Bridging the gap between Sports and Music

For this blog posting, I decided to continue with my current them surrounded around sports and sports management. My career goal is to someday own a business that assists athletes with enhancing their brands outside of their respective sports. There is a great need to assist these athletes with positioning themselves to have secured financial security upon conclusion of their careers. With the exposure of media and the personal lives of celebrities and athletes, there is a financial opportunity that could be capitalized on. Of the opportunities are some of the hidden talents or hobbies of the athletes, who may have other talents but are well known for their athletic ability.

            One area in particular is the relationship between Sports and Music. As a kid growing up, I was a bug music fan. I was also an athlete and music was a vital part of my sports. I listened to music to motivate me before after and even sometimes during games. I was also very influenced by the professional athletes and the things that the did because I wanted to be just like them athletically and personally. Growing up as a kid in the 90’s, it was practically joke for an athlete to make music. It was not taken serious if athletes decided to produce an album or single.

           

            As time progressed, it has still been very unordinary for an athlete to be both a successful athlete and successful musician, but I believe that it is an area that could blossom over time. I believe that with the exposure given by the media and things such as social networks and blogs, that the crossover may be something that becomes popular. There are plenty of athletes who may have been musical talents when they were young or growing up and vice versa. Given the nature of how demanding both industries are, I can understand why someone would take one direction than the other. I live to see the day that someone is an NFL MVP and Grammy award winner as well. Sounds pretty cool right?

Athletes and Social Media: Where is the line drawn?

A topic surrounding the Sports industry that I believe has an impact now and will have a greater impact down the road is social networks. Since the inception of the Internet, the World Wide Web itself has introduced us to a new era of exposure and interaction. With the way that technology has improved over the last decade, the Internet has taken us all by storm. We are all amazed and consumed by the access given to us provided by the Internet. Media has then been exploited as well and has surged to lean on social media sites as an outlet.

            The more interesting aspect for me of course is how it has affected Sports. Growing up as a kid, I recalled not knowing what the faces of some of my favorite athletes looked like. I knew of them, but never had a sense of their looks or anything besides their sports. The bigger and more popular athletes were of course sponsored in ad’s, commercials, marketing materials, etc. As time went on and into the early ages of the Internet, it brought on the exposure I spoke of. Some of the guys I though of, I could now match a face with. I could now easily search for things about athletes that I wanted to know. Long before I knew, I could read stories about them, and maybe not only about them but maybe their friends and families too.

            After a while it then transitioned to social networks and media access. Fast forward to today in 2016, and I can access very personal aspects about my favorite athletes in seconds. I have parts of their lives at my fingertips as ling as I have a smartphone. I can see pictures of their family on Instagram, and see their thoughts on current sporting events on Twitter. This also has a direct effect on the images of some of these athletes. Now we know more about them and sometimes it is not what we wanted to know. The media protects them as these perfect “stars” with lavish lives, but their personal stories tell something different. What an athlete posts on these networks can damage them. It can cause young athletes to ruin their futures or veteran athletes to ruin contracts on sponsorship's. My question is, when it comes to social media in ports, where do we draw the line?

Depression and Sports

    

A topic that I would like to discuss in this post is about athletes and depression. Lots of athletes deal with depression on so many levels because of various reasons. Those reasons can range to various topics but two that are common are post-career depression and injury. Both of these topics include the conclusion of an athlete’s career. For the most part, most of these athletes do not realize that they cannot play their game for the rest of their lives. Some of them prepare well for that conclusion, most of them do not. As for injuries, it is uncontrollable and can be mentally draining.

            The affect of an injury could be long-term or short-term. There has been the recent news and media coverage of the concussion issues in the NFL. Majority of them are long-term which has become a major concern for athletes and their families. Linked to CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), the repeated traumatic hits taken during the game have caused many issues with current and former athletes. In some cases leading to suicide or changes in attitude leading to anger. Some injuries are short-term injuries that may be career altering. These injuries lead to the depression of athletes and sometimes take their minds completely out of focus within their respective sports. Injuries are inevitable but I believe there should be better opportunity for athletes to cope with these injuries.

