1. The Money of Sports & Entertainment Marketing
How do they make it? How much do they keep?
Written by: Memory Reed
Georgia CTAE Resource Network 2010

2. Funding & Revenue in Sports
Funding in sports depends on the level of sports
Local level - fundraisers, tournaments, local advertisers, local sponsors, camps, concessions, fees
Semi-pro - corporate sponsorships, investors, bank loans, contests, giveaways, camps
Professional - Endorsements, ticket sales, merchandise sales, personal appearances, contests, giveaways
Lead discussion on how their local sports teams (school & rec leaques) make money to buy uniforms, maintain the fields, pay officials, etc. How much money does it cost to have a team play a sport? How much do their parents pay in fees? Does that cover everything?
Then lead a discussion into semi-pro sports (minor leagues). What do they do for money? Do they make much on ticket sales? How do they get people to come to the games? How do they keep going? How much does it cost to keep a minor league franchise going? How much support do they get from the community?
The talk about professional teams as well as professional athletes. How many pros really make a lot of money? How much does it cost to run a pro team? How much does it cost to have a stadium? How much is a pro franchise? What happens if you are pro and then you get hurt? How does that affect the investment the franchise has in you? How did Michael Vick’s crimes affect the Falcon’s?

3. Funding & Revenue in Entertainment
Depends on the level and whether it is a venue, a company or an entertainer
Local venues - contests, fundraisers, rent out for all types of activities, bank loans, investors, local sponsors, local donors
Local companies (groups) - Local donors, local sponsors, ticket sales, fundraisers, guest appearances at local venues, schools
Local entertainers - Local donors, investors, guest appearances, sponsors
Talk about the various types of entertainment and how it is funded. There are venues (theaters, auditoriums, etc.), companies (ballet companies, choral groups, theatrical groups) and individual entertainers and bands. How do they get the money to put on shows? How much does it cost to put on a show? If you have any theater kids in the room they may be able to add to the conversation because of their work in the school theatrical productions. What happens if people don’t support these things?

4. Regional Entertainment Funding & Revenue
Venues - Advertisers, Patrons, Corporate Sponsors, Investors, Bank loans, Ticket Sales, Contests, Giveaways, etc.
Companies - Patrons, Corporate Sponsors, Investors, Fundraisers, Ticket Sales, Merchandise Sales
Entertainer - Salary or Ticket Sales, Sponsors, Investors, Guest Appearances
This would be the larger groups and entertainers, like The Fox Theater, Phillips Arena, etc. The Atlanta Ballet, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, or even Southeastern venues or companies. This would be entertainers that are known in the south, but not everywhere.

5. Professional Entertainment Funding & Revenue
Venues - Ticket sales, Bank loans, Patrons, Corporate Sponsors, Merchandise sales, Concessions, Investors, Special Events, Contests, Giveaways
Companies - Ticket sales, Patrons, Corporate Sponsors, Merchandise sales, Investors, Guest appearances
Entertainers - Ticket sales, Endorsements, Merchandise sales, Guest appearances
This would be major venues, the major venues that are known around the country or world. Major theatrical, dance or musical companies. Professional entertainers, singers, bands, actors/actresses, comics, etc.

6. What is Funding?
Funding - Getting money to run the business or activity
Usually this is money before the event takes place to put the event on
Funding includes - Patrons, Investors, Bank loans, Sponsorships, Donors, Fundraisers, etc.

7. What is Revenue?
Revenue - The money you get from selling your product or service (before expenses are deducted).
Revenue includes ticket sales, concessions, merchandise sales, camps, schools (theater, dance or choral schools), paid guest/personal appearances, money made from contests, money made from advertisement sales
Revenue is the gross profit (the money from sales). The profit is the money left after you’ve deducted all expenses from your revenue. Revenue - Expenses = Profit

8. Pricing Strategies
What are some pricing strategies that can be used to increase sales & revenue in sports & entertainment marketing?
Package deals - multiple tickets, tickets & parking, tickets & food, tickets & merchandise, tickets & backstage passes, etc.
Group discounts
Special group days
Discounts for certain types of people (seniors, teachers, military, etc.)
See if the students can come up with other pricing strategies. They may wonder how giving discounts will increase revenue, the answer is that it increases sales and therefore more tickets are sold. More tickets means more revenue, even if you don’t make as much per ticket. Also, more people means more sales in merchandise and concessions, which means greater profit. Also, sponsorships and ad sales are often determined by the number of tickets sold, so the more tickets sold, the more sponsors you can get and the more ads you can sell.

9. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!!