Downtown in Business held their inaugural Business in Sport event at Emirates Old Trafford Cricket ground last week. Being an video production agency that work heavily in the sports sector this was the perfect event to brush up on the latest views and gain insight from key people in the industry. The event brought together business leaders, athletes, ex-athletes, community leaders all sharing their views on how sport plays into business, personal and economical growth.
The day kicked of looking at sport in the community and the positive impacts this can have. We know how important it is for our health and well-being and further to this it drives connections between individuals and communities. Anders Borg spoke about the tennis tournament he set up through Northern Vision in Liverpool, opening the sport up to a community and providing an opportunity that was previously unavailable. Tennis in particular can be a hard sport to access, with tickets to major events being expensive and pretty much impossible to get, this tournament allows people to go and watch tennis irl! After all there is nothing much better than watching sport in person.
Former England and World Cup footballer Trevor Steven shared his program that connects the dots between sport and the construction industry - well know for its mental health problems in males. The program supports and raises awareness for mental health issues in this industry, such an amazing initiative, proving the power that sport can have.
Gary Neville spoke of his experiences and echoed the though on the power of sport. Starting a basic level, it prepares you for the up’s and down’s that life provides us with, its gives you the dreams to rise through the ranks and to push hard for what you want to achieve. Football clubs have the power to provide space for communities and in his view, ‘are more important than listed buildings’, 'they should be protected'. Some strong views were also shared and agreed on the European Super League... which you can imagine how that went down!
It’s interesting how Neville has been constantly evolving over the past few years from player, to commentator, business owner and podcaster… just showing how much this industry can have to offer off the pitch too.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan shared his experiences on and off the rugby pitch and how businesses can learn from athletes. Athletes have heavy training schedules, periods of rest, recovery, coaching, mentoring, support in all areas…. when we look at how we work in businesses, it can be said for most of us that we probably don’t do enough to ensure we are performing the best we can. What can we learn from how clubs and athletes perform? Athletes have such a strong purpose, they know where they want to get and do everything they can to get there. Do we know this for our own businesses?
Yvonne Harrison - Chief executive of Women in Football gave some invaluable insight into the women’s game. Women in Football are making strides forward for females in the sport. She shone the spotlight on how fantastic the game currently is, and rightly so given more air time. However with recent incidents at the Women’s World Cup final, its proves there is still such a long way to go.
Opportunities in the women’s game is however providing huge opportunities for brands, just look at the campaign M&S released this July, introducing them as the Official Tailor of the England Senior women’s team. A stunning campaign, that celebrated and put these women at the forefront of fashion and sport. Broadcast rights are growing at a immense rate for the women’s game too and recent actions like that of Mary Earps proves there is no stopping the voices in the game.
Overall the feeling from the day gave huge opportunities for a wide variety of businesses, individual and communities from sports. We need to celebrate the good stories - all too often we hear the bad ones! Sports clubs and players have an emotional attachment to people, ensuring sport is open to everyone at ever level is a key driver in personal and economic growth.
We love that we can work within the sports sector and see the impact sports can have.
Want to see some of our sports work…. Check out our Sports Reel - https://www.soundcolourfilms.com/sportsreel