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PurposeMost college athletics department have not sold corporate naming rights to their athletics facilities. Popp et al. (2016) suggests two primary reasons: (1) difficulty in determining proper valuation and (2) fear of stakeholder backlash. The purpose of the current study is to address both concerns by utilizing a hedonic pricing model predicting collegiate naming rights values and utilizing fixed-effects models to determine if consumer behavior (event attendance and donations) is impacted by a corporate name change.Design/methodology/approachData from 110 naming rights agreements among NCAA Division I programs were examined, alongside market-related variables, institution-related variables and venue-related variables. Utilizing hierarchical model building to reduce independent variables and OLS regression modeling, significant relationships with annual value of naming rights agreements were uncovered. Fixed effects models were utilized to determine if naming rights impacted attendance and donations.FindingsA final model explained more than 53% of the variance in average annual value of naming rights agreements, with three significant factors: (1) attendance, (2) all-time winning percentage and (3) venue construction cost. Fixed-effects models revealed no significant differences in attendance or donations after a naming rights deal was signed.Originality/valueCorporate naming rights agreements for college athletics facilities are a recent phenomenon. While a similar study examining drivers of collegiate sport naming rights was previously conducted, the current study revealed a shifting marketplace. In addition, no prior study has examined the impact of a corporate naming rights agreement on future attendance and donations.

Purpose The achievement of a requisite return on investment (ROI) from a brand’s investment in sponsorships of sport events is becoming increasingly important. Consequently, evolving trends in the consumption of the live television broadcasts of such events (e.g. increased usage of second screens by consumers) are an important consideration. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of second screen use during sport broadcast consumption on important marketing outcomes (i.e. brand awareness and the perceived value and intrusiveness of sponsor brand integration), and whether effectiveness is dependent on the consumer’s level of identification with the sport being broadcast. Design/methodology/approach A 2×2 (experimental/control and high SportID/low SportID) between-subjects experimental design featuring the broadcast of a sport event as the stimuli was utilized to examine a potential interaction effect between sport identification and second screen use on three dependent variables important for sport sponsors. Findings Results confirmed that those with a high level of sport identification realized significantly higher levels of brand awareness for sponsors integrated into the broadcast. However, when consumers were asked to engage in second screen use, the experiment revealed a moderating effect of sport identification on the impact of second screen use, for both brand awareness and the perceived value of the brand integration. Originality/value Consumers with higher levels of sport identification are an important target of sport sponsorship activities by brand marketers. Given this, the implication that second screen use can reduce the effectiveness of important sponsorship-related outcomes such as brand awareness is a sobering result for marketers expecting a positive ROI from sponsorships of sport events.

Purpose While numerous studies have investigated the returns firms receive for their investments in sponsorship, no study to date has examined the potential for organizational performance to contribute to the continuance of business to business (B2B) relationships. Thus, this study aims to illuminate B2B sponsorship relationships in isolating whether firm decision-makers are like fair-weathered fans, in that they are more likely to stick with successful organizations. Design/methodology/approach An advanced quantitative modeling approach, survival analysis, is applied to a data set of more than 350 sponsorships to isolate the impact of performance on B2B decision-making. Findings Even after controlling for several potentially confounding variables, results indicate that every point per game earned by English football clubs decreases the probability of the sponsoring firm exiting the agreement by 54.4%. Originality/value These findings provide empirical evidence of the impact of the sponsored organization’s performance to influence B2B firm decision-making, a novel finding yet to be confirmed in the sponsorship-linked marketing literature.

Despite increased interest in nontraditional marketing activities such as sponsorship, the ability of brand marketers to quantify the return on investment from such approaches is a continued challenge. Given their proprietary nature, investigations of sponsorship costs are particularly sparse. Therefore, this study utilizes a dataset of more than 700 sponsorships undertaken by competitors in the financial services industry to investigate the influence of a variety of factors on costs. Results indicate that costs are not simply reflective of firm size, and costs of title and naming rights sponsorships are significantly higher. Evidence of agency conflicts are found in increased costs for sponsorships of events, organizations, and venues residing within the marketers' home market. Sponsorships of sport organizations are significantly more costly than those of arts, entertainment, and nonprofit organizations, presenting a challenge for marketers seeking to engage today's consumer via sport sponsorships in an increasingly competitive environment.

PurposeNaming rights sponsorships of sport facilities are among the most highly visible marketing agreements in the world. However, factors that may lead one sponsorship to persist for decades, while others end after just a few years, have yet to be investigated. Thus, this study examines the decision-making of brand marketers by investigating the predictors of a sponsoring brand's decision to either continue or dissolve such agreements.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing a global data set of 219 naming rights agreements, an empirical approach is utilized to isolate whether a variety of factors increase or decrease the probability of sponsorship dissolution.FindingsResults indicate that agreements entered into with new, as of yet-unnamed facilities lead to a reduction in the probability of dissolution, with a high level of brand equity also reducing the probability of dissolution. Agency conflicts may also play a role, as the sponsoring firm being headquartered in the same metropolitan area as the facility also contributes to the persistence of such agreements.Originality/valueThese results are intended to assist both sides of what is ideally a long-term relationship in better understanding the factors that may either contribute to or inhibit longer-term partnerships.

