Assistant professor Dr. Yassin Ali Khalaf

The relationship between sports and marketing began in 1870 when tobacco companies in the USA printed cards for the most famous baseball players and inserted them into cigarette packs in order to promote cigarette companies, as cigarette sales increased and these cards became the beginning of Sports Promotion in the interest of the industry, then these cards were attached to the famous bubble gum , After that, the methods and methods of advertising and advertising developed by selling players ' cards and their photos without linking it to a specific commodity, which led to the expansion of sports marketing, especially that sport has essentially become an economic process with an integrated relationship between sport and the economy , and over time certain concepts were developed to develop practices and philosophies related to sports marketing through the participation of a large number of businessmen in the United States, starting with the legend Shoman (Shoman) and passing Barnum, whose contributions to sports marketing focused on the media and sports field , Then Bill Vick 1914 (Billveek), who contributed to the development of sports marketing practices by selling tickets and advertising materials and exploiting mass gatherings (circus – student gatherings – scouts) to sell them , as he was famous for his public relations, which played an important role in the marketing process, as well as Spalding 1915 (Spalding), who was famous for promoting sports products being a professional baseball player and captain of his national team, where he played a major role in the way he presented sports products, taking advantage of the positions he held well his contribution to the development of Sports Marketing in the field of signing contracts and signing companies sponsoring tournaments.