International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship

Question: Discuss about the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship Answer: Introduction: The most eminent and unmatched professional competition within the sports of the Australian Rules football is the Australian Football League. This is the form of football whose roots are a derivative from the early structure of Gaelic football and Rugby (Hickey et al. 2014). The rule for Australian Rules football were codified in early 1858 and all the other forms of football such as the Rugby Union and league, Canadian, Gaelic football, Soccer Association and others were probably anticipated by this (Weston et al. 2015). As a breakaway from the Victorian Football Association, this league was founded as the Victorian Football League and it was inaugurated in the year (Bahnert et al. 2013). There are 18 teams in this league that comprises of five out of the total 6 of the Australians states. The matches of this league have been played in almost all of the territories and the states of Australia and also of New Zealand (Corboz et al. 2016). AFL is globally exportable and marketable: The Australian Football league however has so many advanced programs that would be added to the league in the coming years, the league is now facing some club related issues. As it has revealed that the Australian Football league clubs are facing some major troubles, therefore the question arises that if the clubs would have such issues then would the teams of the AFL be able to survive (Pomfret 2016). According to Sherry et al. (2016) the Australian league is best football code of Australia and the trouble that it is facing due to the struggle of poorer clubs need to have immediate assistance(Hallinan and Hughson 2013). The funds for the Football league are raised from these clubs and from the new subscription for the membership of the clubs. If these clubs would undergo troubles, conflicts and financial issues then it would be difficult for the football teams of the league to survive due to insufficient providing of the funds. At this phase while the other league such as the Rugby union and league, the Wallabies and others are growing stronger, the poor fund supply of Australian Football League makes it difficult for the league to survive in this field. This is also demotivating the competitive characteristics of the teams (Moreira et al. 2015). The globalising of the Australian Football League is now not only a choice or option for the organization but it has also become the necessity for the survival of the league (Cho 2016). The main reasons that could be summed up for this necessity are the issues regarding the poor financial status of the clubs of the AFL that is threatening the survival of the AFL teams due to poor supply of funds and also to promote the Australian Football League worldwide for a better market place of the teams of AFL (Kelly 2014). AFL in United States: The governing body for the Australian Rules football in U.S is the United States Australian Football League. For most of the football clubs of U.S they still follow the traditional team system that is the 18 a- side team for the purpose of representative and for the purpose of running in the a local league a team of 9 a-sides. The co-ordination of the National team, the USA freedom womens team and the USA revolution mens team in U.S is the responsibility of the United States Australian Football League. These teams are the teams that play in the exhibition matches and the international tournaments represent ting the U.S. the national teams for the United States Australian Football League are selected from the Best players of USA for these teams (Hallinan and Heenan 2013). Marketing potentiality for AFL in U.S: The fastest growing team and the spectator sports in the U.S is the Australian Rules football that is being played in the domestic boundaries of the U.S. However, in U.S apart from the United States Australian Football League, there are also a number of other leagues and tournaments that are played in the country. In the country are also many different teams, league teams, national womens team, the national youth team, the national mens team and the national championship team. In the womens team there also teams like the junior teams and the senior teams. There are also the non- contact versions such as the Austag, the modified Australian football team present in the country (Davies and Cook 2013). The clubs that the Australian Football League could approach in the U.S are the Columbus Light Horse and others. In U.S the game of football has the most of the participants from the high school and college. This identifies that the youngsters of the country are very much interested in the game and therefore it is a big opportunity for the Australia for strengthening the market potentiality of the Australian Football League in the U.S (Hallinan and Heenan 2013). Competitive Strategies of AFL: For the developing of the competitive strategies, the Australian Football League first requires to first identify its product and the targeted market and then develop its marketing strategies. After the organisation has its marketing strategies developed and implemented in the country, the next step would be develop a competitive strategy for its teams and the league tournaments. The Australian Football League needs to show the uniqueness of their league and keep on in traducing some new game systems or rule or something so that the interest of the common people remains in the game. The teams of this league also need to play well and be of hard competition to the leagues of the other teams of U.S. In U.S, there are also man y teams already present such as the NFL teams and the Revolution mens team. These teams are of high level competition. Therefore, the Australian Football League must also adopt some competitive strategy so that it may remain in the competitive markets of the games sector of U.S (Kunkel et al. 2014). Marketing Mix Strategies of AFL in U.S: The marketing mix that could be identified for the Australian Football League could be classified as follows: Product: The Australian Football League has to promote the leagues and the tournaments that are being held by them in the Australian countries as well. The teams and the different tournaments programs of the Australian Football League organization needs to approached the different existing football clubs of the U.S and also the organization needs to be recognised in U.S. Before the selling of the product in some other country, the product first needs to be identified by the people of the country, just like that before approaching the different clubs and organizations, Australian Football League community needs to first promote their league and its system in U.S. The Australian football teams needs to be introduced to the U.S. people and they need to make aware of the uniqueness of the Australian Football league (Doyle et al. 2013). Place: As mentioned by Weston et al. (2015), promoting of the game of football in U.S. is better place for the promotion of the Australian Football League. There is also gambling done on this game during the championships and the league tournaments, and as per the standard of living of the U.S. people it could be said that place would provide for better clubs, funds and gambling parties for the Australian Football League. (Davies and Cook 2013). Price: From the point of view of maintenance, this game is quite cheap and affordable to be played in any country. The price that would be set for the new clubs and the memberships to joined in has be set on the basis of the living standards of the country in which the football league would be introduced in. The price that is set for the new subscription and the club memberships should also consider the team maintenance cost and other needs (Ritchie et al. 2016). Promotion: The promotion of this Australian Football League needs to be done in the U.S through the means of internet, television and the hoardings. As the main audience targets of such leagues are the youngsters and the men generally therefore, the promotion needs to be done in the sectors where these targeted audiences are more actively present. The advertisements could be done in the news and the sports channels of the country. Promoting of the league on the social websites is also beneficial in the terms that the youngster are more active here (Davies and Cook 2013). Conclusion: The above research study report is based on the Australian Football League, which is the most eminent and unmatched professional competition within the sports of the Australian Rules football that is played in Australia. This Australian game is now advised to be exportable and marketable globally with the help of the internet. This game must be globalised and taken to the countries that would be interested in accepting these football leagues. The country that has been taken in this particular study to fit best with the Australian Football League is the U.S. this country has been chosen because of the excitement and the curiosity of the audience here. It could also be assumed that because of so much enthusiasm of the people of U.S towards the game of Football, this league would be easily accepted by the people. Reference: Bahnert, A., Norton, K. and Lock, P., 2013. Association between post-game recovery protocols, physical and perceived recovery, and performance in elite Australian Football League players.Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport,16(2), pp.151-156. Cho, Y. ed., 2016.Football in Asia: History, Culture and Business. Routledge. Corboz, J., Flood, M. and Dyson, S., 2016. 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