Sport Finance Paper

Sport Finance

Sponsorships in sports is a critical component to keep a sport organization running, which “ ‘70 percent of operating cost for a team derives from its sponsorships’ ” (Sylt and Reid, 2008 quoted in Jensen & Cobb, 2014, P.4). [write introduction]

For years, sport sponsorship advertising has been exclusively placed in avenues such as television, print, and in-game with banners and posters throughout an arena or stadium to promote and publicize the collaborative venture (Foley, 2013). However, with digital marketing becoming a major platform to send news updates about a team, its players, and upcoming events, companies are becoming aware that the time of print and television sponsorships are of the past to reach their target audience.

The popularity of digital marketing, especially those within large organizations, such as large sport teams, generate a lot of revenue. How does this work? Well, digital marketing is a large platform, which consists of email, social media, mobile applications, and the organization’s website. These platforms daily receive many views, traffic, and visits from its fans and followers. For instance, the Atlanta Braves have a large following being that it is the only baseball team near the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North and South Carolina. Therefore, their numbers across its social media platforms are exponential growing (Instagram: 630 thousand followers; Twitter: 988.8 thousand followers; Facebook: 2.03 million followers) with countless number of fans apart of their email newsletter and visiting their website. With this number of followers and fans for a team such as the Atlanta Braves, companies from different industries ranging from food to car insurance (IEGSR, 2015) who want to sponsor a team with a large fan base to grow their reach and the associated mutual benefits (Jacobs,

For example, if the Atlanta Braves sign a digital sponsorship deal with national banking institution, Bank of America. A sponsorship of this kind provides, “products and services specific to their customers” (Santomier, 2008, p.25). By providing fans with fans with products and offers through the team’s digital platforms, it will allow fans to engage and interact with both brands. Through a sponsorship with Bank of America, the Braves digital marketing team can create email, website, banner ads, custom codes and links, and social media posts that allow current or new enrollees for a Bank of America account, the opportunity to buy discounted tickets and merchandise and get the chance to meet and greet players before games. This sponsorship is beneficial for both the Braves and Bank of America because the Braves will receive an increase of ticket and merchandise sales and interest to attend any Braves games. Bank of America, on the other hand, will benefit in an increase of new customers and financial services, but Bank of American will see a return on investment within a short period of time. This creates brand relationship and sponsorship longevity as fans will enjoy the perks of discounts and offers being a part of the Braves-Bank of America partnership. Due to the large