The Dallas Cowboys have an exclusive agreement with . . Pepsi? NBC Sports spent over a billion dollars to cover the Olympic Games. Deion Sanders will be paid fifty million dollars for part-time work.
In Sports Marketing, Phil Schaaf explores the motivations behind decisions like these. With in-depth interviews from both heavyweight sponsors and newcomers, Schaaf offers a fascinating inside look at how promoting products and services through sports sponsorship has become one of the world's most lucrative industries.
Schaaf examines the high-stakes economic battles waged between cities competing for sports teams. For example, in l995, St. Louis lured the Rams football franchise away from the large and lucrative market of Los Angeles while cities like Atlanta and Salt Lake City were willing to spend millions for the chance to host the Olympics.
Sports Marketing shows how the opportunity to associate with electrifying performers inspires multimillion-dollar sponsorships. Quaker Oats, manufacturers of Gatorade, gladly pays basketball legend Michael Jordan a handsome fee because it knows that his fans all over the world will buy the drink, "to be like Mike."
In this captivating and easy-to-read book, Phil Schaaf traces the subsidy mechanism of sponsorship and its influence on the presentation and commercialisation of sports entertainment. Comparing historical sports icons and images with their contemporary counterparts, Schaaf analyses the big business of sponsoring today's sports events, large or small. He penetrates the relationships among fans, sponsons, and actual events; reviews the financial repercussions of labor-management disputes; and examines corporate sponsorship of Big League sports teams, individual athletes, leagues, and other property rights holders. Why do McDonald's, Hanes, and Nike pay huge amounts of money to be associated with sports, and why do they choose celebrity endorsers, or buy in-stadium advertising opportunities? You'll feel like you're in the board room where multimillion-dollar decisions are being made by advertising heavy-hitters. For both seasoned fans and casual observers, Sports Marketing proves that it isn't just a game anymore.
Phil Schaaf (San Francisco, CA) is the director of Pacific Sports Marketing, a sports consulting firm in Northern California.
355 pages Publication date 30th May, 1996
ISBN 1-57392-019-3
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