MARKETING IN AMATEUR SPORTS: HOW TO MARKET A FLOORBALL CLUB WITH LIMITED RESOURCES

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the differences that appear in sports marketing in comparison to the more traditional fields of marketing, as well as the differences between marketing in amateur sports and professional sports. A Swedish amateur floorball team was consulted in order to gather information and to provide a practical example and development suggestions for the team’s marketing communications. The findings implicate that there are vast differences between sports marketing and the more traditional types of marketing, but there are also a lot of principles that apply to sports marketing. The differences between amateur and professional sports marketing almost exclusively relate to the available resources. These differences shape the marketing planning process of sports entities, and sports marketing requires a different approach than the more traditional product and service industries.