Sports marketing, a subdivision of marketing is a growing field. The sports market in North America alone is expected to reach $73.5 billion by 2019 (Forbes, 2018). Sports marketers must focus both on the promotion of sports events and teams as well as the promotion of additional products and services through the sports organization.

Merchandise, stadium concessions, ticket sales, broadcast rights, sponsorship and advertisement arrangements are all examples of profit centers that must be managed by marketing. Marketers are not just marketing sports they are also marketing via sports. Sports can be used to market other industries. This is an important distinction. Examples include athlete endorsements, equipment endorsements, sponsorship and advertisement arrangements, stadium naming rights, etc.

Sports marketing extends to universities, corporations, media outlets, sporting equipment manufacturers, retailers and public relations agencies. Sports can be regional or global. World Cup Soccer, the Olympics, Formula One Racing and other events are highly viewed by global audiences. Global events attract global sponsorship arrangements from multinationals like Coca-Cola, Visa, Nike, etc.

The promotional strategies behind sports marketing include: advertising, public relations, custom website design, sponsorship and branding. Sports marketing is such an dynamic field that marketing management, and therefore managing the marketing mix (product, place, price and promotion) becomes a necessity for success.