Football

From the time Ken began his career in retail sales he dreamed of one day being a small business owner. His hope was to at some point in time own and operate his very own shop. His plan was to use his sales and marketing degree while combining it with his love of athletics and his nostalgia for his childhood hobby of collecting memorabilia. He would sell a variety of sports cards, such as football cards as well as baseball and basketball. He felt this would be a great basis for his business but knew that in order to be a viable, money making business he would have to sell more merchandise. Owning and operating a profitable collectibles shop takes knowledge not only of products but of marketable merchandise as well. What should an owner stock and what quantity is necessary? Additionally, what price points work for the customer base in a particular area and will an owner broaden the customer base by promoting a healthy internet business? The following are some of the most useful tips for small business owners as they seek to set up shop.

• Find the right mix between being an exclusive niche business and a run of the mill mass merchandiser.

• Determine if the business will have primarily a community presence or if it will be more widespread. Many businesses benefit from involvement in many markets or through shipping operations.

• Know the products and product lines backwards and forwards.

• Keep price points competitive and realistic.

• Use effective marketing strategies to promote the new business.

• Know before you begin that long and often unpredictable hours will be required.

• Consider any staffing needs you may have and how you will meet those needs.

• Be familiar with insurance requirements as well as all legal matters before your grand opening.

• Painstakingly identify what kinds of technology are available to automate and simplify the experience of customers.

• Invest in retail consulting services to assist you in finding the most effective location for your business.

Being a small business owner is filled with challenges and details. For the small business owner who is able to handle the demands involved in operations and who is able to present customers with the products they are looking for at the price they can afford, there will always be money to be made. Knowing what products work in your environment is perhaps the biggest key to making a business a success. Creating a store with products that are too niche will certainly keep profits low. Striking the right balance between offering unique and hard to obtain items, while being accessible to a large majority is indeed a trick but something that a successful small businessman or businesswoman will look forward to tackling. By keeping in mind the preceding ten tips, a small business owner can be well on the way to experiencing success in the retail world. For those like Ken, who have a dream that they hope will one day become a reality, proactively investing time and energy into researching business start up information will prove to be a very useful exercise.

Football is a sport that has generated billions of dollars in secondary revenue. Beyond ticket sales and even television broadcasting rights, the business of football has flooded certain markets with money. Football has had a positive fiscal influence on everything from sports cards and football cards, to rubber fingers, tailgate accessories, beer sales, auto sales and the post halftime careers of overexposed celebrities. Footballs influence is gigantic in terms of the sheer quantity of dollars spent and generated directly and indirectly. Just look at the construction of a single stadium at the cost of 1.3 billion, that’s billion with a b. The Cowboy Stadium is the worlds most expensive stadium to date and has generated a wealth of design and construction fees across the world.

Consider for a moment one aspect of the stadium; the display screen. All stadiums have display screens so the crowd can feel right at home and watch the game the way they usually do at home, just in left comfortable seats. In the Arlington stadium used by the Dallas Cowboys the high definition video display is the largest in the world. How big is it? Let’s start with some perspective; realtors in the United States consider anything over 8,000 square feet to be a mansion. At 11,520 square feet the gigantic display is larger then most homes. It stretches nearly 60 yards covering the area between the twenty yard lines. The display is made up of 10,584,064 LED lights making for crystal clear resolution. It is the largest High-definition display in the world. It has four displays; two facing the end zones and the other two pointed to the sidelines. It is 60 tons of deadweight and is center hung 90 feet above the playing field in the Cowboy Stadium. The smaller displays are still a whopping 29 feet high and 51 feet wide. In addition to the giant center hung screens there are nearly 3,000 smaller displays placed throughout the stadium. Fans can go sit anywhere in the stadium and get an excellent view of the game without ever having to look down at the field and watch real people playing football. The cost for this display is a mere 40 million dollars.

The stadium itself is an amazing design and has changed the way stadiums will be built in the future, providing the cash is available. One of the nagging problems with most arenas are the columns that keep the stadium up. This stadium is held up by two giant steel arches giving the fans unhindered views of the field and display screens from any seat. These arches provide support for the retractable roof and the strength to hang the 60 ton video screen. It is a high tech wonder with real time concession sales reporting, wifi access, and lots of fiber optic cables to support future gadgets not yet invented.

The Dallas Stadium is the costliest stadium ever constructed. While it was built with many elaborate luxury boxes, the underlying objective of the project was to provide the average fan with the best a stadium can offer. Thousands of people have been able to provide for their families while earning a living creating this stadium.