This Aint No Bull

Advertisers and sponsors are always looking to align with a new trend on its way up in order to establish a long term agreement at a margin of the price that they may have to pay if they wait for the trend to peak. In the past few years, sports advertisers and sponsors have made a bet that extreme sports like Ultimate Fighting and X-Games type sports (skateboarding, snowboarding, etc) would become popular among mainstream America and have focused a lot of advertising dollars into that realm. Enter a new type of extreme sport that a lot of companies are betting will be the next big thing in the American marketplace: Bull riding.

In fact, the Professional Bull Riders association has already secured 20 sponsors, which include Ford and Jack Daniel’s [An 8-Second Ride Lures Sponsors Beyond the Rodeo]. The number of yearly events, spectators, and TV coverage has been rising steadily, which will make advertisers happy with their purchase. A couple years ago, the sport was looked over by advertisers and marketers, but now that data shows a strong, active audience, many companies are taking advantage of the low cost advertising that is offered. Maybe we will see a similar trend in the sport of bowling, which has its final event televised live every Sunday on ESPN and has a large, captive audience. Advertisers have largely hesitated from entering the bowling world, much like their unwillingness to sponsor bull racing a couple years ago.

When a sport is earning nice profits, its athletes should be fairly compensated. Companies like Express Sports Agency represent professional bull riders much like any other sports agency represents its clients. Its client list features 19 professional bull riders, all donning their cowboy hats; most are not smiling. Deep inside, I am sure that most of them are happy, however. Express’ sponsor sheet displays a myriad of corporate connections.

This post should show you that you do not necessarily need to be a baseball, basketball, or football agent in order to be successful in the agent side of the business of sports. Quite possibly, you have connections to bull riders or want to get into a non-traditional American sport. Bull riding is on the rise and companies like Express are taking advantage of its growth. Will you follow the trend of getting involved in one of the big four American sports, or will you buck the trend?