Sports Sponsorship

Many factors influence whether companies choose to become involved in sports sponsorship. The key factors in the decision making process are cost, the likelihood of product image enhancement resulting in increased sales, and the likelihood of a significant amount of positive media exposure. Sports sponsorships provide corporate sponsors with a myriad of benefits that can be used to market and promote a company's products and services.

The benefits of sponsorship include signage at sporting events, local or national media coverage, promotional opportunities before and after the event, and the opportunity to entertaining clients and prospective customers by inviting them as VIPs to sponsored events. Other benefits of sponsorship can include access to on-site hospitality tents or skyboxes; the opportunity to meet athletes or teams in person, and possibly even the opportunity for sponsors and their VIP guests to participate in a pro-am type event. Another benefit is the ability to reach a specific demographic or target market. For example, sponsors of golf tournaments may be targeting a different demographic than corporate sponsors of the X Games. Similarly, corporate sponsors of professional tennis such as insurance companies are trying to reach a different target market than the sponsors of stock car teams. In each case, a potential corporate sponsor is able to carefully study the demographics of the typical fan, as well as the ratings the event has received in the pa

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many times over as Tiger Woods has surpassed even the most optimistic assessment of his ability to win tournaments and his ability to win fans with his personal charm and charisma (Hawkins, 21). Individual and team endorsement are risky. For example, sponsoring a losing team or an injured athlete is unlikely to result in the sales increases the corporate sponsors desired. Of special note is the problem involving basketball star, Kobe Bryant. At the time that Bryant was arrested last year and accused of raping a 19-year-old woman, he was sponsored by Nike, Nintendo, Upper Deck, Spaulding, MacDonald's and Sprite among other well known companies. Bryant's legal problems put the sponsors in an awkward situation. On one hand, Bryant remains innocent until proven guilty. On the other hand, there would almost certainly be a backlash if Bryant's sponsors continued ad campaigns featuring him as if nothing had changed. According to Allison Samuels, Paul Tolme, and Mark Starr of Newsweek Magazine, Kobe's sponsors are naturally reluctant to discuss the legal problems facing the superstar. Each of the companies has quietly and discreetly phased Bryant out of most if not all of its advertising. It is unclear whether the sponsors are

Category: Business - S