The Right Partnership- what makes a good sponsor?

A few years ago I decided to make a shift in my life, so I retired and moved to Spain. Since I've been here in Valencia, I've done a number of soccer conferences with SD Europe, as well as trade conferences.

The most recent trade conference I went to was the World Football Summit, in Madrid in September. It was very interesting, with some pretty big hitters there- for example, Javier Tabas, the head of La Liga, was a keynote speaker one day. Sounders COO Bart Wiley appeared as part of a panel as well.

The show covers a variety of topics, all around the business of soccer. It's interesting, as a fan advocate and from the fan side of things, to be at one of these shows and hear how the business side of soccer operates.

One of the biggest themes that was discussed at the conference was how important it is to find the *right* partnerships. I didn't realize the size of the ecosystem that exists of consultant firms, marketing firms, and so forth; there is a whole subgroup of sports businesses that solely exist to help match up teams with sponsors.

As you can imagine, the smaller teams will take anyone. For example, here in Valencia, Levante went half of last season in La Liga without a jersey sponsor; while you'd think that they could get *someone* to sponsor them, since they're a La Liga team with international exposure at least some of the time, the reality is that many companies shy away from them- even though they could get a really good per-viewer rate- because they're not seen as a "big, successful club".

Levante were hungry enough for a sponsor that they were basically willing to take anyone. They got a sponsor for a single game in the first half of last season (vs Madrid, so it was a big TV game) and then as part of a La Liga deal with Saudi Arabia, they got a sponsorship with a Saudi mobile phone company (as well as a loaned player who got about three minutes of garbage time action in a half-season).

But many bigger teams has the reverse problem- they likely have many sponsors lined up to give them money, and instead they need to be sure they pick the *right* one.

Between presentations at the conference, I got to chatting with a couple of people who worked for a consulting firm that had been hired by Santander Bank. Santander is a huge financial services firm in Spain and is the 37th largest firm in the world.

Without really considering their strategy, Santander had wound up as the primary sponsor of both La Liga and the UEFA Champions League. This led to some interesting situations; Tebas flat out said during his presentation that while 4 La Liga teams participate in CL every year, La Liga still considers CL to be a competitor.

The consulting firm was brought in to help sort the situation out and make the most of the deals from Santander's point of view without trashing their relationship with either league. The consultants told me that in hindsight, one of the leagues probably shouldn't have taken Santander as their sponsor, even though they offered a LOT of money. And, they said, Santander should not have sponsored both leagues.

They also said that a big part of their growing business is consulting with clubs to help them find the right sponsors. (In other words, they're willing to work for either side- basically anyone who'll pay their consulting fees!)

What I found surprising is that the consultants said that clubs find themselves getting wrapped up with partnerships that, at times, they wish they hadn't taken on.

They naturally want to get the most money, but the reality is that sometimes being with a "bigger brand" for less money actually helps them more.

The sponsor becomes such a part of the identity of a club that we don't even realize it- and thus, making sure that the name on the jersey connects with the viewer is really more important than clubs have traditionally thought.

It is not just a matter of taking the most money; it is a matter of picking someone that fits in with YOUR club's brand. Real Madrid aren't going to take on Ryanair as a sponsor, because Ryanair are seen (here in Europe, anyway) as a bargain-basement operation, a crappy flying experience and just who you take if you want to be as cheap as possible and save as much money as possible.

Ryanair are not a professional, sharp organization; if they come to Real Madrid and offer 10% more than what Emirates is paying, the consultants say that in the old days RM would take the money.They said that today, though, it's less likely.

That said, of course within that elite set of companies a team is going to try and take the highest bidder!

I mention all this (talk about burying the lede) because the Sounders are getting a new sponsor, and since we don't know the money side, we'll probably kill a lot of electrons discussing whether we like who the new company is.

Let's be clear: the main thing that makes a sponsorship is getting the money. Clubs sell that jersey space because they want and need revenue.

If someone offers you enough money that you get a Raul Ruidiaz and Nico Lodeiro instead of, I dunno, a Kevin Doyle and Gabriel Torres, that's a pretty big chunk of money. You're not going to discount your shirt sponsorship by, say, 40% or 50%.

Unfortunately, since we have no idea how much the Club was getting from Xbox, or how much they've been offered by various companies since then, and how much they're getting from their new sponsor, we don't really have the main information we need to judge that part of things.

In that vacuum, then, the discussion will be whether the sponsor is "cool" or fits the Club, which is a way of discussing whether it's one that ultimately adds to the overall image of the our Club, or if it's just a money deal.

But look at it this way: looking back at past sponsors, would you rather be the Sounders with Xbox, or the Galaxy with Herbalife (a pyramid scheme organization), or have some small regional company, like the Revs or Orlando with regional healthcare companies?