Why the marketing of soccer in Australia is going "downhill "
Evaluate how successful the marketing of soccer in Australia has been
Hypothesis:
“The Marketing of soccer in Australia is going downhill because of lack of TV, Media coverage, limited media attention, not enough support from fans, and lack of sponsorship to support the market”.
Soccer as we know it today began in England about halfway through the present century. There are records of earlier forms in China, at least two thousand years ago, in ancient Greece and Rome. But it was in England that soccer began to take the shape as we know it today. Soccer has become a very poplar sport world wide, in some countries soccer; you could say is considered a religion.
The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the marketing of soccer in Australia, Find out why soccer is not as big or as popular as it is in other countries and determine why the marketing is going downhill. The assignment will consist of 4 main focus questions which are listed below and will hopefully prove my hypothesis correct. Although there are many other factors which are currently affecting the marketing of soccer in Australia I feel as though the chosen topics are the most obvious and major reasons.
1. Not enough TV coverage of soccer in Australia
2. Lack of sponsorship to support the soccer market
3. Not enough Fan support
4. Not enough media attention
1. TV coverage of soccer in Australia:
For a Sport to popular in Australia or anywhere world wide, it seems essential that there has to be enough Television coverage. The NSL used to broadcast on Channel Seven's TV sports channel, but that no longer exists, leaving Soccer Australia desperately looking for another way of getting its sport on the box. This is one major reason the marketing is going on a downhill ride. Although standard TV channels have seized the viewing of soccer matches associations such as Homeart have agreed to show the 2002/2003 National Soccer League championship Series (Top 6 Finals Series) and Grand Final (delayed coverage) on the Expo Channel via the Optus cable and satellite service (Channel 47) and regional Austar Pay TV (Channel 19).Homeart, an Australian specialty retailer, has agreed to sponsor the significant production costs of the television production for coverage of the matches, in addition to providing the NSL Champions with a bonus ' winners cheque ' of $50,000 upon winning the 2002/2003 NSL Grand Final. Companies doing generous things such as this will surly help the soccer market, by making the sport more popular. But the market is always heavily relying on sponsorship such as this to remain even on pay TV. Where as sports such as cricket, AFL, NRL, are sponsored and shown on local TV channels on a regular basis, making it very hard for Australia’s soccer market to ever compare with other sports. Why would a TV station want to show soccer games if they can’t see any improvement in the popularity [next page]