Class Blog: The Future of Sports Marketing

I think the sector of arena advertisements are practically recession proof. The recent economic downturn has hurt almost every aspect of business but no matter what I think people are still going to attend sporting events. Sporting events allow people to get away from their normal life and step into an atmosphere that can allow them to forget some of their financial problems temporarily. Because of this 'escape', people will continue to attend sporting events so companies are going to continue to advertise at sporting events. Companies will continue to put ads on signs, scoreboards, walls, and even uniforms.

European soccer leagues already put companies logos on their uniforms and the NBA announced last week that they are considering doing the same thing to increase revenue. This could open up a whole new avenue for corporations to market themselves. Can you imagine some of the all time greatest highlights getting replayed for years into the future and a big logo of Microsoft on the players jersey? I mean what if Julius Erving's famous reverse lay-in was replayed all of these years with the McDonald's golden arches on his uniform? This is advertising that could last a lifetime! I think this really is the future of advertising. I don't think it will look very cool but they will find a way to make it work. I think the biggest problem with it is going to be working out agreements with jersey sponsors and player sponsors. For example, if a team is sponsored by Dell but an individual player on that team endorses Apple. This could cause some corporate conflicts that I am not sure how these rival companies would resolve it.