Sports Events Sponsorship and Funding for Melbourne City Football Club - Case Study Example

A sports sponsorship proposal submitted to Gatorade In request for club and sports events sponsorship and funding for Melbourne City Football Club Executive summary Our club has over two hundred and fifty passionate players both male and female ranging from adults with a maximum age of eighteen years to children as young as six years old. Two of our men’s team and one of our female’s teams compete in the men’s and women’s national league respectively. Besides, our club has registered members who are not players is open for membership registration to the willing individuals. Each year we recruit more members both from Melbourne city and beyond. History of success Since its establishment in the year 2009, Melbourne City Football Club has experienced tremendous success bringing fame and glory to the members and consequently realizing the talent of soccer among the people of Melbourne city. Hitherto, our club is doing well and has a vision of doing even much better. With support both internally and externally. This only confirms to you that when you become associated with Melbourne City Football Club, you are associating yourself with a determined club that is destined for great success. Cover letter Melbourne City Football Club, PO Box 162, La Trobe University Post Office, Bundoora 3083. Phone: 1300-255-432 GATORADE Company, 555 West Monroe 1st Floor Chicago, IL 60661 Dear sponsor, RE: Sponsorship Proposal Kindly find the encased sponsorship proposal for your consideration Built up in 2009, Melbourne City Football Club is a football club that has developed into one of the most professional soccer clubs in the world. This club is situated in Melbourne, Victoria. The members of this club are an unmistakable asset in the sport of soccer and they compete favorably in the nation’s premier competition, the A-League which is licensed by the Football Federation of Australia. This club is manned from a certain facility which is based in Melbourne’s La Trobe University and holds most of its matches in the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, which is commercially referred to as AAMI Park. This facility can accommodate up to 30,050 spectators. Our club is also proud of an affiliated youth team which strives for excellence in the National Youth League and a National Premier League team which also competes in the National Premier Leagues. Initially, in 2009 i.e. the club was known as Melbourne Heart. It competed under this tittle in the 2010-2011 inaugural seasonuntil recently in 2014, when it was acquired and rebranded by the City Football Group. When you are associated with supporting Melbourne City Football Club, you are connecting your business with every one of our daily activities both on and off the field. We are devoted to giving you benefits through systems administration and promoting awareness of your company and social advantages appreciated by being included with our donning club. Any form of financial support through interest in the Sponsorship Program helps our Soccer Club to constantly enhance the specialized level and nature of the soccer projects and administrations we convey. By joining with this Club your business is advancing solid and dynamic ways of life and the "quest for incredibility" at all levels from recreational to the most elevated amounts of amateur soccer. We welcome you to be a piece of our club culture, one that makes progress towards accomplishment for every one of its players, individuals and supporters. Melbourne City Football Club anticipates a good and commonly helpful relationship. Yours Sincerely, Board of Managers MELBOURNE CITY FOOTBALL CLUB Sport property In 2003, after the dissolution in the National Soccer League, which was brought about by the Crawford report, strategies were put in place for a reformed and refreshed national competition to commence in the next season.The Football Federation of Australia, then, in 2004 opted for the policy of one city one team and further announced that Melbourne Victory had succeeded in acquiring the license to be the only Melbourne club to feature in the new national competitions, called the A-League. Besides, a 5-year moratorium was also issued to prevent any other extension sides from the eight original A-league teams' regions entering the competition up to the 2010–2011 season, allowing Melbourne Victory team five seasons to establish itself in the Melbourne market. An online competition held by Melbourne's the Herald Sun, in October 2009 gave the nationals a chance to forward their preferred names for the new Melbourne team and the suggested names published on the Herald Sun website on 13th November the same year. The four main suggestions were: 'Sporting Melbourne Football Club', 'Melburnians', 'Melbourne Revolution' and 'Melbourne Heart Football Club'. These names were given thought in order to come up with the best tittle for the club before the end of 2009. This activity was however delayed until early the next year because of AFL’s rejection to the use of the terms Melbourne, Football and Club in the name. The Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation then raised concern that the name Melbourne Heart was