#Blog 5

How Sponsorship works in Football:

Introduction:

The following blog will discuss the use of sponsorship in football. It will investigate the advantages of doing so for the sponsor as well as the drawbacks of sponsoring a football club.

So lets take a closer look on how a football club deals with sponsorships

What does a football sponsor do?

A corporation sponsoring a football team would imply that the company would contribute funds to the team to help them purchase necessary assets such as team uniforms, equipment, and training facilities, as well as supporting the maintenance of these facilities and, in some cases, even travel to and from matches. 

Why is Sponsorship in football important?
Sponsorship is critical within a football club since it ensures that finances are available to manage the team’s day-to-day operations. Sponsorship in football clubs indicates that the club is also professional, and sponsors are only found in the most well-known and successful football clubs. Furthermore, this benefits the club’s performance since it gives the club more time to focus on the crucial things, such as performance, training, and matches, which are the most important things for a football club to focus on. This is because the sponsor will provide financial assistance, alleviating the club’s financial burden. (visua 2022)

What are the benefits of sponsoring a football club?

When a company supports a football team, they gain access to a number of advantages. The organisation will benefit from increased brand awareness because the company name will be plastered across their home stadiums as well as their uniforms, resulting in increased brand exposure. This is because every time the team plays, it will be broadcast on national television, resulting in increased public exposure. (spontza 2021)

Another advantage is that it will show their personality when it comes to companies, products, and services. A firm sponsoring a green funding football club, for example, will have a favourable connotation. This can, however, be a disadvantage since if a football club’s sponsor is a business that is frowned upon, such as a betting corporation, it may have a negative connotation. 

If the team and business are both in the local area, this would show a local pride and interest in the success of the community, and it will create a positive image for both the football club and sponsor. As well as this, it will create a positive image for both parties. 

On the other hand, if the sponsor is outside of the football clubs operating area it will open new geographical areas to market to as the local community surrounding the football club.

The negatives of sponsoring a football club:

The negatives are that whatever the football club does something negative. For example, when Mason Greenwood was arrested over an alleged rape and assault of a women. (skynews). This will of course have a negative impact on the club being Manchester United and then it will follow having a negative connotation towards their sponsor and may lead to them having a loss of sales when it comes to kits etc. Meaning it gives them a bad image. 

In addition to this, another disadvantage is that it can sometimes be very limited meaning that there is no security meaning it can easily be withdrawn. Leading this to have a negative impact on the sponsor. Lastly sponsorships is mostly available for the more well-known brands when in comes to football clubs and can be very challenging to sponsor a club. (BBC)

Conclusion:
To conclude, based on what I have said I believe that sponsorships is very important especially when it comes to sponsoring a football. I also believe that it would require a lot of time to find the right sponsor for the right football club as there would have to be some sort of correlation between the two. 

References: 

“Sponsorship in Sport” 12/10/2021 , Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zp2jxsg/revision/4 Accessed 28/03/2022

“Benefits of sponsoring a football club 15/12/2021” 22/01/2022 , Available at:
https://digivisi.co.uk/benefits-of-sponsoring-a-football-team/ Accessed 28/03/2022

“Manchester United dropping Mason Greenwood 07/02/2022”, Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/mason-greenwood-dropped-by-nike-after-rape-allegation-12535523 Accessed 28/03/2022

“Why is Sponsorship important in sport” 18/08/2021 Available at:
https://sponsorshipcollective.com/why-is-sponsorship-important-in-sport/ Accessed 28/03/2022