<p>A few decades ago, football players would have found it hard to believe their sport would one day be a multi-billion dollar industry.<br />
They would have found it hard to believe so many people would pay so much to watch the game at all.<br />
Early football pitches represented something more akin to a medieval battlefield, with players kicking each other through the mud.<br />
Football tactics amounted to nothing much more then dribbling in the general direction of the goal and hoping no one tackled you.<br />
The English, after all, considered passing to be unmanly.<br />
Over the course of a century, amateurs who engaged in part-time kickabouts followed by trips down to the pub transformed into highly paid professionals with fame and adulation equivalent to rock stars.<br />
The evolution of football epitomizes the evolution of sports business as a whole. One can no longer say “it&#8217;s just a game”.<br />
Careers, companies and national dignity are on the line every time professional athletes take to the field.<br />
<strong>An industry of industries</strong><br />
The Roman Empire understood the power of sport, and emperors frequently used the games as a means of currying favour amongst their people.<br />
The Romans also understood the power of sport as business.<br />
Even though their famous Colosseum drew audiences from all over the empire, they could never have envisioned the industry as it is today.<br />
The 2012 Super Bowl XLVI had a viewership of 167 million worldwide and 111 million in the U.S, making it the most watched television broadcast of any kind in America,<br />
while the 2006 Soccer World Cup had a viewership of 715 million (<em>Wikipedia</em>).<br />
The Ancient Greeks understood the importance of physical fitness, especially through sport.<br />
But again, modern society has taken their philosophies to a new level, with advances in health science making the benefits of promoting fitness through sport evident,<br />
and advances in technology providing more efficient means of doing so.<br />
The gym has become a central part of culture as it was with the Ancient Greeks.<br />
Then there&#8217;re the social benefits that sport provides, whether it&#8217;s being utilized by companies as part of team-building activities, or by non-profit organizations to help the disadvantaged.<br />
It&#8217;s a universal form of communication that can transcend all language barriers.<br />
This is something recognised by organizations like Travellers Worldwide know well, which use the benefits of sport to help refugee children from war-torn countries settle into their new environments.<br />
Sport as a business caters to those seeking fitness, those seeking entertainment, and those seeking social engagement.<br />
With the emergence of extreme sports, we see yet another service the industry can provide, as it becomes a means for adrenaline junkies to obtain their fix.<br />
Film audiences thought it was impressive when Batman soared through the window of a high-rise building in Hong Kong to abduct a criminal accountant in T<em>he Dark Knight</em>.<br />
For extreme sports enthusiasts who engage in “wingsuit flying”, that&#8217;s just what they do on their days off.<br />
<strong>Making it in Sports Business</strong><br />
Lou Imbriano, CEO of marketing firm TrinityOne, has 25 years of experience in the sports industry.<br />
He believes anyone hoping to succeed in sports business needs to bear in mind three fundamental principles:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Change:</strong> Sports business is constantly changing, and you need to be able to identify emerging trends and adapt quickly.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Fans:</strong> Never forget that the fans are the foundation of sports business. They&#8217;re the ones who fill up the stadiums, and they&#8217;re the ones who buy the shirts.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>Advice:</strong> When it comes to seeking advice, remember that sport elicits more rampant enthusiasm than most other industries, and such enthusiasm may fool people into believing they&#8217;re experts.</li>
</ul>
<p>Someone who has no involvement in the information technology field will likely refrain from providing advice on information technology,<br />
but the same person will be all too eager to provide their opinion on a sports enterprise, even if their only involvement is watching from an armchair with a beer can in their hand.<br />
Seek advice from people who have real experience in that field and not from people who have experience “with sports”.<br />
Sports businesses cater to many different needs, and transcend cultural boundaries.<br />
Whether you&#8217;re an agent, a coach, a manager, part of the marketing team, or the guy running the cafeteria, there&#8217;s no shortage of potential career paths should you choose to study sports business.</p>
<h5>Featured images:</h5>
<p><span class="license">License: Creative Commons</span><br />
<span class="source">image source</span><br />
Matthew Flax writes for Now Learning, a higher education portal that promotes a variety of tertiary education opportunities in Australia, including graduate certificate courses in sport management.</p>

Why Sport Is Such A Lucrative Industry
