The Football Event “Business Road to Euro” (Management Essay)

Business Road to Euro 2016 Event: Background

Business Road to Euro 2016 is an event organized specifically for corporations located in London to compete in a small football tournament which takes place one week before the start of Euro 2016 cup finals. Participation is open to teams from all of the corporations in any sector of the economy. There will be lunch breaks held at Hurlingham club’s private venues which are designed to provide networking opportunities for the participants and entertainment from live bands playing there.

Description of the Event

The event will accommodate 8 teams from corporations in any type of operations which are located in London. Due to the limited chances of participation, each corporation will be represented by only one team. The tournament will commence on Saturday 2nd with all teams playing at the pool stages and end on Sunday 3rd with the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Further details on the days’ program are found in Appendix I.

Event Mission

The event is specifically designed to provide participants with an opportunity to play football in an organized league structure. Undoubtedly, such opportunities are rarely available in the formal setting, where even the internally organized corporate fun-days do not match the league fashion. The tournament is intended to provide a serious version of football games by following all of the football rules, structure and formalities. This is to ensure that the participants enjoy and appreciate the spirit of professional football.

Similarly, the event will be a great platform for networking, as there will be immense opportunities for interaction between the participants both in the field and during the lunch gatherings. Such interactions will undoubtedly bear positive impacts on all of the pariticipants through mutual cooperation and exchange of information.

Event Goal

Football is one the most influential sports when it comes to team building endeavors. It entails great opportunities for bonding, cooperation and effective communication between the players. There are eleven players on each team, with every player maintaining a particular position throughout the game unless there is a substitution. A team is usually made out of a goalkeeper, 4 defenders (center back, sweeper, full back and wing back), 4 midfielders (defending midfielder, central midfielder, attacking midfielder and wide midfielder) and 2 forwards (center and withdrawn forwards) (“Soccer Positions Explained”, 2014). All these positions require extensive collaboration and unity in order to prevent opponents from scoring, to create a link between the defending players and forwards and finally score goals through assistance and passes from all of the teammates. Therefore, a game of football is a very resourceful team building experience.

The Tournament Structure

The tournament will proceed with a multi-stage structure, with the qualified teams progressing to the next stage until a final winner is determined at the finals. Each game will take place with the professional formal rules of 90 minutes of game time with a 15 minutes break between the first and the second half. There will be one referee and two line men for each match. Teams are also allowed to make three player substitutions through the respective coaches after notifying the referee.

Match Guide for Saturday 2nd

All of the 8 participating teams will be divided into 2 pools, with each pool consisting of four teams. Every team should play with every other team in its pool once, thus creating a total of six matches for each of the pools. It is planned that the pool stages will end on Saturday, taking into consideration that all of the 12 matches (6 in each of the two pools) will be played at the same time at different fields.

Match Guide for Sunday 3rd

The day will start off with the quarterfinals (matches are going to be played in parallel in order to save time) and closely followed by the semifinals and subsequently the finals in the afternoon.

Awards

Only the two top teams will be rewarded with the winner team receiving tickets to the Euro 2016 finals and the runner-up team going on a behind the scenes trip to Park des Princes in Paris (the city where the Euro 2016 finals will take place).

Event Venue

The event is scheduled to take place at Hurlingham park, Putney Bridge, London. Hurlingham is considered to be one of the flagship and most spacious parks in London, covering an area of approximately eight hectares. It is located at the southern side of Napier Avenue and at the east end of Ranelagh Gardens.

The park provides various facilities, including tennis courts, rugby pitches, changing rooms, children’s play-areas and all-weather football pitches, which are necessary for the proposed event. The 3 available football pitches will conveniently hold the matches in the pool stages and the quarterfinals in parallel.

Additionally, there is sufficient sitting and parking space, as well as food and beverage stores, which will guarantee an adequate level of comfort for visitors and spectators of the matches.

Lunch Venue

Lunch breaks will be held at the Hurlingham club’s private venues with locations at the banks of River Thames and directly next to the park. Hurlingham club suite is very luxurious and has an exceptional view as well as a superb level of hospitality. It has capacity to hold approximately one thousand seated guests, which covers our predicted numbers of guest.

Stakeholders of the Event

The event is expected to attract different types of stakeholders with sponsors being the anticipated majority. Companies such as FIFA, Barclays, Heineken and others that are known for sponsoring football leagues are expected to be the key contributors to the event. Other significant sponsors will include Nike, The Coca-Cola Company, Nissan, British Airways, GoPro (more details on sponsorship are provided in appendix II)

Partners

There will be several partners of the event who will be greatly involved in the planning and actualizing the tournament. These partners include the Hurlingham Park management and FIFA, who have invited great footballers as guest speakers for the event (ChristianoRonaldo, Wayne Rooney and Hurry Kane).

