ABSTRACT
Since the 1984 Olympic Games the concept of marketing has become of central importance in the world of sport. The contemporary discourse that is promoted by politicians, the media, sport managers and indeed many athletes is no longer just about winning medals or producing best performances. It is about such issues as the size of television contracts, the licensing and merchandising of official products and the marketing of ancillary goods and services (concessions, parking and corporate hospitality). One particularly significant component of the sport marketing mix is the sponsorship of individual athletes, teams, events and organisations. While exact figures on the size of the sponsorship market are difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain, estimates suggest that as sport has become increasingly commercialised the amount of spending on sponsorship worldwide has risen from $5.6 billion in 1984 to approximately $25 billion in 2000.2 Parallel to the increased amount of spending on sponsorship has been a significant growth in academic interest in the phenomenon. Studies have focused on a range of topics, with the most frequent areas of enquiry being: defining and characterising sponsorship, corporate motivations and objectives of sponsorship, measuring the effectiveness of sponsorship, strategic aspects of sponsorship and legal and ethical considerations of sponsorship.3