synonymous to its annual Heart of Melbourne Appeal, and filed a protest with IP Australia in January 2010. Melbourne club's badge was lodged to IP Australia the same January by the FFA and on 2nd February 2010, the clubs name was branded as Melbourne Heart FC. Target market Demographic Our club sports event targets different categories of people. Majorly, the most targeted group of people are male youths because of their passion for the game of soccer. Besides, this event of celebrating life also targets the female gender. In this aspect, the event is aimed at cultivating a culture of women’s soccer. This will be encouraged by ensuring enough publicity is done in accordance to the same. Targeting both men and women for this event means different tastes in product variety since men’s preference always varies from that of women. Since the intention of this soccer event is to help people celebrate life every day, we are also targeting people of the various economic classes irrespective of the financial status. Both the rich and the less fortunate are our target audience and the will be treated in equal measures. This in itself is a mode of sealing the wide gap between the haves and the have-nots. Besides, this will mean a variation in the type of brand products. High quality brands are favored by people of the high social class while lower quality brand products are a preference by the economy class people. Not to withhold, this event is an open day event intended to be celebrated with all the people irrespective of their educational levels. Celebrating our daily life means putting aside our intellectual differences and focusing on having fun to the fullest. This therefore implies that there are no restrictions to the type or level of education any individual has. All and sundry are welcome. The difference in the level of education means difference in the choice and preferences of the individuals. In the case of beverages, scholarly people will opt for certain ingredients in the drink because they appreciate the nutritional value. This is very unlikely for those who lack knowledge of the same. In a bid to achieve the intended purpose of the day, our club is targeting individuals from all the races. We intend to bring all the races in present Australia together and realize the sense of appreciating unity in diversity. This in itself will free the people of Melbourne City and Australia at large from vices such as racial discrimination. This goes hand in hand with religion. Our target market includes all forms of religions not leaving out the pagans and atheists. Different people with their different religions have different taste in the market. This in itself will lead to a rise in the number of sales and consequently making the event a success. Different religions and races have different perceptions of certain brands of a product. Keeping in mind, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, this means that those product brands not appreciated by one race or people of a certain religion will be highly appreciated by the other. Physiographic Under the physiographic segmentation, we target two categories of customer profiles. These are personality profiles and the lifestyle profiles. With this, people of different attitudes, lifestyles interests and opinions are a target market during the event. Some people may have attitude towards old brands of a product by viewing it as outdated. However, others stick to the old brands insisting on the aspect of originality. In addition, different people have varied opinion about a certain product. This in itself brings diversity in market products since varied brands will be purchased basing on the varied opinions. Usage Our target customers for this event will involve all the individuals ranging from heavy product users, medium and light product users up to non-users. From observation, most individuals are heavy consumers of beverages during a soccer event. This however does not lock out the medium, light and non-consumers. This is because the turn up for medium and light consumers of the product may outweigh that of the heavy consumers. Besides the non-consumers may just decide to give the product a try. This in itself will give trend ‘predictions of the product’s market. Promotional activities First we intend to Develop and nurture strong relationships with the media with an aim of maximizing opportunities for media exposure Melbourne City Football Club. This will be done though activities such as building a database of media contacts both nationaland local, so as to contact them directly,instead of relying on media releases. We shall also appoint a media liaison officer to develop and enhance relations with the media about MCFC. We shall also get to know our players and their abilities in order to enhance their promotion. The second promotional activity is to gain an understanding of our target markets of potential sponsors and know how MCFC can speak directly to one or several target segments. We shall research and acquire statistics about the soccer sport both in Melbourne and beyond concerning the fans and participants of soccer basing on the demographic data acquired. Besides, we shall get to understand the intentions, goals and target market of our