There is a new wind that is blowing in sports fields and stadiums around the country. Gone are the hushed attitudes and shaking heads when it came to the topic of sponsorship for the team or school scoreboard. An era of marketing savvy has entered the fray, along with a high tech look and sound.

In the past, many schools simply refused to include any kind of advertising or sponsorship for philosophical reasons. This meant that the school and the community had to come up with the money to pay for a scoreboard, and, that was the main reason so many scoreboards looked so bad. An electronic scoreboard is a direct reflection on the team, the school, the stadium and the game. When a scoreboard looks bad, it starts everything off with a negative emotion.

It has taken quite a few years for schools and athletic organizations to finally realize the incredible value of sponsorship. While it started out slowly, with just a few local companies placing their logos on the scoreboard, the concept has been catapulted into today’s world of technology. If you are still stuck in the thought process of fundraisers and fairs, stop right there and continue to read. Your world is about to be changed.

Many schools are including a sponsorship committee as part of a new scoreboard plan. They are arranging for permanent as well as variable signage and creating graphic design presentations for their local companies. There are various levels of sponsorship, both long and short term. The ultimate goal is to get sponsorship dollars to pay for the new electronic scoreboard and in return give value of support by representing the local companies that follow their school or teams.

In today’s high tech world, an electronic scoreboard offers a potential sponsor an incredible return on investment. The layers will depend upon the scoreboard being purchased, but here are some of the advantages that can be presented to a sponsor: Streaming colorful text advertising, full video advertising, logo placement, coordinated sponsor items such as cups, shirts, etc… social media feeds, smartphone view of the game, mobile app.

Almost all schools today understand that the theme of the electronic scoreboard sponsorship is to have the ability to get the sponsor dollars to pay for the scoreboard. In a very short time, sponsorship dollars can pay for additional sports and team related expenses and even some stadium or field upgrades, such as an improved audio system or lighting.

Putting together a group to work on sponsorship will involve members of your community or school: graphic designers, people experiences with spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, volunteers with laptops to do the presentations to potential sponsors. You will need to have nice graphic presentation bi-folds or folders and have the school attorney draw up a simple contract agreement. You will need to set up the payment requirements (i.e.: money down to reserve space, etc) and a bank account to deposit these funds.

From now own – you need to make sure that sponsorship is the name of the game and move forward.

Sources:
http://athleticbusiness.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=3898&zoneid=35