Welcome to the Sport for Business Expert Forum where each week we carry the perspective of a member or members within the Sport for Business community on issues which are of timely relevance within the area we cover that lies between sport business and society.
Today we look at the area of new sport and adapted games first with John Gillick, Sponsorship Manager with AIG and a key player in the development and promotion of the Hurling Super 11’s, and later with JP Montgomery of Basketball Ireland on the rapid growth of 3×3.
Is there an appetite for adapted games or is it just a passing fad?
JG -Yes of course but you have to be careful as to what you are adapting and most importantly ‘why’. If there are clear logic and rationale along with a clear plan and strategic objectives then it has a place and therefore an appetite should be there to harvest or why else would you be doing it.
Part of the appeal is to get people playing that would otherwise not feel able, witness tag and touch rugby, five a side soccer and quick hockey. Is that sense of new participation an appealing differentiator.
Yes, once you have your sport adapted, then it is down to the marketing and to look at your sport as a product and who the market is. This can be two fold in terms of the sport being showcased to potential participants and then the potential audience.
For participation, there are many examples with the most obvious being the likes of 5 aside astro leagues and tag rugby that give a ready-made facilities for people to engage with a sport in an easy to use ‘off the shelf’ and non-pressurised manner.
This often involves friends, business associates and new ‘sport’ associates that you enjoy the time with, have a bit of competitive banter and leave with a good feeling of fun and exercise together, so that is a big differentiating factor in my view.
For audiences for example, if it is something like 11 aside hurling or 7’s rugby, existing and new audiences can experience the game in an easier format to transport and showcase that they would otherwise not be able to sample the skills on show in its original format.
Which if any sports do you believe could breakthrough to new audiences and sponsors with a fresh approach?
After being involved in the AIG Fenway Hurling Classic, I would have to say GAA or in an adapted form if required due to logistical challenges such as pitch sizes.
A recent example is the super 11’s Hurling in Boston as the facts speak for themselves in terms of close to 30,000 tickets sold and live TV coverage both in the US and Ireland.
There were a host of PR and media events in the run up to the game so interest was definitely there which cannot be discounted or ignored.
Other examples are the compromise rules and big GAA events in Dubai and China with the growing number of clubs around the world and native participants. If future games or competitions such as the Super 11’s can be run in the US and end up generating income for the GAA/GPA that goes back into grassroots in clubs in Ireland then it is a positive thing could certainly be built on in that light.
