By Ben Richardson Business reporter, BBC News

Sporting gold is as much about profits as it is winning medals

If you thought sport was a just a fun hobby, a weekend pastime that kept you fit, then think again - it is a business, plain and simple.

That was the message coming from the FT Sport Industry Summit, which brought together many of the industry's top executives, administrators and financiers.

At the event, held in a smart London hotel, there was not a tracksuit in sight.

The blackboard and chalk had been replaced by slick videos and a digital voting system more often seen on game shows.

"People are constantly talking about brands and customer satisfaction," said Randall Campbell of Societe Generale, who has worked and advised on the purchase of basketball, ice hockey and baseball teams in the US and Canada.

"Sports teams are real businesses - 10 years ago, this wasn't the case."

American cousins

Even though the location was downtown London, the US business model was taking centre stage.

Joe Bailey is chief executive of Dolphins Enterprises, the company that runs the Miami Dolphins American football team, and a man who was voted one of the 100 most powerful people in sport.

The US is the world leader in sports marketing and profit-making

He explained that the beauty of sport was that it "creates a psychological connection between the consumers and the product".

However, despite that huge advantage, sports teams also face the same problems as other businesses - how to retain customers and generate new ones.

In the US, the answer has been to try and give the consumer the best possible experience - whether by building the most comfortable, state-of-the-art stadia or providing multimedia tools that allow them to watch seven games at once.

Technology and a professional approach, underpinned by well-trained executives, often the product of university and MBA courses in sports administration, was the best way to be profitable and successful, according to Mr Bailey.

Picking up

The message was not falling on deaf ears. In the breaks between panel discussions, the coffee rooms buzzed with talk of a revolution that needed to take place in British sport.

Representatives of Olympic associations, rugby teams and smaller sports talked of moving past the "blazer mentality" and embracing a simpler, more realistic, direct and businesslike approach.

London's Olympic bid has promised large infrastructure developments

Failing to do so could prove catastrophic for London's 2012 Olympic dream and UK sport in general, they warned.

If the US speakers promoted a market-led industry that survived only on private-sector money and an absence of government interference, the buzzword for their UK counterparts was "legacy".

Even though there were concerns about the costs of the London Olympic project - press reports had claimed they were spiralling out of control and were being exacerbated by politicking - there was a belief that the games would work.

The biggest fear was that they would not leave a lasting impact on the nation, failing to boost participation numbers. Repeatedly, the delegates pointed out that during the hugely successful Sydney Olympics, participation numbers fell.

"We could have a very good games, new facilities, but still have the same number of people playing sport," said Hugh Robertson, shadow minister for sport and the Olympics.

Soap box

To ensure that this "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" was not wasted, administrators needed to focus on sports at a grass-roots level, said Liz Nicholl, director of performance at UK sport, and Debbie Jevans, director of sport on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games.

But the only way to ensure that the new money, provided to boost sports such as volleyball and archery ahead of the Olympics, was used well was to ensure the sports' governing bodies were run in an efficient and businesslike manner.

In this way, they said, officials would be better able to distribute the funds, and flexible enough to react to a marketplace that was changing on an almost weekly basis.

This would help them provide a product that was attractive to sponsors, as well as terrestrial and satellite television channels.

Smart sponsorship can help companies get closer to their clients

According to Giles Morgan, head of global sports and sponsorship at HSBC, companies and sports were having to look at how they packaged themselves.

"How do you talk to people and where do you talk to people?" he said.

The head of McDonald's UK, Steve Easterbrook, explained that his firm sponsored community football projects so it would be seen as "a modern and progressive burger company".

It was a good way for local managers to interact with the local community, he said.

Good business?

This sense of altruism and legacy, which were the main selling points of London's successful Olympic bid, surprised Mr Bailey, with his American football background.

In the US, he explained, no one would worry about what the Olympics left behind. Instead, they would focus on providing the best and most profitable games ever.