ABSTRACT
The proliferation of sports event sponsorship opportunities, the amount of money flowing frommarketers to event sponsorship, and the development of a body of academic literature dedicated to cataloging various sports sponsorship objectives, strategies, tactics, and effects attest to its acceptance by marketers as a viable integratedmarketing communication strategy (Cornwell & Maignan, 1998). Originally considered unusual or innovative, sports sponsorship may now be as common as more traditional marketing communication strategies as burgeoning sports leagues compete with established leagues for sports sponsorship funds. Overlapping football, basketball, baseball, and hockey seasons in the United States provided 200 professional sports events duringOctober 2000 (Petrecca, 2000). Sports saturation has resulted in declining TV ratings, yet sports sponsorship spending continues to rise (IEG, 2002). However, some prominent sponsors are beginning to back away from sponsorship; IBM announced its long-time affiliation with the Olympics would end with the 2000 Summer Olympic Games held in Sydney, Australia (Elkin, 2000). Evenmarketing behemothCoca-Cola is questioning the value of sports sponsorship relative to its escalating costs (Fatsis, 1998).
