PR is everywhere, it extends even a sport. Is it even possible? How does it look like? All these questions are quite normal. At first sight, sport industry looks like it doesn’t need any of these promotional tools, but then how do athletes get their jobs? How do they take participate in an ad campaign? How do they communicate with their fans on social media? It’s all about PR. So let’s see how we can use it and who does it need. To be clear, let’s see what is all included in responsibility of sports PR: preparing media kits, writing player biographies, compiling stacks of statistics, booking player appearances on television & radio sports shows, handling crises when players run afoul of the law, maintaining the team website & blog, ‘wining and dining’ sports reporters, maintaining the press box, arranging media interviews, providing constant updates for fans on social media. All these functions are valid both for an athlete and for a team, so as for sports organizations (like NBA, NHL…). Sounds not too bad, doesn’t it? However, you haven’t probably heard about a profession named “PR specialist in sports field” or something like that. Why? Because this huge industry has so much to do so they just decided to share responsibility between many other people. For example, sports agent. It’s the classic one: it’s someone who looks out for the best interests of his or her clients. They usually work with professional athletes, but they may work with Olympians and former college athletes making the transition to professional play. Agents help clients sign contracts with teams, work out sponsorship agreements with major companies. You may also be interested in public relations representative. It’s someone who ensures a client has a good and strong reputation. They scour the web pages for references to clients, follow breaking news and generally keep an eye out for any potential problems or issues. PR representatives also work with newspapers and others news outlets to release important stories about clients. They write press releases every time a client signs a new contract, works with a new sponsor or releases a product branded with his or her name. If you don’t want to work with athletes, then the event marketing is right for you. They often work for sports complexes, baseball fields, basketball arenas and other professional sports arenas and facilities. They are the ones responsible for advertising and marketing upcoming events and special promotions designed to bring in more fans. What do you think? Of course, as any other fields sports PR has its own advantages, like credibility or capability to develop and build a brand (Jordan, Nike), and disadvantages, like crisis management or stressful work environment (long hours, lots of travel, works on weekends). Clearly, it’s up to you but just in case, according to one of the last researches PR is expecting growth rate of about 22% by 2020 (study was conducted in 2012). As a fact sport specific revenues are a billion-dollar industry globally. By the end, there is no substitute for sports public relations. So, make a right choice choosing your future. Good luck!
Sources:
https://www.sports-management-degrees.com/faq/what-public-relations-jobs-are-in-sports/
Written by Elizaveta Ryzhkova