#25. Sports Teams Aren’t Just a Sports Team Anymore, They Are…

Whether they like it or not, or whether you like it or not, they are content production companies.

Sports teams have evolved from being just sporting clubs to full-fledged Media & Entertainment companies.

They are no different from any other television or entertainment product. Both sell sponsorships and ads to monetize.

Look at the most popular sports teams in—Cricket, Football, NBA, or any other sport, and you will find that the most popular ones, are the ones with killer content game on social media.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, Real Madrid in the UEFA League, Manchester United in the EPL, and Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA—one common denominator across all of them is some kick-ass behind-the-scenes content & knowing what works for social media.

Think about it, CSK & MI have won more IPL trophies than RCB, but who wins the popularity contest?

This shift has happened in the last 5-6 years. Teams are going after creating new digital properties, using technology at venues, & also while trying to involve the digital viewer. Teams are looking to adopt AI & other technological advances to connect with fans. There’s a ton of fan experience management startups popping up across the world, & for the better!

These teams realize that to be successful businesses, they have to start creating these little growth engines. One of these engines is content creation, and social media teams exist to tell the story, all throughout the year.

Earlier, there used to be one social media person hired for a team. Now, they have an entire production house! That says a lot!

Maybe it’s obvious, but there are different audiences that follow a team, & each one engages with the team in different ways. Not everyone can be die-hard fans & travel across the world to watch matches or spend their evenings watching an entire game glued to a screen.

Some “younger audiences” don’t watch that many games. Using digital channels is the only way to engage with this other segment of the audience, keep them interested and connected to the team.

Also, there are multiple social media channels, so each of these teams needs to manage 5–6 different social channels, each with its own strategy, ROI, and audiences.

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