Abstract

Nowadays, Olympic Games have become one of the most large-scale and profitable global media events. Today, sport, especially events associated with the Olympics, has not only become great entertainment, occupation and lifestyle, but solid business as well. In the world of sports, marketing, promotion and advertisement are fundamental tools for generating great profits. The current article will explore the issue of marketing-mediated sport events on the example of Olympic games and will touch upon the issues of promotion of properly the Games, advertising athletes and participants, sources of profit for conducting the Games, technologies used in Olympic marketing, new trends in marketing of Olympics and emerging threats to sports marketing. The issue will be discussed both in theoretical and practical network and is aimed at tracing the compliance of theoretical findings on advertisement, promotion and sponsorship strategies, with the practical implementation thereof on the example of one of the most profitable events in the sense of advertising, the Olympic Games. Thus, the work will focus on the issue of current developments of Olympic marketing and steps to be done in both theoretical and practical way to ensure further effectiveness and attractiveness of Olympic marketing programs.

Introduction

Sport plays one of the most significant roles in everyday life of people around the world, whether those who actively participate in it or just spectators and supporters. In most western countries, this part of social life is widely reported on and reflected by the mass media.

Today, sport has not only become great entertainment, occupation and lifestyle, but solid business as well. In the world of sports, marketing, promotion and advertisement are fundamental tools for generating great profits. Each year, entrepreneurs and executives involved in the sport industry face serious issues, whether ones of defining ways to persuade advertisers to buy commercial time during the sport event or alluring customers to purchase some particular equipment for sports.

Particularly huge profits are associated with marketing and advertising of Olympic Games. Nowadays, Olympic Games have become one of the most large-scale and profitable global media events. Though, the situation was not always like that. Starting as ancient Greek religious festival, where athletes competed in honor of Zeus and being revived in late nineteenth century as completely athletic games, Olympics ended up with becoming one of the most celebrated and profitable media events in the world.

The current article will explore the issue of marketing-mediated sport events on the example of Olympic games and will touch upon the issues of promotion of properly the Games, advertising athletes and participants, sources of profit for conducting the Games, technologies used in Olympic marketing, new trends in marketing of Olympics and emerging threats to sports marketing. The issue will be discussed both in theoretical and practical network and is aimed at tracing the compliance of theoretical findings on advertisement, promotion and sponsorship strategies, with the practical implementation thereof on the example of one of the most profitable events in the sense of advertising, the Olympic Games. Thus, the work will focus on the issue of current developments of Olympic marketing and steps to be done in both theoretical and practical way to ensure further effectiveness and attractiveness of Olympic marketing programs.

Distinctive features of Olympics Marketing

The Olympic games is the global arena for the best athletes in the world and a venue for unity and cooperation of people around the globe. Together with that, since the beginning of the last century, the games have acquired powerful advertising function. In 20s and 30s, this function was primary political and aimed at ideological propaganda of certain regime, most often dictatorship, like communism or nazism, while by late twentieth century it acquired purely economic dimension, becoming one of the most suitable places for advertising, marketing and generating considerable sums of money.

Today’s Olympics is one of the most popular and most watched events in the world. For that reason, each 4-year period states compete for the right to host the games and show their country and attractions to thousands of Olympic enthusiasts who are going to come at the venue to watch the Games and millions of others watching them on TV. Broadcasting companies, in their turn, pay considerable sums of money to buy the rights for transmission of the Games. For instance, NBC, an national American broadcasting company, paid the sum of $3,5 billion to receive the right to transmit five Olympic games for the period of 2000-2008.

Nevertheless, this deal is considered a very successful one, since NBC has already return those $3.5 billion and received even more by selling advertising during the broadcast of the Games. The officials of the Company prefer not to disclosure the actual price of their advertising spots, but some sources of the industry assert that prime-time spots 30 seconds long may cost about $600,000. Of course, this sum doesn’t go in line with $2million cost of commercials 30 seconds long during Super Bowl of 2002. Notwithstanding the price, the demand for advertising spots is very high. Already in November 2001, NBC has sold 90% of its advertising spots to be broadcast during Olympic Games.

The advertisement strategy in Olympics significantly differs from other events. In Olympic Games, there are limited ways of attaining revenues from advertisement – either athletic endorsement in Olympics, or purchasing broadcasting rights and in such way promotion the TV Company, or sponsorship. Thus, in Olympics, there are no merely advertisers, there are sponsors. Sponsorship involves not only financial support of the revenue, but providing products and services, technologies, expertise and personnel to help in the organization of the Games. Revenue on sponsorship makes up about 32% of the total Olympic marketing revenues. The Olympic Games provide incomparable returns for the sponsors. They benefit from the marketing platform based on the ideals and values and increased opportunities from the company’s showcasing, sales, community outreach programs and internal rewards.

“Without the support of the business community, without its technology, expertise, people, services, products, telecommunications, its financing – the Olympic Games could not and cannot happen. Without this support, the athletes cannot compete and achieve their very best in the world’s best sporting event.”, stated Dr Jacques Rogge, the President of International Olympic Committee (International Olympic Committee Official Website )

The example of great benefits derived from the sponsorship can be the Coca-Cola Company, which used Olympic Games to advertise and sell its products for quite long period of time. In Athens, it has purchased the right to be the “official soft drink” of the Games and paid solid sums for numerous advertising spots. At 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Coca Cola was the second leading advertiser having spent $29,875,000 on promotion of its drinks. At 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Coca Cola spent $73,645,900 on promotion (Eastman, 2000), becoming the leading advertiser of the Games and making Olympics its biggest and most important event in promotional company.

Promotion of Sportsmen

In summer 2001, the Olympic Committee of the United States announced a new promotional campaign aimed at developing interrelation of United States Olympic Team and public. This was to be attained with three commercials picturing in humorous way three sportsmen trying to get into the Olympic Team. Each commercial ended with a slogan “The U.S. Olympic team. They’re not just out there every four years, they’re out there every day.”( Dedyukhina, 2004). Chairman of NBC Sports and Olympics Dick Ebersol said that his company conducts the policy of raising awareness of U.S. Olympic team with the aim of making athletes more familiar to viewers, particularly the young ones for them to follow the sportsmen of the team throughout Olympics.

Athletic Endorsement in Olympics

During the Olympic Games, virtually all the athletes carry a huge number of advertisements on their clothes. Numerous outfit companies such as Nike, Adidas or Oakley provide sportsmen with new equipment and clothes designed to facilitate movement and improve performance and at the same time advertise their new products to millions of viewers. Athletes can have various kinds of deals, while some are paid for appearance in a definite outfit, others just get them at no cost. Generally, skis, snowboards, skates and other equipment needed for Olympic games is considerably expensive, and the only opportunity for many athletes is to get sponsored by a sports-outfit company to cover the cost of their equipment. The companies greatly benefit from such deals since by this way their equipment is advertised by the world’s most famous sportsmen. Often the companies modify the models of their outfit used by sportsmen to decrease their price and adapt them to the condition of consumers.

Olympic Licensing and Merchandise

Olympic licensing programs are targeted to market officially licensed products and merchandise from the Organizing Committee, National Committees and IOC. Olympic souvenirs and other merchandise bring a huge amount of money to the organizers. Consumers at the venue of the Games are certain to purchase some little things which would remind them of Olympics, such as official golden or silver coins of Olympic Games, wallets with Olympic symbols and a number of other souvenirs with Olympic logos.

Thus, today Olympics have become a mixture of ancient ideals of sportive perfection and today’s reality associated first of all with commerce. Marketing and advertising are essential things in the organization of the Games since they are targeted to cover great expenses of such global event. Though, despite overwhelming dominance of commercial element, the Games still try to preserve the level and ideals of the Ancient Greece. Thus, there are strict tools aimed at maintaining the purity of the competition and the athletes who win the games become people of national pride.

