The Black consumer market is a very lucrative market with unique characteristics. It is a widespread belief that Blacks place much emphasis on sport, and sports are salient to their culture. Nonetheless, such salience has not been demonstrated in the rate at which Blacks attend major sport events. This may be a result of Blacks’ omission as a viable target market for sports and the lack of concentrated marketing efforts to reach them. This is a trend that the sport industry should not continue, particularly as Blacks increase their economical and sociological power and as marketing continues to be practiced in multicultural environments. The purpose of this paper is to (a) discuss Blacks’ interest and involvement in sport, (b) present some key findings about Black consumers, and (c) offer suggestions in which sport organizations may enhance their efforts to market sports to Black consumers.
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