An investigation into the attitudes of specialist sports retailers towards sponsorship of local sport

A summary of the field of sponsorship in general and significant prior research is undertaken in order to reveal areas relevant to the specialist sports retailer's involvement in local sports sponsorship. Subsequently, a model is developed of retailer attitudes towards local sports sponsorship through application of the results of a survey of the sports retail trade. Results are statistically tested in a series of hypotheses revealing such factors as : the beneficial effects of sponsorship on the business; the perceived 'ideal' and 'practical' attributes of sponsorship; the constraints on sponsorship activity, such as finance and time; the effects on sponsorship activity of a lack of active involvement in local sports by the sports retailer; the influence of business size on retailer attitudes towards sponsorship; and the considered future support for local sponsorship by the sports retail trade as a whole. The model of retailer attitudes is combined with the findings from a small survey of local sports club attitudes towards business sponsorship in order to create a model of the 'circular exchange process of sponsorship', based on theories outlined by Kotler, Levy and Bagozzi in their studies of marketing transactions and transfers in general. Thus, sponsorship is aligned to the marketing of a saleable commodity, involving sponsor, sponsoree, and other interested parties in the exchange of a series of needs and wants. The 'marketer' is perceived as the sponsor and/or sponsoree, and the importance of giving consideration to the 'coincidence of wants' of all parties involved in a sponsorship programme emphasised.