitative. There are some cases where the political class may exploit footballers and their clubs to push their political agendas. Football organizations, teams and clubs can be fashioned to reflect local and national ideologies, spirits, culture, practices, beliefs and symbols that constitute a culture. This concept can be used by the political class to alter the political process in a country. The influence of the football industry is too much can dictate a certain social or political view with ease (Baron, Conway and Warnaby, 2010).  Football can suffuse society with its ideology in a unique and persuasive fashion thus attracting much attention from the political class.

It is, therefore, essential for the actors in the football industry to note that they should strive to have a relationship that reflects the interests of the people. Football clubs can be the physical manifestation of domestic policy, changes in regional and economic order. With this in mind, it is only wise if the government and other actors in the football sector work towards a relationship that will be mutually beneficial to all. It is imperative that the government should promote an environment where football thrives for the economic and social development of the society (Vrontis et al., 2014). Football –government relationship should be aimed at promoting positive culture in the society such as promoting national unity, eradicate poverty and offer platforms for civic education on important issues affecting the society. Football should promote national unity and help the government fight negative vices such as corruption and nepotism in the country.

Although the relationship between government and football is essential, it is also paramount to note that the two are distinct institutions and should be given space to enjoy their freedom.  Too much political interference in the management of football affairs may be a great hindrance to the success of soccer. The management of football affairs should be purely an affair of the football management bodies while the governments have the role of facilitation. It is prudent for the government of the day to offer the necessary support for the well-being of the sport (Mehdi Salimi, 2012). The development of football in a country is highly dependent on the level of cooperation between the government and football organizations. It is essential that the football organizations and the government work in harmony for the common good of the sport. If there is a good relationship between the administration and the football organizations, then there will be a positive impact on the overall welfare of the football sport.

Football marketing practices

As aforementioned, football is arguably one of the most interesting and famous sports in the world. Consequently, football marketing is increasingly becoming an important issue for club owners, commercial organizations and the media needs to generate more revenue from the sport. As a result, most of these organizations are striving to ensure that they have a sustainable competitive advantage, especially in the modern turbulent market environment. For several years, football marketing has been the benchmark marketing for other sports and is the pacemaker in the global sporting world (Bridgewater, 2010). The players in this industry are striving to maximize their potential earnings thus making football marketing an interesting topic.

It is wise to note that sports marketing differ very much from other forms of product marketing. This implies that there are different marketing practices that make football marketing distinct from other forms of marketing. It is however imperative to note that every marketing practice is concerned with the product as well as the potential consumers of the product. In football marketing, the consumers are the people involved in playing football, watching or listening to sports programs, buying sporting goods like shoes and clothing, buying merchandise and surfing sport related website just to mention a few.  This is quite different from other forms of marketing since one has to understand the special features involved in sports markets.

Football marketing differs from traditional marketing in the sense that while consumers of most goods and services see value as primarily an economic valuation, the value fans derive from attending a football match are purely an emotional choice. It is prudent that the football teams and organizations not to pay too much attention to the prices charged but rather should focus on making more fans. Fans are consumers of the football industry, and teams should focus on building a fan base. This makes a distinction between traditional marketing where marketers’ emphasis is creating a customer base (Khoshtaria, 2015). It is prudent to note that football stimulates an emotional response in its consumers that is rarely found in other products. On the same note, it is imperative to point out that it is possible to have both on-field and off-field success in football. Unlike in other marketing where higher sales are correlated with increased with increased revenues, the football industry is quite different. In football, consistent in revenues does not solely depend on the club winning trophies as evidenced by Arsenal FC in the English Premier league that has been consistently increasing its revenues despite not winning the premier league for several years. Besides, the more competitive the football leagues, the more the revenues which are contrary to traditional marketing where completion is avoided for increased profits.

Customer loyalty is also another important aspect of football marketing. A loyal customer is the one who is sensitive to differences in brands and prefers a certain brand compared to others.  In cases where customers are dissatisfied with a particular brand, it is always a predictable that they will switch their allegiance to another brand.  However, this does not happen in football marketing where the fans remain loyal to their teams. This makes it possible for the fan to keep on purchasing merchandise and game tickets related to a particular team. The loyalty in a football team is as a result of fanatism that remains an integral part of football marketing. Even in cases where the team is not performing as expected, the fans will not change their allegiance to other teams. It is also wise to point out that the football clubs have fixed supply schedules. Unlike other marketers, the football teams have inelastic production capacity and despite the increases in the number of fans, a football team will only play a given number of matches per season. The only way a football team can increase its revenues is through exploring alternative distribution channels such as increased merchandise and advertising.

Conclusion

Football is the world’s most popular game, and several actors are involved in the industry. The success of this business venture primarily depends on the interrelationship between the different actors such as the government, sponsors, and the media. The vast revenues from the sport may hinder emotional relationship, but it is prudent for the actors to keep off their financial ambitions for the sake of sports development (Beech, 2008). Football is a multi-billion pound industry and effective marketing is essential to ensure that the industry realize its potential.

References

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Beech, J. (2008). Book Review: Marketing and Football: an International Perspective. IJSMM, 4(1), p.123.

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Honeycutt, E. and Thelen, S. (2007). Commentary on “Business-to-Business Marketing Textbooks: A Comparative Review”. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 14(4), pp.79-83.

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Mehdi Salimi, (2012). Cooperative marketing alliances for new products commercialization as an entrepreneurial strategy: An analytical-comparative study of football industry. Afr. J. Bus. Manage., 6(13).

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Scott, D. (2015). The new rules of marketing & PR. Hoboken (New Jersey): J. Wiley & Sons.

Vrontis, D., Thrassou, A., Kartakoullis, N. and Kriemadis, T. (2014). Strategic marketing planning for football clubs: a value-based analysis. J. for Global Business Advancement, 7(4), p.355.

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