Use of Technology in Olympic Marketing Strategies

From the perspective of mass-media, the Olympics become undoubtedly a testing field for the new technologies. As the essential pert of the Olympic ideal of the universalism, (Verdier, 1996, p59) the International Olympic Committee tries to make every possible effort to ensure everyone around the globe the access to Olympic information irrespective of location. Although the goal started as idealistic, today the infrastructure and technological developments are able to achieve this task. The information age offers the developments in the communication technologies which reorients the mode the consumers experience the Olympics in a broad range of traditional, developing and yet untested mass-media. This in particular concerns the vast potential of the Internet. Though, in Olympics, this medium is has somewhat limited action range due to the actions of the IOC Press Commission and Radio and Television Commission (Verdier, 1996, p62) as a reply to request of other forms of media rights holders. Technologies available for use in the Internet, such as streaming video footage of Olympics on the web, were prohibited. Thus, the limits were placed on the possibility of reorientation of media usage for watching the Games. As to the finding out about the Games, internet, as a assessable and far-reaching information tool has large potential for reorientation of the media forms for the informative exposure of the Games.

Historically, radio was the second media or one supplement to television in exposure of the Games. Recent developments in the availability of mobile connection and satellite communication channels have afforded radio networks with relevant infrastructure to provide improved live coverage of the Games. (Verdier, 1996, p61).

Of course, the main coverage media of the Olympics is television. Television broadcasting rights traditionally constitute 50% of the Olympic marketing revenue. The estimated number of Olympics viewers is 3.7 billion people in 220 countries and territories (Information from International Olympic Committee Official website). Thus, television is the engine that has pushed the growth of the entire Olympic movement. Over the past two decades, increases in the broadcast revenues have provided the Games with unusually large financial base. Though, this revenue is drawn for the broadcasting rights solely, not on the money derived from the viewers. Olympic committee adheres to the principles of free TV coverage and declines offers for broadcast on a pay-per-view platform since such practice contradicts the Olympic Broadcast Policy, targeted at making the Games viewed by as much number of people as possible. The fundamental Olympic principle, set forth in the Olympic Charter, provides the maximum presentation of the event by broadcasters all around the globe for everybody having access to the television. Therefore, broadcasting rights are sold only to those companies, who guarantee the broadcasting of the Games on their territory free of charge.

Methods of signal transmission of radio, television or Internet, have greatly developed by the advancements in transmission technologies, including Satellites, microwave or fiber optic technology. Therefore it should be noticed that developments in communication technologies, both complimentary and peripheral to the Internet advancements, reorient the mode of informing the audience of the Olympic Games and exposing the main events. This is mainly based not only on huge increase in the number of media tools and facilities, but the capability and quality of new technologies.

Theoretical findings on sports marketing

There are very few studies that focus on particular issue of sports promotion, but instead there is a considerable number of mediated sports research which touch upon different aspects of the marketing connected to sports. Moreover, the issue of promotion is generally included in the broader sphere of marketing, which enhances not only the audiences of the program, but economic and social issues of sponsorship, globalization, political manipulation and commercialization. Therefore, sport marketing covers a broad range of issues such as selling sports events to television distributors and advertisers, and a few studies have covered the question of ongoing and increasing commercialization of sport events (Wenner, 1998).

Despite prevailing usage of televised marketing practices of professional sports that occupied the networks and mass media around the world to the great extent by the early 1990s, a very limited number of researches has been made in regards of the effects of televised sports marketing.

Farrell ( 1989) called marketing of the sports transmitted by television the creation of modern spectacles, McAllister ( 1997, 1998) perceived televised sports as a tool for the sponsorship of the products, but there are very few studies which explored the link between sport marketing and televised program promotion. Since the prices for acquiring right to broadcast sport events of paramount importance keep growing at enormous rate (Goldstein, 1996), considerable number of research on marketing has naturally focused on the issue of how the networks pay for these excessively expensive broadcasts.

For example, NBC paid more than $3.5 billion for the right to transmit Olympic games from 2000 to 2008. Moreover, cities hosting the Games pay more than a billion dollars each to attract the games and host the visitors. (Fortune, 1996). Marketing is the only tool with which NBC and Olympic host cities can turn their debts into profits. For example, in 1976 in Montreal, due to sponsorship, a billion dollar loss was converted into $215 million profit for the city. According to the estimations of the Fortune magazine in 1996, the Atlanta city spent more than 2 billion dollars to host the games in 1996 but due to sponsorship they were returned with surplus. Although the television companies have a number of other income sources, none of them is larger and more profitable than sponsorship. To the contrast with spot advertising, sponsorship is defined by McAllister (1998) as “the funding of an entire event, group, broadcast, or place by one commercial interest in exchange for large amounts and special types of promotion connected with the sponsored activity” (p. 357). This resulted in such deviations as the Sunkist Orange Bowl, Winston Cup racing series, the Virginia Slims tennis tournaments, and presenting Visa as the main official credit card of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. One of the very appropriate definition of sponsorship is the one defining it as a paid effort of the advertiser to tie its name to event or venue which strengthens its brand in a positive, yet in not obviously commercial way. Therefore, sponsorship, particularly one of Olympic Games, is different from merely advertising, since it involves not only financial support of the event, but provision of technology, equipment, services and products, expertise and relevant staff to assist the organization of the venue.

It is understood that marketing of sports is a big business and it requires elevated attention of researches. Work by O’Neal, Finch, Hamilton, and Hammonds (1987) on the topic of features of sports that make it particularly attractive to the corporate sponsors, pay special attention to the finding that the sport rises excitement of viewers and thus lowers their anti-commercial self-protection mechanisms, making them more sensitive to advertising. According to the studies of Eastman (2000), if this phenomenon works between the content of program and commercials, it should also work between the sport program and promotions of other programs. This study confirms that advertisement of other programs during major sport events, in particularly Olympics, has great impact on the popularity of the promoted programs. But the excitement effect works in two directions: as the sports environment makes the promotion of other programs more effective, exciting commercials of other programs render sport events even more exciting. These conclusions are made on the basis of two theories, theory of expectance and theory of excitation transfer. Expectancy theory states that expectations about programs, sport programs in particular, might either enhance or diminish the effect of promos for other programs. Excitation-transfer theory stands for the fact that promotions that are able to excite viewers may transfer these emotions to the sport programs. In that way, promotions of televised sport event help create excitement about upcoming sport events and potentially increase their ratings, while promos for other programs, such as movies or prime-time series generally gain elevated effectiveness just by the fact of being placed within sport environment. Studies of Izod (1996) concluded that broadcasters have the real levels of power to present the myths to the audience as a real-life fact and shape the view of audience on the Olympic Games. Developing this issue, Puijk ( 1997) explored the effect of the 1992 Lillehammer Olympics on creating the image of the host country, and Stevenson (1997), on the basis of the analysis of 2000 Olympics staging, presumed that mythology connected with the games will have dramatic impact on world vision of Sydney as a city and a culture. These studies have provided comprehensive arguments that mega sporting events gave the ability and power to create and shape identities, cultures, attitudes, adding to the research of the marketing mediated sports particular social and economic significance.

New Trends in Olympics Marketing

It was shortly mentioned above that there is a growing trend towards changing the format of Olympic Games advertising which provides the ground to assert that millions of dollars spent by the corporate sponsors for advertising in the framework of Olympic Games do not guarantee a considerable profit from their investments. To succeed in the actual environment, more elaborate strategies are needed.

Today, a growing number of big companies which traditionally spent substantial amounts to associate their brands with the image and idea of Olympic Games ask the question if the Games are worth it. The most recent example is provided by Xerox Company which decided to cease its 40-year Olympic games sponsoring history. Olympics 2004 in Athens, which took 42 million euros of the Company’s investments are the last games funded by Xerox (Dedyukhina, 2004). Instead, the company plans to direct its resources into other initiatives aimed at drawing customers’ attention and loyalty.

Numerous data provided on Olympic sponsorship indicate that large-scale funding of Olympics is becoming less efficient for promotion of the companies that it had been earlier. The results of the poll carried out by American Dynamic Logic Company (Dedyukhina, 2004) show that only 25% of American viewers and only 12% of Europeans pay considerable attention to the commercials connected to the Olympic Games. Specialists insist with increasing faith that major companies have to review their traditional strategies of sponsorship. To make the financial assistance to the Games bring a solid commercial return, these companies need to elaborate more targeted marketing steps that take into consideration not only geographic differences between Europeans and Americans, for instance, but also the differences in interests of various consumer groups.

