Assignment 12A - Figuring out Buyer Behavior

Segment: My business will focus on soccer clubs in lower-income neighborhoods but there are a variety of said clubs which exist. For this assignment, I will focus on clubs with low membership costs, which means that anyone can join them but the quality of player development and management work is low. They would be in most need of sponsors to help with lowering operational costs so that they can devote more time to player development and getting them exposure.

Interviews: I interviewed an old club which I played in and then got access to interview some sister clubs. I found out that these clubs all suffer from a lack of adequate revenue generation and that the coaches all have to work other jobs. I also had an opportunity to talk with the players and learned that they often have to carpool with one another to tournaments and that they have to pay travel expenses themselves. When accounting for the fact that these players get little to no exposure, playing soccer then basically becomes an expensive and mostly unaffordable hobby for them. In addition, the players whom are able to gain exposure are often scouted by bigger clubs and receive scholarships to play for those clubs, leaving the smaller ones with less talent. This means that these smaller clubs serve as the first stepping stone for some players and raises the question, "what of the players who wish to play soccer but can't afford to play for a bigger club nor get scouted by one?" These kids eventually give up on their dreams to play soccer and often get minimum wage jobs and struggle to elevate themselves out of their current situation. The clubs are unable to help fund their dreams because they have already made travel costs as inexpensive as they can be.

Conclusions: From what I can tell, these clubs know they exist as a stepping stone for certain players and have accepted that they cannot help to elevate most of their players. Thus, they are basically a constantly revolving door of players coming and going and never truly establishing a culture. They would probably need the assistance of my business the most, and I feel like this only exists because of their current location. Sponsors might be wary of establishing connections with smaller clubs in lower-income neighborhoods because of the negative publicity that might be associated with them if something goes wrong. An alternative explanation might be that they feel they will not get any significant brand exposure by sponsoring clubs in lower-income neighborhoods. That would mean that my issue is more of a socio-economic one than I realize.