How should PSL teams be positioned for sports sponsorship?

Whether you are watching sports on television or inside the stadium, it is impossible to escape the colourful logos and slogans of sponsors. From multifaceted merchandise, teams' branding, old-fashioned advertisement boards, electronic images chasing each other around the ground's perimeter to ground paintings, sponsorship marketing has become synonymous with sports.

Rise unabated

While advertising budgets are under severe pressure from the recent global economic crisis, business' investments on sports sponsorship continue to rise unabated. Even South African business has been quick to identify business growth opportunities within the sports industry, particularly as country prepares to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Soccer commands the biggest share of the multi-billion sports industry and is both powerful and attractive as a product because it reaches the majority of South Africans - and tapping into their spending power could be the key to more sustainable growth.

It is not surprising that the two giant soccer brands in the country - Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates - receive considerable amounts of sponsorship money from entities which want to link their brands to the country's most popular clubs. The two clubs have more than 25 sponsorships between themselves.

With traditional advertising becoming expensive, interrupting and less popular, sports sponsorship has become the most appealing vehicle for building brands, tapping into the passion of fans, getting publicity, raising awareness, increasing market share, promoting sport development and achieving good citizenship status.

But despite Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams enjoying huge media exposure, massive following and broad viewer ship, some clubs are still without sponsorships. Why soccer has made only Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and few administrators extremely wealthy?

PSL teams still need to undergo some hard training and excellent performance before matching the earning levels of their counterparts such as Real Madrid, Manchester United etc. When it comes to strategically attracting, retaining and impressing the demanding sponsorship investors, PSL teams face the following challenges.

Commercial brands

Yesterday's South African soccer was characterised by passion and pride. But those noble virtues have largerly been replaced by professionalism, commercialism, corporate identity and globalisation. It is for these reasons that soccer clubs and associations have become big commercial brands and now beat to the rhythm of corporate business. Teams need to strive for higher levels of adherence to sound governance principles in order to attract and retain sponsorship investors and to succeed on the sports field.

Players are assets

They need to develop, prepare and manage players as human capital assets capable of producing competitive teams and turning them into cash-generating brands such as David Beckham, Kaka, Ronald etc. Teams, especially those suffering heavy defeats, have to start winning matches or else run the risk of losing sponsors, spectators, gate takings, and television rights.

Fans are soccer consumers and non-soccer followers are untapped markets.

Soccer is an attractive product for both entertainment and business as it appeals to the masses. Teams need to harness the nation's addiction to sports as a business growth opportunity, and to treat fans as soccer consumers and non-followers as untapped business growth markets.

Co-operates are strategic business partners

Despite having good players and technical managers, teams need to employ the services of business management expert, who in turn will manage sponsorships as strategic business partnerships and “a winning match” with definite commercial goals. Generally sponsors expect value for money, maximum positive publicity, media coverage, memorable and enjoyable experiences, quality leisure time with clients and partners, prestige and pride.

Within a country of 48 million citizens where soccer enjoys prominence and passionate support, with 2010 around the corner, with legislations protecting sponsors from ambush marketing, with the King Reports on good governance, with world-class soccer and communication infrastructure, and with global renowned soccer administrators in Irvin Khoza and Danny Jordan, PSL teams should be attracting and retaining sponsors easily.