Sports bodies need new concepts to lure sponsors

Sports bodies need new concepts to lure sponsors

JAKARTA (JP): Due to the difficult situation arising from the
inability of the government to provide funds for sports
development, sports organizations are having to raise money by
soliciting sponsorships. The problem is how to develop a concept
which will interest companies to contribute substantial sums of
money for sports?

The question arose at the opening of the four-day seminar on
marketing and mass media staged by the International Amateur
Athletics Federation (IAAF) and its Regional Development Chapter
(RDC) in Jakarta.

IAAF development director, Bjorn Wagemann, told The Jakarta
Post on Wednesday that the seminar was meant to help
organizations to prepare marketing concepts and products in order
to obtain financial support from private sectors.

"The seminar addressed the needs of the 13 RDC members to
secure sponsorships by adapting to the varying business
environments of each country. We are open to their ways and ideas
to deal with these problems."

Speaking on the difficulty of getting sponsorships in many
countries, including Indonesia, Wagemann said businesspeople
still did not understand the impact of sports on consumer
preferences.

"In some countries sports are still not very strong or popular
and television stations are not interested in broadcasting the
competitions. The more attractive the sport, the better the
chance to attract sponsors."

"The seminar will give them techniques on how to get sponsors,
serve them and maintain them."

The Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) official
in charge of marketing, Ade Marni, said that sports organizations
in the country could no longer rely on the government for their
financial requirements.

"It is time for us to develop sports through sponsorships from
private sectors."

Linda Wahyudi, official in charge of media, said that sports
officials in Indonesia expected to learn from the seminar ways to
prepare sports news in more interesting ways to attract media as
part of the promotion.

Big business

One of the seminar speakers, Adrian Metcalfe of England, said
that sports in the 20th century has turned into big business.

"It's our job to balance sports as fun and sports as business.
With about 230 sports on offer throughout the world, we must be
able to create an atmosphere where people can enjoy our sports.
We must make our commercial partners and fans satisfied with our
products -- the event and the athletes -- and get them to come
back," said Metcalfe, who earned a silver medal in the men's
4x400m in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

Another speaker, Helmut Diegel, said increasing numbers of
sports organizations were fighting to get small pieces of the
sponsorship cake.

"This is one of the biggest challenges. Nowadays, the number
of sports organizations is increasing but the cake remains the
same; so everyone is fighting to taste a small piece of the
cake."

"Another challenge is that we want to see a crowd in the
stadium and good TV coverage. But we must think of their problem.
The number of disciplines, especially in athletics, is increasing
every four years. But the market and TV say the time to stage all
disciplines is too long," said Diegel, who is a member of the
IAAF marketing and television commission.

"IAAF also is urged to introduce a world ranking system as in
tennis. Everybody can say that Andre Agassi (of the United
States) is world number one in tennis. But who is the world
number one in athletics. In general, we can say Maurice Green (of
the United States) is number one. But he's a sprinter. How can we
compare a sprinter with a pole vaulter, or a high jumper with a
hammer thrower? It remains a problem for us."

The seminar -- attended by Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam,
Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and host Indonesia --
will end on Saturday. (yan)