October

Do you think sports businesses are generally more successful? Why?
“I think sports businesses experience exactly the same type of impact, positive
and negative, as any other type of business. It is fair to suggest that because the
sport & leisure market is a key area in times of recession, sometimes the
austerity in front line public services takes longer to reach the play and sport
sector but it still gets there eventually. As a consequence, sport & leisure has
areas that do experience growth over and above other sectors and industries
but I can’t suggest that sports businesses per se are more successful than any
other sector that has growth potential and of course there are plenty out
there.”
How easy is it to market sport/a sports business?
“Notts Sport focus heavily on marketing and it is increasingly tough as more
and more companies in our industries see the benefits of good quality
marketing. This means that we try to innovate and do things differently so that
we stand out from our competitors. In this sense, I think marketing in our
industry is no different to any other – it is presenting what you do in a way that
is consistent with your brand position (either existing or aspiring) so that it is
attractive to the customer and in a way that makes you stand out from
competitors.”
Why do sports and business go so well together?
“Blimey good question! I think it is for any number of socio-economic reasons
that would take up whole essays and books and require far cleverer minds than
mine to give a reasoned & informed answered. At the risk of trivialising,
perhaps it boils down to the fact that sport plays such an important part in our
daily lives whether we like it or not.
As a result, over the past 30 or so years in particular, government, industry and
business has seen that level of interest across the world & helped to harness it
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