ABSTRACT
While sports event viewing and attendance are well-established entertainment and leisure activities, viewing, attending, or listening to a contemporary sports event may feel more like a shopping spree. Many branded products and services have raced to sports events as a means of meeting sales, corporate, and communication objectives. Some product categories, such as beer and shaving cream, have traditionally been linked with sports. And athletes have historically been among the most highly sought celebrities for brand endorsement. What has changed about the use of sports events as marketing platforms is the variety of brands and services seeking to associate with sports, increasingly sophisticated marketing programs built around sports, and expanding budgets dedicated to sponsoring and supporting sports-based marketing efforts. Some brands now use sports event sponsorship as the brand’s primary marketing communication strategy. Cornwell described this intense reliance on sponsorship as sponsorship-linked marketing (Cornwell, 1995).
