Sport Industry Group

15 Feb 2008

The government has set a very high target for investment in Olympic sports in the run-up to London 2012. Karim Bashir, managing director of Catch Sport and former Commonwealth Games fencer, explains why these associations do provide value to companies as well as athletes.

Picture the scene; it’s August 2012.  You’re in the beautifully regenerated Stratford at the Olympic Park waiting for the finals. “Your” athlete takes up their starting place; whether it is on the blocks, at the back of the court, on their on-guard line, in the field, climbing into the ring or on the board.  You wonder if your heart is racing faster than theirs.

For the past 4 years you have watched, supported and encouraged this athlete through thick and thin.  Tournament successes and failures, injuries, tough winter training, medal winning performances (home and abroad), visits to your sites, press appearances, the lot. You know what this means. You’ve had 10 times the ROI from your sponsorship agreement than you expected but that means nothing. All you want to do is win.

The action begins and you can’t take your eyes off it. A well paced race with a sprint finish, a “PB” in the pool, blades flashing, arrows hitting the “gold”, a blistering smash, a perfect 10 and then the walk to the podium, the national anthem complemented with smiles and tears of joy. A dream or reality? That’s up to all of us.

UK Sport has set a target of fourth place in the medal table at the 2012 Olympics. We finished 10th in Athens (2004) and Sydney (2000) and 35th in Atlanta (1996). So we’ve made some progress. We’ve certainly moved in the right direction with the government investing in a healthier nation (e.g. school dinners) and providing more access to more sporting facilities to help increase participation.

Many of our sporting national governing bodies have recognised the benefits using sport science and importing foreign coaches to improve performance. The increased investment in sport as a whole since London was announced as the host city for the 2012 Olympiad will help encourage the much-needed modernisation of the administration of sport in the UK.

However, let’s not be fooled into thinking that this alone will mean GB reaches its lofty target.  For all the public money now being invested in sport only 1500 of our top (summer/winter Olympic) athletes are financially supported. One third of these athletes compete in just 4 sports with a further 8 Olympic sports not supported at all. So the funding for our performers is thin on the ground at best but UK Sport and the DCMS have to draw the line somewhere.

In saying that; if we don’t have a big enough talent pool to pick our athletes from then there is no way we will achieve our goals as a sporting nation. More athletes definitely means more chance of gaining international success but it also means that more money is required.

This investment at an athlete level will only come from private funding. So the key for our rising stars is to engage with business in an inexpensive and uncomplicated way and provide them with an obvious benefit.

Equally businesses have got to look at any athlete as though they were an employee of the company. No company employs a member of staff and then leaves them to train themselves or allows them to work what ever hours they chose. Investment and nurturing is required to get the best out of your workforce.  The same applies to athletes. It’s fantastic to support an athlete once they have qualified for a major championship.

I went to 4 Commonwealth Games and never failed to get sponsorship once selected.  The thing is, I also know that I would have performed much better at these events had I had support in the years in between and this could only have benefited my sponsors.

And what’s in it for your company? Read paragraph one again and imagine taking your staff, clients, friends and family to the Olympics to watch “your” athlete. Not to mention the inspiration they could be in the 4.5 year build up to the Games.