Over the last few decades, many major global companies have made huge investments targeted on associating their brand with the Olympic Games. For instance, Coca-Cola spent $145 million on advertising and sponsorship programs in 2004 Olympics in Athens (International Olympic Committee Official Website). Other official sponsors of the Games, such as McDonalds, Kodak, Samsung, Panasonic, Adidas and Visa in total spent $1.3 billion during the same games. The games enjoy such popularity with big corporations because these corporations encounter growing difficulties in introducing themselves to the mass audience and get feedback on their advertisement. Some estimates show that average Americans are subject to about 3000 commercials per day. This information overload causes growing resistance to perceiving marketing and advertising information. Therefore, Olympic Games are viewed as a perfect tool for delivering advertisement to millions of viewers worldwide. This argument is supported by enormous audience and great number of replays of the Games over the limited timeline. However, with increased commercial exploitation of the Olympic Games, it becomes evident hat not each sponsor is successful in benefiting from its Olympics-related promotion. For example, Samsung’s promotional campaign in Sydney turned out to be surprisingly ineffective. Their $40 million of advertising investments returned in only 1 billion dollars of income. Very often other firms are even less lucky. For example, during the winter 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, 43% of interviewed people failed in correctly name the Olympic sponsors. They mixed up Pepsi with Coke and American Express with Visa.

There emerges another aspect of the problem. It becomes evident that being official Olympic sponsor is not necessary to gain benefits from the Games’ image. An entire parasite movement, or ambush marketing, has emerged, when major companies put their advertisement in major places near the venue of the Games or during the Games without paying sponsorship fees. As it was mentioned, this phenomenon is called parasite, or ambush, marketing. As sponsorship of the Games becomes increasingly lucrative, increasing number of companies create association with their company’s products and the Games. The term of Ambush marketing is used in marketing industry to denote the strategy of a company, which is not an official sponsor of the event, but, because of the fact that its promotional company is focused on the Games or any other event, creates an illusion of being one of the official sponsors. For instance, in 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Nike Company located its slogans outside but very close to sporting arenas of the Games, which hampered the efficiency of Adidas, an official sponsor’s, promotional campaign.

The scale of such abuses has so greatly grown up that the organizers of the Games had to take to extraordinary measures. For instance, during Olympics in Sydney, Pepsi cans were taken from the viewers by the organizers, since Coca-Cola was an official sponsor of the event. Athens organizers took unprecedented steps and protected rights of their sponsors by removing 10,000 billboards from the city, averting in such way potential ambush marketers and leaving space only for their official sponsors. This action cost Olympics organizers 750,000 euros.

Conclusions

One of the main reasons of inefficiency of Olympic Games is that companies have not decided definitely on their expectations from sponsoring Olympics. Sponsorship can prove effective only in case when the company hits its potential targeted audience that relates itself to the Olympics and associates itself with them. Sponsors’ attempts to attract consumers around the world are useless as long as their image and activity is conceived differently in various parts of the world. For instance, there is no point in trying to influence American and European people in the same way with Olympic advertisement. According to the same Dynamic Logic poll data (Dedyukhina, 2004), only 58% of Americans and 39% of Europeans understand that it is predominantly due to sponsors that Olympic games take place and can be broadcasted on TV. Another example is the result of the same poll where 66% of American people and only 51% of Europeans attach particular importance to advertisement with the Olympic logos.

This fact can be accounted to cultural and lifestyle differences between Europe and America. First of all, in general terms Americans tend to be more susceptible to promotion and advertising techniques. Secondly, Americans practice a healthy lifestyle cult, which results in elevated interest in sporting events and more involvement in them. The third factor contributing to the popularity of the Olympic games in USA is strong belief in victory of American team. The games are of bigger interest to Americans because their team is more likely to win more medals. Thus, they are more positive toward Olympics and everything connected with them, commercials in particular.

Moreover, it is calculated that private investments in Olympics always turn out to be more effective than the public ones. For instance, Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the most successful games in terms of commerce, gained $335 million mostly due to private investments. Other examples are 1996 Atlanta, 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Games that were most efficient in the financial return and funded primarily by private capital. To the contrast, in 2004 Athens games, where ratio of public and private capital was 3:1, were not paid off and Greece still has the problems with its foreign debt. Future 2008 Games in Beijing will cost about $28-30 million, which will be absolute record in cost for all Olympic history. It is very unlikely that the organizers of the Games will manage to cover such expenses with revenues from the Olympics.

Therefore it is evident that the myth of high effectiveness of Olympic Games doesn’t correspond to today’s realities. To benefit from Olympic advertisement, development of more sophisticated strategies is necessary. Mere putting advertisement on billboards and transmitting commercials with Olympic symbols on TV is not longer enough. It is indicative that some companies like Samsung gave launched a special Wireless Olympic Works program. Within this program, more than 14,000 mobile phones are distributed at no cost to the members of Olympic committee, mass media and politicians for them to be able to receive the information on the Games online. In this way the company acquires loyalty of different consumer groups.

These improved strategies are likely to strengthen the factor of sponsorship in the business field. Sponsorship and merchandising will become the major factor of growth on American sports market along with a global one. It is calculated that sponsorship spending is to increase by 8% a year, while broadcasting right will enter the period of recession due to already high inflation on TV broadcast rights.

The conclusion drawn from the information above is ambiguous one. From the one hand, the economic impact of the Olympic Games is enormous and can transcend the very event itself. Thus, according to Lawrence Davidson, professor of business economics and public policy in IU’s Kelley School of Business, having done several studies on economic impacts of other important sporting events, such as The Brickyard 400, Pan American Games, the Indianapolis 500 and the Final Four of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, came to conclusion that most people are aware of huge economic influence of the Olympic Games due to global audience, but also, there are serious long-term impacts which are often overlooked until the Games are finished. “The Olympics make people aware of your country and what’s there. It’s a way to make a statement to the world that your community is a destination,” he said (Stevenson, 1997).

From the other hand, new trends, discussed above, illustrate some inefficiency of traditional advertising methods in the Olympic Games are obvious. Therefore, there is a need to fill the gap in theoretical studies on the issue of Olympic promotion strategies with the finding of a new promotion, advertising and sponsorship methods and approaches. Taking into account urgent need for a brand-new vision of marketing, due to advancement of new technologies and complication of marketing instruments, such necessity is more than obvious.

References

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Introduction

In the current sport business environment, relationship marketing tactics play a predominant role due to the increased importance of the relationship between professional sport franchises and their customers. Definitions of relationship marketing stress the creating and sustaining of a network between the individual customer and the company (Milne & McDonald, 1998; Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2000; Ping, 1999; Shani & Chalasani, 1992; Wulf, Odekerken-Schroder, & Lacobucci, 2001). For many years, professional sport franchises have been interested in developing fan loyalty or psychological connections with their customers through relationship marketing.

In sport business, understanding and developing relationship marketing can increase profits. It can also be a solution for some difficulties that professional sport franchises face. Those difficulties in the four big leagues (e.g., NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL) are as follows (Bovinet, 1999; Howard & Crompton, 2004; James, Kolbe, & Trail, 2002; Mullin et al., 2000):

• More new franchises (e.g., 17new franchises were added to the four big leagues over the last decade).

• Increased competition because of new types of sports and leagues (e.g., Arena Football League, Women’s National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, Action Sports, etc.).

• Increases in the number of sporting events on TV (e.g., with the growth of specialized sport channels as well as the major networks, sport fans could watch sport programs 24 hours a day).
• Increases in ticket prices of the big leagues (e.g., the cost of family of four to attend a major league game: MLB-$148.61 (2002-03) which is a 92% increase compared to 1990-91; NFL-$290.41 (2002-03) which is a 90% increase compared to 1990-91; NBA-$254.88 (2002-03) which is an 84% increase compared to 1990-91; NHL-$240.43 (2002-03) which is an 81% increase compared to 1990-91).

• More entertainment choices (e.g., computer games, DVD movies, HD TV programs, etc.).

• Reliance on the gate receipts for revenue in some leagues (e.g., NBA and NHL have relatively smaller TV revenues compared to NFL and MLB).

• Larger facilities and unlikelihood of getting good-view seats.

