I won't bore you with numbers but suffice to say, the amount of sponsorship dollars in international sports is staggering. Multi, multi billions are spent annually, so much so that sponsorship money, for better or worse, is now the driving force behind sports. If you have been to a live event or watched one on TV recently, you are acutely aware corporate money is a necessary evil of sports today. But if you have been following global economic trends for the past few years then you also know the cash lifeblood has been seriously impaired by the financial meltdown.
'The days of companies saying we should get involved in this event because it is fun are thankfully gone,' says Giles Morgan, group head of sponsorship for HSBC Holdings.
HSBC is one of the few financial institutions that are actually expanding their sponsorship portfolio these days. 'The bank requires a business case in any investment they make including sports sponsorship,' says Morgan. 'It's not a simple case of doling out more budgets, this is a very prudent and old fashioned company.'
While HSBC may have exercised restraint over the years, a number of financial institutions clearly did not. The sight of Manchester United, arguably the most popular sports team in the world, wearing jerseys with an AIG logo prominently placed on front was a bit much for the US government to stomach, considering it had earmarked US$122 billion in taxpayer dollars to help AIG avoid a liquidity crisis. But a deal was a deal and AIG's contractual commitment to United ran through the conclusion of the 2009-10 season ensuring its toxic logo remained on the sporting giants' kit for all the world to see a good year and half after the bailout.
Sports and business are so intertwined these days that the notion of watching sports as an escape is almost impossible. Watching an NFL game is borderline sickening, there are more television commercials then there is action on the field and the flow of the game suffers greatly because of it. But when you have a multi-billion-dollar TV package, you have to pay the bills.
'I am a sports fan first and foremost,' says Morgan. 'So we try to understand the importance of the consumer. If you get in the way of their viewing experience then you become a negative, which kind of defeats the purpose. Good sponsors are people who know their customer base and know who are watching and it's not always the fault of the sponsors, sometimes rights holders are going for extra cash.'
Be that as it may, sponsors are also looking to maximise their exposure with their investment and where HSBC is looking for exposure these days is in golf and rugby. 'Our sponsorship portfolio is no longer designed for brand awareness, it's designed for client engagement,' says Morgan. 'Golf is the sport of the affluent and the aspirational.'