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Essay: Applying Marketing and Financial Principles to the Success of the Philadelphia Eagles

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  • Published: 1 April 2019*
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  • Words: 1,469 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 6 (approx)

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2.Marketing Principles (Word Count: 452)

The marketing principles described within the textbook are certainly applicable to the Philadelphia Eagles organization. The main principles mentioned are sponsorship, understanding demographics and target markets, and fan identification. On the Philadelphia Eagles website, they identify multiple high-end sponsors, including Dietz and Watson, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s, Chickie’s and Pete’s, and Temple University (Philadelphia Eagles). By connecting with these products, the Eagles are using the idea of sponsorship to increase their market, as the amount of people who become aware of their product or connected to it will grow. In accordance with their sponsored relationship with the Philadelphia Eagles, Dunkin Donuts in the Philadelphia area used to provide people with a free coffee the day after an Eagles win (Trinacria). Dunkin Donuts has since changed the deal, trying to garner support for the Eagles by selling “$1 medium Hot or Iced Coffee on all Eagles game days” according to Jessica Weissman, Dunkin’s marketing manager (Trinacria).

The concepts of demographics and target markets are significant in their application to the Philadelphia Eagles. In an article on Fast Company, Drew Neisser discusses the tactics of Eagles’ Chief Marketing Officer Tim McDermott. In sticking with the idea of improving relationships among already existing fans in order to market the team positively, McDermott and his team has an “open-door approach” to dealing with problems that arise with season-ticket owners (Neisser). In addition, the Eagles are clever with their marketing principles as they aim to attract newer fans through the children in the Philadelphia area. Neisser says that the team has a “TV show, a website, and a club” in order to get children more interested in the team, and as a result, the parents will as well. Adding to that, by continually becoming involved in the community and showing the Philadelphia residents that the team cares about the city, then the team will be able to increase their fan base. The Eagles organization has attempted to do this with such things as the Eagles Autism Challenge, which, as Trinacria says, is “dedicated to raising funds to advance research and support for Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

Fan identification is also a prominent aspect of marketing with the Eagles organization. According to Masteralexis, “the more a fan identifies with a team or organization, the greater the likelihood the fan will develop a broad and long-term relationship with that team” (Masteralexis, 61). In an article with Bleacher Report, Steve Dolan even said that “Philadelphia sports fans are some of the most loyal sports fans in all of sports.” This makes the marketing connection with fan identification somewhat easier. This is due to the fact that Philadelphia fans are naturally connected to the team, so they are more likely to follow them.

3.Financial Principles (Word count: 476)

Whether dealing with cap space or merchandise, the Philadelphia Eagles organization must consider revenue and value added as one of, if not the, most important quality and metric of their success. On a Forbes analysis page about the Eagles’ revenue and valuation created in 2011, it was determined that the majority of the team’s revenue comes from sport. In descending order from there, value is added through the market, then the stadium, and finally brand management. Basically, most of the revenue that the team brings is due to the money that is “shared among all teams.” According to Forbes, this “valuation” is worth about “694 million dollars.” The 2011 Forbes valuation also describes the team has having financial success due to the large market for sports in the Philadelphia area, the relative success of the Philadelphia sports complex area, and the “modest debt” that the organization experiences.

In looking at value added over the past 15 seasons and general revenue growth, the Eagles seem to be a successful and profitable organization. Statista posted a graph demonstrating the change in revenue for the Eagles team from 2001 to 2016. The revenue experienced a significant growth in value added, improving from a relatively low 120 million dollars to 430 million dollars 15 years later, more than tripling in size. The Statista website states, “Ticket sales for the home games constitute one stream of revenue with tickets for Eagles home games selling for 69 U.S. dollars on average. The average attendance at home games of the franchise was at almost 70 thousand in the 2012 season implying sellouts for every home game.”  

One of the most important financial principles when looking at football teams is the salary cap. Out of approximately 168 million dollars in total money spent on football players, about 17 million dollars is “dead money” based on Spotrac’s salary cap counter, meaning that nearly 10 percent of the team’s cap is going to players who are not even on the team anymore. However, that is not to say that the team has exceeded the salary cap. Spotrac reveals that the team has a cap space of $8,113,468. This focus on cap space has been a key for the team’s methods in the offseason when trying to find free agents. By attempting to keep some salary cap available, the general manager Howie Roseman uses a strategy that tries to maximize return on investment and minimize expenses. This type of budgeting method is meant to improve value added for the team. This is perceptible in the team’s recent relative success with free agents Patrick Robinson and LeGarette Blount, who only count approximately two million dollars against the team’s cap.

Continuously ranked by Forbes as one of the top ten most valuable and profitable NFL teams, the Eagles are a good example of successful financial principles in sport management.

5.Ethical Principles (Word Count:529)

In light of actions made by players and the nation, the Philadelphia Eagles organization, specifically through owner Jeffrey Lurie, has demonstrated their use of ethical principles in making decisions and upholding morality. As an NFL organization, the Philadelphia Eagles must show ethical decision making. In Chapter 6 of “Principles and Practices of Sport Management,” Masteralexis, Barr, and Hums discuss the fact that in determining the solution to an ethical dilemma, there is a step-by-step procedure that most managers must follow.

A somewhat recent example of the Eagles’ front office doing this is with the incident in 2013 involving former Eagles and Gators receiver Riley Cooper. Cooper was caught using a derogatory term directed at an African-American security guard at a concert (Finn). This violates the conduct rules set forth by the Philadelphia Eagles, the National Football League, as well the basic ethical principles regarding discrimination within society. Lurie, former head coach Chip Kelly, and general manager Howie Roseman attempted to solve this problem using the procedure that Masteralexis et al. describes in the textbook Principles and Practices of Sport Management. Roseman and Lurie were able to “identify the problem” and “gather all the pertinent information” (Masteralexis et al., 134) before making a decision about what to do with Cooper. His actions had violated the conduct rules set forth by the Philadelphia Eagles, the National Football League, as well the basic ethical principles regarding discrimination within society, making the textbook’s steps three and four even easier. However, when making the final choice regarding Cooper, Lurie, Kelly, and Roseman had to consider steps eight and ten, on knowing that the choice “may not be perfect” (Masteralexis et al., 134).

According to Jeré Longman of the New York Times, the Eagles had delivered “no punishment beyond a fine” to Cooper and that he “took an indefinite leave Friday to seek counseling” (Longman). This choice had bothered some people who thought that the Eagles had not considered the ethical ramifications of it. Longman even mentions the fact that the mayor of Philadelphia at the time had spoken out against Lurie and Kelly’s lack of action. However, as most sport managers need to do, they must consider how to balance the actual success of their organization with the ethically and morally correct action. In this instance, the general manager had to thank about the impact of losing Cooper, which was part of the motivation behind the Eagles only fining him. As Longman said, “On another team, Cooper might have been suspended or dismissed. But the Eagles are particularly thin at receiver since Jeremy Maclin tore a knee ligament last weekend and was lost for the coming season” (Longman). Managers must be able to use ethical decision making in order to satisfy their fans and organization without actually causing the team to regress.

This is not the only instance in which the Philadelphia Eagles organization needs to show the ethical principles described in the textbook. One of the important principles is the implementation of a code of conduct. The team follows the National Football League code of conduct, as well as promoting a fan code of conduct in Lincoln Financial Field in order to promote a safe and enjoyable stadium environment (Lincoln Financial Field).

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