• Negative perceptions of players’ behavior and lifestyle.

• Increases in player salaries.

In addition to these difficulties, sport consumers are less likely to attend a live sporting event, because it is more comfortable to watch games at home without the hassle of traffic, finding parking, and getting back home late. In addition, watching at home offers the benefits of TV replay and analysis (and cleaner restrooms), without having to spend a great deal of money on games that the whole family may not be able to enjoy together (Howard & Crompton, 2004).

As Bovinet (1999) suggested, however, many of these problems could be alleviated by developing communication networks with current and potential customers. Building and maintaining a psychological connection through relationship marketing would allow franchises to increase trust and commitment among their customers. For example, the customers who have a psychological connection with a team are more likely to expect and receive special treatment, such as on-line member services, birthday and anniversary cards, and others.

Although academics have begun to recognize the importance of relationship marketing practices over the last decade (Bovinet, 1999; Bowen, 2003; McDonald &Milne, 1997; Neuborne, 2004; Reinartz & Kumar, 2000; Shani, 1997), systematic and exploratory studies on the theory of relationship marketing in sport business are still lacking.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the relationship marketing efforts that the four big leagues (e.g., MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA) use to communicate with the potential customers.

Method

Sample & Instrument: A Secret Shopper Letter

This study was modeled based on Bovinet’s exploratory study (1999), published in Sport Marketing Quarterly (v8, n3, 1999). During the fall semester, the students in an undergraduate sport marketing class were divided into two teams. Each team sent a secret shopper letter requesting season ticket information to all 122 franchises of the four big leagues (the participants). Specifically, a first group of letters (N=62) to the NFL (n=32) and the NHL (n=30) were sent on January 30, 2004. The second letters (N=60) to the NBA (n=30) and the MLB (n=30) were sent on March 5, 2004. Students obtained address and contact information for each franchise from the team’s Internet sites and through phone directories. A student’s home address, not school address, was used for responses and letters gave no indication of age or other demographic information. The NHL and the NBA were in the regular season, the NFL had just finished its season, and the MLB was due to start its season soon.

Secret Shopper Letter

March 5, 2004

TEAM NAME & ADDRESS

To whom it may concern:

I am in the process of changing job and will be moving into your area within

the coming months. I would greatly appreciate it if you can send me information

on season ticket, team schedule, parking and events that a held aside from sport

games. I am a huge fan of the (TEAM NAME), and I would like to take every

advantage of being able to regularly attend games. Any other information that

I may have excluded and you can provide would be of the utmost help as I am not

very familiar with the area.

Thank you for your consideration.

SECRET SHOPPER NAME &

ADDRESS

Results

Table 1 and 2 show the specific results of the study. “Days” indicates how many days it took to receive any type of reply. The last days of reply from the franchises were February 25, 2004 for NFL and NHL and March 28, 2004 for NBA and MLB, respectively. The total length of experiment time was 27 days and total average response time was 13.6 days. Of the four big leagues, MLB had the quickest response rate of any league (M=10.0 days), and the NHL had the tardiest response rate (M=16.6 days). Of the sent letters (N=122), only 63 franchises (52%) responded with any information. Specifically, 22 MLB teams (73%) responded, but only 9 NBA franchises (30%) sent some information.

Table 1

Result of the Response Time (Number of Days) to the Secret Shopper Letter

Table 2

Summary of Each League’s Responding Rate

These 63 replies show a lower rate than in the previous study (65 replies out of 112 teams; 58%) (Bovinet, 1999). The responses were separated and rated as above expectations, average expectations, and below expectations based on the materials with which the teams replied (e.g., ticket plan, stadium/arena map, cover letter, waiting list application, merchandise catalog, parking information, schedule, business card to contact, and others). For example, if the teams provided more than enough and/or unexpected information such as ticket plans, merchandise catalogs, and fan guides were rated as above expectations. The other materials were considered average or below expectations. Each item of the responses was coded for convenience as follows:

---

Code A: Ticket plan/seating chart

Code B: Business card/person to contact

Code L: Cover Letter

Code M: Merchandise catalog/fan guide

Code P: Parking information

Code T: Team picture/individual player picture

Code W: Waiting list application

Code X: Stadium/Arena Map

Code Z: Schedule

Code AA: Other (e.g., sticker, key chain, individual phone

call/e-mail, etc.)

---

Only 15 teams were rated as above expectations (n=15; 12.3%), 32 teamsmet average expectations (n=32; 26.2%), and 16 teams were rated as below expectations (n=16; 13.1%).

Table 3

Category of Response Materials on Expectations

Discussion and Conclusion

Even though this was not a systematic and scientific statistical study, it was an exploratory team project of undergraduate sport management major students to reevaluate a useful concept of sport marketing in professional sport franchises. This study provided some evidence about how current professional franchises manage and treat potential customers. Although the original purpose of this study was simply to count the amount of time it took for the franchises to reply, the results provide some simple but significant directions to professional sport franchises including;

Develop and keep the positive relationship with your current and potential customers:

As Mullin et al. (2000) explained in the concept of the sport consumer escalator, one of the main responsibilities of sport marketers is to keep their loyal customers as heavy users and escalate lower level users into loyal customers. Contacting and relating with the customers is a first step to sell more products and services in the market.

Obey the customers:

Some franchises (e.g., New England Patriots, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, and New York Yankees) have sold out all tickets for this year and the following years, thus they may have felt it was not necessary to send ticket information to potential customers. However, even if some teams are sold out of their season tickets, they should send some kind of information with an apology or a letter of appreciation because the potential customer was interested in their products. This sort of communication will also buttress the positive image to potential customers who might become loyal customers in the near future because this relationship depends on unexpected situations such as relocation of a team and decreased winning rates and attendance rates. Depending on the communication style and attitude, customers may react positively or negatively.

Remember that selling tickets is not everything, but rather a cornerstone of selling the team products and services:

Although many teams find their main revenue sources in media and advertising, selling tickets is the reason behind those resources. Increasing gate receipt revenues is desirable not only for the revenues of concessions and novelties, but also for soliciting media and sponsorships.

Develop an information database of customers for a strong positive lifetime relationship:

Shani (1997) has described the differences between database marketing and relationship marketing, finding that the former has a short-term efficiency of marketing effort, while the latter retains customers who can provide the best lifetime value. Although database marketing is a necessary tool to conduct relationship marketing, it does not guarantee successful relationship marketing. Thus, building a database of customer information for relationship marketing is a first step to developing a long-term relationship with current customers. The database should include potential customers who might become heavy users of the products and services in the future. A database allows sport marketers to store information on current and potential customers and provide individualized marketing efforts (McDonald & Milne, 1997).

Realize the costs of serving long-life customers are less than other types of customers and result in willingness to pay higher prices:

Although some businesses spend more to serve long-life customers (Reinartz & Kumar, 2000), the efficiency of serving customers might increase from increasing revenues with long-term relationship customers in sport business. Cumulative revenues from the long-life customers are higher than other types of customers because of their long-term purchases.

One of the interesting results in this study was that MLB teams’ response rate (n=22; 73%) was higher than other leagues, while its response rate was the lowest in Bovinet’s study (1999). This result may be due to the different time frames within which the letters were sent and the different schedules of the leagues. Another interesting point of the study was that a team that is planning to relocate to another city showed great efforts to communicate with potential customers. For example, the New Jersey Nets sent the most information, including a cover letter, new ticket plan and game schedule, promotional event schedule, seating chart, and even made several calls and sent e-mails.

Although this student-organized team project focused on a simple facet of sport marketing, future efforts toward building and retaining customer relationships should be carefully reconsidered in the professional franchises. Keeping positive relationships with current and potential customers directly relates to the survival of any business.

In conclusion, this paper attempted to reevaluate relationship marketing efforts on the part of the major sport leagues and to consider a basic, but very important, marketing strategy in sport business. Although relationship marketing has established itself as an underlying paradigm in industrial and other service businesses, the concept and practice of relationship marketing in sport business is still in its infancy as a mainstream marketing concept. Therefore, professional sport organizations should establish not just a short-term transaction oriented objective, but also a long-term customer relationship goal.

