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| Sport sponsorship has gone too far | Sport sponsorship has gone too far |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| After watching the Qantas Wallabies play the Lions at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, I caught up with the Bulldogs and Knights game on Sunday. During the match at Virgin Australia Stadium, a contentious try was reviewed by the video referee and announced on the KFC decision screen. I then watched the try replayed on the Great Wall video replay. | After watching the Qantas Wallabies play the Lions at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, I caught up with the Bulldogs and Knights game on Sunday. During the match at Virgin Australia Stadium, a contentious try was reviewed by the video referee and announced on the KFC decision screen. I then watched the try replayed on the Great Wall video replay. |
| Have you noticed? There are five brand names in this paragraph. | Have you noticed? There are five brand names in this paragraph. |
| I would hazard a guess that sponsorship and advertising around sports events is higher than it's ever been. It’s worth big money: a report out in June 2013 found sport sponsorship in Australia is worth around US$735m per year. | |
| Tom Waterhouse-style saturation advertising aside, we are bombarded with brands in areas that were previously virgin territory. I imagine sports codes have people whose sole job it is to sit around and think of things that aren’t sponsored, and for which they can sell sponsorship for. Perhaps the urinals at the MCG could be brought to you after a quick message from our sponsor? | Tom Waterhouse-style saturation advertising aside, we are bombarded with brands in areas that were previously virgin territory. I imagine sports codes have people whose sole job it is to sit around and think of things that aren’t sponsored, and for which they can sell sponsorship for. Perhaps the urinals at the MCG could be brought to you after a quick message from our sponsor? |
| On top of that, I’m never sure where stadiums actually are any more. Virgin Australia Stadium is Mackay Stadium, apparently. ANZ Stadium aka Telstra Stadium aka Stadium Australia is out at Homebush in Sydney, so I usually just call it Homebush Stadium. As for the stadium formerly known as Colonial, it has been the Telstra Dome, and now is the Etihad Stadium. Simonds Stadium has had the most name changes out of any I could find – it’s currently on its fifth. Naming rights for Suncorp Stadium apparently bring in US$5m per year. | On top of that, I’m never sure where stadiums actually are any more. Virgin Australia Stadium is Mackay Stadium, apparently. ANZ Stadium aka Telstra Stadium aka Stadium Australia is out at Homebush in Sydney, so I usually just call it Homebush Stadium. As for the stadium formerly known as Colonial, it has been the Telstra Dome, and now is the Etihad Stadium. Simonds Stadium has had the most name changes out of any I could find – it’s currently on its fifth. Naming rights for Suncorp Stadium apparently bring in US$5m per year. |
| It’s not just stadiums, either. Former Geelong Cats footballer Garry Hocking temporarily renamed himself to Whiskas in 1999, apparently to help out with Geelong’s money woes at the time. A noble gesture, Mr Whiskas. | It’s not just stadiums, either. Former Geelong Cats footballer Garry Hocking temporarily renamed himself to Whiskas in 1999, apparently to help out with Geelong’s money woes at the time. A noble gesture, Mr Whiskas. |
| I don’t know of any other national teams that are officially named after their sponsors, as the Qantas Wallabies are. There’s Bayer Leverkusen, a German football club named after the chemical and pharmaceutical company. Red Bull bought Austrian club SV Salzburg in 2005 and renamed it FC Red Bull Salzburg. Although the Austrian football league apparently has a history of sponsors adding their names to teams, Red Bull went further: they changed the team colours to match Red Bull branding, and created a new team logo that features their logo. Dietrich Mateschitz, founder and owner of Red Bull, reportedly dismissed SV Salzburg fans’ complaints about team colours as “kindergarten stuff”, adding: “the red bull can’t be violet, or else we couldn’t call it Red Bull.” | I don’t know of any other national teams that are officially named after their sponsors, as the Qantas Wallabies are. There’s Bayer Leverkusen, a German football club named after the chemical and pharmaceutical company. Red Bull bought Austrian club SV Salzburg in 2005 and renamed it FC Red Bull Salzburg. Although the Austrian football league apparently has a history of sponsors adding their names to teams, Red Bull went further: they changed the team colours to match Red Bull branding, and created a new team logo that features their logo. Dietrich Mateschitz, founder and owner of Red Bull, reportedly dismissed SV Salzburg fans’ complaints about team colours as “kindergarten stuff”, adding: “the red bull can’t be violet, or else we couldn’t call it Red Bull.” |
| Does all this sponsorship and advertising matter? I suppose I’d rather the NRL get money from sponsorships than pokies if I had a choice. And keeping the games on free to air TV is a good thing for fans, and advertising and sponsorship are obviously needed to support this. | Does all this sponsorship and advertising matter? I suppose I’d rather the NRL get money from sponsorships than pokies if I had a choice. And keeping the games on free to air TV is a good thing for fans, and advertising and sponsorship are obviously needed to support this. |
| However, I do think there should be a line drawn somewhere. Names of teams, for example. The types of products being spruiked are another. The Australian government has targeted alcohol sponsorship of sports as part of its Be The Influence campaign to reduce binge drinking. Despite this campaign, sponsorship from the alcohol industry remains high, estimated at 7.4% of total spend by the Sponsorship Today report. The author, Simon Rines, said that despite the government campaign “the reality is that sport remains more dependent on alcohol money than the USA, Germany, UK, Canada, Spain, Italy or Brazil. With Russia and France having banned alcohol sponsorship, Australia has the highest proportion of alcohol spend of any major economy.” | However, I do think there should be a line drawn somewhere. Names of teams, for example. The types of products being spruiked are another. The Australian government has targeted alcohol sponsorship of sports as part of its Be The Influence campaign to reduce binge drinking. Despite this campaign, sponsorship from the alcohol industry remains high, estimated at 7.4% of total spend by the Sponsorship Today report. The author, Simon Rines, said that despite the government campaign “the reality is that sport remains more dependent on alcohol money than the USA, Germany, UK, Canada, Spain, Italy or Brazil. With Russia and France having banned alcohol sponsorship, Australia has the highest proportion of alcohol spend of any major economy.” |