June 10, 2009: Slight increase in spending despite fallout from cutbacks in automotive and financial services categories
For More Information Contact:
William Chipps, IEG, LLC, Tel: 312/944-1727; Fax: 312/944-1897;
william.chipps@sponsorship.com
Chicago, Ill. – Worldwide sponsorship spending on amateur and professional tennis tournaments, leagues and sanctioning bodies will total $581 million in ’09, a 1.3 percent increase from ’08, according to IEG Sponsorship Report, the world’s leading authority on sponsorship.
Pressured by the global economic downturn and fallout from cutbacks in the financial services and automotive categories, the increase is down significantly from the eight percent rise in ’08 and 10 percent increase in ’07.
Case in point: The ATP Los Angeles Open is going without a title sponsor this summer following the loss of mortgage crisis poster child Countrywide Financial Corp., which was purchased by Bank of America Corp. last year.
“Like other sports properties, tennis is not immune to the economic downturn. But the decline in spending by some key categories has been tempered by new money from both first-time and existing sponsors,” said William Chipps, IEG Sponsorship Report’s senior editor.
For example, staffing outsourcer MPS Group, Inc. this year replaced Bausch & Lomb, Inc.’s long-running title of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour stop in Amelia Island, Fla. and moved the event to Ponte Vedra Beach.
In addition, online broker Scottrade, Inc. announced a new partnership with the ATP/WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. On top of that, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB recently renewed its three-year old title of the event through ’11.
Internationally, BNP Paribas earlier this year expanded its involvement in tennis by signing official partner status of the Int’l Tennis Federation’s NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour and Invacare World Team Cup. The bank sponsors a number of other tennis properties around the world, including the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
In addition to providing access to upscale audiences, tennis has benefited from increased tourney attendance, as well as growing popularity among younger consumers, Chipps said.
About IEG, LLC
IEG is the world’s leading provider of independent research, consulting, training and analysis on sponsorship. Founded in 1981, IEG provides corporations and properties with the strategies and tools to harness the sales and marketing power of sports, arts, entertainment and cause marketing.
IEG offers services that include sponsorship consulting, competitive intelligence and valuation. IEG also publishes IEG Sponsorship Report, the international biweekly newsletter on sponsorship; the IEG Sponsorship Sourcebook, the definitive guide to sponsors, properties and agencies; and other industry publications and sources.
IEG also is the leader in sponsorship training. Its internationally renowned Sponsorship Conference, now in its 26th year, attracts a capacity crowd of delegates each year. Through its conferences, seminars and webinars, IEG has trained more than 45,000 sponsorship executives worldwide.
For more information about IEG and the sponsorship industry, please visit www.sponsorship.com or call 800/834-4850 (outside the U.S. and Canada, 312/944-1727).