Because of the differences between leagues, some limitations of this study and a recommendation need to be addressed. First, time selection of sending request letters for ticket information should be reconsidered because each league has a different season. For example, the NFL’s response rate (n=16; 50%) was lower than MLB’s (n=22; 73%) and the NHL’s (n=16; 53%) because some NFL franchises may have felt the season was just over and it was useless to spend time and money on mailings. Second, it is necessary to evaluate relationship marketing efforts of minor league professional sport teams because the core of their revenue rests on the gate receipts that rely directly on customer relationships.

References

1. Bovinet, J. W. (1999) Customer communication in selected professional sports (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA): A test. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 8(3), 41-44.
2. Bowen, J. T. (2003). Loyalty: A strategic commitment. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 44(5), 31-46.
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4. James, J. D., Kolbe, R. H., & Trail, G. T. (2002). Psychological connection to a new sport team: Building or maintaining the consumer base? Sport Marketing Quarterly, 11(4), 215-225.
5. McDonald, D. A., & Milne, G. R. (1997). A conceptual framework for evaluating marketing relationships in professional sport franchises. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 6(2), 27-32.
6. Milne, G. R., & McDonald, M. A. (1998). Sport marketing: Managing the exchange process. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
7. Mullin, B. J., Hardy, S., & Sutton, W. A. (2000). Sport marketing (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
8. Ping, R. A., Jr. (1999). Unexplored antecedents of exiting in a marketing channel. Journal of Retailing, 75(2), 218-241.
9. Neuborne, E. (2004). Play ball. Sales and Marketing Management, 156(1), 21.
10. Reinartz, W. J., & Kumar, V. (2000). On the profitability of long-life customers in a non contractual setting: An empirical investigation and implications for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 64(4), 17-35.
11. Shani, D. (1997). A framework for implementing relationship marketing in the sport industry. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 6(2), 9-15.
12. Shani, D., & Chalasani, S. (1992). Exploiting niches using relationship marketing. The
13. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 9(3), 33-43.
14. Wulf, K. D., Odekerken-Schroder, & Lacobucci, D. (2001). Investments in consumer relationships: A cross-country and cross-industry exploration. Journal of Marketing, 65(4), 33-50.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the colors and color combinations used by the professional soccer clubs and to evaluate the proportion of the cultural interaction between the people and colors in Turkey. The study was carried out on 220 soccer clubs which have 480 colors and 220 color combinations evaluated. The study revealed that the combination mostly preferred by the professional soccer clubs in Turkish soccer leagues is red and white with n=26 (11.8%) followed by green and white with n=25 (11.4%). The color the most frequently observed in professional soccer clubs in Turkish soccer is white by 25.8%. This is followed by red by 18.1% and green by 12.5%. The colors preferred by the soccer clubs are general reflection of the cultural richness of the city, region or of the people they represent. This is especially the case for the clubs with deep rooted historical heritage.

The closed and distant environments are integrated and manifest themselves to the people with colors. A person perceives and identifies his or her environment with colors.

Colors have different meanings in different cultures. A certain color may closely be related to the internal worlds of some people, while it may symbolize a moral enlightenment for the others. The clarification of the role of colors in everyday life entails a comprehensive study. However, it is certain that they have different meanings according to the nation, region or culture involved (Allegos & Allegos, 1999).

For instance, black which symbolizes happiness for the Japanese is the indication of sadness and sorrow in many parts of the world. Yellow is a symbol of power in Chinese culture, where it indicates evil and disease for the Turks ( Ögel, 1991; Genç, 1999). Colors closely affect the feeling of people. People may have experience of feelings such as sorrow, happiness and stimulation through the usage of colors (Budzinski, 1986 ).

Psychologists believe that careful selection and use of colors may accelerate the desired response. This shows that the colors have strong relation with the emotional and physical state of the people. The people who chose black and white are thought to prone emotional problems more than the others, while red indicates viability or rage, yellow shows spaciousness and wideness, blue reflects calmness or protectionism and green means joy or stagnancy (Budzinski, 1986).

Colors are purposely utilized in many ways of life. Architects have utilized the effect of color upon the people for many years. For instance a light colored ceiling shows the room higher than it is and light yellow walls gives the impressions of spaciousness. The use of light green walls in classrooms makes the student to focus their attention on the subject and the use of red in factories and similar facilities increases the output. The use of white color in the medical clinics is believed to aggravate the sorrow and the use of light blue decrease it.

Colors also have a dominant role in commercial sales. For example, light colored cars give the impression of being more spacious than the dark colored ones. The dark colored small vehicles are found more repulsive than the light colored vehicles. The use of red on high bridges serves the purpose of preventing suicides with its stimulating effect. In discos the ground is illuminated with red in lively and rock type music and emotional and relaxing blue color in romantic and slow music (Budzinski, 1986; Hallalı & Nazil, 2001).

It can easily be concluded that the use of colors with or without purpose has certain influences on people. This may be due to both psychological and cultural reasons. In this context, the media prepared taking the stimulating and effect of colors has a very positive effect on the performance of the people and the relations among themselves ( Hallalı & Nazil, 2001).

It is obvious that the colors used in sports have various psychological effects upon the teams and their supporters. However, the colors used by the clubs representing a certain region or city may also have cultural implications. If the target of a sport club is successful and increasing its supporters, the marketability has a prime importance.

The facts that, the colors have stimulating effect on the morals of the people, represent certain social values, their effects on the psychology of people and their use outside the sports ground which creates a commercial value show that colors have an important role in achieving the targets of a club. Therefore, the correct use of colors which have such important impacts upon the lives and performance of the people requires the comprehension of their moral, visual and cultural impacts.

Color is described as phenomena resulted from the visual perception of the rays reflected from the matter ( Hallalı & Nazil, 2001) and radiation with a certain wave length within the visual region of the electromagnetic spectrum ( Active, 2000). Colors have been used for therapeutic purposes for so many years. It was realized that colors had psychological and physical effect upon the people ( Hallalı & Nazil, 2001).

The research shows that the most favorite color of the people is blue followed by red and green. The adult men prefer green, ocean blue, orange and dark purple, and adult women mostly like light purple colors. The favorite colors of children are blue, red, green, yellow and orange (Budzinski, 1986).

Colors are classified as fundamental colors (red, blue and yellow), mid colors obtained by the mixture of at least two colors (purple, orange and green) and neutral colors (white, black and grey) ( Hallalı & Nazil, 2001). The colors have different meaning and different effects.

These can be summarized as follows (Kalmık, 1964; Gabain, 1968; Crozier, 1999; Halis, 2000; Wright, 2000b):

Red. Red is a strong color, which stimulates viability, gives physical courage, has stimulating effect, makes visual impact, and may create stress and aggression. It is related with activation of the impulse of “fight or escape”.

Green . Green creates the feeling of love, relaxation, renewal, dependability, environmental consciousness, balance and peace.

Blue. It has a mainly a relaxing, concentration increasing, assisting in mental relief, and relieving effect. However, it may have a cold and senseless impression as well.

Yellow. It symbolizes excitement, self confidence, openness, friendship and creativity. Yellow is more rapidly perceived than the other colors, and eyes are more sensitive to it. This makes yellow one of the favorite colors.

White. It is the symbol of health and hygiene. It has gives the feeling of correctness and trust. However, it makes the eyes tired very fast.

Black. It reminds seriousness and dignity. However, it frequently implies sorrow, death and darkness.

Grey. It is colorless and creates no strong feelings.

Purple (Violet). It creates the feeling of pessimism, regret, fear and opposite feelings. It is perceived as the indication of power and divinity.

Orange. It gives the sense of brightness and warmth. It has a powerful activating effect. It creates the feeling of openness and increases the will to live.

Pink. It expresses kindness, softness, happiness and pleasure which are regarded as feminine feelings. That was why the soccer clubs refrain from using this color.

Brown. It induces seriousness, warmth, robustness and support. It mainly addresses the adults. It may occasionally result in melancholic feelings.

Starting from these let us evaluate the color and color combinations used by the soccer clubs for symbolic purposes and investigate their interactions and implications on people.

Method

The research covers 220 soccer clubs playing in the 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd divisions of Turkish soccer league for the last four seasons. Each sport club is counted once.

