Business Plan Football Tournament

3/22/2009 Entrepreneurship Mohammad Ali, Umair, Umer, Fahd, Nadeem

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY"

When we were asked to open up a business, or organize an event, or do any entrepreneurial task as part of this course; immediately our group reached a consensus that is has to be something related to sports. Situation has been very hostile for sports in Pakistan recently; we don't hear any more sports news stating Pakistan wining hockey, cricket, and snooker or even squash tournaments. Of course we can win none of these tournaments for Pakistan but what we can do is give a boom to sports at a very domestic level, because we believe and it's proven as well that domestic tournaments bring out future stars for the national team as this will provide a stage for every player to display their talents. We argued for hours and hours about which sporting tournament shall we organize and surprisingly it was not cricket, instead everyone wanted a football tournament. What next? Well next is ground, teams, referees, sponsors, stalls and our profit margins. First things first, we all were asking ourselves, what's in it for us? At first we thought we will only earn precious experience but later when we planned out the tournament we realized that we can be in for some large amount of money. We had several options to short list the teams, make it inter university, inter school, inter college etc. But why short list? We can give everyone an opportunity to show their talent and that's how we can reach our economies of scale. So we decided that the format of this tournament such that that team which wins will move to next round and other team goes to the cheering stance. The first round will consist of 32 teams and these teams will be selected on first come first serve basis, so the first 32 team to register in the tournament will enter the tournament. Our target market is very well defined; anyone who can play or watch football is our target market. According to our research and analysis, there is no such tournament held in Islamabad. The only tournaments that take place are cricket tournaments, so we will compete against those tournaments. Moreover, there are a lot of inter universities, schools, colleges tournaments as well who again would be our competitors but we are not planning to grab a piece of pie, instead we want the pie to get bigger and better. We will have advantages over our competitors in a lot of ways, as this is open for all tournament so we already have an advantage of very vast audience unlike the inter university or school tournaments where only schools can enter. This tournament will be help at night most probably 6pm-10pm, such a time would be feasibly for everyone and if we are successful in getting media coverage we can attract a large audience. Further on, this tournament will be held in a CDA rented ground (f6/1 or f7/3) so organizing and managing will not be much a problem.

When we started working on this plan, it just got bigger and better. 32 teams consisting of 11 players/teams would make roughly around 360 players. This can be quite an attraction for companies targeting their products at youth such as: Djuice, Pepsi, Red bull. So if we can see a marketing opportunity in this, we are very optimistic that even these companies will, so if we manage to raise enough sponsors to cover our basic ground and official costs, than the entry fees per team i.e. RS 1000 would purely be our profit. The next big challenge for us will be where to attract these 32 team from. The solution is not very complicated as it sounds, we will go to different colleges, schools, universities and find the right person and present him our idea and convince him to enter the tournament. We will also use our personal contacts to bring in local teams such as: teams of different sectors, markets etc. If we are able to attract media coverage things will get easier for us, as than we can place ads in newspapers, radio and television about the tournament. It will not be easy to control 22 players in the field, and things can get nasty and physical. To overcome fights and offensive behavior of players in the field we will appoint a professional neutral referee to manage the game, keep things tight and provide set of rules to the teams and any violation of such rules would mean end to the tournament. Furthermore, we will also appoint 3 to 4 security guards in case things still got worst. Everything is well planned out and even if it is not executed the way we expect it to be, we still have a safe harbor to land on. For instance if we fail to raise sponsors for our tournament we will still have our pockets filled from the entry fees of the teams, if we couldn't arrange 32 teams? We can always reduce the tournament size to 24 or 16 according to the number of teams. So we do have plan B in mind for every step of this tournament.

Contents "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY" ................................................................................................................. 2 PROBLEM STATEMENT:................................................................................................................... 6 "Tournament Table".................................................................................................................... 8 Stage 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Stage 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Quarter Finals .......................................................................................................................... 9 Semi Finals ............................................................................................................................... 9 Final.......................................................................................................................................... 9 Target Market ............................................................................................................................ 10 Competition ............................................................................................................................... 10 Success Criteria .......................................................................................................................... 11 Marketing strategies.................................................................................................................. 11 Financial Plan ................................................................................................................................ 13 Budget Details: .............................................................................................................................. 14 Risk Management: ........................................................................................................................ 14 Banners:..................................................................................................................................... 15

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Problem is crystal clear; football is the neglected child of the sports family in Pakistan. Neither is it promoted at the ground root level nor any efforts are made to make it a popular game in Pakistan. Football being the world's most played and watched sport has only been bounded to Television and internet in Pakistan. When we carried out a survey on a small scale to find out the willingness of the people to participate in a particular sporting event in Pakistan, surprisingly Football was on top by far.

