Author: Mintel Group Ltd.
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Sports Marketing and Sponsorship - US - October 2010
Scope and Themes
 
What you need to know
The U.S. sports marketing and sponsorship market is highly dynamic, operating at a range of athletic levels, from professional leagues to grade school programs, and involves leagues and teams marketing themselves, as well as sponsors marketing their own brands. 

Driven by a wide range of factors—including the growing number of men in the U.S., dedicated fan bases at the pro and college level, rising ticket prices, increased marketing to fill seats at new stadiums across the country, and big-ticket games such as the Super Bowl, The NBA Finals, and the World Series—the market attracts national brands seeking ways to market their products. This report provides in-depth coverage of these factors, as well as close examination of the following:

●	the impact of the faltering economy on game attendance and sponsor involvement in pro and college leagues
●	the level of TV viewership and how leagues, teams, and sponsors use traditional media to advertise
●	how online and mobile programming are changing the nature of sports content viewing, sponsorship, and marketing
●	key marketing strategies by the top four pro leagues—NFL,MLB, NBA, and NHL—and how sponsors employ athletes to market their brands
●	which sports are the most watched at various levels of sport
●	which types of merchandise sports fans are most likely to buy and why
●	how fans interact with one another, with an emphasis on web media.

Moreover, this report features analysis of consumer attitudes and motivations towards sports and sports marketing.

Definition
This report builds on the following:

- Ticket Purchasing Process: Sports Events and Concerts—U.S., July 2010

- Sports Events Marketing—U.S., February 2008.

For the purpose of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions: 

This report covers the sports marketing and sponsorship market, with a focus on viewership through various levels of sports, attitudes towards sports marketing, and spending patterns on sports team-related merchandise. Related topics, such as national advertising campaigns, popular sports websites, sponsorships, and psycho-demographic factors are also examined.

Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices (rsp), excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated.

Data sources
Mintel's estimates based on the following sources: 

Sales data
Market size data comes from IEG, a leading provider of consulting, valuation, measurement, research, and training to the global sponsorship industry.

Consumer survey data
For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through Toluna USA to explore consumer consumption of/attitudes and behaviors towards sports marketing and sponsorship. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted July 16-22, 2010 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

Mintel selects survey respondents so that they are proportionally balanced to the entire U.S. adult population based on the key demographics of gender, age, household income, and region. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results. Please note that Mintel’s exclusive surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in our survey results.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (white, black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race. 

Advertising creative
All advertising creative provided by VMS, 1500 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. For more information or to order more ads, please contact the Accounts Services Manager, Ad Services, at 1-800-VMS-2002 or sales@vmsinfo.com.

VMS tracks competitive advertising content and activity in key industries across a broad spectrum of local and national media. VMS also captures and measures local and national editorial activity related to industries and brands to provide marketers with a unique view of the total media environment in which they compete.

Abbreviations and terms
Abbreviations
There follows a list of abbreviations used in this report.

3D | Three Dimensional
A-B | Anheuser-Busch
ASP | Association of Surfing Professionals
BCS | Bowl Championship Series
CBS | Columbia Broadcasting System
CNN | Cable News Network
ESPN | Entertainment and Sports Programming Network
FCI | Fan Cost Index
FedEx | Federal Express
FIFA | Fédération Internationale de Football Association
GMC | General Motors Corporation
HDTV | High Definition Television
IBM | International Business Machines Corp.
LA | Los Angeles
LED | Light Emitting Diode
MLB | Major League Baseball
NASCAR | National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
NBA | National Basketball Association
NCAA | National Collegiate Athletic Association
NFL | National Football League
NHL | National Hockey League
NHSCA | National High School Coaches Award
NSGA | National Sporting Goods Association
NY | New York
PC | Personal Computer
PDA | Personal Digital Assistant
PDC | Premier Development League
PGA | Professional Golfer’s Association of America
rsp | Retail Selling Price
SEC | Southeastern Conference
SF | San Francisco
SGMA | Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association
SI | Sports Illustrated
SMA | Sport Marketing Association
SUV | Sports Utility Vehicle
TMR | Team Marketing Report
USL | United Soccer Leagues
WNBA | Women’s National Basketball Association

Terms
Generations are discussed within this report, and they are defined as:

World War II | The generation born in 1932 or before. In 2010, members of this generation are aged 78 or older.
Swing Generation | The generation born between 1933 and 1945. In 2010, members of the Swing generation are between the ages of 65 and 77.
Baby Boomers | The generation born between 1946 and 1964. In 2010, Baby Boomers are between the ages of 46 and 64.
Generation X | The generation born between 1965 and 1976. In 2010, Generation Xers are between the ages of 34 and 45.
Millennials* | The generation born between 1977 and 1994. In 2010, Echo Boomers are between the ages of 16 and 33.
Matrix Generation** | The generation born from 1995 to present. In 2010, Matrices are aged 15 or younger.

* Also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers

** Previously known as Post-Millennials

In order to provide an inflation-adjusted price value for markets, Mintel uses the CPI to deflate current prices. The CPI is defined as follows:

CPI

The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.
The CPI and its components are typically used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. Examples of series adjusted by the CPI include retail sales, hourly and weekly earnings, and components of the national income and product accounts. In addition, and in Mintel reports, the CPI is used as a deflator of the value of the consumer’s dollar to find its purchasing power. The purchasing power of the consumer's dollar measures the change in the value to the consumer of goods and services that a dollar will buy at different dates. 
The CPI is generally the best measure for adjusting payments to consumers when the intent is to allow consumers to purchase, at today's prices, a market basket of goods and services equivalent to one that they could purchase in an earlier period. It is also the best measure to use to translate retail sales into real or inflation-free dollars.
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics definition.

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