prospective sponsors and merge with what our football club can offer in order to realize good results. Third, we believe good sponsorships with the willingness and readiness to implement publicity campaigns will offer MCFC the best chanceof success. We plan to approach our prospective sponsors with very original and creative ideas that are worth funding. Leverage Keeping in mind that our sponsor company, Gatorade is a beverage company, upon sponsorship our club will ensure your products are marketed to the fans and players. This will lead to a rise in the sale of your products. This will be effected by ensuring that all the fans who come to watch the match must buy your beverages as an entry requirement. Besides, we shall create awareness of all the brands of your products on the day of the event. Benefits of sponsorship Create awareness for your company We intend to negotiate a sponsoring or licensing agreement that will make your company an exclusive sponsor to our certain event. The advantage associated with this kind of sponsorship is a high level of exposure of your company without having to raise concern about certain competitors and the cluttering which is quite similar with the traditional method of advertising (Mullin et al. 2007, pg. 322).The exclusivity will materialize through advertising your company’s profile on our website, advertising it in the Club newsletters and bulleting and featuring it in event pictures and attendance. The sponsorship tends to pass your company’s message in a much more different and less official way just like the IOC designed an exclusivity contract back in 1988 Seoul Olympics to few chosen companies to use the Olympic rings logo on their products in most places of the world which ensures that the sport entities will use only their product symbols and not those of unlicensed competitors (Mullin et al. 2007, pg. 321). Establishing Goodwill Your sponsorship will be a very good mode of conducting business on a more personal basis in order to develop greater heights of goodwill with our Club. With the assistance of good hospitality and entertainment, an amicable business environment will be created between us which in turn will boost you company’s image positively (Mullin et al. 2007, pg. 326). This in turn will see the sales of the beverage products from Gatorade rise steadily. Give Entitlements and Naming Rights to the Sponsor Company Naming rights and entitlement will be utilized by companies in a sponsorship agreement in various categories in our club or sporting events. They will either be part of the soccer events or all the events for the partnership period which may include the facilities as well. ‘Naming rights tend to be the most expensive sport marketing investment in the current market. Besides, it is also regarded as the less utilized mode of sponsorship’ (Friedman according to Mullin et al. 2007, pg. 332). With this in consideration, we shall make maximum use of these naming Rights.These will include two prime pitch banners for advertising with the Gatorade logo on, you will attain the Team page profile, your company’s banner will be placed on our website,www.melbournecityfc.com.auand Gatorade’s company logo will feature on Club newsletters and other written communication. Besides, you will receive naming rights for specified individuals or teams (E.g. Adult Males, Youth’s females). Your Gatorade’s logo will also be placed on the chest of the players’ T-shirts, the logo will also appear on the members’ track suits, which is a rare to do activity. You will also receive our signed team photo. To add on that, the Stadium name will be changed to Gatorade’s Rectangular Park or a similar tag. The Gatorade Company’s advertisement will be affixed to every seat in our local stadium when our club is hosting game events. Also, our GatoradeCompany’s signage will be placed at all entry points to the stadium Relationship Marketing Since companies are currently involved in building a durable relationship with their customers and at the same time trying to find new and unexplored means in attaining new lasting ones too, Melbourne City Football Club will have incredible success results from creating memorable experiences that will translate into longer lasting customer relationships with Gatorade. Basing on Hardy et al, R. McKenna’s idea, our club finds a means to integrate customers into your company, in order to create and maintain some level of relationship between your company and the customers (Mullin et al. 2007, pg. 297). In accordance to Mullin et al, there are three major conditions under which relationship marketing is flourishing marketing approach. As heads of Melbourne Sports club, we regard this as giving Gatorade adequate space to advance in order to accommodate both new and old clients not forgetting themselves too in the process. Increase your Company’s sales One of the purposes of a sponsorship deal is to raise the level of sales for a company. Our Soccer Club intends to invest with the sponsor company and market its products (beverages) to the locals, the entire city in order to realize tangible profits.This will be done by advertising GatoradeCompany’s products and services on our website, in the local and print media and also selling the Gatorade Company’s