Alarcón (right), pictured here alongside Japan int'l Takashi Inui, joined the La Liga club in '15.GETTY IMAGES
RAMÓN ALARCÓN is the director general of business at La Liga side Real Betis. Alarcón joined the club in Sept. '15 as a member of its board committee, and one year later, he was named the organization's chief business officer. Alarcón's experience prior to joining the Spanish club included a stint at Deloitte as an auditor. He is also the founder of marketing agency Below Group, which has worked with the likes of Telefónica and Real Madrid. Alarcón, who oversees a commercial department that now includes six employees -- it had just two when he was hired -- spoke to SBD Global about Real Betis' growth as a business under his leadership.
On the keys to the club's success on the business side ...
Ramón Alarcón: The most important thing is to have become aware of the importance of the commercial area. In Spanish football, most of the revenue comes from TV rights and player sales. That's why the commercial part is left in a second plan. We have defined a professional structure with a clear business plan. Concrete areas have been created: sponsorship and advertising, ticketing, international licenses and new business, each of them with their own structure and objectives. The areas that have grown the most have been sponsorship and advertising, where it has gone from €6 million to €12 million ($13.9M) in two years, mainly thanks to digital work where we are fourth in Spain (behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid). In ticketing, we have gone from €10 million to €17 million ($19.7M), with a very broad product diversification, including VIP seats, upgrading services and mini-plans. In international and new business, we are making progress but it is going to take a bit longer to get economic results.
On how the makeup of his staff has evolved ...
Alarcón: When I arrived, there was no one in international, now there is a dedicated person. In digital, we have doubled the staff. The way to involve them is to have made them participate in the change. We have written the business plan together. We have set our goals and we are all going in the same direction. Not everyone picked it up, and I had to make changes and get people out. I have set up the team by mixing staff that was at the club with people from outside -- other clubs and other sectors -- and that mixture of local knowledge with an outside vision has given great results.
On how Real Betis' approach to the business side compares to its previous mentality ...
Alarcón: In three words: It's another club. As a sponsor, we have gone from having 70 "sponsors" to having a pyramid, with six sponsors and the rest of the collaborators obtaining double the income due to the visibility and importance that has been given to the "Betis sponsor" product. We have moved on to a proactive sale of tickets, selling a show beyond a football match. In short, we have gone to sell proactively instead of waiting to serve customers who come to find us. As an example, before, we licensed third parties of our business that were considered residual-like TV or licenses. Now, we manage it ourselves by considering strategies.
On how his vision aligns with that of the club's ownership ...
Alarcón: The president and VP of the company are aligned with the strategy. This vision in part comes from having taken La Liga as a model. On a daily basis, [the president and VP] are more concerned with other aspects (like on-field results and shareholding) but they have delegated to the structure of the company, trusting us.
On the biggest challenges the club faces ...
Alarcón: You have to stay calm when the bad times come, which will come. Knowing that the commercial strategy cannot be sporting results, we offer a first-class entertainment product, not depending only on the results.
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