            Besides injuries, there is the post-career depression. I know about this personally because it was something I dealt with personally to an extent. I was a fairly decent High School football player and collegiate player. Injuries lead to a position change in High School, which would eventually change my love for the game. I was not having fun anymore and decided to end my playing career after one year of college football. Upset and depressed that I would no longer be playing, I did not know where I was heading in life or what career path I would choose. I then realized that my calling was to still be involved in Sports just not as an athlete. There are plenty of other athletes that I know personally who have dealt with similar instances. It can be a really troubling experience for some.

Fan Loyalty & Engagement

The importance of fan loyalty and engagement is extremely important for an organization, for the exact same reason that the question asks, revenue generation. When thinking about fan loyalty and how today’s professional teams engage with them, you must first know how your fans interact. It is the simple questions of, who are our fans? What is our demographic? How do they interact? And what are their purchasing habits? You of course know they are fans of our team by various methods such as purchasing tickets, coming to events, or subscribing to team related advertisements. Outside of that, how you engage with them and maintain their loyalty affects generation.

How this affects revenue generation, is making sure that you understand what it is your fans are buying and how often. Just as the post from the Sports Networker says, “Thanks to the social media and the increasing presence of sports teams in the digital space, loyal fans are ‘closer‘ to their teams than ever before.” I began to notice this many years ago myself and it has become extremely prevalent as of recently. Due to the use of social networks and media, fans are closer to their favorite players and teams than they ever were before. This causes for added revenue streams for the professional teams because now they have other ways to charge fans for more inside access to their favorite players.

            The most intriguing example that I saw of a team that is looking to increase fan loyalty is of the Miami Dolphins. Introducing their new initiative the Fin Club program, they are incorporating a way to interact with their fans in across multiple medias. Eric Fisher from the Sports Business Journal says, “The Fin Club assigns fan points for virtually any Dolphins-related activity, such as buying tickets and merchandise, following the team on Facebook and Twitter, and visiting the team website”. I think this is a very good way to reach out to these fans especially given the extreme consistent usage of social networks. During their launch phase, the team generated nearly 5,000 sign-ups from their fans. I think that eventually this will lead to an even greater success for the Dolphins down the road.

            Before a game, a way to engage fans to increase attendance can be through any to of partnership for a community event. I believe that one-time partnerships with other larger companies that are not usual sponsors are a great way to initially gain new fans. During a game, there could be special events that specifically are designated to those first time fans. For instance there could be a special event held during halftime for those people who are first time season ticket holders. Lastly, post game activities to increase fan attendance could include an event that is held for all fans after the game is over in a designated area of the stadium. There could be a meet and greet of coaches and players, or rewards and prizes for those who enter into a raffle during the game.

Mark Cuban: Master Negotiator

In our country there have been a lot of successful business owners and negotiators. When reviewing the project specifications of the assignment and choosing a negotiator in my industry, there was immediately one person who came to mind. That individual, Mark Cuban.  Initially, I thought maybe Drew Rosenhaus, one of my favorite businessman and negotiators of all time. After more thought, I realized that Mark Cuban has expanded his negotiations outside of sports whereas Rosenhaus is a staple primarily in the sports industry. Mark Cuban himself has stretched his negotiating style across more than one industry and has quite a successful track record in them all.

He is well known as being the energetic, outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks. You can catch him courtside of almost every Mavericks game, laid back, in a t-shirt and jeans cheering his franchise on. What makes him stand out is the love that the players and fans have for him, more importantly his players. When speaking about his negotiation style with his players, Cuban’s reputation is that he treats players extremely well. This leads to successful contractual negotiations with premier basketball players in the NBA joining his team. Outside of basketball, Cuban’s negotiation expertise is widely regarded on the hit TV show “Shark Tank”.

