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It is hard to believe Business Of Sport is over five years old this year.
Regular readers will see that the site’s look has recently changed drastically, something that was long in the planning. We’re still working out the bugs, but are hoping to continually upgrade the website with new features in the future.
Our last rebrand did a good job but this new look is exactly where we want the site to go.
In addition, with a nearly year-long hiatus from creating fresh, new content (apologies for that), we’re looking to ramp up our news, interviews, and reviews for everything relating to the Business Of Sport.
Some of the lessons I’ve learned five years in
- Sports Business has gotten so much bigger: The last five years have seen the sports business grow to exponential levels. The amount of investment in sports, of all kinds, has simply never happened before. From Disney wanting to pay $6bn for Indian Premier League rights, to Apple making its first major sports play by buying up the rights to Major League Soccer for $2.5bn, to the level of investment in the English Premier League. The Business Of Sport is clearly big business and I don’t think that will be going away soon. The other effects of this? There has been a huge spike in the number of schools, colleges and universities covering the topic of Business Of Sport, all aiming to equip the youngest generation with the right skills to progress and improve the industry.
- More and more media outlets care about the Business Of Sport: In tandem with this huge growth in investment in sports, media outlets of all shapes and sizes have been catching up to provide expertise, insight and news into the industry’s development. In the intervening five years, Sportico and Front Office Sports have become household industry bibles, while even the venerable Financial Times has launched Scoreboard. SportTechie, my former publication, has even been acquired by Sports Business Journal (a massive congrats to all involved).
- Creating content, consistently, is a commitment: Content creation is a long process. It takes commitment too, and I’m hoping that in the next five years I can avoid long hiatuses from publishing here.
- The growth in new sports and new leagues is incredible: From The World Excel Championships, to Pro Bull Racing to the Pillow Fight Championship, the breadth of innovation of sports is astonishing. These ‘non-traditional’ sports are going after increasingly more niche interests that people have. Even a few have built up loyal fanbases and look set to become, if not a mainstream sport, at least something that a section of fans will be interested in.
- Moving to Boston has made me realise just how big sports are in America: WOW. In a previous post, I outlined what a sports town Boston is. It really is. Blessed to have the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and Revolution, the insight into how obsessed America is with sports has been a great experience to witness. Inside five minutes of a six o’clock news bulletin, they’ll be talking about the Patriots (at training camp! Not even just during the regular season).
It has been a great five years so far, and I look forward to the next five, with the latest iteration of Business Of Sport. To everyone who has taken the time to visit and read our content, thank you.
