Learfield IMG

Aaron Rodriguez

September 8, 2020 

Class Make-up Assignment

Cohort 21S

 

Learfield IMG

 

Learfield IMG is a sport marketing and ticketing company located in the agencies, consultants, and service providers sector of the sports industry. Their vision is to build the team, grow the company, have fun., and love and serve others Their mission is to place tremendous emphasis on people, providing excellent services to their partners, and cultivate a company that creates innovative solutions. Their core values align with their mission statement and embody these pillars through their company culture. Their first pillar is “Build the Team '', they do this by understanding that their work is a collective effort and recruit great people for those goals and once they are recruited they embrace them into their company fully by encouraging each other and considering everyone like family. Their second pillar is “Grow the Company” they do this by serving their employees so they can focus on serving their customers, being agile and open-minded, and looking for the win/win. Their third pillar is to “Have Fun”, they do this by celebrating victories that are big and small, dreaming big-and chasing the dream, and figure out ways to make work fun for everyone. Their final pillar is love and “Serve Others”, they do this by doing what's right, being truthful, candid, and present, and by being passionately friendly and curious 

 

The customers that Learfield IMG must cater to are conferences, networks, and universities. They provide a multitude of services to them and connect them with companies that would be interested in using the school's platform to enhance the image of their product and create value for both the university and the product. With the merger between Learfield Sports and IMG College, they both bring unique resources and capabilities to improve their business. Learfield Sports brings their reputation and clientele while IMG College brings its skills and expertise in ticketing operations. Given these skills and clientele base, they now have the capabilities to reach more customers at a higher level of service. 

 

Conferences generate the most revenue for them as they not only give them access to the universities but also special events such as bowl games. They have been focusing on the inbound logistics of the sports industry by investing and expanding into athletic training facilities both in operations and ownership. Despite this focus on inbound logistics, their greatest opportunity for growth is with broadcasting as they currently broadcast 240 sports in 200 countries. With their current broadcasting locations and the technological growth in the industry, there is a great opportunity for growth.

 

In the industry, there are five key competitive forces and they are buyer power, supplier power, the threat of substitution, the threat of new entrants, and competitive rivalry. The first is buyer power, buyers have very weak power in the industry. Since Learfield Sports and IMG College merged buyers in the college sports industry have had fewer options to get their content out which significantly reduces buyer power. The second is supplier power, supplier power is also weak as entry barriers are high and there is a small pool of competitors. This consolidation has made the industry tough for other companies. This is the primary reason for weak threats to substitution as well as threats of new entry. To find the same product there is a limited number of places people can go and there is little differentiation between firms. Going outside the ticket sales market of Learfield IMG could also be high as well as risky because you must rely on the trust of an unknown seller on the street or other online forums. This is also the reason why there is a weak threat of new entrants. This difficulty in becoming a trusted source and building a reputation is the reason for a weak threat of new entry. There are too many obstacles for a company to be competitive in the industry. Despite being weak in all the other forces the industry is strong in the competitive rivalry. With such few companies in the industry due to the merger of IMG and Learfield Sports, this has created an intense rivalry in the industry. Companies must find strategic advantages to differentiate their product and become attractive to buyers.

 

The industry is very competitive and to succeed there are three key factors. Those factors are partnerships, ease of ticketing platform, and diversity in services. The first is partnerships. Partnerships are essential to the success of a company as they will be providing the content of games that will attract sponsors, ticket sales, and broadcasting rights. Companies must have strong partnerships with networks as well because they will be the ones who can air games provided by the Universities and Bowl Games by the Conferences. The second key success factor is the ease of a ticketing platform. Ticketing platforms are a key revenue generator, not only for the ticket sale numbers but also these are essential for broadcasting rights deals. This shows the level of interest in teams and having an easy to navigate platform will increase the willingness of fans to come to games and enhance their experience. 

The final factor is diversity in services, Universities and Conferences will want to be able to come to one company for all their needs, and diversity of services will allow them to cater to the needs of their clients.

