Creating Shared Value Through Sportability

Sport has the ability to inflame discussion regarding the world’s most urgent problems. Its illustrious platform not only illumes outstanding athletic talent, but it opens pathways of hope for society’s most difficult social and economic issues. The unique capacity of sport is their capabilities to not only create awareness around these issues, but to also aid in uncovering and implementing the solutions as well.

The 21st century has demonstrated sport’s inimitable capability to shape positive social transformation, the significant question of today is, how can sport create mutually beneficial outcomes? As sponsors and teams look to an ever increasing competitive landscape how can they create shared value – the positive impact in the community plus the positive returns to the organization.

Enter Sportability

Sportability, is an initiative of Apricot Consulting, Inc., and utilizes the power of sport to drive social impact around employment of persons with disabilities. Sportability creates positive social change, but also adds value creation for corporations, sporting teams and the communities in which they operate. Sportability presents a perfect opportunity for shared value.

By ingraining Sportability components into motivations, corporations and sporting teams can positively affect global iterations of what it means to have a disability. Equally as important, corporations and sporting teams can concurrently raise awareness about their brand, differentiate themselves from their competitors, and innovate how they live out their company mission and values.

Sportability provides the rare opportunity to take corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the next level, by creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. The impact of developing shared value strategies for sporting teams and corporations is far greater returns for the communities, more competitive vantage point to engage with fans, and the opening of new markets by serving unmet needs in under-served communities.