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Sponsorship

Physical Education: AQA GCSE, topic 7.2.4

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is very useful to sport because of the financial benefits (money) that it brings. More money can let sport develop at a faster rate, allowing clubs to build "hi-tech" professional facilities. There are lots of different ways that a sponsor can be involved in sport:

Sponsor teams

Sponsor teams

  • Arsenal's football kit in 2018 was sponsored by the airline Emirates.
Sponsor individual players

Sponsor individual players

  • Individual players may be sponsored to wear or endorse certain products.
Sponsor facilities

Sponsor facilities

  • The Oval cricket ground in London is sponsored by Kia and is now called the Kia Oval.
  • The Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester is now sponsored by the airline Emirates.
Sponsor competitions

Sponsor competitions

  • Gazprom is an energy company that sponsors the Champions League in football.

Aims of Sponsorship

Sponsors do not always aim for the same thing. Potential aims include:

Philanthropic (charitable)

Philanthropic (charitable)

  • Local businesses support local sports teams (e.g. a local fish and chip shop buying a new kit for an under 12’s football team) because they want to help others.
Increase sales

Increase sales

  • The main motivation for a company like Nike or Adidas sponsoring Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to be sales and financial gain.

PROs and CONs of Commercialisation for Sponsors

Commercialisation (managing or running something for financial gain) has become more common in sport in recent decades. This has a number of benefits, as well as drawbacks, for sponsors:

PRO - more opportunities to advertise

PRO - more opportunities to advertise

PRO - publicity and sales

PRO - publicity and sales

  • Sponsors want to associate themselves with successful teams/performers to get publicity and increase sales of their products.
CON - reputation risk

CON - reputation risk

  • If anything negative happens and the team/performer is viewed in a bad light, the sponsor will also be associated with this.
  • E.g. Nike sponsored Lance Armstrong before his doping scandal was discovered.
  • E.g. Speedo sponsored Ryan Lochte before he was charged by Brazilian police for giving a false statement about a robbery.

Test yourself on Sponsorship

  • Which of the following is not a way sponsors involve themselves in sport?

  • Which of the following is the most common motivation behind sponsorship in sport at an international level?

  • What is another word for being charitable?

  • What are the advantages of commercialisation for sponsors?

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