Interesting article interviewing Andrew Zimbalist, a distinguished member of the sports business community, online thanks to the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/08/conversation-the-sports-recession.html
Zimbalist makes very interesting points regarding how professional teams have turned to new sources of revenue ranging from “corporate sponsorship, to signage, to catering….” Yet, sponsors are beginning to jump off the bandwagon in record numbers and ballparks remain empty and below historical highs.
The use of data in this interview is staggering. Teams use data to sell the community on new ballparks and arenas, even when the data that projects economic growth doesn’t always necessarily ring true. Beyond this, the teams and sponsors crunch numbers to determine the value in dollars to eyeballs, impressions, and every other buzzword term used in the context of profit generating opportunities. That data is also under question as sponsors drop like flies during the economic downturn.
Are sponsors starting to see different data? Is the sports sponsorship truly not worth the dollars spent or is this mass exodus solely the result of reactive and illogical belt tightening? Surely there will be a call for further scrutiny on the data, from ROI on the actual deal to a legitimate and robust sports ticket management and asset management solution.
Perhaps this is the first and much needed major first step towards responsible sports sponsorship with tangible ROI numbers across the board. See this CEG article for more insight into how companies manage and report on their sports marketing assets - Spotlight TMS - Avoiding Negative PR from Poor Sports Ticket Management and for another blog on stadiums and arenas see - CEG Blog - Too Many Arenas and Stadiums.
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Interesting read. Zimbalist is never one to dissapoint with some controversial thoughts on sports business. We’ll see where sponsorships go next!
I think the exodus of sponsors from sports has less to do with lack of actual ROI than it does the metrics with which sponsors track it (or lack thereof). Sponsorships are usually the most public of associations and receive the most scrutiny. So when sponsors do not accurately track their ROI and their sponsorship comes under scruntiny it becomes an expendable line item as opposed to a business-generating partnership.
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