Team Up!
At any time, let's sport together
Sports clubs are not highly influenced by technologies. In fact, the purpose of sports clubs is to bring people together around one sport, at one place, with real human contacts. However, the communication channels have evolved since the emergence of the Internet in the past few years. The Internet can in fact be a solution to facilitate the dialogue with the members, the organisation of activities or even the payment of subscription. The Internet is nowadays the most used interface as regards those practices.
In 2015, a survey conducted by SPF Economie, P.M.E., Classes moyennes et Energie has evaluated the number of people who have never used the Internet, year by year.
We can see that the numbers decrease over the years. Only roughly 2-4% of the 16 – 44 years have never used the Internet at least once in their life. Besides, another survey conducted in 2012 shows the 16 – 44 tend to use more the Internet than the 45+.
Overview of the sport market
For the biggest part, the sport market consists of sports associations, which are non-profit making associations. It is the most widespread form of sports clubs in Belgium. In 2013, 30.000 sports clubs were listed, which represents 1,906,000 members.
They have two main sources of funding. The first one is public funding and the second one, private funding. A study, published in 2014, depicts the distribution of income as regards the two categories.
Environmental analysis
Political factor
In Belgium, the government plays a role in the promotion of sports, at a regional level, through two main structures which are the “Administration de l’Education Physique et des Sports, ADEPS” in Wallonia and Brussels and the “Bestuur voor de Lichamelijke Opvoeding, de Sport en het Openluchtleven, BLOSO”, in Flanders.
Their mission is to create, liven up and promote sport and physical activities throughout the country. To do so, the ADEPS and the BLOSO organise activities tailored to young audiences and the general public, and sporting holidays in Belgium. They also back the Belgian sporting federations and sporting activities set up by youth associations and public institutions.
In order to understand in which environment the current sports clubs evolve, a PEST analysis will be performed.
Economic factor
Source : Ipsos Public Affairs. Baromètre des associations
Since 2012, the amount of public subsidies has been decreasing. The decrease of 2015 is particularly worrying, with 5% less funding compared to the level of 2014. The diminution of public funding will probably be compensated by private funding such as membership fees, sales or donations. However, associations will have to innovate to tackle this difficult challenge in the future.
This observation leads to another type of sports clubs, which is not dependent on public subsidies. It is the sporting business, such as fitness centres, sports complexes and professional sports clubs. The evolution of fitness centres is the most noticeable, with the arrival of Basic Fit and JIMS for instance.
Source : S. Mertens and M. Marée. (2014). Comment se finance les associations belges francophones ?
The membership fees represent only a small part of revenues. Besides, most of the time, they are not sufficient to run sports associations. This is why associations have additional activities which bring them money. Among them, we can hold up as examples the sale of items related to the sport and items with the logo of the club, the sale of drinks after the training, etc.
It can be noticed that there is almost a balance between subsidy and private funding. According the survey, the amount of subsidies in Wallonia and in Brussels is higher than in Flanders. However, the Belgian mean was, in 2014, around 53% of subsidy funding in total income. Thus, no matter the region, associations partly rely on governmental funding.
One concern can be raised as regards the huge proportion of subsidy in the associations’ balance sheet. If the government decides to lower the subsidies, associations could be in danger. This concern is well-founded, as proven by the survey of “Fondation Roi Baudouin” concerning the associations’ financial situation.
Social factor
In 2014, a survey conducted by GfK revealed that one Belgian in two regularly practice a sport. It is clear that we cannot claim that sport is currently a popular activity among the Belgian population. One Belgian in four justifies it with medical reasons, others admit not to appreciate sport or do not have time for sports activities.
Nevertheless, it can be observed that cheap offers, like Basic Fit or collective courses in public infrastructure are emerging and stimulate the practice of sports within the population. Moreover, the involvement of regional authorities and schools in the promotion of sports has a role to play in the adoption of sport by the youth.
Technological factor