The latest ONSIDE Quarterly Sponsorship Review found that while the rate of new reported sports sponsorship deals in Ireland dropped 19% year on year in the third quarter of 2020 versus 49% in the first half of 2020, these are ahead of declines of 38% in the overall volume of Irish sponsorship deals reported so far this year.
As sports events including the Guinness 6 Nations and GAA Championships shape up for a return to play next month, 46% of the Irish sports industry believe major sports events will proceed with reduced capacity of up to 25% attendees across the remainder of 2020, according to new research by ONSIDE.
The third wave of the ONSIDE COVID-19 SPORTS IMPACT MONITOR survey of Sponsors, Rights Holders, Broadcasters and Agency members of the Sport for Business industry group found that 7 in 10 sports industry stakeholders expect major sports events to be hosting 26-50% attendees by the first half of 2021, albeit just 1 in 4 expect venues to be more than 75% full before 2022 unless a vaccine is available.
Commenting on the impact of Covid-19 on the Irish sports sponsorship market to date, John Trainor, Founder and CEO of sponsorship analysts ONSIDE notes: “While 8% of sponsors say they have already dropped out of an existing sports sponsorship as a result of Covid-19, and a further 17% are considering stepping back from their current deals, encouragingly a similar 17% have already entered into new sponsorships since Covid-19 began.”
Trainor added: “Sponsors have been increasingly looking to renegotiate a revised fee as the impact of empty stadia becomes more evident. The numbers of industry practitioners considering fee adjustment approaches to sponsorship arrangements that are affected by Covid-19 have jumped from 27% in June up to 43% in September. All sides are sensitive to the unique nuances and evolving nature of the situation and the importance of managing an approach to this challenge that recognises the established and long term relationships required to make the sponsorships work effectively in the recovery phase and beyond.”
ONSIDE Founder and CEO, John Trainor
Several opportunities were uncovered by the ONSIDE industry research as potentially valuable parts of rebooted sports presentation in the short term, with rights including pitch-side grass branding and empty seat covers highly favored by sponsors. In-venue apps that allow for pre-order food at half time scored highly as an opportunity by 67% surveyed about how sponsors can support future safety measures.
Rob Hartnett, CEO at industry group Sport for Business, noted: “On the field, the majority of the sports industry surveyed by ONSIDE are optimistic that most scheduled events in Q4 2020 will conclude, and also encouraging was the significant 35% of sports sponsors that claim their organisation is likely to invest in cause-related sports initiatives and women’s sports in the next 12 months.”
The industry research found AIB & Musgrave’s GAA partnerships and Bank of Ireland and Vodafone’s most recent Rugby initiatives as the stand-out sponsorships in action over the past 2 months, with 2 in 3 stand-out sponsorships called out by the latest ONSIDE research being originated ‘locally’ in Ireland.
Looking beyond 2020, levels of optimism for recovery in the sports industry remain strong, with 7 in 10 industry practitioners expecting good recovery in sport in Ireland in the next 1-2 years. Concerns among sports industry practitioners for the wider Irish economy, however, are at their most fragile since the pandemic began, with just 4 in 10 optimistic about the wider landscape, and approval for how the government is handling the Covid-19 crisis dropping a significant 13% since June.
Below is a video uncovering the main insights in a conversation with Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business.
About the ‘ONSIDE COVID-19 SPORTS IMPACT MONITOR’
The ONSIDE Covid-19 Sports Impact Monitor is a survey of members of the Sport for Business community, including Ireland’s premier sports sponsors, rights holders and agencies. The third wave of the ONSIDE Covid-19 Sports Impact Monitor includes valuable inputs from 100 sports-related organisations, and fieldwork was carried out from 20th August to 4th September 2020.
About ONSIDE
ONSIDE is a leading specialist in marketing and sponsorship consulting and research services - With a proven track record and strong industry experience in a cross section of sectors, ONSIDE is currently feeding into the marketing and sponsorship decision making of circa €50m+ of Irish spend - working on many of Ireland’s premier sponsorship - on sporting, music, cause-related, broadcast and other platforms.
Interested in learning more about the ONSIDE Covid-19 Sports Impact Monitor? Fill in the form below for a call with an ONSIDE team member to discuss the findings!
As the dust settles on the recent Rugby World Cup 2019 and curtain drops on a decade that saw spend on sponsorship grow by 70% to over €220m this year, Vodafone Rugby and AIB GAA were revealed as the stand out sponsorships of the year and decade by sponsorship consultants ONSIDE and the MII at a major business of sponsorship conference this week.
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