A strategic managerial approach to corporate sports hospitality: the case of Belgian football

Abstract

Purpose Corporate sports hospitality (CSH) is a relationship marketing tool whereby customers and other stakeholders are invited by a company buying CSH from a club to attend a sports event. The CSH product involves premium seating and optional services such as catering. This industry has been perceived to be in decline, especially in times of economic downturn. The purposes of this paper are a quantification of the CSH industry’s value and the development of a formal CSH management process for both companies and clubs. Design/methodology/approach A case study from the highest division in Belgian football (soccer) is conducted, involving interviews and quantitative data collection as the primary data source, in addition to secondary data and insights from the literature. As opposed to literature, this paper uses a holistic approach, combining the perspective of the club and the CSH buying company with attention for customers. Findings CSH returns account for an important share of club revenues (>10%), despite the smaller market compared to the American major sports leagues. Since a club experiences the strongest competitive impact from substitutes and other clubs in the league, and CSH is often managed on an ad hoc base, disposing of a formal management process is crucial for both clubs and companies. For companies buying CSH, not only return on investment but also return on other objectives matters. Moreover, CSH is at least as effective to deepen existing business relationships as to create new ones. Research limitations/implications The paper provides clubs and companies with a theoretic background and practical key performance indicators (KPIs) to base their managerial decisions on. Although external validity to other Belgian venue-based sports can reasonably be assumed, translating the findings to other countries or non-venue based sports requires caution. Originality/value Little academic research about the CSH industry is available. Specific KPIs to define objectives and measure output, as well as feedback loops for clubs and companies, are developed. The proposed CSH management process follows the same high-level steps, but with different specific actions per actor, leading to a better understanding of similarities and differences of both processes, and a better co-creation of the CSH event.

Moving beyond traditional sponsorships: understanding the structure and dynamics of minority equity sponsorship agreements

“…Specifically, firms engage in agreements with clubs as a means for providing and supporting entertainment for their employees who live in that town. We posit this as a RM tool, using job embeddedness to increase human capital, and thus firm value (Balliauw et al , 2020; Holtom et al , 2006). According to interviewees (e.g.…”

“…The German Bundesliga is listed as the most profitable sports industry in Germany and is a good context for studying interorganizational relations, as the football clubs are intertwined with each other and well-known to external stakeholders (Moliterno et al , 2014). There is considerable business research on football in general and specifically on the German Bundesliga (Balliauw et al , 2020; Bartling et al , 2015; Bauer et al , 2005).…”

The Effect of UEFA Club Competitions on the Local Hospitality Performance

“…The study focusing on the highest Belgian League matches brought results showcasing the league's matches and their attendance with packages (including V.I.P. access and other services) as a practical result of business relations creation [3].…”

Game Attendance in Luxury: Purchase Motivations of Suites and Club Level Seating in Division I College Football

“…The premium seating literature is a growing topic that has mainly focused on professional sport (Balliauw et al, 2020;Chang et al, 2019;Shapiro et al, 2012), and not on spectator motivations. Rather, research has highlighted food and beverage trends (Titlebaum, 2015;Titlebaum & Kloke, 2015;, as well as staff positions and the sales process (Pierce et al, 2013;Titlebaum et al, 2014).…”