Where are our corporate sponsors for our Olympic athletes?

One thing about Canadian athletes who are trying to be professional – they are a tough lot. They know how to make do with very little resources to train and compete at an international level. Especially, our Olympic athletes.

However, Canadian athletes, be it in Olympic sports or action sports, are the bottom of the barrel in terms of receiving coporate sponsorships. It’s a sad fact that many Canadian athletes do not have the same sponsorship support as the US athletes do. Of course, the government chips in, however the focus are on sports that have a higher potential of “medaling”.

But where does that leave the others?

It’s up to corporate sponsors to step up to the plate, as Clare Hughes mentions, our top athletes in Canada are “cheap labour” with the amount of support they can get for the return. Our professional and even amateur athletes are in a unique position to offer added value to their sponsors at low or no cost in ways that can produce positive results to a brand image.

Of course, Canadian athletes need to be problem solvers and use a marketing mindset in how they can offer their sponsors solutions to their marketing problems.  In working closely with athletes, companies will definitely see a strong return for their marketing dollars – notably in brand recognition and recall. According to a slew of experts, large corporations typically generate three or more dollars in new sales for every dollar spent sponsoring sporting events.

Hughes puts it eloquently – “…When you look at the millions and billions of dollars put into advertising budgets, the bang for your buck you can get for an athlete, especially right now with so much exposure in Canada, I think it’s very little money for what you get in return..”

I agree entirely with her.  With the economy coming out of a downturn, our athletes in Canada are in the unique position to provide great value for sponsors. With the high visibility that Canada is getting from the Olympics, corporate sponsors are missing out on a great opportunity to capitalize on brand recognition – before and after the Olympics.

Here are some key facts:

• Canada’s top athletes for 2010 are funded mostly via taxpayers dollars. They receive about $18,000 a year from Sport Canada.
• Own The Podium, a $120-million, five-year business plan designed to help Canada win more medals than any other country in 2010, doles out money to sports federations based on their medal potential in 2010.
• Of that $120 million, $55 million comes from the federal government.
• The OTP money covers athletes’ costs in their sport – travel, training camps, equipment and medical care – but not their mortgages, car payments or utilitybills.

I’m going to end this with a quote from Hughes – “Thirty thousand dollars. I’ve seen that number thrown around for athletes. For a corporation, when you look at a $30,000 sponsorship, that’s not a huge amount of money when you look at the potential return a sponsor can get in terms of exposure and internal motivation within the company.”

So, I challenge all Canadian companies to step up and support our Olympians. Athletes are not looking for handouts, they are willing to work hard for the money. And in return, your ROI will be tremendous!

Alok Chowdhury