Of the Questions I would ask Mark Cuban are 1.) Would he consider his negotiation style as aggressive, passive, passive aggressive? I would ask that question because he seems to have a way to exhibit different personalities at different times. 2.) I would also ask him if he changes his negotiation strategy when it comes to different industries? The reason for asking this question is because he has been extremely successful across many different industries. Lastly, 3.) His motives. I would want to know what his motives are or if there are ever any underlying motives (besides the negotiation going in his favor) that he seeks to successfully win a negotiation. This is more of a question to see if he has a keen sense of when or how he knows he has control of a negotiation.

As I stated before, I chose Mark Cuban because he has stretched his negotiating style across more than one industry and has quite a successful track record in them all. Except for the Deandre Jordan deal of course.

The Value of the Sports related Degree in the Sports industry

            When it comes to college degrees, there has always been a global discussion of whether college degrees are “useful”. Due to the high cost of college degrees, some people choose not to attend. Some feel that they do not need to attend college in order to become successful or become an entrepreneur. On the other hand, those people in specialty industries understand that their college degrees are needed. More specifically, the topic of this blog takes aim at the degrees in the Sports Industry. There are various opinions, positive and negative on whether Sports degrees are useful. Of course in my opinion they are, but to some there are other degrees that could help someone excel in the Sports Industry.

            In an article from U.S. News and World Report written by Menachem Wecker, he discusses how some successful Sports industry college graduates have chosen to go through MBA instead of those degree programs focused on Sports. “Some say that an M.B.A. can be provide more professional flexibility than an M.A. or M.S. in sports” (Wecker 2011). The reason for this could be because of the various areas of Sports that those could excel in. There are different areas including marketing and sales and these experts feel that the Sports related Degrees might not resonate as well as the others. Despite which program students choose, they should also avoid the popular misconception that the sports industry doles out high salaries, according to professors and sports industry professionals (Wecker 2011).

            Well known businessman and Sports mogul Mark Cuban also feels the same way. In an interview with Bill Sutton, Cuban says, “If schools want to have any value to sports teams they should offer degrees in Sales.  Not sports sales. Just sales.  Teach kids to sell and they can get jobs anywhere anytime.  Teach kids sports management and you improve their chances of getting a job at Fridays” (thesportsresume.com.). Cuban feels that the reason he and his Dallas Mavericks basketball organization is successful is because of being known for the fan experience and excellent customer service. He feels that there are too many Sports program graduates with very low job opportunity in the industry. As a reader, what is your opinion on these topics? Is any degree worth more or less in this industry? Check out Cuban's opinions in the video below.

Why Sports Management is a lucrative career.

For this blog I wanted to share an article that I recently read entitled Why sports management is a lucrative career written by Abhijit Dabhade. This article in particular sheds light on the versatility of the Sports Management industry. Relatively new, the industry is quite interesting considering the various avenues for someone aspiring to have a career in Sports Management. In the article Dabhade discusses the different roles and career paths that can be taken in the Sports Management profession. He also discusses the skills that you can potentially posess having a career in the industry.

Dabhade lists some of the various careers or avenues as:

·      Sports Teams and League Management

·      Sports Sponsorship

·      Sport Operation Management

·      Sport Facility Management

·      Sport Hospitality

·      Sport Marketing

·      Sports Communications and PR

·      Sports Talent Management

·      Sports Media and Production

·      Sports Logistics

·      Sports Human Resource Management

·      Sports Tourism

·      Sports Legal Aid

·      Sports Psychology/Sociology

From these different avenues there is a lot that someone can learn and opens up multiple doors for growth. As a budding industry that continues to grow especially here in the US, the career path seems to be quite promising. Yet, as Dabhade discusses in his article it could also be quite difficult as well. As sports begin to become more lucrative, the athletes are paid well but that mean those holding positions in a font office could benefit financially as well.

I found this article quite intriguing because it reminds me a lot of my situation. Over time, I have changed my mind when trying to decipher, which Sports career path to take? I sometimes question exactly which role or which avenue in the industry would be best for me.  I see this as a good problem to have because I believe I have tremendous experience to go along with a skillset that could fit in multiple Sports Management career paths. My hopes are that by the end of this Degree program, I will have the knowledge of understanding where I could best implement my skills to begin a successful career in Sports.

http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report-score-high-with-a-lucrative-career-2207021