Staff

Referees, linemen, medical staff, the Park’s management staff, sales agents and assistant volunteers will comprise the staff for the event.

Finance (anticipated funding and expenditure)

The event will primarily rely on the sponsors’ funding and the additional revenue that will be raised during the event (ticket returns and letting fees from the sponsors who will be selling or advertising their brands). This will help to reduce over-reliance of sponsorship funds.

Ticket sales

Each corporate team will have to acquire the participation tickets for its players for the price of £10 each ticket.

Event kit ticket will be available for £20 (includes an event’s jersey and kit bag)
Hurlingham club ticket will cost £100 with plentiful refreshments offers and three extra lunch invitations.
The estimated revenue sums up to approximately £3,000 on average if the tickets are fairly purchased.

Expenditures

Funds will be spent on hiring football pitches and staff, obtaining insurance policies, decorating the venue, staff and sponsor refreshments, stage setup and tents, as well as other minor expenditures incurred on site.

Full Event Proposal

Football is a worldwide known sport that is acknowledged for its ability to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, as they can enjoy the sport equally. The football event “Business Road to Euro” aims to bring together the range of different organizations involved in this particular event within the Hurlingham Park. Among the corporations that are expected to be a part of the event are Royal Dutch Shell, HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline, Vodafone Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays plc, HBO’s, Astrazeneca, Anglo American, Centrica, Imperial Tobacco Group, Scottish and Southern Energy among others. While enrolling themselves for the event, these corporations will sign a mission statement.

Mission Statement

‘The Business Road to Euro 2016 event is aimed at creating, developing and enduring coordination as well as promotion of networking opportunities for the community in general and the corporations specifically, as they participate in the great sports event, engage in physical activities and enjoy various recreational facilities and activities.’

Stakeholders

By enabling the opportunities for sponsorship, the specific companies sponsoring the event, such as FIFA, Barclays plc, Nike, Coca Cola, Nissan, British Airways and GoPro will ensure their exposure to the participating corporations as well as the full advantages that come from such an exposure, which are listed below. The funds that the Business Road to Euro 2016 football event will secure will be directed to heightening the popularity of the sport, securing the tickets for the attendance of the Euro 2016 for the winner team as well as to offer any physical and recreational activities that participating members and visitors may want to engage in thereafter.

For those corporate teams that have lost the tournament in Hurlingham, the sponsoring companies will aid in the provision of a range of other sports-related activities apart from football itself, such as tennis, indoor sporting activities like chess and among others provided by the Park .

The sponsoring companies will also be able to improve the business relations between the different companies. The event will also offer the opportunity for the corporate team to work on their team building skills, which will be facilitated by other recreational activities.

They will also assist in the development of football-related skills among the teams members from different companies. The sponsoring companies will fund the provision of highly qualified coaches in order to provide additional training and lessons on the improvement of football-related skills as well as lessons on safety in the field in addition to information regarding the awareness of the benefits of football and sports in general. The event also provides work coaches who will form several workshops aimed at increasing the awareness on the means of improving the work environment. The work coaches will provide lessons on improvement of the work environment aimed at progression towards success in completing various tasks within the corporations. The lessons will include methods of successful team-building activities as well as a focus on improving the communication within the work environment, enabling and maintaining a growth-oriented working atmosphere.

The training will take place in the time at which the football matches are not taking place and will be geared toward developing a strong sense of cooperation among the members of the participating corporations.
Some of the extra funds will be allocated towards the improvement and sustainability of the venue and for paying the football coaches as well as work coaches, which will induce them to provide high quality services. This, in turn will make a positive contribution towards the community and the participants.

The special project-oriented workshops conducted by the work coaches will help in the propagation of the ideas of equal opportunities. The programs will target all the of the invited members without discrimination based on the strength and size of the participating companies. At the event, the members of different corporation will be at the same level to each other and will be treated as such, no matter how large or small is the company that they represent. Linking with the “Business Road to Euro” football event and facilitating its success will ensure that the sponsoring companies gain a good reputation among the other companies and within the community as a whole.