 

 

Business Model

 

AEG

 

AEG is a sporting and music presenting company that owns and runs venues and other prime real estate and provides content and affiliated services. They are located in the sports facilities sector of the sports industry. However, they also touch on the agencies, consultants, and service providers sector of the industry as they provide event management services. Their competitors include ASM global, The Madison Square Garden Company, and Live Nation. All three compete with them directly as they are all venue operators and live experience operators. However, on the team ownership aspect of AEG, they compete with the other teams in their respective leagues. 

 

Their main resource is their venues as this allows them to coordinate their events and generate their revenue. This requires them to have the capabilities to operate the events. These capabilities include their reputation of logistical knowledge and understanding of the respective markets by knowing what events will attract people to their venue. These become their competitive advantage over other competitors as their multiple venues allow them to host events in many different cities while their logistical knowledge and reputation make them an attractive operator for live events. This makes them a perfect fit for the industry because they not only have the expertise for events, but they also have the locations to hold events anywhere in the world. 

 

Given the massive holdings and expertise needed to become successful, there are five key success factors needed to compete in the industry. Those factors are value and quality, venues, hospitality factors, information dissemination, and marketing and sales. The first is value and quality, this is important for success because this is the basis of a company's reputation. They must produce value to those whom they operate events for at a high quality to make them a returning customer. The second factor is venues, venues allow a company to be able to extend its reach. Having more venues in multiple locations allows a company to book a whole tour for music groups or to be the venue for a multitude of sporting events and this will increase the variety of events the company can operate. The third factor is hospitality factors, not only does an operating company have to have a good reputation and many locations but they also have to be able to execute the events when they are given the contract. Their execution of hospitality will leave a lasting impression on patrons of the event and will make the people hosting the event be happy with the operator. The fourth factor is information dissemination, in operating an event there are a lot of moving parts to the success of an event. This means that everyone will have to be on the same page or else the event will fail due to confusion. Information dissemination is the best way to do this because it allows everyone to know what is going on in all aspects of the event at all times. The final factor is marketing and sales, operating companies must be able to market and sell their venues to event managers. This can be achieved with previous event success and being able to sell them on the fact that they can do it again. The company must also be able to market that they can make the event even better and show the ideas that they have to excite more people to want to come to the live event. 

 

In the live event presentation industry, there are many political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors. The first factor is political when constructing or renovating a venue a company must understand that they need to work with the city to finish the project. They must be able to work with city officials to receive proper funding as well as follow any codes and regulations they may have. The political climate is not only important for new venues but it is also important for operating events. Political factors are important to understand as venue operators must understand the city officials and whether or not they will be helpful in their pursuits with their venue. The second factor is economic, the economic factors are very important a venue must understand if the city has a strong economy to understand if they will develop a new venue or if they will bring a large event. Either a city must have the infrastructure to support the event which will mean they have a strong economy. The city must have proper lodging, transportation, and ancillary experiences to complement the venue and the events hosted there. A strong economy is also important because they will need to understand if they can sell tickets in the city to bring people to the venue. If the economy is strong then the people within the city will be coming to the venue. The third factor is social, the social factor is very important, this will determine what events that a venue is willing to operate in certain markets. They must understand what the community around them is interested in and what social experiences they will bring to enhance their time at the venue. The fourth factor is technological, technological factors are very important. Venues and operating companies must be able to have the latest technology at their fingertips as they need to make sure that they have the proper equipment for the planning and execution of events as well as cutting-edge technology to excite fans about coming to their venue. The fifth factor is environmental, environmental factors are extremely important to new venue construction. Companies must make their venues environmentally sustainable as more fans of events and the public at large grow in concern over this issue. Environmentally sustainable venues will be able to bring in more events and people to their venues. The final is legal factors, Ordinances will need to be followed to make sure that everyone is safe, and the proper authorities will have to be present to ensure safety. The legal factors are important in maintaining order and ensuring safety.