As gender equity has become an important issue throughout the sport industry this research seeks to fill a gap in the literature related to whether sport sponsor retention differs across sponsorships of similar men's and women's sport properties. Even after controlling for a host of potentially confounding variables, a quantitative analysis of sponsor decision-making related to more than 750 event title sponsorships indicates that sponsoring firms are just as likely to renew sponsorships of women's events as men's events and those featuring competitors of both genders. Viewing these results through the theoretical lens of exchange theory suggests that resources sponsors may allocate toward sponsorships of women's sport properties are theoretically either met or exceeded by the resources received in exchange. Thus, sponsors may in the end receive similar or potentially higher return on investment (ROI) for sponsorships of women's sport properties, a novel finding yet to be confirmed in the sponsorship-linked marketing literature.

Marketers allocate significant resources to purchase the rights to the sport intellectual property (SIP) of sponsored properties. However, the effectiveness of SIP in influencing sponsorship-related outcomes, such as brand attitudes and purchase intentions, are lacking in empirical studies. Further, it is unknown whether moderators such as congruence, brand equity, and articulation influence SIP usage outcomes. Therefore, between-subject experimental designs involving the manipulation of package designs were undertaken across three studies. Results indicate the use of SIP on packaging was ineffective and did not vary based on congruence, brand equity and articulation. However, a significant direct effect of sport identification was found, confirming that SIP is effective at influencing sport fans. Results may be discouraging to marketers who assume that SIP affects all consumers, regardless of existing levels of sport identification, and suggest that additional resources may be necessary to impact consumers who are not highly identified sport fans.

While the effects of sport sponsorship are widely researched, many studies suffer from a lack of generalizability and are oftentimes cross-sectional, given the challenges inherent in the collection and analysis of longitudinal data. This study seeks to remedy these issues by analyzing a longitudinal, heterogeneous dataset comprised of more than 500 sponsorships of North American sport leagues spanning 14 years. Results reveal an 8% increase in brand recognition in the first year following the initiation of the sponsorship. However, lagged variables indicate that the effect is reduced significantly after the second year. A second analysis confirms that effects are generalizable across multiple leagues and sponsorship categories. These results contradict the prevailing assumption that investments in sponsorship necessarily need to be long-term, suggesting that effects on brand awareness are more immediate and that effectiveness wanes the longer a brand remains a sponsor, representing an important and novel managerial contribution.

Purpose A sponsorship performance cycle of business-to-business (B2B) exchange is conceptualized, where distinct types of resources are invested by sponsoring firms into sponsored properties and the competitive success of those properties enhances returns to sponsors. While the latter return channel in this cycle is well-documented, the former investment channel has remained opaque. Recognizing this empirical missing link, this paper aims to illuminate the investment channel through a longitudinal analysis. Design/methodology/approach Based on 50 years of Formula One (F1) team and sponsor alliances, this study models the effects of three different sponsorship categories on team performance in the annual F1 constructors’ championship. Findings The results demonstrate that each incremental sponsor offering performance-based resources is associated with four additional team points in the championship, controlling for factors such as past success and team experience. Conversely, sponsors offering access to financial or operational resources have no competitive impact. This performance-based sponsor effect is illustrated in models of the current and following seasons. Research limitations/implications In combination with related literature, this study substantiates a complete sponsorship performance cycle in the motorsports context. Practical implications The findings contribute an empirically-based strategy for sustainable sponsorship support that emphasizes acquisition of performance resources in the business-to-business exchange over operational or strictly financial alternatives. Originality/value While scholars have discerned that sponsors invest heterogeneous resources into sponsored properties, and the competitive success of those properties can enhance returns to sponsors, this study demonstrates that particular resources invested by sponsors are related to the property’s competitive success.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the structure and dynamics of minority equity sponsorship agreements and the motivations for organizations to go beyond traditional sponsorships by acquiring minority equity in the sponsored organization. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a qualitative methodology and presents interview data from key actors involved in minority equity sponsorship agreements. Findings The findings of the paper include major characteristics of minority equity sponsorship agreements including the motivations, dynamics and resources exchanged by sponsoring firms and clubs in these relationships, based on the experiences of key actors from firms, clubs and other key stakeholders, and a conceptual model for forming and maintaining these relationships. Practical implications Sponsorships are increasingly evolving into minority equity sponsorship agreements, particularly in the European market. The findings of this study assist sponsoring firms and the executives of clubs in better understanding the dynamics and stakeholder-related consequences of these relations. Originality/value The findings of this paper illustrate the differences between minority equity sponsorship agreements and both traditional sponsorships and minority equity alliances. The findings also identify major characteristics of these relationships and the interdependencies among these characteristics.