Association with the different funding companies will enable an increased exposure of the participating and sponsoring companies to the following groups of interest (pfutozen, n.d):

• Exposure to a wide range of people at the local level who are taking part in the event.
• Members of various corporations that are taking part in the event.
• The youthful members of the corporations who are taking part in the event.
• The invited skilled and popular atheletes, such as Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo.
• The football coaches and work trainers.
• The members of Hurlingham Park, where the event is due to take place. They include members, managers of the Park, various organizing officials.
• Local people that are residents of local to the Park neighborhoods.
• Local Minority Groups, such as disability groups.
• Sports-related official persons, such as the Minister of Sports, local councilors, interested politicians and representatives of other governing bodies. There will be a link to the Labor Officers, since it is a work-related event.
• Members of the general public, due to the spread of the news about the sponsors’ involvement through the Public Relations Coverage.
• The normal Public Relations and Information Systems coverage via all types of mass media.
• Promotional aids, such as pamphlets and leaflets which will be distributed to the various corporations and to the general public in order for them to come and watch the event.
• Promotional products, such as handouts, flyers and brochures with information regarding the event, its mission, purpose and the details of further description.
• The attires and predetermined uniforms given to the football players and work coaches as well as all the representatives of the “Business Road to Euro” football event.
• Workshops organized by the various invited work coaches and trainers.
• Additional facilitators for the other sports that will be played during the event apart from football itself, such as basketball, tennis, various indoor games like chess, athletics and swimming.
• Executive meetings by the heads of the corporation who are participating in the event, formed committees and steering groups enabling the event throughout the corporations.
• “Business Road to Euro” participating members, which include over 250 officials appointed to ensure that the event is successful as well as the many spectators from the general public who will come to watch the matches.
• The individualized conferences held by the companies for establishing progress reports for the companies and the events scheduled for the companies. The conferences will be attended by the representatives of the companies, company heads and the supporting staff of the companies.
• The individualized newsletters and in-house company communication systems that are distributed within the companies within a span of their specified terms say after three months. This option is highly dependent on the company’s preference.
• Preliminary association with the largest recognized corporate sports-related event and football competition in London.
• Company association with a national highly recognized sport that is greatly publicized and helps to cultivate and develop football-related skills. This has an aim of ensuring the widespread awareness of the sport and the importance of general physical fitness throughout the participating companies and the community as a whole.
• Association with companies of corporate relations, who are tasked with the provision of work coaches and trainers.
• Publicizing the different company logos of the various involved companies. The logos will be used in the pamphlets, brochures, leaflets, handouts, banners, media programs, on the distributed T-shirts and other promotional facilitators and products.
• Sponsoring companies’ overall benefits from gaining the publicity from the local public relations and information systems in the days leading up to the proposed event.
• A high level of publicity created through association with the invited dignitaries and VIP’s who are scheduled to attend the event, such as major successful business heads, football players and other recognized sports professionals, various local authorities such as the Mayor and councilors.
• Opportunity to advertise themselves by the use of promotional materials for the event and the handout gifts for the representatives of the participating corporations as well as the attending members of the general public.
  The opportunity to make speeches at the beginning and at the end of the event as well as the option to hand out the medals for the winning team.

Event Concept

The proposed event is being held as a means to fulfill the corporate responsibilities of the participating corporations (“Sporting Events”, n.d.). It ensures that the employees of these corporations are provided with the opportunities to learn how to improve the work relations by engaging in activities outside of the workplace, whose values can be emulated and transcribed into the work environment. The secondary goal of holding the proposed event, especially days before the Euro Cup 2016 is to create the buzz for the upcoming major event and to secure the attendance of as many members of the general public as possible in the role of spectators. The strategy will help in creation of additional revenue for the preparation of the staging of a similar event in the future.

Objectives of the Event

By the ending ceremony, the event will have secured a lot of of positive outcomes, some of which are listed below:

• To engage the members of different participating corporations in recreational activities, which are not only aimed at character-building, but also at creating a team-spirit, encourage cooperation as well as ensuring that the participants learn the basic skills of healthy competition.
• To assist in ensuring that the participating corporations fulfill their corporate responsibilities by ensuring that their employees engage in work progress-related activities.
• To provide a conducive environment for creating ample networking opportunities among a wide range of people from different participating and sponsoring corporations. This is likely to create a lot of connections that may be useful in the work environment.
• To provide an opportunity for the exchange of ideas and acquiring of new useful knowledge.
• To promote the idea of the importance of general physical fitness and good state of health. Additional objective is to illustrate the connection between the physical health and a highly effective work performance.
• To collect funds and generate revenue for the preparation of a similar event in the near future. Therefore, establishing the event as a recurring, possibly annual event.
• To promote the stakeholders’ interest, by way of advertising and ensuring a good amount of exposure of the sponsors of the event. The promotion will in turn help the sponsors to gain additional revenue from the extensive publicizing of the company’s involvement in the event.