beverages during our sports events. Keep up with Competition Melbourne City Football Club is ready to work hand in hand with the GatoradeCompany to ensure that the company and its products remain valid in the competitive beverage market. Building Gatorade’s Image When you get into a sponsorship deal with Melbourne City Football Club, we shall ensure that your company’s profile is high and maintained. This will be a two-way street for both the Soccer Club and Gatorade whereby your company, will be able to associate itself or its brands with the positive images obtained by the unique personality of Melbourne City Football Club. Our club will also market your sporty beverage products through our Social Media pages. Melbourne City Football Club official Facebook page has a reach of over 500,000 fans and our Twitter account has more than 5,000 followers). Budget investment and evaluation Adult Women’s Sponsorship This sponsorship is scheduled to last for two years at a value of $7000. With this package, the sponsor company’s logo will be put on playing shirts for one of the Senior Women's team. During the match day, the sponsor will be granted a chance to make announcements in the stadium. In addition, the client will also be given a ground Signage on the field. Upon agreement, our sponsor’s logo will also appear on our monthly newsletter and on our website too. Kindly note that a commitment to five years sponsorship would be preferable invoiced yearly at the above cost. Adult Male’s Category Sponsorship This category is intended to last for three years. The estimated value for thissponsorship is $6000. Under this category, the sponsors’ logo will be patched on playing shirts for two Adult Category Women's teams and two men’s teams under the same category. The sponsor will also have Ground Signage on the field and their logo will feature on our website. General Club Sponsorship Melbourne City Football Club intends this sponsorship to last for three years. The quotation value set for this sponsorship is $7000. This sponsorship entails taking care of the whole club at large and maintaining the club’s website. Upon sponsorship our club will offer our sponsorship partners the following favors: Hospitality for ten sponsor guests which includes food and beverage. You will also receive a complimentary match day program for each member of the sponsorship party. Framed team photograph for the participants from Melbourne City Football Club and a Match night photo call will also be given to you. In addition to that, a pre - and post event publicity in the local media will be made in honor of your offer. You will also be given a platform for public address and sponsor announcements and finally, you will be given chance to nominate a team mascot for your game. Male Youth’s Team Sponsorship According to our plan, this sponsorship should take four seasons, which means two years. To achieve this successfully, we suggest the sponsorship to grant $4000. Any sponsor who is in for this deal will receive the following as benefits to their companies. A pre-match hospitality for four sponsor guests and a post-match hospitality for two sponsor guests which includes tea, coffee or coca and some food. A complimentary match day program will be given for each member of our sponsor party. In addition to that, our sponsors will also receive a complimentary match ball, a pre and post-match full day publicity our local media, a match night photo call and a public address sponsor announcement during the event. Directory Sponsorship This sponsorship is intended to take a year. The quoted value for this sponsorship is $2000. This in return will be exchanged with a signed jersey and team photo at the end of the season. The sponsor’s name will also appear beneath the player or the manager’s photo in each match program and on our website page. A promotion photo will also be put in one match program and also on the website as a means of promotion. Website sponsorship Under this sponsorship, we have agreed as board members of Junior Sports Club that we require $100 as per our quotation. When you offer to give us this sponsorship, we shall place the logo of your company on our website for as long as our agreement lasts. With your sponsorship, which we believe shall be granted, we shall find ease in maintaining our players by keeping them motivated and helping them support their families. Estimated budget for our next game event Budget for the events for seven participating teams from Melbourne City Football Club. Expenses to be incurred T-Shirts for the players: ($6.00/Shirt x 77 Shirts) = $ 462.00 Presents and awards: ($10.00/Gift Card x 22) = $ 220.00 Rented scoreboard: = $ 15.00 Two referees hired: ($50 each) = $100 Total expenses: = $ 797.00 Revenues - Fees for Registration: ($80/Team * 7) = $ 560.00 - Fines due to misconduct: ($6 per offense) Donations Grant from the President’s Kitty: $500 Donation from the City Kitty: $150 Total: $650 Other materials required which do not need purchasing. A Scoreboard which will be rented from the local community’s gym Three tables which the local community has offered to donate. Seven chairs Two Soccer Referee Whistles. Our club owns them. Refreshments for all the participants and available club team members