Assignment 6--Identifying Opportunities In Economic & Regulatory Trends

1. (Regulatory) The opportunity to establish recreational marijuana dispensaries.

I've found this opportunity through news (be it TV or articles) that laws may be passed regarding legalizing recreational marijuana. This information leads me to believe this information exists because should the substance be legalized, there will be a need to establish brick and mortar (and online too) locations to sell it to consumers. The likely targets for this opportunity would be those looking for a legal substitute for products like alcohol, or those who may use it for anxiety or stress relief purposes. I believe this opportunity shouldn't be terribly difficult to exploit because for many years now there have been calls for legalization of the product for recreational usage. I feel like I saw this opportunity because being in the university environment I am fairly regularly exposed to the usage of marijuana so I know that should it be legalized, it would be a huge business opportunity.

2. (Economic) The opportunity to establish more European football TV viewership in America.

I've read from Forbes that soccer will soon be America's third favorite spectator sport. This being the case, I'm led to believe that creating more American channel partnerships for European soccer league viewing would be an opportunity highly worth pouncing on right now. Likely targets for this market would be people living in America originally from European countries and Americans who are interested in becoming a fan of a less common sport in this country. Personally this opportunity, if done properly, should be easy to exploit. ESPN or FOX partnerships with soccer leagues in countries like Italy or Spain could result in huge economic benefit. I feel that as a huge soccer fan I was easily able to see this opportunity because it's actually something I've wanted myself for many years. It was an unmet need of my own.

3. (Economic) The opportunity to establish more NBA guest games in Europe.

Almost a mirrored version of the last opportunity, I read from ESPN that basketball is becoming increasingly popular in Europe. There have been NBA games played in London before so there is certainly a foundation for this. With all this information, I think the next step would be to have them hosted in more countries. The targets in this scenario are international NBA fans who want a chance to watch games in person without coming to America. This opportunity may be a little harder than the others to exploit because while basketball is popular in Europe, it is very far behind the already predominant sports there. Funnily, I saw this opportunity because I run an anonymous sports twitter account and I follow a lot of accounts that are not from America who really love the NBA.

4. (Regulatory) Opportunity to shift the market of E-Cigs.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the FDA is considering a ban on all flavored E-Cigs. Knowing this, there is an opportunity to aggressively change this market from younger users to adult users. The market for these products will now be to adults. Exploiting this opportunity may be difficult because the market for E-cigs for adults is not very popular when compared to college students. I saw this opportunity because I've seen first hand the popularity these products have within the college scene so I figured it would be worth trying to replicate it for adults.