Following the investigation of 480 colors and 220 color combinations, their frequency (F) and percentage distributions (%) were evaluated by the use of SPSS 11.0 software. The shirt colors of 220 soccer clubs in Turkish soccer leagues were counted one by one, and than the most frequently used single color by the Turkish soccer clubs was determined. The color combination was also counted and their frequency (F) and percentage distributions (%) were determined.

In addition, the shirt colors of some soccer colors were taken as samples, and they were used for evaluation and comparison purposes.

Results

According to the investigation of the color combination of the soccer clubs different Turkish soccer divisions between 2000 and 2004, Table 1 shows that, the most favorite combination is white-red with n=26 (11.8%) followed by white-green with n=25 (11.4%), white-blue with n=14 (6.36%), red-black with n=15 (6.82%) and red-violet with n=14 (6.36%).

[Table 1. About Here]

The number of colors was found as 480 since some clubs use more than two colors. As seen from Table 2, the most widely used color by the Turkish soccer clubs is white with n=124 (25.8%) followed by red with n=87 (18.1%) and green with n=60 (12.5%).

[Table 2. About Here]

Discussion 

The study revealed that the selection of the colors of the shirt of the clubs is based on incidents, meanings and symbols of life. This is especially the case for the clubs with historical roots. It is observed that the colors which are the indication of cultural values of a certain region, city or a group of people are reflected in the colors of the clubs. However, there are cases which are the opposite of this situation. However, the colors of most of the clubs are seen to be influenced by the value treasured by the region or city of the people. This may be attributed to geographical, local, national, moral and institutional factors. Let us briefly examine each one.Discussion

The study revealed that the selection of the colors of the shirt of the clubs is based on incidents, meanings and symbols of life. This is especially the case for the clubs with historical roots. It is observed that the colors which are the indication of cultural values of a certain region, city or a group of people are reflected in the colors of the clubs. However, there are cases which are the opposite of this situation. However, the colors of most of the clubs are seen to be influenced by the value treasured by the region or city of the people. This may be attributed to geographical, local, national, moral and institutional factors. Let us briefly examine each one.

Geographical Factors. The color of some of the sport clubs in Turkey was determined by taking the geographical location into account. For instance, blue-green colors of Rizespor are based of blue color of the sea and green color of the forests. Bursaspor took its green and white color from the snow of Uludağ Mountain and green of the Bursa plain.

Elazığspor (Claret red-White) took its colors from the claret red-white onyx unique to the region. The colors of Gençlerbirliği were taken from the color of corn poppy of Ankara steppes. Ankaragücü, on the other hand, took its violet and yellow color from the violet color of the famous “misket” grapes of the region where yellow was taken from the famous melon of Ankara as a symbol of power (Kalmık, 1964; MKE Ankaragücü Kulübü , n.d.).

Regional Factors. Diyarbakırspor (green and red) was founded by the merge of the amateur clubs Diclespor and Yıldızspor on 24 June 1968. The club took its green color from Yıldızspor ands red from Diclespor. However these colors are the colors of the out and inside of famous water melon of Diyarbakırspor (Diyarbakırspor, n.d.).

The red and white colors of Kahramanmaraşspor represent the two famous products of the city: ice cream and red pepper. Trabzonspor, on the other hand, took its claret red and blue colors from the scales and the eyes of the famous fish of the region, “hamsi” (Kalmık, 1964; Nntvmsnbc, 2002; Mynet.com, 2003; Milliyet.com.tr, 2004b).

National and Moral Factors. Red and black colors of Gaziantepspor represent the blood of 6314 people who died fighting against the French and Armenians during the Independent War and those dark days (Gaziantepspor, 2003). Antalyaspor inspired from the red and white colors of the Turkish flag (Nntvmsnbc, 2002).

The selection of black and yellow for Istanbulspor was to commemorate the students of Istanbul boy’s high school who lost their lives or got wounded in the World War I. Fenerbahçe changes its original colors of yellow and white due to its dislike towards the monarch regime and weakness of these colors. The club later selected yellow and navy blue as its color where yellow represents jealousy felt for Fenerbahçe and navy blue represents the dignity and nobility. The team also successfully uses white for cleanness and clarity, red for love and loyalty and green for success in its symbol and badges ( Kayserilioğlu, 2003; Milliyet.com.tr, 2004a).

The initial colors of Beşiktaş were red and white when it was first founded in 1903. However, it was turned into black and white till the ground lost in Balkan war was captured again. It also served to commemorate the ones who went to Balkan war and did not come back. However, the current perception of Beşiktaş’s colors is that winning and loosing are as natural as day and night ( Bjk.com, 1995).

The selection of Konyaspor green and white colors was totally based upon moral reasons. The first colors of the club were black and white. However the black color was latter changed into green, the holly color of Islam. This may be attributed to the conservative and religious structure of Konya province.

Samsunspor added black to its original red and white color to remember its players who died in a tragic traffic accident in 1989 (Samsunspor Kulübü, n.d.).

Institutional factors. Siirt Köy Hizmetleri was founded by the Turkish Village Works Office and the club accepted the official color of yellow and blue of the office. Kardemir Demir Çelik Karabükspor, a team of the iron processing town of Karabük, took the red and blue color of melted iron (Batı Karadeniz Haber Ajansı, n.d.).

Yimpaş Yozgatspor (Red-Black) became the sister club of one of the popular teams of 1960s Karagümrük and accepted Karagümrük’s colors.

The investigation of 480 colors of 220 teams as regards to preference of colors showed that (Table 2) white ranks first with 25.8 %. Red comes second with 18.1% followed by green with 12.5%. Blue comes seventh with 7.71%.

The reasons that the white is the most preferred color among the Turkish clubs are that Turkish people have special liking to it and white has cultural implications coming from history. Turkish people regard white as the symbol of cleanness, purity, holiness and experience ( Ögel, 1991). The fact that the white is most widely used color by the Turkish clubs is the indication that it has upper cultural value. Among the sub cultural colors liked by the Turkish nation, red comes second (18.1%), green comes third (12.5%) and yellow comes sixth (8.96%).

In England and Scotland, the most popular color preferred by the soccer teams is blue. This is followed by red ( British Council, 2001). Although first choices are different there is a striking similarity in the second choices. The wide use of red in sports is probably due to its psychological effects.

The study revealed that the least popular color among Turkish soccer clubs is pink (0.21%). This is also the case for the other countries in the world. This is due to the fact that pink creates a soft and feminine image (Allegos & Allegos, 1999).

When we look at the color combinations of soccer clubs, the most popular combination among the Turkish soccer teams is red and white with 26 teams (Table 2).

According to a newspaper report, the most popular color combination among 205 Turkish soccer teams playing in Turkish divisions in 1998-1999 soccer season was green and white with 19 teams. This is followed by red and white with 19 teams and red and black with 13 teams ( Hallalı & Nazil, 2001).

According to research carried out on 43 European countries, the most preferred color combination among the soccer clubs is blue and white with 169 teams (Berke & Utku, n.d.). The research stated that the choice of color combinations after blue and white was red and white (123 teams), red and blue (58 teams), black and white (56 teams), red and black (50 teams), yellow and violet (48 teams) and green and white (46 teams).

According to data listed in Table 2, the most preferred color combinations in Turkish soccer teams after red and white are green and white with 25 teams, blue and white with 14 teams, red and black with 15 teams and red and violet with 14 teams.

This shows that there is a difference of preference between the club colors in Europe and Turkey. This complies well with the fact that the choice of club colors is shaped according to the different symbols and meanings of colors from country to country ( British Council, 2001).

Colors show different cultural meanings in different atmosphere. But generally, it’s similar to the psychological effects of the colors which occur on people. The people in white colored room were observed to be much more restless and leave the location earlier than the people in brown colored room. In the same example the people were given coffee from thermoses with four different colors. They described the coffee from the brown thermos as “dark and strong”, the coffee from red thermos as “sweet”, the coffee from blue thermos as “light with good aroma” and the coffee from the yellow thermos as “bad” (Budzinski, 1986 ).

It was also observed that the pulse rate was accelerated under red light while blue illumination relaxed the muscles, rectified the blood pressure and decreased the pulse rate ( Wright, 2000a).