First aid kit which the team owns. Marketing plan for the club’s property. We intend to increase our property market for our products through effective awareness on the social media i.e. the club’s Facebook page and our twitter hand. This is the easiest way of reaching our fans. In addition, we intent to utilize the mass media fully to market our products. This will be done in the local and national television broadcasts and radio advertisements. In addition, during a match day, we shall be making announcements to the spectators through our football commentators and even banners.This create awareness of our products to our fans. We shall utilize our website for both online and physical marketing of our products. This marketing plan is in accordance with our mission and visions statements which state: Mission statement To successfully cultivate and develop cultivate and nature the game of soccer at a personal and club level. Melbourne City FC contributes greatly to the City of Melbourne through its achievements thus promoting the both the club and city’s pride. It also severs as a tool of connectivity among the people of Melbourne and Victoria at large. Vision statement Our club strives to be both an international soccer club earning recognition as a premier club in the Victoria region. Club members will provide outstanding value and benefits to the mission of Melbourne city and the local community, portray unrivaled pride and enhance good relationships with our affiliates and partners. Our club is therefore committed to utmost integrity in order to deliver good results. Key objectives. For better marketing of our products, our club aims to foster good relationships with the local community and Australia at large. This will be achieved by having a detailed strategic plan to improve the quality of our sport product. We also intend to recognize and reward excellent footballers. This is a form of motivation to the club so that quality results may be attained. Third we aim to build a good relationship with the city stake holders and our prospective sponsors as this will enhance marketing of our club’s sport property. Analysis Both external and internal analysis of MCFC is a vital procedure in in improving our club’s sport property. Two methods that are used are the PEST analysis and SWOT analysis. PEST analysis The aim of this analysis is to unveil factors which may either negatively or positively influence MCFC. The analysis majorly focuses on the legal, political, economic, sociocultural and technological aspects related to the soccer football industry. The analysis will also exploit the demographic and global aspect related to our soccer club. Legal and political MCFC is a non-profit organization that is regulated by Melbourne city by laws, the Victoria society act and several other governing bodies of football.MCFC therefore has to abide by the regulations set for incorporation of the club as well as financial records and the board of managers. To add on the society act of Victoria, the by-laws set include rules and regulations concerning the use of sports fields, placement of signage, noise control and pollution.Our club is also guided by game laws which are determined by the Football Federation of Australia to ensure smooth and fair play. The FFA in conjunction with its members is dedicated to promoting the growth and development of the sport property for all Australians at all levels. It is also committed to quality leadership and good governance for the sport property. Having this body to place, with the rulesand restrictions set reduces any form of legal ambiguity for MCFC. Economy In the current economy of Australia, nonprofit institutions have experienced hardships with budget cuts and the overall support. The count of grants, charity donations and sponsorships has also declined in the recent past basing on the current recess period. Though most industries are trying to slowly recover from the recession, nonprofit organizations are still facing a financial struggle. To add on the recession, MCFC competitions in 2011 contributed greatly to the economic impact on nonprofit and sporting industries in the Victoria region more especially Melbourne city. Despite the games having brought many opportunities to the city, the events had resulted in financial constraints and cut backs most of which will take time for the benefits to be realized. Since most of the debts have to be settled by the city’s government, this impacts directly to MCFC since the financialsupport available from the City’s government is significantly diminished. Considering that the residents of Melbourne city are of middle income, their earnings have greatly reduced with the city’s economic conditions. Although soccer in comparison to other sports in the city is cheaper, it still needs more funding and proper marketing. Sociocultural In this aspect of analysis, there are three areas to be considered. This include; the involvement of the youths in workforce, workforce diversity in Australia and environmental concerns. Involvement of the youths in workforce There is a rising trend of the young generation joining the workforce especially after the recess period. Initially most of the youths were overlooked majorly because it is believed