| Name an industry that gets free advertising every | | | | minds like sports is politics and religion. Those will too |
| day in every newspaper around the country? Still | | | | quickly become controversial for the entrepreneur. |
| thinking? Here is another hint - they have web sites, | | | | Back to selling and our emotions. The greater the |
| radio shows, TV shows and entire cable channels | | | | emotional attachment people have to a product, the |
| dedicated to talking about them and their product? | | | | better for us. But not all of us are not going to be as |
| Give Up? The answer is sports. | | | | successful at tapping into Joe Public's emotion-meter |
| What an incredible industry. Every morning Jerry | | | | with our business idea like the NFL or tire |
| Jones' team has articles written about it. Free color | | | | manufacturers. They have a big head start and |
| pictures on the front page promoting his brand. Radio | | | | deeper pockets than the rest of us. |
| shows talking solely about his product for hours on | | | | What is an entrepreneur to do? How can you get |
| end. | | | | people loving your product as much as the Pittsburgh |
| More than 30 million people play fantasy sports. The | | | | Steelers? |
| average player in fantasy sports spends about $110 a | | | | Sorry to put it this way, but you probably won't. But |
| year on their fantasy teams, and that is mainly to | | | | on the bright side, if you can't beat them join them. |
| have "bragging rights". Some of us can remember | | | | Sell Sports - Sports related businesses have a big plus |
| back in the 1990's when people played "rotisserie | | | | going for them. You are already tapping into an |
| leagues". Today ESPN, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, CBS | | | | emotional vibe that is deep-rooted and long-living. No |
| Sportsline and others have very sophisticated online | | | | need to try and build that positive feeling. ESPN has |
| systems to manage leagues and get you information | | | | taken care of that for us. All you need to do is find |
| about your team, players and league standings. | | | | some avenues in sports-related business to take |
| They make a fortune on these sites from advertising | | | | advantage of this fervor. |
| because they know they have a market of 18 - 50 | | | | Most of us do not have 700 million sitting around to |
| year old males earning over $50,000 a year and who | | | | buy the next NFL franchise coming up for sale. We |
| spend more than two hours a week playing these | | | | need to reach for some lower hanging fruit. Let's |
| games, reading the ads, and messaging their friends | | | | consider a couple of business models that allow you |
| about the sports articles. Why are fantasy sports | | | | to take advantage of the sports machine that have |
| games so popular -because we love sports and the | | | | less barriers to entry. |
| fantasy games feed the love. | | | | Sports Tickets - The secondary sports ticket market |
| In 2004, the CBS and Fox networks spent a | | | | is a $10 billion a year business. Many people reading |
| combined $8 billion to broadcast NFL games for six | | | | this are going to say "ticket scalping". To them we |
| years. In 1999 CBS spent $6 billion for the rights to | | | | say you are buying a limited supply of a product and |
| broadcast the NCAA basketball tournament for 11 | | | | reselling it on the open market to the highest bidder. |
| years. In 2006 Fox and TBS signed a combined $3 | | | | Exactly how different is this from buying and selling |
| billion deal with MLB to broadcast a few games a | | | | houses? If we had the same moral indignation for |
| week plus the post season. In 2001, the NBA signed | | | | ticket resellers and we do house flippers, Carlton |
| a six year $3.4 Billion deal with Time Warner. Why are | | | | Sheets would be flipping burgers. |
| billions of dollars being spent to broadcast sporting | | | | Not every ticket has a worthy resale value. We need |
| events? Because we love sports they are making | | | | to separate the wheat from the chaffe. We also |
| money on filling that love. | | | | need to know where to sell our wheat, |
| You get the idea. Sports are part of our lives. We | | | | metaphorically speaking. There are several places that |
| have an insatiable appetite for sports. We emotionally | | | | offer a quality education on how to venture into this |
| connect to players and teams. They are our role | | | | market. They will educate any novice or intermediate |
| models. Entire cities shut down when a championship | | | | on the secondary ticket market and keep them from |
| game is being played or for the victory parade. | | | | making costly mistakes as well as make profitable |
| Corporations invest millions and billions of dollars in | | | | deals. Look for something that not only gives you a |
| sports related media because they can get a return | | | | "how-to" manual, but also provides you with |
| on that investment. | | | | information on a moving-forward basis. Ticket sale |
| Sports Marketing - Tiger Woods, Lebron James, | | | | dates and presale codes are valuable items. The cost |
| Michael Jordan and countless others are not only | | | | of the course is usually recovered in a few |
| great talents, but they are the stars of carefully | | | | transactions. |
| crafted marketing plans. These marketing plans are | | | | Sports Memorabilia - While we found no guides on |
| geared towards raising their profile, creating interest | | | | the best ways of breaking into this business, there |
| in the fan base and expanding that fan base. This | | | | are some well known technique amongst sports |
| does not happen just because Tiger is a good guy. | | | | collectors that can help you. Send balls, jerseys, |
| This happens because there are millions of dollars to | | | | photos to sports stars asking them to sign it. If you |
| be made. Thousands of hours are invested into these | | | | include a self addressed return package, the odds of |
| marketing plans - creating the images, the right | | | | a player signing it and sending it back go way up. A |
| words, the right message and the right media outlet. | | | | few samples on eBay for sports memorabilia include: |
| There is a greater point here - the business of sports | | | | Mariano Rivera Signed Baseball $230 Mariano Rivera |
| has successfully tapped into our emotions and our | | | | Signed Picture $70 Chris Carpenter Signed Picture |
| lives in a way no other business has. | | | | $139 Ben Roethlisberger Signed Football $325 David |
| Marketing 101 - When we have read the countless | | | | Carr Signed Football $225 |
| books on selling and marketing, we learned the best | | | | Not too bad of a return for an investment of a ball |
| way to sell to a person is to tap into that person's | | | | and some postage. Start listing on eBay and you are |
| emotions. The ability to create and emotional | | | | good to go. |
| attachment from the buyer to your product is | | | | For market research all you need to do is go out to |
| priceless. Everyone remember the tire ad where the | | | | eBay and look at some postings. |
| baby was sitting inside the tire giggling and looking | | | | The perfect business will tap into people's emotions |
| cute. You're not buying white-walled radials - you are | | | | to remove price from the equation as much as |
| buying protection for your children. No price is too | | | | possible. Sports has accomplished this goal. Anything |
| steep for that. | | | | dealing with sports will invoke passion in people. All |
| Wouldn't it be great if we could create this type of | | | | too often people's highs and lows coincide with their |
| emotion that for a furniture store? Imagine radio | | | | favorite team. We leave the social commentary on |
| shows talking about trundle beds, recliner sofas and | | | | this to other publications. For us entrepreneurs, |
| nesting tables. Well it's hard to get excited about | | | | understanding this emotional tie-in enables us to find |
| china cabinets the same way we do about football - | | | | opportunities to capitalize on these markets. |
| and we never will. The only things that tap into our | | | | |