ABSTRACT
The use of analytics has been growing throughout the sport industry. The general population is most familiar with performance analytics due to Michael Lewis’ famous book Moneyball and media outlets’ focus on player statistics and its use in player drafts, game analyses, and fantasy leagues. Similarly, General Managers and executives primarily focus on performance analytics due to the emphasis on winning on the field or court. However, today there are other high-stakes issues on the table for the executives of sport teams. The sport industry has become very saturated, and without an on-going winning streak, customer loyalty, strong attendance and high revenues are not guaranteed. Business analytics has become an important tool in managing sport teams and leagues more effectively. Within this category, marketing applications receive the most attention. Ticket sales, ticket pricing, fan experience, fan loyalty, campaign management and sponsorship sales are the areas that benefited from analytics the most (Davenport, 2014; King, 2015). With this chapter, we will take a closer look into using analytics in managing fan relationship, evaluation of promotional campaigns, ticket pricing, and finally sponsorship sales. The chapter will begin with a brief history of market research in the sport marketing field to demonstrate where we came from and continue with the current use of analytics in the field.