The firm knowledge psychological effects of colors ( Mynet.com, 2003), the effect of colors upon the fans, their ability to establish a cultural value and their capacity of creating commercial activity is of great importance in the selection of the color for the newly founded clubs. It is known that one of the biggest factors for the marketability of a club is strong and visually effective colors (Allegos & Allegos, 1999).

Conclusions

In conclusion, we stress following points. Colors are very important due to their physical effect they induce on people. One of the prime factors which play a determining role on the selection of the clubs by the children is attractive and strong colors (Allegos & Allegos, 1999).

The use of colors with cultural significance may create a feeling of possession and support upon the people. For instance, the claret red-blue colors of Trabzonspor are based the color of the eyes and scales of special fish called “hamsi”, the major product of the city.

The colors to be selected must also be suitable to be used in daily outfits. This will create an additional economical value. The yellow and red colors of Galatasaray are observed almost in every walk of life and became a part of our daily culture. The use of psychological power of red and yellow is important for both to create an economical value and strengthen the support given to the club.

Colors are similar to musical notes. As jazz pianist Thelonius Monk said “there is no wrong note”. What is important is the selection of the appropriate note or color (Wright, 2000c).

We can conclude that the colors of the clubs are the reflectance of the cultural and historical aspects of the people living in different city or region. Therefore the newly established teams must choose their colors taking all these criteria into account.

The soccer clubs with national and international support not only utilize the effect of the colors they selected but they also make the effective use of their symbols. The canary of Fenerbahçe, the lion of Galatasaray and the eagle of Beşiktaş are good examples for that. The investigation of the effects of symbols is the subject of another study.

References

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12. Eray, F., & Civitci, Ş. (2000). Psychology effects of garment colors on human. Gazi University Vocational Education Faculty Journal of Vocational Education, 2(3). Retrieved August 11, 2003, from http://www.mef.gazi.edu.tr/dergi/20-1/bolum8.doc
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Table 1

Color Combination of Turkish soccer clubs

Table 2

Color Ratios of the Turkish soccer clubs

Abstract

This article presents an empirical analysis of the relationships between intelligence and both passing performance in college and compensation in the National Football League (NFL). A group of 84 drafted and signed quarterbacks from 1989 to 2004 was selected for the study. The author hypothesizes that intelligence is the most important and perhaps most rewarded at this position, and a wide variety of passing performance statistics are available to separate the effects of intelligence and ability. The OLS-estimated models reveal no statistically significant relationship between intelligence and collegiate passing performance. Likewise, the author finds no evidence of higher compensation in the NFL for players with higher intelligence as measured by the Wonderlic Personnel Test administered at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Introduction

Every February hundreds of collegiate football players gather in Indianapolis at the NFL’s scouting Combine, a four-day event designed for NFL scouts to evaluate the talent of the year’s draft eligible players. Many players likely to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft will refrain from taking the skills and agility tests in Indianapolis, and will schedule “pro days” at their university where they are more comfortable with the atmosphere and expected results of their workouts. All prospects at the Combine undergo X-rays and physicals to address current and past injuries. All players will also take a 12-minute test designed to measure intelligence, the Wonderlic Personnel Test.

First used by a handful of teams in the 1970s, the Wonderlic is a 50-question test designed to be taken in 12 minutes to measure the athlete’s general intelligence (ESPN, 2002; FairTest Examiner, 1995). The score is calculated as the number of questions correctly answered in the allotted time. As a matter of practice, most players do not answer all 50 questions in the time allotted. Wonderlic scores vary by position, though NFL draftees have averaged a score of 19 over the last 20 years. A Wonderlic score of 20 indicates the test taker has an IQ of 100, which is the average intelligence (Wonderlic.com). The Wonderlic website states that higher scores mean higher intelligence, and intelligence has an impact on playing style and leadership, especially for quarterbacks. The accuracy of this contention will be empirically tested in this article.

This article will also examine the intelligence in two additional models to determine relationship between intelligence and a player’s rookie year compensation and the relationship between intelligence and where an athlete is selected in the NFL draft. This article is particularly relevant in the modern draft era because the millions of dollars spent scouting and signing draftees represent a significant investment by NFL franchises. To the extent that intelligence has an effect on passing ability, NFL franchises may be willing to reward players with such mental abilities. However, if no relationship exists between tested intelligence and performance, then NFL franchises can better utilize resources by focusing on other aspects of player evaluation.

Methodology and Data Sources

The player data for this study were collected from ESPN.com, various NFL draft prospect websites and official university athletics sites. The data include information on 84 drafted NFL quarterbacks who received rookie year salaries between 1989 and 2004. 1 However, due to the limited public availability of Wonderlic scores prior to 1999, most of the quarterbacks used in this study were drafted in the last six years. Although the test results are not officially released, in recent years the Wonderlic scores have been available on the Internet at NFL.com for many players at the Combine. Salary data were obtained from ESPN.com and USAToday.com between 2001 and 2004 and from USA Today newspaper clippings prior to 2001.

Comparing the distribution of the data used in this study to the total current population of NFL quarterbacks, the author finds a similar proportion of non-white quarterbacks (about 20 percent in each), but a slightly higher proportion of Division 1A quarterbacks in the data (89 percent compared to 80 percent). Such comparisons are important as intelligence tests are frequently found to generate sizable ethnic differences, and such biases could affect the results and interpretation of the model if the sample data is not a representative subset of the true population of NFL quarterbacks (FairTest Examiner, 1995).

Modeling Intelligence and Collegiate Passing Performance

The first relationship this paper addresses is the relationship between intelligence and quarterback passing performance. Using the same set of independent variables in each model, an equation is estimated for each of the dependent variables to measure a quarterback’s passing performance, career passing efficiency (Model I) and total offense per game (Model II). The quarterback’s best collegiate year in terms of total offense per game is used in this analysis.

NFL scouts and coaches assign draft grades to players based on collegiate production and ability. In particular, scouts highly value attributes such as height, quickness, arm strength, vision, leadership and intelligence (CNN/SI, 1998). As such, we develop a model based on the expected contributions of these characteristics (where quantifiable) to a quarterback’s passing performance.

We expect that height may have a positive relationship with passing performance. Taller players can better read defenses, find receivers and avoid having passes deflected by defensive lineman. We expect that a player’s quickness (lower 40-yard dash times) will have a positive relationship with total offense but no effect on passing efficiency. Likewise, NFL scouts expect the quality of a quarterback’s offensive peers to have a positive effect on his passing performance. The models include a DRAFTCLASS variable to control for the general quality of the quarterback’s senior class. DRAFTCLASS is a count variable of players drafted into the NFL during the quarterback’s senior year.

There are no a priori expectations for the relationship between intelligence (as measured by WONDERLIC) and passing performance. Likewise, there are no a priori expectations for the relationship between passing performance and Division 1A football. There are no a priori expectations for the relationship between a quarterback’s race and his passing performance.

The models developed in this section are estimated by OLS without a constant. All dependent and independent variables have been transformed and are centered on the mean of the observed variable to aid in the interpretation of the marginal effects of each explanatory variable. In particular, all effects are for a quarterback with characteristics at the mean, the values of which are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary Statistics of Dependent and Independent Variables

As shown in Table 2, the hypothesized model for estimating passing performance does a considerably better job explaining TOPGB than NCAA. In fact, the F Value for the Model I is not statistically significant, suggesting that within the sample of players in this dataset, the model has no explanatory power. This may be the case with a relatively homogenous group of individuals – because all players are similar in ability levels, insignificant variation may exist to accurately estimate the model. This is not the case in Model II where significant variation exists within the TOPGB variable, reflecting not only the quality of the team and the opponents, but also the style of offensive attack.

