Richard Batty’s research while affiliated with California State University, Sacramento and other places

Sport sponsorship is an evolving area of interest to both academics and business practitioners. Despite recent advances, scholarly reviews of sponsorship attest to a lack of underlying theories and conceptual foundations on which to base empirical enquiries. This paper draws from the economics literature to provide an overview of Transaction Cost Theory – an approach that draws attention to the costs involved in negotiating, retaining and monitoring sponsorship exchanges. The term “costs” refers to those characteristics or dimensions of a sponsorship transaction that make exchange problematic. From the perspective of sport organisations, three sources of sponsorship costs are outlined relating to the need for: (1) planning and safeguarding, (2) adapting and servicing, and (3) monitoring and evaluating. Transaction cost theory introduces implications for sponsorship relations, particularly with respect to the possibility for costs to expand over time, the consequences of sponsor-specific investments and the choices of governing mechanisms used to manage costs. Critiques of the approach are discussed, followed by recommendations for empirical research and methodological considerations using transaction cost theory.

Sport sponsorship is an evolving area of interest to both academics and business practitioners. Despite recent advances, scholarly reviews of sponsorship attest to a lack of underlying theories and conceptual foundations on which to base empirical enquiries. This paper draws from the economics literature to provide an overview of Transaction Cost Theory - an approach that draws attention to the costs involved in negotiating, retaining and monitoring sponsorship exchanges. The term "costs" refers to those characteristics or dimensions of a sponsorship transaction that make exchange problematic. From the perspective of sport organisations, three sources of sponsorship costs are outlined relating to the need for: (1) planning and safeguarding, (2) adapting and servicing, and (3) monitoring and evaluating. Transaction cost theory introduces implications for sponsorship relations, particularly with respect to the possibility for costs to expand over time, the consequences of sponsor-specific investments and the choices of governing mechanisms used to manage costs. Critiques of the approach are discussed, followed by recommendations for empirical research and methodological considerations using transaction cost theory.

Local sporting stadia exist as sought-after promotional platforms for multinational corporations to associate their brands with major international mega-sporting events. However, in conjunction with a global climate of corporate sign wars (Goldman and Papson, 1996) and the continued threat of ambush marketing, these sporting spaces exist as contested terrains where a range of power relations are effectively played out at the global-local nexus. In this paper, we examine issues pertaining to ambush marketing and the brand protection/clean venue policies employed by local organising committees in two case studies: the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 1999 FIFA Under-17 World Soccer Championships in New Zealand. We identify similar strategies utilised at both sporting events to protect official sponsors while discussing some of the implications of these issues on the lived experiences of spectators and citizens who are inevitably connected to the wider structures of power operating within and through these local sporting spaces.

This study examines the strategies used, and the challenges faced, by global sport company adidas as it established a major sponsorship deal with the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. In particular the study focuses on how adidas 'localised' into the New Zealand market, how they used the All Blacks as part of their global marketing campaign and, the resistance they encountered based on claims they were exploiting the Maori haka.