I Would Prefer To Play In This Local Tournament

Volley Ball 5% Basket ball 6% Hockey 9% Other 10% Football 42%

Football Cricket Hockey

Cricket 28%

Basket Ball Volley Ball Other

This data obviously does not give an exact picture of the market, but it does reflect the interest of people in different games. Cricket is promoted far more than any other sports in Pakistan which is both unfair and discouraging for the athletes wanting to play other sports at a level where they can get some sort of recognition. If you pick out any person from the crowd and ask them to name at least 4 members of Pakistan Cricket team, you'll get your answer without a second thought. Whereas, if you ask them to name the captain of Pakistan football team; they won't be able to answer even if you provide infinite hints. It's not that they are not interested or unaware of football because from small villages of Punjab to tribal areas of Baluchistan people craze football in Pakistan.

So if this is the situation than why are we still ranked at the very bottom of the world football rankings? We figured out the answer to this problem and simplified it to the following areas: Insufficient attention towards Football, in all over Pakistan we dont have one such venue where we can hold more than 5000 football audience. The pathway is full of thorns and the players are made to wake bare feet i.e. if I believe I am a good football player and have the potential to play for the national team than that's all I know. I dont have any proper guidance or any such tournament at domestic level where I can display my talent. So than what do I do? I play football just to have few minutes of enjoyment and nothing more. Football is over shadowed by cricket. We all love cricket, but does that mean that thats the only sport that we should watch, play and promote? Life is so unfair sometimes; media in Pakistan calls itself reflection of the current situation. In my view media is just another way to make huge super natural profits. They show what the majority wants to see, I hear cricket news everyday but football news maybe once a month. No one is willing to take charge to promote a cause and provide a route to football players at the slump level, all they show are the rules violated by everyones beloved Shoaib Akhtar.

The sad story of football in Pakistan can go on forever, but instead of moaning about it we have decided to step forward and do whatever we can do to promote this beautiful game in Pakistan. Next, we planned out a Football knockout tournament where 32 teams from all over Islamabad and Rawalpindi will be selected. The tournament will last for 8 days and the winner of each match will proceed to next level, whereas the other side will face a knockout from the tournament. The format of the tournament will be as such:

"Tournament Table"

Stage 1 TEAMS X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 X11 X12 X13 X14 X15 X16

V/S v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s

TEAMS Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 Y13 Y14 Y15 Y16

STATUS 2-1 1-2 3-2 2-4 2-1 1-4 4-3 3-4 6-3 3-2 0-1 1-0 0-2 2-1 3-4 4-1

Total 16 Matches 16Winners Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only

Move to stage 2

Stage 2 TEAMS X1 X3 X5 X7 X9 X11 X13 X15

V/S v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s v/s

TEAMS Y2 Y4 Y6 Y8 Y10 Y12 Y14 Y16

STATUS 2-1 1-2 3-2 2-4 2-1 1-4 4-3 3-4

Total

8 Matches

8Winners

Move finals

to

Quarter

Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only Quarter Finals TEAMS X1 X5 X9 X13 V/S v/s v/s v/s v/s TEAMS Y4 Y8 Y12 Y16 STATUS 2-1 1-2 3-2 2-4 Move to Semi Finals

Total 4 Matches 4 Winners Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only

Semi Finals TEAMS X1 X9

V/S v/s v/s

TEAMS Y8 Y16

STATUS 2-1 1-2 Move Final

Total 2 Matches 2Winners Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only

Final TEAMS X1

V/S v/s

TEAMS Y16

STATUS 2-1 Champion

Total 1 Match 1Winner Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only

Target Market Age 16-24: The reason we chose this age segment is that people above 24 usually are employed or have businesses and families, so it is understandable that they dont have much time for playing football at evening coming tired from work. The age segment that we have targeted would be students and they can manage time for participating in a 8 day football tournament. Football lover: The emphasis on football lovers is due to the mere fact that it is a tournament and some serious stuff will take place, if you arent a football lover you might play for a day but not for 8 consecutive days. Excitement/fun lovers: People who hang out in evenings at Jinnah, Super, F-10 and Cafes are the one who would be the part of this event; we would provide them with a platform where they can experience exciting football competition and adrenaline rush for week. People who want to prove that Pakistan has good enough players in Football. As our survey suggest, football is becoming the favorite sports of the youth, this event would provide them with a platform which senior authorities could notice.

Competition Hangout places: Places where our target market spends time 7 to 10 pm. It could be workplace, market, home, tuitions, markets and hangout places. Examinations: Board and GCEs examination are just around the corner, this would discourage students to be the part of the event. Gyms: For health, many people work-out at gym instead of playing sports, this trend itself is goes against us. Football tournaments: Every university that we visited a football tournament was already taking place at inter-university level, so it made us to think why would people play in our event.