The expected relationship between a player’s HEIGHT and his passing ability is not found in the passing efficiency model (Model I), suggesting that the collegiate passing performances of this group of NFL-caliber quarterbacks do not vary with height. However, RACE is statistically significant in both models, suggesting that non-white quarterbacks are better than their white peers in terms of passing efficiency and total offense per game. In particular, non-white quarterbacks average 8.9 points higher in passing efficiency and 44.8 more total offensive yards per game than their white peers. DRAFTCAST, the quality of the quarterback’s offensive peers, as measured by the number of offensive teammates drafted during his collegiate career, is statistically significant in the total offense per game model. This effect may reflect the self-selection of better quarterbacks into the top collegiate programs known to produce many NFL-caliber prospects. DRAFTCAST is a count variable with a maximum value of seven. The expected negative relationship is found because in the absence of other offense threats, the team will naturally rely more on the abilities of the quarterback. The estimated coefficient has the interpretation that for each NFL-caliber offensive teammate, a quarterback will average 14 fewer total offensive yards per game.

The coefficients in Model I and Model II reveal no statistically significant relationship between a quarterback’s Wonderlic score and his passing performance in college. It should be noted, however, that considerable differences in both terminology and depth exist between collegiate and NFL playbooks, and a quarterback’s intelligence may affect his passing performance in the NFL even if it does not in college. Model V developed in the next section will test if a quarterback’s intelligence affects his NFL passing efficiency during his rookie year.

Table 2: Passing Efficiency and Total Offense models

Absolute value of t statistics in parentheses
* significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; *** significant at 1%

Modeling Intelligence and the NFL draft

This section focuses on the relationship between intelligence and quarterback draft position (Model III) and compensation (Model IV). The player’s rookie year salary (REALSAL) is his first-year compensation in 2004 dollars against the salary cap. Despite the fact that the structuring of contracts varies greatly between first-round picks and all other selections, the player’s rookie year salary reflects the team’s relative willingness to pay for a rookie quarterback given the availability of free agent quarterbacks and the limits of the NFL salary cap and team-specific rookie cap. 2 In recent years, NFL franchises have increasingly used incentive clauses, deferred and option bonuses in addition to traditional signing bonuses to defer the cost of signing first-round draft picks. Such a structuring of contracts also insulates the franchises against the risk inherent in both the evaluation of athlete’s abilities and the likelihood of serious injury. The quarterback’s draft position (DRAFT) is his selection number in the draft (e.g., a quarterback selected with the eighth choice in the second round (40th overall pick) would have a draft position of 40.)

If reality does indeed reflect what the previous models suggest (that intelligence has no affect on passing ability), then it is doubtful that a player’s Wonderlic score will affect the dependent variables – DRAFT and REALSAL – in Model III and Model IV. To the extent that his past performance is indicative of his true ability as a quarterback (and there is great debate on this issue), then the quarterback’s draft position and rookie year salary should primarily be explained by themeasures of his collegiate passing performance and the expected ease of his transition to the professional ranks. The models estimated below reveal that only one of the two measures of collegiate passing performance, TOPGB, is statistically significant in both Models III and IV.

The coefficients of the Models III and IV should be of opposite signs due to the inverse relationship between draft position and a player’s salary. This is indeed observed in the comparison of the two models as shown in Table 3. The signs of the coefficients generally reflect the a priori expectations, with some interesting exceptions. Note that while quarterbacks benefit substantially from the number of collegiate NFL-caliber offensive teammates in Model III and Model IV, Model IV suggest that franchises do make efforts to account for the general quality of the player’s offensive (e.g., offensive cast teammates include wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends, but exclude the offensive line) and defensive teammates as reflected in the negative coefficient of DRAFTCLASS. Both DRAFTCAST and DRAFTCLASS represent competing peer effects in the model. While the estimated DRAFTCAST coefficient is of similar sign and significance in previous literature (Mirabile, 2004), it should be emphasized that the datasets for this and the previous study were considerably different, in particular the latter was composed of both drafted and non-drafted athletes.

Table 3: Draft, Salary, and NFL passing models

Absolute value of t statistics in parentheses
* significant at 10%; ** significant at 5%; *** significant at 1%

The coefficient on the quarterback’s Wonderlic score is not statistically significant, suggesting that NFL franchises do not select smarter quarterbacks sooner or compensate them better than their peers, ceteris paribus. The regression results show that quarterbacks are compensated not only for than their collegiate passing performance, but for how the quarterback is expected to perform in the NFL. Note these expectations take the form of significant coefficients for a player’s height, time in the 40-yard dash, and level of past competition (Division 1A). Such traits are highly prized for rookie quarterbacks, whose ultimate success is determined by their ability to adjust to the size and the speed of NFL opponents. The conclusion from these coefficients is that either intelligence is not an important factor in drafting and compensating rookie quarterbacks or that concerns about a quarterback’s intelligence raise flags which are consistently investigated and subsequently lowered before the draft. Although the models revealed no compensation for smarter players at the quarterback position, such compensation may indeed exist at other positions where such a wide variety of performance statistics are not readily available.

As suggested previously, a quarterback’s intelligence may affect his passing performance in the NFL even if it does not in college. Model V uses the same group of independent variables utilized in previous models to explain the dependent variable, NFL ROOKIE PASSING, the quarterback’s NFL rookie passing efficiency rating. The formula for passing efficiency in the NFL is different from its NCAA counterpart, with NFL passing efficiency employing different scales and a capped system. Because many rookie quarterbacks receive little or no playing time, this variable is not perfectly observed and could be subject to significant measurement error. Only 61 of the 84 observations have observed passing efficiency statistics during their rookie year. In fact, due to the wide variation in playing time among rookie quarterbacks, the variance in this measure is quite large. The results show a negative but not statistically significant relationship between passing efficiency in the NFL and intelligence as measured by the Wonderlic test.

Discrimination in the NFL Draft

In this section, we will briefly address the literature’s history of NFL discrimination and test whether any evidence of discrimination exists at the quarterback position within the developed models. As has been noted in previous literature (Kahn, 1992), white athletes have historically benefited from a race premium. However, using data from the 1996 season, Gius and Johnson (2000) found evidence of reverse discrimination in the NFL with whites earning 10 percent less than their black peers, results they believe were not previously found because prior investigations used data from the 1970s and 1980s.

We can utilize a group means t-test to determine whether the observed distributions of REALSAL and DRAFT are statistically different for white and non-white quarterbacks. After employing t-test of each of these variables, we can reject the hypothesis of equal means for DRAFT but not REALSAL. In particular the mean DRAFT position for white quarterbacks was 117.3 (with a standard error of 10.2) and the mean DRAFT position for non-white quarterbacks was 75 (with a standard error of 17.5). Although this result is significant at the five percent level, given the relatively small sample size, we should be hesitant to infer the existence of discrimination. Model III and Model IV are better able to test for evidence of discrimination against non-white quarterbacks by controlling for all other differences between the two groups. In fact, neither model reveals evidence of such discrimination directly, though this result may change if the time period of the study were different.

Summary and Conclusions
The market for NFL rookie quarterbacks was examined between 1989 and 2004. Attempts to model passing performance using player and team characteristics revealed statistically significant relationships between a quarterback’s collegiate passing performance and his race and teammates. Intelligence, as measured by the Wonderlic score, was statistically insignificant. Likewise, while expected relationships were found between collegiate passing performance and NFL rookie year salary, the author found no statistically significant relationship between intelligence and compensation or intelligence and draft number after controlling for passing ability. Although the models revealed no compensation for smarter players at the quarterback position, such compensation may indeed exist at other positions where such a wide variety of performance statistics are not readily available. Future studies may endeavor to control for more of the franchise- and league-specific factors that impact the drafting and compensation of collegiate athletes.

This article presents empirical evidence that within the modern draft era, there exists no statistically significant relationship between intelligence and quarterback performance at either the collegiate or professional level. Likewise, more intelligent quarterbacks are neither selected earlier nor compensated more for their mental abilities. Since no statistically significant relationship exists between tested intelligence and performance within the data examined in this study, NFL franchises might better utilize resources by focusing on other aspects of quarterback evaluation.

Notes

1. This distinction is made because there are groups of quarterbacks who are drafted but not signed, and likewise a group of undrafted free agent quarterbacks who do sign NFL contracts in their rookie years. The group analyzed in this paper is composed only of players who are both drafted and signed.

2. The rookie cap, the amount of salary cap dollars available to sign rookies, is determined by the number and placement of each team’s draft selections in a given draft.

References

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Author Information

McDonald P. Mirabile

macmirabile@yahoo.com

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