No matter how talented or hardworking your university or high school sports team is, it is difficult to achieve outstanding results without financial support. Sometimes there are sad moments in the life of athletes when instead of strenuously preparing for the upcoming games and developing their physical skills, they have to skip training to earn a living. Even having developed a mascot logo, creating a strong team, you are not always guaranteed success. This is why it is extremely important to find sponsorship for a sports team.
In this article, we'll talk about where to find sponsors for a team and how to get the attention of an interested person.
Is investment in sports profitable or not?
Investment businessmen are well aware that this is a very important and serious issue. This is especially true for sponsoring sports teams. More often, business owners refuse to invest in the development of sports teams because they are not always sure that their investment will pay off.
Many investors are faced with the fact that having achieved some success, high school or university teams forget about their patrons. Teams may opt out of further sponsor financial assistance. In this case, it is important to convince the potential sponsor that you write a sponsorship agreement, where all the responsibilities of the parties will be recorded, so that each party would feel protected.
However, investors can refuse since there are a lot of risks that minors can violate:
● The use of doping, alcohol, or drugs;
● Careless statements towards the sponsor;
● Injury of players and their inability to perform at competitions and games;
● Unforeseen circumstances and emergencies.
These moments can take athletes out of the game for a long time, which will entail a loss of finances on the part of the investor. Considering all the above risks, teams will have to work hard to get the attention of sponsors and find strong arguments in their favor.
What are the benefits for the investor?
To begin with, any interaction and cooperation must be mutually beneficial. It is clear what benefit the university team will receive - this is funding. However, how will the sponsor benefit? Why should they invest in your team, and not in another field of activity?
After thinking about these questions, it will be easier for you to understand where to find a sponsor for your football team and what you can offer them.
Sports events are always attended by a lot of spectators. This also applies to university competitions and matches. Such events are attended by the parents of students, all university students, managers, and coaches of world-famous teams who come to the games to find a new rising sports star.
It will be difficult for you to find an investor if your team is little known and rarely plays at sporting events. You simply cannot convince the sponsor that their investment will pay off. On the other hand, if you have a team that is well-known in many university circles and you are a team for which many spectators come to the games, then you have an advantage. If you are active in sports and have a lot of experience and major achievements in sports, then this will attract more attention to you.
Where to look for a sponsor?
Finding a sponsor is a long-term process. You need to know among whom you can find support.
The options are:
1) Parents of athletes. Most of all, parents are people who worry about the future of their children. However, not every parent can afford to invest the accumulated funds in sponsoring a sports team. If there are business owners among the parents, then you increase the chances of faster searches.
2) Local business owners. University events gather a huge number of local residents. Advertising of goods and services of small or medium-sized business owners can expand the circle of potential customers.
3) Sports fans. Each recognizable sports team has its own fan base, which can include both individuals and entire organizations.
4) Suppliers of sports equipment and clothing.
5) Representatives of companies that serve football matches and competitions. This may include restaurants, hotels and healthcare facilities, and transportation companies.
Each sponsor needs to be provided with an individual approach. You can send out emails and letters where you will talk about your team, its merits, and your sports motivation.
Preparing a team presentation and demonstration of benefits
In order to announce your team, you need to create a presentation or video that will tell about your team members, your sporting achievements, and plans for the future.
If you want to present your project, then use a presentation maker that will help you create a beautiful card for your team.
The best means of engagement is video. The video will help you more deeply inform potential sponsors about your team's activities. You can create a video in which you will introduce future investors to the team's players, demonstrate how the training and preparation for the games go, and also explain in an accessible form why they need to invest in your team and what benefits the sponsor will receive.
Before sending your video to all potential investors, you need to edit it to create an attractive product. Use a video editor for Windows or a video editor for Mac and create a captivating clip with beautiful special effects and transitions.
As you talk about the benefits of choosing your team to invest in your video, analyze the reach of the audience and viewers that come to your games. You can tell what sporting events you have taken part in. Explain that your games are also covered by various media, which further expands the audience.
Share your vision of where the ad integration will be located. This could be:
❖ Placing advertising posters on the university building;
❖ Choosing a uniform with the company logo;
❖ Placement of the logo on the transport of the team;
❖ Use streaming services to increase audience reach;
❖ Slogans and symbols on sports equipment.
Conclusion
To attract sponsors, you must justify the benefits of your university team and communicate the benefits to the sponsor. Make a detailed plan for your ad integration. State your athletic prospects and motivation. At the end of the negotiations, sign a contract.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of universityherald.com
