Observer criticizes current sports sponsorship system

Observer criticizes current sports sponsorship system

JAKARTA (JP): Forced sponsorship, unprofessionalism,
hastiness, red tape and lack of entrepreneurship are the
Indonesian ways of organizing sports events, claims a former
marketing consultant.

According to Kafi Kurnia, former general manager of footwear
giant Nike Jakarta, claimed he spoke from experience yesterday.
He said sponsors often have to unwillingly sponsor a given sports
event because they get a letter or a call of request from top
government officials who they are unable to refuse.

Then comes forced donations in the form of additional taxes on
cinema tickets, tollway fees and other public service fees,
usually several months before the National Games, Kurnia added.

Kurnia was telling a two-day sports seminar organized by the
National Sports Council (KONI), particularly aimed at finding an
acceptable way to secure funds to finance the 19th Southeast
Asian Games next year, to which Jakarta will play host.

The euphemism for forced sponsorship is charity. Every time
there is a national or international sports meet, such as the
National Games or SEA Games, the organizers always ask the
country's prominent businesspeople for donations.

This is wrong, Kurnia said, adding that sports should be
treated as a business undertaking: its commercial aspects should
be exhaustively exploited; try to sell everything that can be
sold.

"Sponsors should be made sure that the event is worth
sponsoring. Tell them their sponsorship is viable by converting
the value of media coverage, public awareness and brand image of
their product into money. Tell, in rupiah, how the sponsorship
can boost their sales."

"Treat sponsors like kings. Don't just demand their money.
Invite them to jointly organize an event and share the profits,"
said the 35-year-old businessman.

But the problem with organizers is that they themselves are
often corrupt, Kurnia said. They use their position as organizers
to illegally make as much money as they can.

Hastiness

They, too, are unprofessional. Everything is done in hastiness
because the organizing committee itself is often set up
overnight. They lack good planning and preparations and this
brings about unnecessarily high costs. Compare this with Japan,
which took seven years to prepare for the 1994 Asian Games in
Hiroshima.

This was confirmed by Mohammad Dahlan of the Indonesian
Archery Association. Dahlan said the association took only six
months to prepare the world archery championships in 1994 but the
cost totaled Rp 3 billion (US$ 1.2 million). Vancouver, the
upcoming host of the world meet, prepared with only US$221,150.

Dahlan said the huge cost spent on the 1994 meet included
expenses which "could not be audited". He refused to elaborate.

To make matter worse, Kurnia said, permits for a given sports
meet must be obtained through red tape bureaucracy which, again,
needs grease money, said Kurnia, a former corporate marketing
officer of Hero Supermarket.

Moreover, organizers often have no sense for business, Kurnia
said. Once a given sports event is over, they are no longer
interested in maintaining a relationship with the former
sponsors. True business looks for continuity and does not have a
hit-and-run approach, said Kurnia. (arf)