The Sports Marketing Company

Exactly what is sports sponsorship, anyway?

Sponsorship has been defined in several different ways depending on which side of the table one sits.  Obviously, there is the selling side, but also the operational and marketing sides as well.  Dr. Tony Meenaghan, in the International Journal of Sports Marketing defined it as, “… the provision of assistance either financial or in-kind to an activity by a commercial organization for the purpose of achieving commercial objectives.”  There have been many other common definitions since Dr. Meenaghan first wrote his in 1984; however, Denis Sandler and David Shani, well known authors in the sports marketing arena coined the following widely accepted definition of sport sponsorship:

            "Sport sponsorship is the provision of resources (i.e., money, people, equipment) by an organization directly to an event or activity in exchange for a direct association to the event or activity. The providing organization can then use this direct association to achieve their corporate, marketing, or media objectives”

Interscholastic athletic departments across the country are now selling almost everything: broadcast opportunities to local radio and television stations; seeking corporations who will agree to contribute financially in return for facility or event naming rights; deals with food and beverage companies to distribute their product exclusively in exchange for new electronic scoreboards, uniforms, or equipment; and soliciting  advertising revenue from game programs, field and arena signage, locker rooms, bus and rooftop signage, and halftime promotions.  And this is just the beginning.

The NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) signed a sponsorship deal in 1998 with the Quaker Oats Company for its brand Gatorade beverages.  Since that initial sponsorship deal, the NFHS has been involved in many other sponsorship programs including: developing the first national television package for high-school athletics made possible by sponsors; promotional ventures involving the federation's magazines and drug-awareness programs; paid endorsements by high-school coaches for athletic gear; and most recently creating the first-ever national event hosted by the NFHS in 2006, "T-Mobile Invitational" high school basketball tournament.  Sponsorship has become such an integral part of the NFHS and the programs the association offers that a marketing department was developed to design corporate partnerships and sponsorship programs to meet specific marketing goals and objectives of businesses and corporations interested in sponsoring education-based interscholastic activities.

There is no reason that a local school district should not be able to capitalize on the same kind of programs and benefits that will enable it to provide improved facilities and services to its students, all the while serving the marketing needs of local companies.  If you want to know how there are many companies available today to assist in evaluating the school districts assets and how to use them to generate valuable income. 

Why not take a chance today?

In recent years schools have been challenged to provide more for their students, not only academically, but athletically.  And costs to provide these programs have increased incrementally.  Athletic facilities have gotten bigger, fancier, and more expensive; not only to build, but to operate.  Then there is the desire to have more information.  We live in an age of information overload.  But, that seems to be what consumers and fans want.

Therefore many arenas and stadiums are adding new information centers…also known as digital electronic scoreboards.  With these boards fans have the ability to not only tell the score, but have access to minute details along with full video and instant replays.  These are great benefits; but, they come with a price.  So schools are challenged with finding a way to provide these benefits and elements in a time when school budgets are at their tightest with most schools facing cuts in many areas.

Back in 2002, Alice Costello Elementary School in tiny Brooklawn, NJ was just another 75 year old elementary school.  But, then they became the first!  Something new was added outside the gym: a seven foot illuminated sign that read “ShopRite of Brooklawn Center,” and with that ad, Costello became what is considered the first school to sell naming rights for its gym to a corporate sponsor.

Since that day as schools have looked for additional revenue means, many other deals have been made with various corporations and local sponsors.  In Texas, three small towns sold naming rights to their football stadiums for more than a million dollars.  In today’s image driven advertising arena, there are multiple identity deals from stadium naming rights to high school cheerleaders being sponsored by a company.  Sport sponsorship has evolved into a huge business enterprise with more than $15 billion being spent annually in North America alone.

There are some who feel that the commercialization in schools is not only detracting from the purpose of schools, but that it is damaging in many ways.  Having been involved in sports marketing since the early 1980’s, I am a strong believer in its merits.  I know it works and can be beneficial not only for the corporate sponsors, but also for school districts.  For schools that have little or no expertise in this arena, there are a number of seasoned professionals who can assist school districts in creating revenue programs that will enable them to offset operating costs for athletic facilities and in some cases even keep programs going that might otherwise be cut.

Using these outside sources does not cost schools anything in most cases.  There are several very experienced and quality sports marketing companies throughout the United States that can assist schools not only in the evaluation of how to fulfill their needs, but actually even handle all the work on the school’s behalf.

The question remains, “is it better to have a facility and elements within that facility that bears a corporate identity that allows students to continue to have quality facilities, or not to have any facility for them at all?”