Sports Clubs Have Shown How To Monetise Self Esteem
Hey SportyJ's
I'm a sports nut like many of you. I grew up playing football, rugby, cricket and forced into hockey and athletics during my schooling years. It's safe to say I enjoy playing sport, I think its the only way to really exercise without making it boring. I simply detest running and gyming, I only do it when I have to, but sport especially football makes it easy to stay active.
Part of enjoying sport is being a fan of either a club team or your national team and while you nationality wasn't really your choice for most of us who have not switched nations, clubs are something you can pick. What used to be supporting your home town club has morphed into supporting a brand you associate with most.
The biggest sports clubs in the world are marketing machines that can literally print money off of the back of their ardent fans and their fanatical support. Have you ever wondered how players are traded for millions, earn millions and clubs simply keep spending to keep these frenzy going? I know I have.
It's gone past the line of lunacy and logic has been left behind. So where does all this money really come from? From my view, it stems from low self-esteem.
Image source: - azquotes.com
The esteem dream
Reaching the highest level of sporting achievement isn't easy and very few will ever reach these achievements. Instead, we become fans and try to identify with these sporting idols, living vicariously through their achievements. These stars are merely the commodities that sporting clubs use for brand recognition and association.
As fans, we recognise the talent and hard work and a part of us wishes we had these opportunities, these talents, these traits, this adoration
By prizing the best talent, yes they bring along the eyes who want to see them perform, they bring fans into the stadium or pay-TV, they encourage fans to purchase branded merchandise to feel part of the player and clubs exploits. It's selling you a the feeling of success from hard work for the price of a ticket.
Since we live in a world of instant gratification and living through mediums, sporting clubs have found a way to leverage this for profit.
Part of the winning team
These clubs become a symbolism of elitism and success and by associating with it as a fan people feel they can tap into that and be part of this perceived success. Everyone wants to be part of the winning team right?
It's the reason the teams that win the most, have the most funs. If Real Madrid and Barcelona were relegated tomorrow sure they would still have fans but a large portion would be hopping the fence and siding with the new winners.
It's pretty evident in the amount of Chelsea, PSG and Man City fans that have sprung up over the last 10 years.
Keeping the money machine printing
These clubs now well aware of the emotional connection with their fans and play it up via social media and other forms of communication. This fanatical support can then be monetised in ways such as merchandise sales, advertising and co-branding, TV subscription sales, website views, app downloads, sponsored social media posts, stadium ticket sales and memorabilia, stadium tours and tours to other countries.
Top club sport while it has its merits in terms of the talent on display, has become one massive advertising funnel that tugs so deeply on the heartstrings of so many that they are willing to shill out their disposable income to be an apart of the feeling of winning.
Let's connect
If you liked this post sprinkle it with an upvote or resteem and if you don't already, consider following me @chekohler
| Buy & sell STEEM | Donate LikeCoin For Free | Earn Interest On Crypto |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
I've played some sports when younger but never follow any one team in anything hence I spend almost no money on sport. The only thing I sometimes spend on is going to the odd motor sport event.
Posted using Partiko Android
I’ve spent on going to see a few matches but I don’t go very often! As much as I do enjoy football I don’t have the overwhelming urge to buy memorobalia and such!
The marketing machine does fine without my money funding it and there’s more than enough suckers to keep feeding it for whatever reason they feel brings them value
Very good mate.
Posted using Partiko Android
think you nailed it but a lot are more individualist/solo types like me who just were into martial arts and other more one on one sports and not into idolizing people , great read, makes ya think!
Individual sports sure might not have that fanatical appeal because it’s only a person there career is short so there’s nothing that emotionally ties people to it except the actual love of the sport
Not that Boxing and UFC haven’t become marketing machines of their own, they very much have but no where near what team sports have achieved
Well my life is a bit different now. I'm always facing the computer, less exercise and less sport. Totally different before when I was fifteen.
Curated via @scarletreign's STS curation.
Well that doesn’t mean you’re immune to it, plenty of none sporting types would fall into the eSports where they can replicate success of sports teams they like or be drawn into games like fortnite
If there’s something people can enjoy these companies will find away to extract money from you
I meant the exercise XD. Different than before, my body was used to lots of activity.
Hi, @chekohler!
You just got a 6.04% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Amazing article! Ive gain a lot of fats since im not active in sports anymore after I graduated from college almost 6 years ago so damn its hard to loose all these fats but easy to add , anyway found your article through @scarletreign curation efforts!
Not exactly sure how that pertains to the context of my post but cool!
Hi @chekohler!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.191 which ranks you at #3200 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 113 contributions, your post is ranked at #87.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server