In a Downturn or just Pausing for Breath?: An Objective Look at the State of The Sports Marketing Industry

Concerns about a slowdown in the sports marketing business have recently been expressed. A major conference, SportBusiness 2001, included a session asking if the boom was over. Assuming that the level of sponsorship activity is a key indicator of the real state of the industry, we conducted an analysis of the amount spent worldwide on acquiring sponsorship rights in 2000. This confirms that the recent spectacular growth has halved to a still-robust seven per cent. Further analysis undertaken of sponsorship agreements reported in the European press in 2000 provides evidence that the sponsorship medium is still fundamentally valid.