• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 11, 2003

Corporate Marketers Choose Football to Reach Consumers

TSE Sports & Entertainment, in a national survey of 213 sports and marketing executives from across the country, showed that 57% of executives believe football is "the most successful sport to reach consumers", and 73% say "talk of a strike last year very much affected baseball's marketability."

In response to the question "Which sport do you view as the most successful for reaching consumers?", 57% of executives answered "football", 21% answered "golf", 14% answered "basketball", 7% answered "baseball", and only 1% answered "hockey".

"With Yao Ming, Ichiro Suzuki and others emanating from Asian countries, and the continued influx of professional athletes from Latin America, corporations are becoming aware of marketing opportunities which exist in international markets, and our survey respondees, are highly cognizant that baseball and basketball are the primary beneficiaries of this international appeal," said Robert Tuchman, President/CEO of TSE Sports and Entertainment.

Nearly 59% of respondees said Baseball is not still america's national pastime. And an overwhelming 81% of survey respondents said The New York Yankees "were the MLB team with the best image for marketers." The Atlanta Braves were a distant second with 10% of respondees, and the Los Angeles Dodgers were chosen by 7% of respondees.

Corporate executives do still view professional sports as the most efficient way to reach consumers interested in sporting events, with 69% favoring "professional sporting events and teams", over 29% who chose "collegiate sporting events and teams."

"Sports and Entertainment events continue to be an amazingly popular venue for marketers to reach the American consumer, and we expect that trend to continue to increase," said Tuchman.