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MODERN APPROACHES TO IMPROVING THE ACTIVITIES OF THE RUSSIAN
BASKETBALL CLUB
L.D. Ganeeva, Graduate Student
Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism (SCOLIPE) (Russia, Moscow)
DOI:10.24412/2411-0450-2022-6-1-79-84
Abstract. At this development stage of the sports industry, Russian basketball clubs are searching for new (non-state) partners. This article describes some approaches to improving the activities of basketball clubs that can be attributed to modern for this industry. Procedures for introducing modern tools are presented in terms of existing basketball clubs. Arithmetic formula for calculating economic efficiency is presented subject to the implementation of an digital project in the marketing activities of a basketball club.
Keywords: basketball club, sports industry, marketing, promotion tools.
The commercialization of professional basketball is at the development stage in Russia. Income acquisition always remains a pressing problem for professional basketball clubs and is one of the key factors in their competitiveness. It is known that budgetary and extra-budgetary funds are allocated for the development of the sports industry in our country. Extra-budgetary financing of physical culture and sports is provided at the expense of various sources, and the gambling business develops rapidly in this area.
The practice of cooperation between the gambling business representatives and professional sports clubs has already been established abroad. Thus, in the mid-2000s, Real Madrid collaborated with the Austrian gambling company Bwin, and 188bet sponsored Bolton, Wigan, and Liverpool. Aston Villa, West Ham, Tottenham and many others
placed bookmaker logos on their jerseys. In Russia, the cooperation between clubs and major betting brands is still in its infancy.
Support for sports remains predominantly state-owned in Russia: in 2021, about 65 billion rubles were allocated from the budget for these purposes [1]. However, according to the preliminary strategy for the physical culture and sports development in the Russian Federation until 2030, it was decided to reduce the funding of professional clubs in a stepwise manner [1]. Figure 1 demonstrates a graphic outlook of the overall funding indices in this industry. "The major problems of the strategy are solved in the following priority areas: elite sports and professional sports. Stepwise reduction of funding for professional sports out of the budget system, the budgets of publicly owned companies," as stated in the document.
1DD
5D
60,1 49,9 41,2
2021
2022
2023
2024
Fig. 1. Budget financing of the Russian state program "Development of physical culture and
sports", billion rubles [2]
The strategy developers made this decision based on the opinion that professional sports should be self-financing. That is, professional sports seeks to generate income in the long term "by increasing the visual appeal of
sports competitions and increasing income from commercial sponsors, broadcasters, fans, bookmakers and other sources, including lotteries organized by the Ministry of Sports of Russia" [1].
Attention should be paid to the term "publicly owned companies", concerning the companies mentioned in the development strategy document, which are financially involved in the development of professional basketball clubs in one or another way. Organizations such as VTB Bank, Gazprom, SOGAZ are title sponsors of the VTB United League and some basketball clubs. At present, the acquisition by these companies of an auxiliary status for the budgeting of professional sports seems to be a relevant issue.
Professional basketball clubs cannot operate effectively without the financial support of sponsors and shareholders, since the elite sport implies heavy expenses. Therefore, at this stage, Russian basketball clubs are searching for new (non-state) partners. Let's consider some approaches to improving the activities of basketball clubs that can be attributed to innovative approaches for the basketball industry in Russia:
1. Making sponsorship agreements with betting brands.
2. Marketing activities using the resources of a sports complex owned by a basketball club.
3. Development of a mobile application in a basketball club.
Before the start of the 2021/22 season, the Perm club officially announced the change of the name PARMA to PARMA-Parimatch, which is also an official statement of cooperation with the betting company [5]. This sponsor's logo is presented on the game jerseys and at the club's home arena. Sponsorship implies "creating short-term and long-term benefits for the company (sponsor)" [6], where the benefit consists in advertising distribution. In this instance, betting brands are no exception. In addition, they have the opportunity to involve fans in joint events and
Integration of the betting brand into the naming of the basketball club.
Making sponsorship agreements with a major betting brand can be considered in terms of the professional basketball club PARMA-Paribet (ex-PARMA-Parimatch).
Perm basketball club PARMA-Paribet is a real basketball "driver" in its city among fans of all ages. Since the entry of the Perm club into the United League in 2016, it has become the most visited team of the tournament in each of four seasons (except for the fifth season in the pandemic in 2020). During this time, work with the audience was carried out constantly. On average, in the 2019/20 season, PARMA-Paribet home matches were attended by 5,233 fans [3]. This evidences that the home matches of the Perm team are spectacular. However, after the 2020/21 season, which was mostly held in empty grand stands, the basketball club's revenues fell. Table 1 shows a statement of changes in equity of BC PARMA-Paribet [4].
According to the statement, it may be concluded that during the revaluation of assets at the end of 2020, decrease in capital was observed. Accordingly, the major objective for the management of the club was the conclusion of financial cooperation at a new level by the beginning of the new season.
initiatives. The integration of the betting brand into the naming of the Perm club is the first in the history of basketball and is a major step towards sovereignty from government investment in this industry. The amount of the signed contract with the betting company is not disclosed [5] in the official media, so it is difficult to disclose the extent of benefits from such cooperation.
Betting is a largely non-transparent market with a combination of companies of various ownership forms operating both nationally and internationally, with varying regulation
Table 1. Statement of changes in equity at the end of 2020 (in thousand rubles) [4].
Index name Code Additional surplus Total
Capital value as of 31.12.19 3200 20 310 20 310
Decrease in capital - total 3320 (17 785) (17 785)
Revaluation of assets 3322 (17 785) (17 785)
Capital value as of 31.12.20 3300 2 525 2 525
degrees ranging from liberal to prohibitive, often operating online and in offshore jurisdictions.
