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9
Insight
one of the few truly globally broadcasted
events, with an international television
audience”. Part of what makes the
Olympic Games so far reaching is the ‘real
people’ factor of the athletes - competitors
with day jobs that the viewer can relate
to, unlike the pampered millionaires of the
football world for instance.
Companies jump at the chance to attach
their brand or service to the message
of elite performance that underlies the
Olympics and the exhaustive array of
sporting disciplines and events provide
the perfect advertising vehicle, attractive
to many differing audiences, including the
Promised Land of America.
This means that when multinational
corporations such as Coca-Cola or Nike
redirect their sponsorship budget toward
the Olympics, they leave gaps in the
market for smaller companies to step up a
level and fill the sponsorship vacuum left
at the top flight.
An example of this was in the Australian
AFL league where St Kilda employed a
novel approach to finding new backers
after their sponsors opted to jump ship for
the Olympics. In the absence of one main
sponsor St Kilda created a raffle whereby
the club could have a different sponsor
each week.
In the wake of the Olympics, some
sponsors force their way back into the top
flight sports, creating more competition for
the newly promoted companies, however
some companies ditch their sport funding
all together depending on the success of
their marketing.
This flow-effect works all the way down
the sporting food chain, until the bottom
end clubs and semi-pro teams struggle to
find backers once everyone has moved
up the ladder. In the current economic
climate where the first place a company
will look to reduce outlay is sponsorship,
your cricket club may struggle to find local
breweries to cover the cost of that new
slip cradle everyone has been harping on
about.
www.vrarisk.com
Summary of Sports Sponsorship Woes
NBA
- was been forced to lay off roughly 9% of its workforce
LPGA
- Doesn’t have a TV Network contract. One third of tournaments up
for renewal. Semgroup which sponsored Phoenix and Tulsa has filed for
bankruptcy
MLB
- Attendances have fallen, coverage in papers has been cut back,
expects a decrease in car adverts (main sponsors), merchandise sales flat.
NFL
- No negative impact on sport, but stadium construction in Dallas and
NY is effected
NHL
- season tickets are up 4% and single games 13%, but not immune
to effect of financial downturn
Formula 1
- Canadian GP dropped, major cost cutting discussions
ongoing
Six Nations
- RBS sponsor uncertainty past 2009
Premiership
- West Ham shirt sponsor XL collapse, West Brom fail to
secure sponsor.
vrarisk.co
Contingency
Risk Management
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Contact
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Sponsors heading for relegation?
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