Success Criteria

Success Criteria Challenging football Good Crowd Management Prize Money Maintaining the excitement

WE Strong Weak Strong Strong Weak

Competition Weak Strong Weak Weak Strong

Marketing strategies

We have explained our product in detail in the section above, now coming to the point of how to attract our target market. The most efficient way we could come up with is personnel selling, i.e. using our contacts to persuade people to be part of this event. The initial step is to mark potential prospects in our own university i.e. FAST-NU Islamabad. According to our estimate, 6 to 8 teams could easily be the part of our event from our university, thus creating the much needed hype and word of mouth. The next step would be to skip through our social circle and short list short list potential prospects and invite them to be the part of the mega event. Our estimation states that about 10 teams could be registered. The remaining teams are difficult prospects to find, so above the line promotion is to be implemented. Print advertisement is the most effective solution, thus making posters is the next step. We plan to make posters whom people could relate to, so we plan to do natural photo shoot, i.e. taking snaps of boys planning football secretly. We plan to give our contact details, venue, dates and sponsors name on the posters. Editing and printing would be our next steps, followed by placement, the most important step. Posters have to be place where we could find, our target market. Placement areas of the posters:

Iqra University Bahria University Comsats University Air University Mahammad Ali Jinnah University National University of Modern Languages F6 Sports Center Megazone Islamabad Club Cafe Da Joint Hang-out

Inshallah, with this strategy we would find 32 teams for the event. However we plan to have 4 teams as buffer so that if for any reasons a team fails to pay we could include them instantly. Communication of the schedule, i.e. the time of the match of particular team, would take place through calls. Special uniform would be ordered with sponsors and event name on it, only two designs would be ordered depending on the sponsor making the event more colorful.

To attract audience, first strategy we came up with was informing the teams player that supporters can accompany them. The second strategy is make 2 huge banner, one would be for creating hype with sponsors logo and events name placed before the event starts on the venue thats F6 sports club while the other would be place when the event has undertaken, to inform the masses about timings. Final and Semi-finals would be the main crowd pullers, thus to inform the masses about the teams in those matches, we will use Face book. The event chart would be there, and constantly upgraded everyday thus keeping the prospects informed. Apart from that special arrangement would take for the sitting of the audience, a rough estimate suggest that about 100 people would attend the semis and the figure would be around 150 in the finals. Munchies stall would be there, providing audience with eatable and revenue for us as rent would be charged. BBQ smoke and smell and the Shaminahs would automatically pull more crowds. Apart from football, fun and food adding music would make the event historic, we have contacted an underground band from our university (class) who would be performing live. He would be marketing his band and performance which would eventually benefit us .A new poster would be placed on the semi finals days, about the final and attractions a stated earlier, to inform about the event.

Financial Plan Football Fever Budgeted Income Statement Revenue Teams Sponsor Amount Total Revenue Expenses Ground Rent Winning Amount Equipment Transport Printing Uniform System Tent arrangements Hidden expenses Total Expenses Net Income 80,000 15,000 8,000 2,000 10,000 10,000 55,000 5,000 10,000 195,000 3,000 48,000 150,000 198,000

Budget Details: Entry fee per team Rs 1500 * 32 team Ground rent: A total of 50 hours would be used * Rs 1600 per hour ( 6 hours for the first 7 days while 5 hours for semi finals and 3 hours for the final match) Winning amount 10,000 for Winner and 5,000 for runner ups Equipment: 10 footballs * 750 per football + Clock 200 + Whistles 300 Transport: 9 days daily transport of 2 cars from H-11 to F6 + Purchase of equipment + Posters and banners placement Printing: 60 per print * 30 prints + 6 (2*6 feet) Pan flex Banner* 500 per banner + 4 large pan flex banners*1000 each Purchase of Net sleeveless shirts: 25 shirts* 400 each System: 5000 per day*8(For 8 days a basic System(sp2+amplifier and player) would be used)+15,000(Concert would require better system) Tent Charges: Sitting + stage + carpet + transport Hidden Expenses: Payment to security guards + Referee + Refreshments for VIP guests + Price Differences

Risk Management: CDA disapproves our plan: Disapproving the football tournament seems impossible however; it may have concerns about the concert and sitting arrangements due to security concerns or damage to the property. But we plan to forward our plan to CDA before hand and negotiate any possible problem they could have. Teams not paying money: Discussed before Teams not arriving on time: We have a strict time schedule to follow, and have to complete a match in 80 minutes. However a quotient of 1 hour has given, but if a teams arrive 30 minutes late from the schedule time, walk-over would be given. Rain: Have checked weather forecasts, teams would be given the option of playing in the rain or next day after all the schedule matches has been finished If a team has a problem with time of the match, while registering teams we would ask for there preferred time and adjust matches accordingly, if a team still had problem a walk over would be given.

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