Team Sports Marketing

Team Sports Marketing

Kirk Wakefield

“Kirk Wakefield has crafted a textbook that is quite useful for students, scholars and faculty members interested in sport marketing. Kirk combines humor, accepted marketing theory and practice, and empirically tested research to provide readers with material that can be applied to the discipline. Those interested in obtaining a better understanding of sport marketing will find this book ideal.”
— Gregg Bennett, Director, Sport Marketing Lab, Assistant Professor, Sport Management, Texas A&M University

“Team Sports Marketing sets the standard for sport marketing literature by providing a good overview of both basic and detailed sport marketing concepts and how they are applied to the sport product. With clear and concise real world examples based on extensive research, this book delivers a quality instructional and practical guide for both students in sport marketing as well as the serious sport manager.
Clearly and engagingly written, it combines great insight gained from in-depth research and practical application to illustrate how the business behind the sport industry works. For its substance, it should be within easy reach of anyone interested in managing in sport.”
— David Peart, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, San Francisco 49ers

“Team Sports Marketing represents the cutting edge in sports marketing knowledge and practice. Kirk’s extensive experience with professional sports teams at all levels and all types, coupled with well-founded theory and research, makes this a perfect book for sports marketing classes everywhere. This book was written for professors who want to give their students the best preparation for landing that entry level positon in professional sports and to enable them to move up the ladder in the sports industry.”
— Scott Kelley, Professor of Marketing and Director of the UK Center for Sports Marketing, Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky

Some might argue that sports marketing is a mere subfield of marketing, meaning that
there are theoretical and practical dimensions that apply only to sports marketing and
are only of interest to those involved in sports. In Team Sports Marketing, author
Kirk Wakefield dispels this argument by demonstrating that effective sports
marketing epitomizes the science and art of marketing across any context. At the core
of sports marketing is the creation and enhancement of fan identification, where
consumers are not just loyal customers, but have become brand fanatics.

Team Sports Marketing shows that while many aspects of sports marketing are
thought to be unique to the field, other product and service sectors would do well to
learn from teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL that have transformed customers
into fans. Moving beyond principles of marketing, Team Sports Marketing is
packed with examples of best practices and covering subjects as diverse as
sponsorships, season ticket sales, venue management and all topics in between. Team
Sports Marketing is a must read text for students and managers in professional and
collegiate sports.

Support materials for professors and students are available at www.teamsportsmarketing.com.

Kirk Wakefield, Ph.D., is Professor, Sport Sponsorship and Sales, and Chair of the Marketing Department, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University.