2009 National Games smashes sponsorship revenue record
Thursday, 29th October 2009 ~ Sam ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
A runner from Inner Mongolia wearing a bib sponsored by petroleum company Sinopec
The last National Games in 2005 (the event is organized once every four years by the State General Administration of Sports) managed to attract deals worth more than 360 million RMB ($52 million USD) from a number of domestic and foreign companies. However at this year's Games in Jinan, Shandong province, the Organizing Committee has come close to doubling that amount. They successfully signed 18 official partners, six official sponsors, eight exclusive suppliers and 27 suppliers, combining for the event's largest sponsorship revenue in history of 700 million RMB ($102 million USD).
The combination of the participation of many Olympic champions from the Beijing Games, the promise of improved government goodwill as well as guaranteed extensive coverage on CCTV5 (the major Chinese sports channel) meant that sponsors were clamoring to have their brands associated with the event known as the Chinese Olympic Games. This is all consistent with a trend in the sponsorship market in China, whereby sponsors tend to flock to big events and favor TV exposure compared to other countries.
Close to 11,000 athletes participated in this year's Games, the most in the event's history, meaning that the Organizing Committee certainly needed the financial support. They even accepted money from the tobacco industry but had to return it following an official complaint which cited the fact that China is committed to a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship at domestic and international events since 2006 due to China's membership in the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Money was given as donations by at least nine domestic tobacco companies, some with links to the Shandong Tobacco Group which reportedly donated 20 million RMB ($2.93 million USD), all of which had to be returned.
Additionally, the record sponsorship revenue haul of 700 million RMB does not include corporate sponsorships given to individual provincial teams such as Mizuno China's sponsorship of the Tianjin and Shanghai teams estimated at around 32 million RMB ($475,000 USD) per team.
Sports sponsorship in China continues to grow strongly despite the financial crisis and it will come as no surprise if the next National Games in 2013 breaks the sponsorship revenue record again--hopefully without having to resort to calling themselves the "Lenovo National Games."
Image of sponsored athlete: Sports.sdnews.com
Tags: marketing, National Games, revenue record, sponsorship, tobacco