Corporate sponsorship of sport is a big business. Despite the falling economy, US corporations spent $11.6 billion on sport sponsorships in 2008 (IEG, 2009). Companies enter into sponsorship agreements to increase awareness (Mulin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2000), create or change brand image (Grohus, Wagner,Vesetecka, 2004), increase sales (Mulin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2000), increase target market awareness (Irwin, Sutton, McCarthy, 2002), and/or obtain exclusivity in a product category (Ludwig & Karabetsos , 1999). Research has shown that sponsoring sport teams or events provides corporations an opportunity to achieve all of these goals, with improving brand awareness and enhancing image showing the greatest benefit (Grohs, Wagner, Vsetecka, 2004). However, research investigating the potential of sponsorships to increase sales reports mixed results. Some state that game attendees are more likely to purchase sponsors' products with fan involvement (Dees, Bennett, Villegas, 2008) and education, (Walliser, 2003) affecting purchase intentions while others report no such effect (Grohs, Wagner & Vsetecka, 2004; Lawley, Summers, & Alcorn, 2001). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of one NBA team's sponsorship s through fan's intent to purchase sponsors' products.
Method:
After securing Institutional Review Board approval, surveys (n=435) were administered immediately following 5 home games as fans exited the arena. Fans were asked if they were more likely to purchase sponsors' products due to their connection with and support of the team. Demographic information including gender, age, attendance (number of games attended), and fan involvement (season ticket holder versus non season ticket holder) was collected.
Analysis/Results:
A standard multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the results. Results indicated that neither gender (β=.065), age (β=-.006), attendance (β=.25), nor season ticket holder (β=.062) were predictors of consumer purchase intentions (p<.001).
Conclusions
These results do not support the view that sponsoring professional sport teams translates into consumer spending. However, this study is limited because surveys were administered during the first half of the season and results, especially when measuring attendance, might differ if data collection occurs at a later time. Additionally, this team has experienced losing records and a dwindling reputation in the community for the past three seasons. Therefore, results might differ with a successful franchise. Future research could investigate the effect of win-loss record and team loyalty on consumer purchase intentions. Finally, it is always imperative that sponsoring companies determine the purpose for their sponsorship before allocating dollars.