Considering a career in sports? Here’s what you need to know
|Published
The age of technology has made it easier for sportsmen and brands to connect, unlocking doors to endless possibilities. And if you're wondering how much you're worth at any point of your sports career, Group CEO of Unorthodox Sport, Sibabalwe says, "from a brand and commercial perspective, it is quite an exploratory exercise initially. With more and more athletes, however, receiving commercial deals, comparison can also be done with athletes of the same caliber within the same sporting code and status."
Further enlightening that as Unorthodox Sport, they also closely monitor statistics on social media, like followers and engagements. "What we've noticed though and place the most value on is follower engagement as this is where we think most of the value lies, especially with a brand associating itself with an athlete. We also use media value as a way to gauge how much the athlete is worth."
What else do you consider?
SS: We often look at organic media placement and we then derive value by making use of media monitoring companies. The above findings then guide us to an athletes worth, but it is also important to note that it is a constantly worked on calculation and the worth varies with achievements by the athlete as well.
How does a player position himself as a brand, leverage his brand and align with credible brands?
SS : What we ensure at Unorthodox Sport is authenticity. We go through a rigorous Q&A to find out what the athlete is interested in both in their career and their interests. This helps us formulate an authentic brand strategy that guides the short term, mid term and long term. At Unorthodox Sport we also assist our athletes in making the appropriate financial moves in the present day to make sure they have a comfortable retirement from sport. We work with the end in mind, so the brands that we either reach out to reach out to us for our clients need to fit within the brand strategy, partnerships have to make sense to our clients. The best way for an athlete to position himself is by the appropriate foundation which is a brand strategy highlighting the most important pillars and seeing how to position everything from there onwards. It is important to note that the brand strategy changes and is a dynamic document, but there always have to be governing pillars to ensure that athletes are acting and not reacting therefore keeping them consistent and authentic.
What sort of career opportunities are available to players beyond the field to ensure longevity in the sports industry?
SS: What’s important to note is exactly what the athlete wants to do post retirement. Do they still what to be in the sports industry or do they want to explore other industries? Should they want to stay within sport there is an array of career opportunities to look at from merchandising, starting media channels, commentating, the list is endless. Should they want to branch out of the sport, this too is possible as they would have the advantage of exploiting their brand that they have worked on to open doors for them. All of the suggested are possible as long as the player works backwards by first making the most out of their brand while they are still professional athletes and making in roads. Agencies like ours are crucial in making the suggested possible.