1. Page 1
An Environmental Analysis for
Fox Sports
Ryan Ross
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
October 7, 2019
2. Page 2
The STEEPLE Analysis (Citations required)
SOCIOLOGICAL: “There has been a good deal of research in my lab and by others,
replicated in multiple cultures, that indicate when an individual becomes attached to or
identifies with a sports team, there are pretty clear psychological benefits of that.
“If you are Seahawks fans in Seattle, right now it’s pretty hard to feel lonely. It’s pretty
hard to feel alienated. If you’re wearing a Seahawks jacket and walking through the
mall, people are high fiving you, people you’ve never seen before and never will see
again. There’s a sense of community and connectedness that comes with it.” (Larry
Stone, 2019). He is stating that sports can bring people together and that is a powerful
thing, no matter how bad something can be for someone, sports can bring them
together. Fox Sports’ coverage of sports further brings these feelings to their viewers.
TECHNOLOGICAL: According to the 2019 Nielsen report for September 23 Thursday Night
Football on Fox had 17,905,000 viewers. Technology is always advancing, and it is crucial for
Fox Sports to keep up and bring their viewers the best (Nielsen, 2019). Everyone has a tv and
computer now and they want to be able to find a strong broadcast for their favorite sports teams.
Camera angles in the pylons in the endzone are an example of how technology has changed in
football.
ECONOMIC:A recent report from PwC projects the sports market to grow at a compound
annual rate of 3.1% across the four segments, from $69.3 billion in 2017 to $78.5 billion
in 2021, and that’s just across North America (Morris,2019). With the rapid growth in the
sports media industry Fox Sports will only continue to grow as they continue to
broadcast games and hire top of the line sports analyst.
ECOLOGICAL: Fox has worked with NASCAR along with Coca-Cola to create better waste
management at NASCAR events. In 2009 during the first year NASCAR recycled about 2.5
million beverage containers and more than 80 tons of material (fox sports). Electrical
consumption is also a factor that NASCAR is looking to reduce moving forward to save energy.
POLITICAL: Sports has a bridge between politics and how they can interfere with sports. Fox
Sports has to be careful with how they conduct themselves when it comes to talking about
politics in sports. ESPN has tried to remove that from their network over these last few years
because they would constantly be in the news for political talks more than actual sports and
consumers stopped watching. Fox Sports also cannot control the stories that come out such as
Colin Kaepernick and kneeling during the anthem (London, 2019).
3. Page 3
LEGAL: Fox Sports is a large company and they require all managers who work in their legal
department to have a law degree. Fox Sports has had no prior legal suits against them as they
make sure everything, they do is within accordance of broadcast law. (foxcareers.com)
ETHICAL: Fox Sports has had no ethical issues; however, they are relied upon to bring quality
service in their broadcast to their paying customers. Fox is always on top of making sure all
broadcast are up and running and available to all consumers.
4. Page 4
The SWOT Analysis (Citations optional)
HELPFUL HARMFUL
INTERNAL
STRENGTHS
1.Fox Sports is launching Fox Bet
which will be another strong revenue
piece. Fox Bet will be free to play and
legal in any state that allows betting.
For states that don’t allow daily games
will still be allowed on the app.
2. Fox Sports was the official
broadcaster for the World Cup and saw
massive ratings increase for that
summer. They will most likely look to
broadcast the next World Cup in 2022
to continue their mission to reach the
soccer market.
3. Fox has a strong broadcasting crew
and pre/ post game analyst that bring
in viewers. Theyare able to hire people
that recentlyretire from sports because
of their high presence. When they
create new shows they are able to
select from the best available
candidates possible.
WEAKNESSES
1. Increase in channels and online
streaming can take away market share.
In an already competitive industry Fox
cannot control if other companies
create their own broadcast stations. ex.
Fubo tv
2. Copyright and patent issues for
broadcasting games are also an issue.
Once a contract expires it must be
renewed otherwise that specific league
cannot be broadcasted on Fox’s
channels.
3. If someone from Fox says something
controversial online that can affect
their ratings. In a world run through
social media companies cannot
monitor everyemployees phone to
make sure they are not tweeting
something that could come back to
hurt them.
5. Page 5
EXTERNAL
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Fox Sports can always hire athletes
that have industry experience to
strengthen their alreadystrong cast.
People like Alex Rodriguez and David
Ortiz create interest and viewers want
to tune in to see them talk.
2. Fox Sports can continue to expand
its digital media campaign to other
countries to increase market share and
compete with ESPN. Many countries
want access to the NFL and NBA so
broadcasting those games globally
could maximize their expansion efforts.
3. Fox Sports can also acquire other
smaller networks and use their
resources to gain market share. When
a smaller company needs help staying
alive Fox could possibly buy them out
and therefore have access to all their
assets.
THREATS
1. Amazon Prime secured video rights
for Premier League games through
2019/2020. Theyalso show a couple
NFL games a year and eventuallywant
to sign long term to stream games to
their viewers.
2. Online streaming services threaten
to take away consumers from Fox
Sports. Some people won’t want to pay
for Fox channels when they can stream
the games.
3. Other countries can find illegal ways
to find games and therefore Fox Sports
gets no revenue fromthat. There are
not enough laws to protect intellectual
property.
6. Page 6
Conclusions: (Include Citations)
Fox Sports is still a fairly young company that is growing quickly with companies
like ESPN who have been stagnant for the past few years. The company’s stock has
steadily increased overtime and shows no signs of decreasing. Fox Sports is looking to
expand into every sports market they can get into to bring more coverage to more
people. Fox Sports Go has made it easy for consumers to watch games on their phones
via the mobile app. However, sometimes location issues occur with the app and users
won’t be able to access certain games due to blackout restrictions.
Overall customer feedback has been positive for the company as they are
making sure they take all necessary measures to provide top of the line coverage and
analysis to all consumers. Fox Sports has never had any legal suits against them and
has not had public controversy over an employee saying something controversial. Fox
Sports works to keep politics out of sports as consumers don’t turn on Fox Sports to
hear about politics, they want sports. Companies like ESPN have suffered from
including politics in their sports coverages and talk shows. Fox Sports is learning from
everyone else’s mistakes.
7. Page 7
References:
Foxsports. (2011, April 20). Environmental efforts have impact. Retrieved October 12, 2019, from
https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/story/nascar-works-to-improve-perception-impact-of-
environmental-programs-042011.
Job Details for FOX Careers. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from
https://www.foxcareers.com/Search/JobDetail/R50010154.
London, M. (2019, September 3). Sports Journalist: Political controversy will go 'wild' as 100th
NFL season kicks off. Retrieved October 11, 2019, from
https://www.foxnews.com/media/sports-journalist-political-controversy-in-the-2020-nfl-season-
will-be-wild.
Morris, B. (2019, May 22). The New Business of Sports Broadcasting. Retrieved October 12, 2019,
from https://www.tvtechnology.com/opinions/the-new-business-of-sports-broadcasting.
The psychology of being a sports fan. (2014, February 16). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/the-psychology-of-being-a-sports-fan/.
Top 10s: TV Ratings, Music, Video Games, Social. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2019, from
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/top-ten/.
