Barry Hearn calls on Scottish FA to ring in the changes for commercial success
Wednesday 3 December 2014 19:08, UK
Promoter Barry Hearn has used his speech at the inaugural Scottish FA convention to recommend a number the changes, including lifting the alcohol ban at sporting grounds, maximising commercial and marketing opportunities, and take the necessary steps to get more fans through the turnstiles.
Speaking at the inaugural event at Hampden Park, Hearn, chairman of promotions company Matchroom Sport, pointed out that Scottish football had the potential to become “more vibrant" if commerical opportunities were better exploited.
He said it was “outrageous” that the Scottish Premiership didn’t have a sponsor, and described the alcohol ban, imposed on clubs' grounds since the 1980s, as “grossly unfair, ridiculous in fact, in this day and age”.
In today’s world there’s a huge opportunity out there for ownership of professional sports, and Scottish football is not making enough of itself.
“You’ve got to start re-evaluating every income stream, and say ‘Are we maximising the exploitation of football?’, because everything revolves around money,” Hearn said.
“The bigger clubs want to be bigger, the smaller clubs want to survive and grow, so you’ve got to look at financials.
“You’ve got to go back to making the club the social community centre of that region, and try and draw some loyalty from that, and in time – it won’t happen overnight – in time, this will turn the circle, and you’ll create a more vibrant Scottish football then one that is looking over its shoulder wondering how it will pay the milk bill.”
Initiatives
Hearn was also critical of bigger clubs' hesitation to get behind initiatives that could increase the commercial size of and opportunities in the Scottish leagues.
“Self-interest [among club owners] is still an issue,” Hearn said. “Self-regulation, self-help, ego driven decisions, sometimes restrict the size of the cake.
“What you’ve got to realise is in today’s world is that here’s a huge opportunity out there for ownership of professional sports, and Scottish football is not making enough of itself, the cake is not as big as it should be.
“These big clubs that want all of the money, of course, because that’s human nature, have got to be told ‘No, but let’s make the cake bigger so you end up with more than you’re getting now’.”
The convention is part of a proposed modernisation of the Scottish FA Council, with members voting at next year’s Annual Meeting for a more modern, dynamic and representative format; one of the last remaining recommendations of the Henry McLeish Review of Scottish Football.
Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan admitted Hearn's hard-hitting recommendations had given him food for thought.
He said: "Barry markets darts to thousands of people who turn up at events and pay good money.
"So we can learn a lot from his marketing expertise and I think that was the key point today.
"We know we have to get better and market ourselves more effectively and that is what we will try to do going forward.
"There were some good ideas coming out, like how to market season tickets and how do we get to our fans through the use of social media.
"I think we have to take these ideas away and turn them into action plans."
