Sponsorship in Sport

Sponsorship in sport. I found a small extract from an article in the Financial Times called, “Global quest for a sports fan for all seasons”. The article explains how a new sport attempts to break in to a new country. The paragraphs within the article that I am going to focus on explain how important sponsorship is, in order to allow a sport to expand beyond it’s native home ground. “Golf and rugby union are hoping their inclusion as Olympic sports in 2016 will help them grow beyond their natural heartlands. HSBC, the bank, is pinning its sponsorship strategy on the two sports. It has just signed a partnership agreement with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, golf’s governing body, and renewed its backing for the British Lions, the rugby union touring side. ‘The R&A has a duty of care to develop the game globally, and we will be able to help as golf federations apply for funding,’ says Giles Morgan, group head of sponsorship at HSBC. ‘Golf is gearing itself up and going to broader markets. The heartlands are the US and the UK, but golf has boomed in Asia. It has got an opportunity to reach into new markets.’ But the growth of any sport in new markets depends on cannibalisation. Sports that enter new markets must bite into the leisure time and disposable income of people already participating in or watching the traditional main sports of their countries.” How to export sport: * Team sports are preferable – there are more individuals to promote, and a greater sense of tribal identification for fans. * Low-maintenance sports help, particularly if participation is key. * Sports with complex rules will struggle to win acceptance. * Any sport whose matches take longer than three hours might as well not bother. Cricket learnt this and invented Twenty20. * Test a