Corporate Sponsorship and School Districts

For years, all across North America, we have seen school district funding fluctuate with the economy.  Loss of programs, overcrowded class rooms and outdated facilities have been just a few of the issues many districts have been facing.  In the early 2000’s, we really stared to see a trend taking off.  The success found for both corporations and school districts through sponsorship has continued to propel like-minded groups to follow suit.  

In the past many have looked at these types of partnerships with skepticism, most worrying about oversaturating our schools with corporate initiatives. As these relationships have become more popular, we have seen a drastic shift in perspective and with this shift has come a rapid increase in benefits for both parties involved and their surrounding communities. 

One of the trendsetting districts to increase revenue through corporate partnerships was a school district in Indiana. “The nonprofit Penn-Harris-Madison Education Foundation has signed deals that will bring the school district, which includes 11 public high schools in Northern Indiana, more than $600,000 in added revenue in the coming years. The district sold off the naming rights to football stadiums, baseball fields and even a music room”. (Chicago Tribune)

There is an undisputable increase in visibility for corporations within this industry and in turn a massive increased local customer base. The ability to tailor involvement and specifically target demographics, corporations are creating new exposure elements implementing more activation, and in turn maximizing brand awareness of products and services. Additionally, the corporation also gets real chance to make a difference by committing much needed funding to help enhance the community in which they serve. 

Back in 2004 Judith Thomas, marketing director for the National Federation of State High School Associations stated: “Corporate involvement at the high school level is about to explode nationwide. It is an unlimited, untapped market and it is in places companies often can’t easily reach (” Pennington”).

 In 2005 When Safeway donated $50,000 to a San Francisco School District after around 200 teachers were laid off, their Public Affairs manager Teena Massingill stated: “Giving back to the community is a pleasure and a responsibility,” (McCollum”).

A lot of times, when partnering with a school district the exposure will extend throughout the high school campus parks and facilities increasing the ability to reach every resident within the district. This creates a real win-win opportunity for quick return on investment.  Beyond the benefits listed above, corporate partners truly get a chance to make a difference by benefiting not only the community but also the students through the creation of scholarships, mentoring programs and increased fundraising efforts/opportunities.  Residence of the community (consumers) will take all of these elements into account when forming opinions about corporate sponsors.

For example, Sweetwater Union High School District, in the San Diego area, has made sponsorship contracts with nearly 300 national and local businesses. This money has gone directly into their sports programs, specifically creating freshman teams and allowed for intramural teams to develop at the middle school level, (“McCollum”).

Moving forward we hope to see this industry trend continue to grow alongside the communities they reside in.

Technology Game Changers

We have seen many new industry trends based on rapid technological advances over the last few years. One of the trends the team at BWA has been following through 2015 has been wearable technologies and real- time alalytics.  Over the last few years, leagues have really committed to being a part of the growing trend.   

NBA has partnered with Sport VU.  SVU is a high tech camera system, most commonly hung from above the court, that collects data.  The unique twist to this cutting edge camera system is that it collects data at a rate of 25 times per second, simultaneously following the ball and every player on the court. Sport VU has been installing their system in all NBA arenas since 2013. 

A front runner within the wearable side of technologies is Catapult.  It has been a breakthrough company with major investors like Mark Cuban, and multinational brands Adidas, Reebok and Nike. This micro-sensor (essentially) is currently utilised by over 300 teams around the globe and it provides a more analytical perspective in “real-time”.  When partnered with the visual assistance such as Sport VU. This allows sports scientists access to a full breakdown of the game,  player performance, coordination and a series of algorithms quantifying player interactions generated by the raw data. 

Another company to watch for is Cityzen., who develop smart sportswear such as the sensor-embedded “D-Shirt”.  This phenomenal “Smart Sensing Technology” has been utilised during practice, and has proven to be one of the pioneering garments within this new wave of technology.  This shirt contains textile embedded sensors measuring activity, heart rate respiration posture and more, truly living up to its reputation of being the “textile of the future”.

In 2016 we have a keen eye on whether this rapid data collecting and wearable's  will translate smoothly from training purposes and move toward other subsidiaries of the industry that may benefit from this type of “real time” data.  

Looking heavily at the stats for TV/sports coverage as well as more accurate data for the betting fans, it will surely be a matter of time before the correct deals and agreements are in place allowing extended outlets to capitalise on this new trend.  The benefit from having these stats on hand every second of the game would surely foster more accurate predictions for betters and sports casters alike. Alternative media as well as sponsors may also make a bid for selective data collection that will enhance exposure and fan experience.

Usually, we watch new technologies utilised by a team or league to enhance productivity and conduct sports science studies first. Commonly after this phase, the trend will trickle down to sub categories within the industry. We are looking forward to watching the direction the sports and entertainment world will embrace this cutting edge technology readily available today.