The Business of Sports Technology
How to Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward
The Business of Sports Technology is an enlightening guidebook that outlines ways of investing in, and making use of, new off-the-field technologies to enhance one’s business operations.
Consultant David Nugent’s informative industry guidebook The Business of Sports Technology is about leveraging technology to succeed in the marketplace.
For sports organizations ranging from teams to media outlets, this book outlines ways of investing in, and making use of, new off-the-field technologies to enhance operations. Doing so, it notes, requires the right resources, people, and procedures. Thus, it starts by recommending strategies for the selection process, handling details, and executing the starting plan before discussing the application of new technologies in a number of fields, including advertising, marketing, and media, across sports including basketball, golf, and automobile racing. Particular strategies are examined, such as the National Basketball Association’s decision to allow fans to watch highlights on social media to whet their appetites for full games. It also surveys expert predictions for the future.
Details, such as that ticket sales make up much of baseball’s revenue while the National Football League profits most off of media rights, deepen understanding of the business of modern sports. Sports technologies are also covered in a detailed and methodical way, as with bullet points and step-by-step breakdowns covering gap analyses and desired business outcomes. Keen examples are used to illustrate particular points, and tips for applying each chapter’s lessons make the work actionable.
The prose is sometimes didactic, as when it’s devoted to examining subjects including advertising pricing, media rights deals, and reducing new fan acquisition costs. This is leavened by its occasional coaching tones, as when it gives advice on assessments, strategies, and decision-making. Personal stories, such as those about Nugent installing shelves and building homes, ground it further. Some industry-specific terminology is included, like the terms “frictionless experience” and “customer data platform,” but these are well contextualized; the text, on the whole, remains accessible despite its use of jargon.
Clear, if sometimes clichéd, analogies also enliven its often matter-of-fact approach, as where the book likens technology to the winds of change and companies that embrace technology to ships harnessing the wind in their sails. In the end, though, the book’s most compelling quality is its expansive reach: It dives into the technicalities of zero-latency video delivery, for instance, by explaining the broader business context of how television is the biggest driver of revenue in a manner that is credibility building. In the end, it is a cohesive overview of the business of sports, the various technologies reshaping it, and what the future may hold.
An analytical industry guidebook, The Business of Sports Technology is about deploying new techniques to attain one’s sports-business goals.
Reviewed by
Joseph S. Pete
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
