'Sport is Fantastic' conference to explain the foundations for running a successful sporting club

Paul Barber, Chief Executive of English football club Brighton & Hove Albion believes the club has a fantastic foundation and all of the ingredients for being a successful sporting club thoughts he will be sharing at the upcoming 'Total Fan Experience' conference in Melbourne.

An engaging individual with a diverse and impressive CV that shows long and highly successful stints with some of the world's biggest football brands, Barber affirms that it is the fan, first and foremost who is responsible for the success or otherwise of any football, indeed any sporting club.

Barber will be addressing the annual 'Sport is Fantastic' conference, being held at the MCG from 1st to 3rd July, with the theme delivering 'the Total Fan Experience'.

Now in its sixth year, the conference has grown into one of Australasia's most influential, informative and insightful sport conferences and is promising to be bigger and better than ever with more than 250 delegates expected to attend.

This year's conference will be Barber's second visit to 'Sport is Fantastic' having previously presented in Sydney in 2010. This year he will speak about 'Improving the Game Day Experience and the Bottom Line' as well as being part of a sponsorship breakout session 'Ensuring Commercial Partnerships are Just That!'

Barber is well qualified to talk on such subjects having commenced his sport-related career in football as the Commercial Director for the Football Association (FA) before moving up to the Marketing and Communications portfolio at the same organisation.

In these roles his responsibilities included the negotiation of broadcast rights and the structuring of sponsorship deals for the national side as well as for the FA Cup and included the institution of the innovative 'FA Partner's Program' that revolutionised sponsorship across the sector.

From the FA, Barber moved to the club he has supported his entire life, the iconic North London club Tottenham Hotspur (formed in 1882, they were the first side to achieve the famed 'double' in 1960-61) as an Executive Director.

At Spurs, Paul was responsible for the entire commercial operation of the club including sponsorship, customer relations, the then burgeoning new media rights area, as well as the crucial broadcast revenue stream. Pre eminent among his deals were the circa $70 million partnership with online gaming house Mansion.

After a highly successful five years at Spurs, Barber headed toNorth Americato Major League Soccer's (MLS) expansion team the Vancouver Whitecaps as Chief Executive. In a diverse role, he oversaw two complex stadium shifts, re-launched the brand and signed major sponsorship deals with a host of blue chip companies. Such was his commercial acumen that the Whitecaps became the first MLS franchise to have their every game broadcast live on television.

His latest move in June 2012 was to the south coast of England as Chief Executive of Championship club Brighton and Hove Albion, a club he described recently as one with 'terrific potential'. Barber inherited a club that had only recently relocated to the purpose built American Express Community Stadium (or the AmEx as it has been predictably nicknamed) after an itinerant 14 years without a permanent home ground. In addition, with UEFA having recently introduced Financial Fair Play rules to all Championship clubs (essentially to make clubs operate on viable terms), the pressure is immense as Brighton currently operates at an annual deficit approaching £8 million.

One of Barber's key learnings from his attendance at the 2010 'Sport is Fantastic' conference was that the membership drives of many Australian clubs is is based around the proven fact that that loyal supporters not only want to be involved in a financially stable club but are also typically prepared to contribute financially to achieve that outcome. Accordingly Paul and the Albion board have been v

simon@sportresearchgroup.com

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