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