3.1.3 – Making informed decisions:
Sponsorship
Learning objectives
To understand the characteristics of commercial sport.
To develop an understanding of how sponsorship has impacted on
sport.
To describe the advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship deals
to the sport, performer and sponsor.
To understand the acceptable and unacceptable sponsors in sport
and why.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship in sport is a huge business and vital to the
survival of some sports.
Sport is now a GLOBAL product. As a ‘high-profile’ sport,
Football attracts massive media interest and huge
sponsorship deals
How much did
BARCLAYS pay to
sponsor the Premier
League from 2007 –
2010?
Impact of Sponsorship...
What do you see as soon as
a high profile athlete like
Lewis Hamilton steps out of
his car and into an
interview?
Impact of Sponsorship
Media coverage of sports and high profile performers lead to
huge sponsorship deals. Nike and other sports companies
put large sums of money into commercial activity. WHY?
What
athletes/teams
do you think
of when you
think of Nike?
Sponsorship of teams and individual players is a way of
improving their brand/image.
Performers and sponsorship
How does a player
maintain their commercial
status?
What is more
important to a
performer, Winning or
image/brand?
Performers and sponsorship
High profile performers
maintain their commercial
status by maintaining high
standards of performance.
Winning can become very
important to an athletes
marketing success and
income.
Advantages/disadvantages to the sponsor
Advantages:
• For financial gain: by putting a sponsors name on a
stadium or associated to a competition they are attracting a
wide audience.
• Advertising brand name
• Promote a caring attitude and increasing goodwill.
• Tax relief.
Advantages/disadvantages to the sponsor
Disadvantages:
• Sponsorship does not always guarantee success.
• Can be a risk backing new talent.
• Investing in teams and individuals can backfire if they are
not as successful as they would have hoped. i.e. Club teams
not qualifying for major competitions.
• Any bad publicity from the athlete will effect the brand
name associated.
Advantages/disadvantages to the performer
Advantages:
• Supplies clothing
• Relieves financial worries
• Earn a living
• Role model status
• Other merchandise can come from a sponsorship
Advantages/disadvantages to the performer
Disadvantages:
• Sponsorship might be short term
• Performers may have to advertise a product that they do
not like.
• Performers might be contracted to put in appearances and
attend public speaking.
• If the performer is in the media for negative reasons they
could lose sponsorship deals.
Advantages/disadvantages to the sport/activity
Advantages:
• Some sports are popular due to exposure brought about
through sponsorship and advertisement campaigns.
• Gives the sport financial security for a period of time.
• Attracts the best players in the world to that sport.
• Provides money for improvements in facilities and training.
Advantages/disadvantages to the sport/activity
Disadvantages:
• Sponsors can demand too much influence over the sport.
• Sponsors can attempt to make the sport more viewer
friendly and enforce advert breaks and even rule changes.
• Sponsors control the day of events being played. i.e. Super
Sunday football.
Impact of the media on sport formats and
organisation
For some sports the media attention has led to changes
in rules and structure.
-Rules have been adapted to increase the speed of
play/action to prevent spectator boredom.
e.g. Multi-ball system in football
-Changes in scoring to create excitement.
e.g. Badminton. You can now score on any play not
just your serve.
e.g. Golden goal was introduced
-Breaks are an ideal time for sponsors and
commercial companies to advertise.
e.g. American football has numerous breaks in play.
-Competition formats have changed. 20/20 cricket is
shorter and more exciting than test cricket.
HOW? WHY?
e.g. 20/20 bowl outs, free hit, fielder and bowler
restriction.
-Match timings have been altered to suit television.
Tradition was Saturday afternoon, now football is
televised nearly all week.
e.g. Super Sunday..
Acceptable and unacceptable types of sponsors
When sports seek sponsors they generally approach brand
with a good, clean and health image. i.e. Gillette
Restrictions have been in place for a number of years now
on the sponsorship deals involving alcohol and tobacco
brands. It was felt that sports had a moral and social
responsibility not to promote these products.
Summary Questions:
1. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of a
sponsorship deal to a performer.
2. How does e.On (energy supplier) get benefits from
sponsoring the FA cup?
3. Why are some brands banned from sponsoring sports?