Sports Sponsorship Quotes

Whatever doesn’t kill you only serves to make you stronger. And in the grand scheme of life, I had survived and grown stronger, at least mentally, if not physically. I had come within an inch of losing all my movement and, by the grace of God, still lived to tell the tale. I had learned so much, but above all, I had gained an understanding of the cards I had been playing with. The problem now was that I had no job and no income. Earning a living and following your heart can so often pull you in different directions, and I knew I wasn’t the first person to feel that strain. My decision to climb Everest was a bit of a “do or die” mission. If I climbed it and became one of the youngest climbers ever to have reached the summit, then I had at least a sporting chance of getting some sort of job in the expedition world afterward--either doing talks or leading treks. I would be able to use it as a springboard to raise sponsorship to do some other expeditions. But on the other hand, if I failed, I would either be dead on the mountain or back home and broke--with no job and no qualifications. The reality was that it wasn’t a hard decision for me to make. Deep down in my bones, I just knew it was the right thing to do: to go for it. Plus I have never been one to be too scared of that old imposter: failure. I had never climbed for people’s admiration; I had always climbed because I was half-decent at it--and now I had an avenue, through Everest, to explore that talent further. I also figured that if I failed, well at least I would fail while attempting something big and bold. I liked that. What’s more, if I could start a part-time university degree course at the same time (to be done by e-mail from Everest), then whatever the outcome on the mountain, at least I had an opening back at M15. (It’s sometimes good to not entirely burn all your bridges.)

On top of the potential for restructuring the business, there are significant bloated costs to trim. General Insurance is paying for expensive sponsorship deals with sports teams that offer little benefit. It needlessly maintains two Gulfstream private jets. Some managers work four days a week because their workloads are perennially light. Bonus plans have targets that are far too easy to meet. Pensions are inexplicably overfunded, and the company’s contributions to pension programs can be scaled back to the lower end of targets set by regulators. The IT department is overstaffed and full of pet projects that the business will never realize value from. Low-grade IT can be outsourced to Asia.

Aufgabe des Ökonomen ist es nicht, über die grundsätzliche Wahrscheinlichkeit, mit der sportliche Talente die in sie gesetzten Erwartungen erfüllen, zu befinden, sondern ebendiese durch eine leistungsorientierte Vergütung zu erhöhen.

Der Randsport ist gemessen am Massensport ein schweres Brot. Und wenn der Markt die Leistung einer Randsportart faktisch ignoriert, nichts davon wissen will, welche Qualen Kunstturnerinnen etwa leiden, lässt das aufhorchen, gibt das noch jedem Ökonomen der Welt zu denken.

Die ausgetretenen Pfade verlässt bloß, wer Randsportarten aufwertet, ohne dabei den Massensportarten Abtrag zu tun und sie unbotmäßig in Misskredit zu bringen.

Pat Riley called this our “disease of more.” Across his career, where he racked up eight NBA championship titles as a coach or GM, he noticed that championship teams across sports usually fail to win again the next year. “Success,” he wrote, “is often the first step toward disaster.” At first, pro athletes just want more wins. But once they win a championship, “more” shifts. They begin to focus their attention on a newly perceived scarcity. They now want more sponsorships, more playing time, more money, more individual recognition.

SBJ Atlas is a sponsorship prospecting engine created by Sports Business Journal, the most trusted source for sports industry news and networking. Combining curated insights from SBJ’s editorial team, sponsorship analysis by the industry’s top data providers and comprehensive industry mapping, SBJ Atlas is unmatched as a first stop for sports industry intelligence.