Czech clubs advised to modernize business practices

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Czech football clubs were told to be business-oriented and effective at marketing their teams to potential corporate sponsors at the Sports Marketing and Sponsorship Conference in Prague. "The sponsorship of sports in the Czech market is at the level of the late 1980s and early 1990s in terms of professionalism, transparency and credibility," said Stephanus Tekle, senior project manager with Germany-based communications research agency Sport Markt. "The question sport clubs have to ask themselves is how they can offer the most attractive platform to advertisers.

They have to do that if they want to increase their income from sponsorship, which so far has been the largest source of income for the sport clubs in the country, as TV rights and ticket sales are not enough to support a team." Revenues from ticket sales account for only 10% of professional-club budgets, according to industry estimates. In the United Kingdom, more than a quarter of the revenues of a pro football club come from ticket sales, according to statistics presented by Stefan Ludwig, senior manager with the Sports Business Group, a part of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.