that they lack experience of handling issues. This shallow belief can lead to tremendous losses in the intellectual resources of a sport organization. Workforce diversity in Australia Australia is known as a multicultural country. Managing a diversified organization is often challenging. Managers to the different organizations should attempt to understand their different employees’ heritage and traditions. However, the larger the organization, the more probable there is a wider mix of varying cultures brought together. This makes it tougher to be understanding. Having a diverse mix of employees or volunteers also brings up the concern of conflicting employee expectations from each culture. A good example, is the Middle East, where prayer is intermingled with work, politics and the social life. Western countries on the other hand are more into business rather than personal affairs. When a population is diverse, it presents a potential rise in the registration for football as many cultures prefer to play soccer over any other sport. Environmental concerns Most organizations in Australia are seeking to find ways to reduce their impact on the environment with minimal disturbance.However, it is not easy to distinguish the genuine organizations from the rest. Most organizations establish a corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and use it as a promotion practice in the marketing campaign. This practice is very efficient in convincing customers to choose their products and services as they try to find natural version of all products. An organization’s CSR promotion plan can include the following:how the organization is suppressingtheir impact on the environment, establishing partnerships with environmental groups, fundraising with a certain percentage allocated to benefit the environmental group. Technological The sport activity industry is mainly only affected by advancement in communication technologies as it is the only way that organizations can keep connected with their employees, fans and sponsors. These include the public media such as televisions and radios. The social media has also played a great role in communication. The use of Facebook and twitter is a faster way of communicate to the members and fans. Using websites is yet another way for online marketing and communication which has proven to be very effective in the recent past. SWOT analysis (SWOT), i.e. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis is used to analyze a club’s strategic position in its present environment.Strengths and weaknesses are elements that are internal to the organization while opportunities and threats are those elements that are external to the organization. Strengths The strengths to be considered by our club include: good experience of our senior coaches which gives room for quality leadership and training, proper retention of fulltime labor, high level of commitment from the players, the stake holders and the fans, a marketing strategy to provide Melbourne city with live soccer exhibitions to promote the club and gain awareness, having a ‘come one come all’ policy, having a reasonably priced registration fees and making recognition and appreciation of the local community. Weaknesses The following are weaknesses which could lead to poor sport marketing; lackof a marketing plan, a poor understanding of the target customers, lack of established goals (whether short term or long term), a poor formalized procedure and organizational structure and lack of funding (from registrations, sponsors, alumni, subsidies and grants). Opportunities MCFC ought to find ways to generate revenue in order to promote the image of the club. Opportunities to be explored are as follows: Creating a sponsorship package and approaching various companies to request for financial support Launching of brochures and pamphlets which focus on groups that are likely to support (financially and in kind) the club with its activities, and effectively market programs to increase club membership Creating a full time marketing and communications post could realize a valuable contribution to the club’s exposure and growth Actively participating in the Community open day to publicize the club and use the occasion to distribute flyers and brochures Offer performance incentives for motivation purposes to the most deserving assistant coach Issue complimentary products like water bottles, key chains and tags to create club awareness Request government subsidies or grants to aid in club expenses Get involved with Corporate Social Responsibility for utilization in marketing campaign Threats The following threats can lead to poor marketing of the sport property and failure of the club: Responsibility for utilizationhe image of the club. opportunities proven to be very effective in the recent past.cutbany alterations made to the Football Federation of Australia funding policies could negatively affect Melbourne City Football Club competition from other sports organizations for limited funding opportunities could negatively impact on MCFC Periodic conflicts with neighboring residential estates over noise could mess with the club’s ability to schedule its planned games and future expansions. 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