Abstract
Companies seeking to promote their brand, build their reputation and develop deeper customer relationships often team up with a sporting organization or associate themselves closely with a sporting event. This offers them massive exposure as the millions of fans and viewers who tune into sports events across the globe see the brands in question many hundreds of times.
The social economic aim of the sponsorship agreements is the promotion and the diffusion of the brands of the sponsor in association with those of the sponsee (Cass. Civ. May 29, 2006 n. 12801 and Cass. Civ. April 8, 2014 n. 8153).
ESA (The European Sponsorship Association which represents those involved in sponsorship across Europe) defines sponsorship, using the ICC Code of Sponsorship Definition, as "any commercial agreement by which a sponsor, for the mutual benefit of the sponsor and sponsored party, contractually provides financing or other support in order to establish an association between the sponsor’s image, brands or products and a sponsorship property in return for rights to promote this association and/or for the granting of certain agreed direct or indirect benefits".
In football industry, companies develop sponsorship agreements in return for the brand awareness and increased visibility. Regardless of the type of sponsorship involved, the contracts that detail these agreements have several common elements and achieve similar purposes.
The sponsorship agreement should contain specific details on the sponsored activity. Sponsors can request several types of rights in their sponsorship agreements. Typically the major corporate contributor can request to be the exclusive sponsor or can request to have its company names and logos featured prominently on merchandising products. Sponsors may also request to have their names and logos included in any press coverage to gain the maximum public exposure for their contributions.
A technology license may be another useful option for companies involved in the development of sports-related equipment. Companies rely more and more on improved technology to obtain a competitive advantage. Technology licenses can be used both to “license in” technologies developed by other companies or to earn additional income by “licensing out” home-grown technologies. Licensing and merchandising within the sports industry provide rights holders with enormous strategic, marketing and earning potential.
The primary goal for the sponsor is to gain high visibility and positive attention. If the sponsored party receives minimal or negative publicity, the poor results will reflect on the sponsor. The sponsorship agreement must contain provisions as to how the sponsor and recipient will work together to ensure that both sides receive sufficient positive media coverage.
Titolo tradotto del contributo | [Autom. eng. transl.] The problems of accounting for sponsoring agreements in the current evolutionary context of professional football |
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Lingua originale | Italian |
pagine (da-a) | 187-224 |
Numero di pagine | 38 |
Rivista | RIVISTA DI DIRITTO ED ECONOMIA DELLO SPORT |
Volume | 2015 |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2015 |
Keywords
- Contratti di sponsorizzazione
- Manament of football clubs
- Sponsoring agreements
- Sponsorizzazioni