Tisch Institute for Sports (GLSP1-CE)

It is vital for sport professionals to understand how sport consumers differ from other consumers in terms of their psychological makeup, their affinity for sport products, and their purchasing patterns. Having this understanding will allow students to better understand their respective consumers and, therefore, to develop successful approaches to marketing and management. This course, through examining sport consumers and their unique behaviors, provides an analysis of sport’s influence upon fan conduct and subsequent purchasing habits. Topics to be examined include buyers and decision-making processes, market influences, the psychology of decision-making, the importance of demographics and psychographics upon purchasing habits, and lifestyle spending.

This course teaches students how to apply marketing principles to the professional sports sector, including sport organizations, sporting events, special events, commercial sport organizations, sporting goods manufacturers, and sport enterprises. Because sport consumers are unique and the sport product is distinctive, students will need to understand how to formulate a marketing plan specifically for sport products and sport consumers. Students will leave with an understanding of the sport marketing process from inception to finish (i.e., sport consumer research, comprehension of the research, and implementation of the research as it relates to attracting sport consumers). Students will learn about the importance of consumer lifestyles and the branding process as they relate to segmentation and target marketing. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to utilize the branding process, pricing strategies, media relations, and promotional methods to successfully market a sport property.

Because sporting events are diverse and take place on both micro (such as a single Sumo event) and macro levels (such as a multi-week, multi-sport Olympic event), sport professionals are often tasked with the challenge of properly planning and developing varying events. This course will provide a common set of planning techniques applicable to the assorted set of sporting events available to sport consumers. Course content will include aspects such as evaluating and selecting particular sites in a crowded marketplace, implementing action timelines, and understanding event budgets. Students will learn about the development of sporting events, from event conception to post-event analysis. Topics to be covered include requests for proposals; partnerships; infrastructures; revenue and funding sources; organizational development, including security and volunteer staffing; and risk management.

Sport practitioners often are tasked with understanding and contributing to the financial success of sports properties. In this course, students will learn to analyze and comprehend the fiscal conditions of a sports property from a strategic standpoint. Furthermore, they will acquire the knowledge to provide insight into the financial market for a sports property in relation to the property’s competitors. In this course, the following subjects will be studied: time value of money, analysis of financial statements, capital budgeting, budgeting and forecasting for short- and long-term economic events, debt and equity management, project financing, risk management, investment strategies, working capital analysis, and financial modeling.