Posts Tagged ‘AFL’

Less Is More

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Do you ever dream of one Australian football code that everyone follows?

I do. Will it ever happen? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s exciting to think of the benefits that would come from having fewer sports to follow in this country.

Put simply, fewer sporting codes would mean more money in the pot. Club memberships, broadcast dollars, merchandise sales, athlete wages, ticket sales and sponsorship would all skyrocket.

Everyone marvels at the amount of money sport attracts in America and Europe. And while we’ll never match those guys (due to population and economics) we can do better. But first we must cull a few sports.

Let’s take a look at the 15 highest paid NFL players in 2010:

1.    Peyton Manning, Colts $30.8 million total earnings (9th among US athletes, $15.8m salary/$15m endorsements)
2.    Matthew Stafford, Lions $27.6m (11, $26.9m/$0.7m)
3.    Eli Manning, Giants $26.5m (T13, $19.5m/$7m)
4.    Philip Rivers, Chargers $25.8m (17, $25.6m/$0.2m)
5.    Terrell Suggs, Ravens $24.9m (19, $24.9m/$0.0m)
6.    Albert Haynesworth, Redskins $24.6m (20, $24.6m/$0.1m)
7.    Brett Favre, Vikings $24m (21, $17m/$7m)
8.    Darrius Heyward-Bey, Raiders $21.5m (28, $21.4m/$0.0m)
9.    Jason Smith, Rams $20.6m (33, $20.5m/$0.0m)
10.    Julius Peppers, Bears $20m (36, $20m/$0.0m)
11.    Vince Wilfork, Patriots $18.9m (38, $18.9m/$0.0m)
12.    DeAngelo Hall, Redskins $18.5m (40, $18.5m/$0.0m)
13.    Tyson Jackson, Chiefs $18.1m (42, $18.1m/$0.0m)
14.    Mark Sanchez, Jets $16.9m (48, $16.4m/$0.5m)
15.    DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys $16.8m (49, $16m/$0.8m)

These wages are difficult to comprehend but take a closer look at the money pouring into the sport and you begin to understand why Peyton Manning has three cars……. two Escalades and one Cadillac SLR for the record.

According to AdAge, Anheuser-Busch recently signed a six-year, $1.2 billion agreement to reclaim its position as the league’s official beer sponsor. The deal takes effect in April of 2011.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Verizon Wireless agreed to fork over $720 million over the next four years to replace Sprint as the NFL’s exclusive wireless partner.

And then there is PepsiCo who are in the final season of two deals totaling more than $1 billion: $560 million over six years for its Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Tropicana brands, and $500 million for Gatorade. And let’s not forget the league’s other 20 sponsors who pay anywhere between $10 – 15 million per year (and then outlay $1.5 billion collectively to leverage their sponsorships).

If that’s not enough money, then let’s include the NFL’s broadcast deals worth $3.7 billion per year (Monday Night Football is worth in excess of $1.1 billion alone) and you have a budget that slightly trumps the AFL, NRL, ARL and A-League put together. Oh, and we haven’t even discussed the individual NFL clubs and their sponsorship, membership and merchandising rights and their athletes who command individual endorsements on the side.

So if you’re an Australian footballer who couldn’t previously understand why the Redskins DeAngelo Hall is on $18.5m and you’re on $400,000 then maybe you can now?

Right now, we have a very fractured sporting landscape in Australia. Too many sports competing for a pie that isn’t that big.

Let’s do the maths. America has over 300 million people. And six big sports – NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, USPGA and NASCAR.

Australia has over 20 million people. A much smaller population, yet we have five big sports including the AFL, NRL, ARU, A-League and Cricket Australia.

It’s little wonder athletes are heading overseas for better pay, footy clubs are struggling to make a profit and memberships are not where they should be.

Based on the above equation, Australia should concentrate on having three big sports, minimum. The rest can battle for the scraps.

Now, the only problem is deciding on those three sports? Which three would you choose and why?

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Posted in AFL, Cricket, Football, Rugby, Rugby League, Sponsorship, Strategy | 5 Comments »

Who Wants to Be An Athlete?

