Some might
say what we have witnessed on the financial markets and in the world’s banking
system over the past few weeks has represented more of an extreme sport than
anything kite-surfing, snowboarding or free-fall parachute jumping (without a
parachute) could offer combined.
Yet there remains a polarisation of opinion
about the likely impact of the economic downturn on the sports industry. Much
has been made in the British media on the potential effects of bank nationalisation
on sports sponsorships or the collapse of Icelandic banks on the fortunes and
even survival of sporting institutions, including Premiership club West Ham
United. At the other end of the spectrum, Deutsche
Welle
claimed this week that sport remained “calm amid the financial crisis” and
appeared “remarkably unaffected by the global market crisis.”
Let’s
just chart a middle course for a moment. If sport is going to be one of the
last sectors to feel the effects of recession, it will likely be one of the
last to emerge into the bright new sunshine of growth. The time is now to
consider and plan for the shape in which, as an industry, we emerge best able
to exploit the opportunities that will unquestionably present themselves again.
Is that
overly optimistic? Absolutely not. Sport, like music and literature, is one of
the cornerstones of society; something we turn to for excitement, for
adventure, for shared experiences and to take us away from the day to day
drudgery; unless, of course, you’re a Spurs supporter, in which case economic
recession must seem like a laugh a minute compared with what’s going on at
White Hart Lane right now.
Recession
demands we redefine the relationship between sport, commerce and consumer. It
will strip away some of the excesses of the past few years, leaving the most
robust still standing and will get both sponsor and rights holder focusing on
what’s in the best commercial interest of the brand, the supporters and the
sports they watch.
There
will unquestionably be less commercial funding for sport over the next few
years. Less, but not none; that which remains will be made to work harder for
the brand and harder for the sport and the sport will be made to work harder to
attract it. And when, finally, gloom lifts and we find to our surprise that the
world is still turning, that may not have been a bad thing.
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