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Sponsors stick with codes themselves but clubs struggle to lure funding
By Simon Canning
March 16, 2009 The nation's biggest sporting codes are managing to hold on to their key sponsors in the midst of the global financial crisis, but clubs and teams are doing it tough as the value of branding a sports team is called into question.
The ARU was the hardest hit when both Ford and Vodafone dumped the sport last year and executives remain in discussions with potential sponsors to plug the gap.
But ARU boss John O'Neill is not alone in the fruitless hunt for backers.
The Bulldogs rugby league club's failure to sign a top-line sponsor following the exit of Mitsubishi Electric was underlined on Saturday when the players ran out for the clash with Manly with the logo of children's charity Camp Quality emblazoned across their chests.
The Bulldogs have vowed to promote the charity until they can find a shirt sponsor, but their philanthropy underlines the difficulty everyone from footy clubs to motor racing teams have had luring cash-strapped corporates in the face of a recession.
At least four NRL clubs sported new sponsors this year, while at least two AFL clubs have narrowly missed starting their season without a brand to boast.
This week Melbourne Demons signed Korean tyre company Hankook as its jumper sponsor, replacing Primus telecom, while the Western Bulldogs filled the gap left by LeasePlan, signing Mission Foods just two weeks ago.
NRL marketing director Paul Kind said that while there was little doubt clubs were finding negotiations with sponsors tough, at a league level long-term contracts and strong relationships had meant no slippage in sponsorship.
The NRL has renewed Toyota and Harvey Norman on multi-year deals and locked in Aussie Home Loans - which has bought out State of Origin sponsor Wizard - to continue supporting the series.
"We have seven sponsors paying more than $1million each for aggregated rights," Kind said.
"But I do think the clubs are in a more difficult position than us and we did have a big turnover in sponsors."
Kind said the key to keeping sponsors on board was to maintain dialogue, particularly in the wake of a week from hell endured by the league after a sexual assault charge was laid against its poster boy, Brett Stewart.
"We have spoken to our sponsor family and I think they look to us to how we react (to the situation) as a business," he said.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said the league had also locked in its marquee sponsors including Toyota and NAB.
"All our major partners are there until 2010 or 2011 and two of our clubs have just signed new sponsors," Keane said.
Motorsport has been the highest-profile victim of the global crunch, with ING, Royal Bank of Scotland and Honda all announcing they were pulling out of the sport.
But locally, the V8 Supercar series, which launches in Adelaide this week, has seen increased interest.
However new CEO Cameron Levich admitted while the series had not lost a single sponsor, retaining BigPond and XXXX, teams had found it tougher.
"We are finding teams with a sponsorship coming to an end are finding it hard to re-sign them," Levich said.
"But the biggest request we are getting from sponsors is what does the future look like."
One brand that has decided to continue its investment in the sport is Jack Daniels which this year will increase its presence backing brothers Todd and Rick Kelly.
Michael McShane, the managing director of Jack Daniels-maker Brown-Forman, said the series had delivered strong results from the brand perspective and the Kelly combination fitted closely with its drink-responsibly marketing.
"We are here because of the success of the V8s and what the Kelly family represent - independence, masculinity, respect and integrity," McShane said.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
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