What’s the price of heritage in sports?
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By Cosmos Forever, 14 Mar 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Pro
I’ve just read an article that talked about Pura dropping sponsorship of the domestic cup in cricket. The article hinted that the Sheffield Shield might be brought back as the award for Australia’s premier domestic cricket competition.
“It raises the prospect of the Sheffield Shield trophy making a comeback,” said Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young.
This got me thinking.
The Shield was a gift dating from 1892. That’s some serious pedigree and must be close to one of the longest running sports competition awards around. And yet it was dropped for a sponsorship deal with a milk brand. The Shield wasn’t even renamed. Until it was requested that it be put on show in a museum, it was left derelict.
Now cricket isn’t alone.
This year a host of footy teams will play games at the ANZ Stadium, Suncorp Stadium and AAMI Stadium.
So, why? Why not Stadium Australia presented by ANZ, Lang Park brought to you by Suncorp, Football Park courtesy of AAMI?
Now those ground sponsorships aren’t as bad as the Shield example (in my opinion) but I wonder what people think about this type of corporate sponsorship? Done badly, it actually turns me off the brand. If brand awareness is what these companies are after, I think in this case it’s for all the wrong reasons.
The FA Cup is the FA Cup by E.On, the Americas Cup has NO naming rights sponsor. Why are some of our key sports any different and do people care?
I say hang onto whatever heritage you have and don’t sell it out for sponsorship that probably amounts to less than Andrew Symonds will make in the IPL in just a couple of years!
And for all of those marketing managers out there making decisions on sponsorship: stop putting your foot (I mean brand) in it and think of a smarter way to incorporate your image into your chosen sport.
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sheek said | March 14th 2008 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Cosmos Forever,
What I didn’t appreciate, was that the name Sheffield Shield was dropped altogether, which put me at odds with the great Richie Benaud, who argued we had to accept the realities of the commercial world.
So why not the Pura Sheffield Shield? Sponsors come & go, but the long standing competition prize remains.
Same with naming rights for stadia. Sponsors come & go. It ought to be Telstra Stadium Australia, Suncorp Lang Park, etc, etc.
There’s a site with all the major stadia in Australia & NZL. But until you read the historical blurb attached to each ground, you have no immediate idea of their original name.
I don’t like the ‘Qantas’ Wallabies & ‘Spedblitz’ Blues, but at least that is preferable to Australia Qantas rugby team or NSW Speedblitz cricket team.
Just more examples of greed winning out over common sense & propriety.
MikeD said | March 14th 2008 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
The heritage of the Sheffield Shield was one of its greatest assets. The Sheffield Shield by Pura would have worked fine and probably would have earned Pura more brownie points from the fans by preserving the tournament’s heritage.
I don’t have a problem with companies sponsoring new venues, like Telstra/ANZ Stadium, a venue which only had recent history attached to it. Same with Telstra Dome, Vodafone Arena, Skilled Park, etc.
But ignoring 100+ years of tradition to allow a sponsor to take over an event/venue should never be allowed. Long live the MCG, Ashes and Bledisloe Cup, etc.