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Welcome to the list of snippets from around the world of football business.
Aston Villa get to know their fans through pre-paid cards.
In a highly progressive move the club has launched a pre-paid card with the aim to get to know the shopping habits of their loyal supporters. The club will soon be in a position to know which beer you drink and which brand of pies you like most. Knowing your fans is what will make clubs sustainable.
Nigeria’s Director-General of the Arts want to sell paintings of football players for millions.
Director-General of the Council, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe recently said, “We must think outside the box and not oil all the time; some day, this oil will dry up, but arts and culture will never dry up. I was at the Brazilian Embassy sometime ago and somebody was requesting for Pele’s painting in millions of dollars. Why should somebody not ask for the painting of Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Okala, Jay-Jay Okocha or Christian Chukwu? The answer is, Pele employs top advisers to manage his personal brand and makes a minimum of US$1m for a single endorsement and more than US$100 000 for appearance fees. Now there’s a challenge for our players Mr. Director-General.
European clubs to host a conference on “the structure of membership-owned football clubs”.
It looks like European fans are coming out strongly to take over the ownership of their clubs. Community or “Socio” ownership is something that’s very much needed in Africa and Moroka Swallows F.C. in South Africa has recently re-launched the famous club through crowdfunding allowing ordinary fans to become owners through a minimum investment.
Norwich City FC, creates a unique ownership offer to club’s fans.
The club has launched a £3.5m mini-bond to fund a new high-performance Academy-giving supporters the chance to directly invest in the club’s future. Investors will get 5% interest and 3% in club credits annually. If the club gets promoted to the Premier League, the bond will pay out a one-off 25% bonus. The minimum subscription is £500 with no upper limit. This concept can be implemented in any crowdfunding platform and it’s a concept worth pursuing.
Niger Delta to gain two football academies.
“The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has called for partnership with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in its plans to set up two football academies in the Niger Delta region. The NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, made the proposal when the NFF President, Mr Amaju Pinnick, led a delegation of the federation to pay him a courtesy visit at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt”. Does anyone know what kind of support is given to existing academies in Niger Delta?
Certificate course launched for football agents.
Football intermediaries will soon be able to get an accredited and certificated qualification to managing football players. According to the course provider, “more people than ever are representing football players, yet unlike other trades or professions, there’s no formal training or mentoring for those becoming intermediaries”. We will keep you posted on the launch date of this Course in Africa.
Legends on the rise.
Nigerian legend Jay-Jay Okocha “has been named as one of the German Bundesliga legends. He joins Ghana legend and CAF Deputy General Secretary, Anthony Baffoe in the 11-man legends network that will be flying the Bundesliga flag across the world”. Looks likes football legends are raising their personal brands to create second careers in the sport which gave them so much. Personal branding is part of that process and the sooner other retired players realise that, the better for their own prospects of continuing to earn an income from the game. What’s the solution? Retired players should gain more knowledge on how the world of football business operates. They should attend as many as possible courses and workshops to increase their knowledge around modern day sports business.
The real business of football happens off the field.
Germany’s DFB-Academy, lead by Oliver Bierhoff, director of all national teams and development, recently visited various businesses and institutions in California, USA to study a range of new and cutting-edge insights from science to top-level sport, technology to innovation. “We want our academy to benefit from the newest and most exciting ideas from modern science and technology, in order to continue in our footballing development,” said Bierhoff. Now that’s why they are they current world champions. That’s Germany for you, hey?
Dates to remember: The World Football Summit will take place in Madrid, Spain on 24-25 September 2018 and it will be followed by the Euro-Africa Football Partnership Forum on 26 September 2018. The Forum will facilitate cooperation agreements between European and African, FA’s, leagues, clubs, coaches, academies, agents, etc. If you want to partner any structure in Europe, contact us for more details.
Opinion. Many football clubs in the more establish leagues are starting to generate income from more than just gate-takings and broadcast fee’s. Even retired football players are coining it in the modern game of commerce and industry. Is it a mindset or just a coincidence?
Opinion. Why audits are important for the growth of football. Many structures in Africa have no clue as to their “numbers”. All over the world, sporting bodies are using big data to state their case for more funding and they are doing so, with great success. So, what is big data? It’s nothing more than knowing your “numbers” for every aspect of your structure and it gives you the means to even profile your participants, members and fans to potential sponsors. The world of sports now operates under the realm of “scientific sponsorship”. Welcome to the world of big data in sport.
Until next time and warmest regards.
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Gerrit Davids
MD: Gerom Media, Sports & Entertainment
Mobile +27 (0) 82 406 1657
E-mail: info@sportsbusiness.co.za / info@gerommedia.co.za
Website: www.sportsbusiness.co.za[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]