Globalization of Sports

BUSN-115 Week 2 Assignment

By: Edward Anderson

When I first reviewed the questions that we were being asked to answer this week, I needed to take time to process what was really being asked. The first question asked us to research the cultural factors that the U.S sports industry has when trying to increase popularity abroad. The second question also deals with the sports industry when it asks how franchises can ensure their products are appropriate in other cultures. The final question this week deals with tariffs and whether countries should impose them on imported items to protect their countries industries. These questions can be answered not only for the Sports industry but for most business that operate abroad.

In today’s economy all major players in the business world are having to make decisions on whether or not to enter the global market. Cultural and language barriers, political issues and variations in religious beliefs, societal norms, and business negotiation styles impact how business should be conducted with international counterparts (Khan).The same questions and ideas that companies must consider, also relate to what sports franchise must consider before going global.

The sports industry has been working on increasing the popularity for each individual sport for decades now. According to an article published in the New York Times in 1989, The International Basketball Association voted overwhelmingly to permit professionals, including National Basketball Association players, to play in the Olympic Games, The National Football League is committed to a spring satellite league based in Europe, and The N.B.A. is working on a deal under which two teams would open the 1989-90 regular season with a pair of games not in New York or Boston, but in Japan. Another factor that has increased the popularity of US sports, is the recruitment of players from foreign countries. The sports teams of today are full of diversity.

The globalization of sports,...