Marketing of the Event

The expected people who will be attending the event are members of various corporations, the members of the general public, dignitaries and other agents for event facilitation. In order to ensure the event’s success of generating enough revenue, the attendance of the abovementioned people must be guaranteed.

Strategic choice of the stakeholders or partners should be the first step in prepartaion. A sports event of this nature requires the sponsors to cover most of the overhead expenses, fixed expenses and any contingencies as well as the venue hire. Viable partners would be various government agencies, sports councils, local governmental, sponsors such as those which are mentioned above.

Prior marketing campaign in the days leading up to the event requires establishing a website as a promotional tool, providing information about all of the event’s particulars and specific information. The website URL should consist of the name of the event or in case that is impossible, any name that is very similar to the planned event. This website should contain all of the necessary information regarding the event, such as when and where the event is taking place. The possible ways to purchase the tickets for the event, options such as online purchase should be listed, which people are expected and invited to attend the event, how long the event is going to last and so on (Hums & Bar, 2015).

There is a vast number of broadcasting mediums for sports-related activities, purchase of some amount of airtime through the radio and television broadcast is also an option. The mass media help in securing the attention of a vast majority of people and makes them aware of the event. Such a heightened exposure increases the chances for attendance of the general public and other stakeholders. Additionally, the fact that the event will have generated a lot of publicity also increases the chances of securing additional sponsors for the event.

There are alternatives, which are relatively lower cost, means of advertisement such as use of various internet sites for example, YouTube, MLB.com, etc.

Marketing can also be conducted through the use of in-sponsorships, where the companies enter into an agreement with various media outlets. The agreement involves sponsorships of the media outlets by a company in exchange for media coverage and provision of a free advertising space for the said company.

Operational Plan and HR Roles

Operational planning should be the bedrock of any large event. The planning for this event will be an ongoing process starting from the period before the event commences through the actual date of the event and up to after the event ends. The plan is as follows:

Saturday 2nd July 2016:

• 7.00am -8.00am – Arrival of the participating corporate.
• 8.00am -9.00am – Booking and registration of the guests, settling in.
• 9.00 am -9.20am – Official opening of the event, speech from the Sports Head Official and a brief description of the events that are scheduled for the day.
• 9.30am -4.00pm- The matches commence (time allocated for each match: 2hrs, total of 6hrs)/Playing of other sports by the participating members who are not scheduled to play on this day.
• 4.00pm – 5pm- Late lunch/ social interaction at the Hurlingham private venue.
• 5pm -6pm- Break and refreshing in the Hotel suite.
• 6pm -8pm – Work coach workshops at the Park.
• 8pm -9pm – Dinner at the Hurlingham Private venue.
• 10pm – Live band concert and subsequent transfer to the hotel suits .

Events on Saturday 3rd July are similar to those of 2nd July except that from 8pm to 9pm there will be a closing speech from the guest football players and awarding of the medals to the winning team and the runner-ups, as well as giving out the tickets to the finals of EURO Cup 2016.

The sports manager will be in charge of sports equipment provision, such as the balls, nets and rackets, among others. The work coaches will be in charge of organizing the workshops. Hurlingham’s catering services will be in charge with provision of food services to the members of the corporation’s attendant and other event management supporting staff.

Note breakfast, lunch and dinner will be the only time the food will be available. These will take place at 8.00 am, 4.00 pm and 9.00 pm respectively. Foods to sustain the participants and spectators between these hours can be obtained from the various nearby shops and food outlets within and outside of the Hurlingham Park.

The merchandise sales will take place during the course of the football matches and other events as well as sales of custom T-shirts with the sponsoring companies’ engravings.

Other operational plan needs that should be factored in are:

• Transportation services for the event guests and dignitaries
• Communication for the support staff
• Defined line of authority in management staff of the event
• Measures of crowd control.
• Catering for people with disabilities
• A policy addressing the pressing issues such possible drunkenness and disorderliness and the related behaviors.

Financial Requirements

The proposed corporate football event is reliant on the support from the sponsors. The independence of the event lies on the ability to lean towards being self-reliant by reducing the level of sponsor-dependency and increasing the ability to generate revenue from the sale of tickets and provision of services. These services might include sale of food, customized T-shirts, etc.

• Expenditures
• Advertising
• Printing/posters/Tickets
• Signs and Place cards
• Custom T-shirts
• Sports equipment hire
• Music and Entertainment Providers
• Medals and Ticket Awards
• Security/ Crowd Control
• Venue Hire
• Staffing
• Contingency
• Food and beverages