A look at the ethical aspect of high-profile cooperation between a betting company and a professional sports club may be more subjective, up to integration into naming. However, this area requires even more detailed consideration and discussion among specialists in order to make objective conclusion about advantages and disadvantages of sponsoring a basketball club by a betting organization.
Implementation of Internet marketing events using the resources of a sports facility.
Basketball clubs actively use elements of the home arena during the implementation of the promotion strategy. Let's consider the professional basketball club (BC) Unix, as an example.
Basket Hall Arena is the control object and BC Unix is the control subject. The resources of the sports facility are actively used to promote the club. The Internet marketing policy of Unix is based on the development of social networks, an image site and cooperation with advertising distributors. We can observe a continuous connection between the above three components: first of all, the fact that photos from the home matches of BC Unix appeared in the news announcements of the VTB United League and social networks, which means the advertising from the banners, screens and floor of the Basket Hall Arena also collects coverages of Internet users. Figure 2 shows slides of the BC Unix presentation, which was designed specifically for advertising distributors and for further cooperation with them [8]. As you can see, the above basketball club actively uses the potential of the Basket Hall Arena to increase the marketing effectiveness, and digital marketing serves as a tool. When considering the problem of managing a sports facility, it should be remembered that the club management receives most of its income from leasing the premises of the facility for additional services [9]. Thus, the club will be the lessor of
the Basket Hall Arena premises for training of amateur teams, other competitions and, maybe, concerts of musical bands, which, in turn, will also appear in social networks.
It should also regard that the operation of sports facilities may be seasonal, as in the case of Basket Hall. This facility hosts a series of home matches only of the Kazan club of the VTB United League regular championship and pre-match training, which is about 56 months a year. Therefore, planning for the promotion of Basket Hall elements in the Internet is short-term and is rated for this period. Thus, Internet marketing in the management of a sports facility involves the promotion of this facility in the media. The services provided by the sports facility can also be presented on the website, in social networks, in mobile applications.
Development of a mobile application for a basketball club.
The applications are also an element of digital marketing. Such a digital platform allows users to monitor the progress of matches, find out the game schedule and news of their favorite team. The use of the technology of the mobile application of the basketball club allows solving not only the problem of increasing the attendance of matches but also positively motivate consumers, increase their degree of loyalty to the basketball club as a prestigious one. Besides, the application is the club's new platform for advertising integrations.
Benefits of using mobile technology in a basketball club consist in the broad options of the mobile application, namely:
- pre-booking tickets for games;
- e-wallet functions;
- a personal account in the application;
- broadcasts of matches.
This study describes a comparative analysis of the main basic functions of analogue systems. The market for mobile applications for Russian basketball clubs is still in its infancy, so there are not so many platforms yet. "Lokobasket" and "Parma" serve as analogue systems.
Fig. 2. Comparative analysis of the analogue system functions
When receiving information on competitors in the market, a portrait of the fan (the potential audience of the Runa application) should be generated. After a comprehensive analysis, the developer proceeds to the main part of the project - to the development of technical specifications. It is important to understand that the user interface plays a significant role in any mobile application and the comfort and usability of the application depends on it.
The application is a key tool for building fan loyalty to improve social and economic efficiency. This tool is effective for several basketball clubs only. The preliminary calculation of economic efficiency is carried out before the implementation of the digital project. The calculation of the economic efficiency of a digital project is based on reduced costs of existing and digital assets. The above costs will be calculated according to the formula:
E =Q+S/(DC + (I ■ Kn)) ■ 100%, (1)
where:
Q - gate revenue;
S - earnings from integrations with partners; DC - reduced costs; I - investments in a digital asset;
Kn - the normative coefficient of capital investment efficiency.
The recommended value for Kn will be denoted as at least 1.5 units (for the conditions of professional basketball clubs in Russia), justifying this by the fact that in any case, investments in digitalization should bring additional profit for activities, even in the mid- term - accordingly, the efficiency should be higher than the inflation rate in the country.
Conclusion.
The increase in the demand of fans for a sports and entertainment product has a substantial impact on the welfare of a professional basketball club. This is especially im-
portant in the current conditions of state funding of professional clubs. However, there are many prerequisites for the fact that the digi-talization of the physical culture and sports industry will have a positive impact in many respects and will help optimize the internal processes of basketball clubs.
When implementing a promotion strategy, the club uses many tools. The most innovative tools were presented in this paper. A strategic approach to ensuring efficiency is important for each area, which also promotes rising in the profitability of the club.
References
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СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЮ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ РОССИЙСКОГО БАСКЕТБОЛЬНОГО КЛУБА
Л.Д. Ганеева, студент
Российский государственный университет физической культуры, спорта, молодёжи и туризма (РГУФКСМиТ (ГЦОЛИФК)) (Россия, г. Москва)
Аннотация. На данном этапе развития спортивной индустрии российские баскетбольные клубы находятся в поиске новых (негосударственных) партнеров. В данной статье рассмотрены некоторые подходы к совершенствованию деятельности баскетбольных клубов можно отнести к современным для данной отрасли в России. Методики внедрения современных инструментов представлены на примере действующих баскетбольных клубов. Представлена формула расчета экономической эффективности с учетом реализации цифрового проекта в маркетинговой деятельности баскетбольного клуба.
Ключевые слова: баскетбольный клуб, спортивная индустрия, маркетинг, инструменты продвижения.
