Having spent as long as I have around the sports business, it’s easy to get jaded when so much of today’s marketing messaging centers around hyperbole. As I noted last month,
authenticity can become an issue when we are incessantly propping things up as bigger and better and heralding a larger group of athletes as G.O.A.T.S. Like the boy who cried wolf, it’s
difficult to take all of it seriously.
As a researcher, however, I must say recent data suggests this incessant amplification may very well be working -- particularly as the industry
continues to cast a wider net, seeking attention from a broadening base we’ve identified as more casual fans or event enthusiasts.
Our regular tracking of fan attitudes continues to show
a continued sense of heightened confidence in one’s personal situation, which strikes me as an important engine behind the ability for sports properties to be able to drive pricing higher at the
upper arm of this K-shaped economy of “haves” vs. “have-nots.”
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In the latest data, we see a meaningful 13-point year-over-year increase in the number of fans who
strongly agree that they are better off now than they were four years ago. This coincides with a similar 12-point February-to-February rise in those strongly agreeing that “If I see
something I like, I don’t worry about price.”
These feelings of empowerment couple nicely with the senses of entitlement and eagerness that we’ve been observing
at the same time. Sports, particularly when it is amplified and positioned to be special, becomes an outlet to create the experiences people covet during these times. As one of the last
bastions of time-sensitive appointment watching, sports plays to our collective national FOMO (fear of missing out).
Special events attract discretionary spending in ways other outlets
cannot. There’s an intrinsic value to being part of something that is special and perishable if it is not witnessed in the moment. We can stream a favorite television show or series
at any time and not miss out. But the window for live sports is finite. Being there has meaning, and that can drive up its value in ways that other products cannot.
It's easy as
sports marketers to become cynical when so many events bill themselves as special. But because we are so immersed in this world and bombarded by this self-aggrandizement, it’s just as easy to
forget that messages we hear so often among ourselves may still be freshly received by target audiences that evaluate the veracity of such claims against a much broader competitive set of
less-time-sensitive options. It’s a secret sauce that sports enjoys, particularly among a target base currently poised to put their money out there in order to taste it.