Communication
Introduction
The National Football League or NFL is a professional American Football organization which consists of 3 teams that are equally divided between the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference (Jozsa, 2004, p. 270). The organization was found in 1920 and was named as American Professional Football Association before it renamed itself in 1923. They agreed to merge with the American Football League in 1966 and after that, the first Super Bowl was held. However, it was only considered a sporting event until 1973 where it began transforming into a culture. The Super Bowl is considered to be one of the biggest sporting events in the world and the games organized by the NFL accounts for the many of the most watched sport television programs in America (Harris, 2010). The regular games of the NFL happen during the four-week preseason and the seventeen-week regular season. The regular season starts from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas and culminates on the Super Bowl which is the major event in the NFL. In the Super Bowl, the game will be played between the champions from the teams of NFC and AFC. The organization uses the latest technology in order to reach out to their audience and promote the event. With the use of broadcasting through airing live events and connecting to the people in social media, the organization makes sure that it gives the audience around the country updates and experience of the games. NFL promotes the event using various techniques such as adverts, celebrity endorsements, Super Bowl week, creation of themes among others. Technology has played a major role in the promotion of the game since today many people can use smartphones in their hand to watch the game unlike in the past where it was only limited to television sets.
Description
The major event the NFL holds every year is the Super Bowl. To make sure that the people look forward to it, they hold different games every season so that the Super Bowl will be between two good teams. This is one way the NFL communicates this event and promotes it as the event comes closer. They also talk to different artists and working with them to perform in the half time game which is also one of the happenings that people look forward to. NFL is one of the organizations that use sport marketing in order to promote their game and events and even the teams that are playing the events. The goal of this strategy is also to promote the sport and create enthusiast and fans who will follow the events that the organization is working on. NFL’s sports marketing usually involves a wide variety of sectors particularly in the sports industry and this also includes broadcasting, advertising, and other digital platforms aside from social media and ticket sales (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2000). One of the major platforms the organization uses is broadcasting since it has different television contracts with four networks namely, NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN. The most important aspect of NFL’s strategy is to be constantly present for the fans through their shows and also through social media. By constantly giving updates and game schedules, fans around the country will be able to follow the event and other information about the athletes.
Interpretation
When it comes to promotion, NFL usually promote Super Bowl week where anything pertaining to the Super Bowl is discussed, for instance, players get to be interviewed. During this week, the masses’ thoughts are streamlined to think of nothing else but the game, thus, creating a “hype/buzz” leading to the game. The concept of week off is to give promotion of the game time to build up. This is a period where the players have been given time to rejuvenate or recover from injuries that were obtained during championships. At the same time, the media gets its opportunity to have a date with the players in order to promote the event. NFL also promote Super Bowl through commercials on all forms of media. When approaching the game day, most adverts and programs are usually centered on Super Bowl. NFL also promotes Super Bowl by giving it themes. For instance in 2016, NFL promoted Super Bowl as a baby making event that is epic. It did this through ads that showed children who were referred to as “Super Bowl babies.”
When first Super Bowl began, there was not much revenue obtained from commercials. Here, a 30-second ad spot cost $37,500 (Harvard Business School, 2016). However, in 1973, Super Bowl changed from a mere sporting event to a cultural phenomenon where commercials began taking shape. Today, The NFL rakes in billions in revenues in television deals alone. For instance, in 2014 season, the Super Bowl raised more than $7 billion on television deals. This is attributed to the fact that many viewers are now tuned in to watch the Super Bowl. Annually, the game is estimated to attract more than 100 million viewers and this is why the host TV stations are charging high prices (Harvard Business School, 2016). This year, CBS, which is the host of Super Bowl, will be charging $5 million for an ad sport lasting 30 seconds.
Evaluation
The marketing of sporting events just like what the NFL is doing can be defined as designing an activity to promote a product, the teams or the organization itself. The Super Bowl is the culminating event from the 17 week season and it looks to promote not just the event itself but also the sports and the football teams. Through local, national and social media, the event is promoted not only in the country but also internationally. What can be learned through the marketing process of the NFL is that, multiple platforms should be used in order to reach the number of target audience. Aside from live telecasts, the organization also gives updates on social media. The culminating event is also one of the marketing strategies of the organization where they even invite famous artists to perform in the half time show. This is a good way to communicate or promote the said event because it ensures that the fans will enjoy the game and also look forward to the half time shows.
The experience of the event also exhilarates the fans and this makes them look forward to it every year. The Super Bowl is the championship event and this ensures that the game should prove who the better team is. Just like other physical sports, football is all about who is the strongest and who is the smartest in terms of incorporating strategies in gameplay. The experience it gives to the fans is good and that is why people would always want to watch it in the stadium or live on their television screens. What can be realized from this is that, through constant broadcasting and through promotions on social media, the NFL has ensured that they are known not only in the United States but also around the world.
References
Harris, N. (2010, January 31). Elite clubs on Uefa gravy train as Super Bowl knocked off perch. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/elite-clubs-on-uefa-gravy-train-as-super-bowl-knocked-off-perch-1884429.html
Jozsa, F. P. (2004). Sports Capitalism: The Foreign Business of American Professional Leagues. Surrey, United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing.
Mullin, B. J., Hardy, S., & Sutton, W. A. (2000). Sport marketing (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Harvard Business School. (2016, Feb 05) The Business of the NFL and Super Bowl 50. Retrieved from http://www.hbs.edu/news/articles/Pages/super-bowl-50.aspx