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Collingwood boss Eddie McGuire fears AFL stars are becoming easy targets after one of his players was allegedly king-hit in an unprovoked street attack.

It’s not uncommon for elite sportsman to be targets in public. I’ve spent a lot of time in public places with high profile athletes and most of the attention is positive, if a little overbearing.

On the negative side, a couple years ago, I went to a bar with an athlete. This was a weeknight after a long day of sponsor commitments and the athlete felt like a beer to unwind before retiring to his hotel room. We only stayed for two drinks but that was enough time to attract trouble.

First it was happy snaps. Some tipsy office workers wanting photos. Next it was two drunk guys who proceeded to talk in your face as opposed to at your face. Next came the unwanted female attention with some direct and rather disgusting language. And finally it was a group of drunk guys who all of a sudden became experts on my athlete’s sport and started to criticise and hurl insults. We didn’t react. Instead we got out of there, but that didn’t stop one of the guys pushing the athlete whilst yelling “you think you’re better than us?”

I think that last statement sums up the feeling amongst the troublemakers. These people need to bring others down to feel important. And there are plenty of them out there. Eddie has a point.

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Posted in AFL | No Comments »

Make Your Sponsorship Proposal Stand Out

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

What is one major difference between the two sponsorship proposals below.

- AFL pitching to Company X

- Individual athlete manager pitching to Company X

The answer: One has extensive market research about their product, the other does not.

When the AFL, NRL or FFA pitches for sponsorship, they have qualitative and quantitative market research to present. This includes demographics about their key customers and what their brand represents in the marketplace among others things. Most importantly, they have the data to back it up.

Athlete managers on the other hand don’t have any solid market research to present. They can guesswork the brand values of their athlete but they don’t have the kind of data that makes a proposal compelling.

Sponsors are very strategic in their approach. They know their brand inside and out. They know exactly who their target market is. They know demographics. They know exactly what their brand represents to their customers. They know the buying behaviour and what influences their target market. They know what kind of marketing and advertising works and why. And they expect you to have similar level of understanding about the product you’re selling.

Athlete managers never include this kind of data in their proposals. So the managers that do will stand head and shoulders above everyone else.

Now market research doesn’t need to be peace and war and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Most sports will give you this information for free. So if you manage a rugby union player, you could ask the ARU for some market research. (Tell them you’re doing a uni assignment or you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities).

This will give you some hard data about your athlete’s target market which you can present to potential sponsors. They’ll be shocked but delighted and it may just get your proposal over the line.

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Posted in AFL, Communication, Football, Sponsorship, Strategy, advertising | No Comments »

Sitting On The Sidelines

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

d4788972951affe38515d027ed9f4f872In this month’s GQ Magazine, AFL footballer Ben Cousins talks about his time away from football and how that ‘time away’ only exaggerated his personal problems.

It’s not hard to understand why. Sportspeople live a regimented life. It’s not all glamour. Most of their time is extremely structured. Train, eat, sleep and repeat.

Take that structure away and the athlete feels like their life has been turned upside down. This can lead to emotional breakdown and other issues. Before you tell me athletes are overpaid and live a privileged life and should “harden the f#*ck up” let me put it this way. Anyone who ‘lives to work’ instead of ‘works to live’ can relate to this feeling.

Let’s say you work Mon-Fri. You love your job. You do valuable work. You enjoy the people you work with. And you like the structure that work brings to your life. But what happens when the weekend rolls around and you’re not doing valuable work, and you’re not around your work mates and the structure you enjoy is put on hold? Do you feel kinda lost? Well imagine having that feeling for weeks or even months, and you begin to understand what its like for an athlete suffering a season ending injury or suspension.

The lesson here for athlete managers is to be on guard when your athlete suffers a lay-off. Make sure they have other pursuits or areas of interest to work on. In a football club, this might be working with the coach more closely or working in the head office. Anything that gives the athlete a challenge or something to work towards is great. In Ben Cousins case, it was the challenge of completing a marathon that filled the void of not playing footy.

Better yet, every athlete should have life balance waaaay before they suffer a stint on the sidelines.

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Posted in AFL, Client Relationship, Communication, Personal Development, Strategy | No Comments »