It’s a busy weekend for Irish sport with the start of the RBS 6 Nations for our men on Sunday and our women this evening, the throw in of the Allianz League with Dublin against Kerry at Croke Park, and National Swim day across the country on Saturday but the eyes of the rest of the world will be most focused on the Superbowl in New Jersey.
America is a powerhouse of professional sport and the multiple business opportunities that spin off from that.  The Superbowl itself sold out $4 million dollar 30 second ad spots weeks ago and the value of this one game to New York and New Jersey has been estimated at $600 Million.  That’s enough to justify having closed five blocks of Broadway for a week beforehand to accommodate a party.
The power of sport can be seen in the results of a forecast from IEG, reproduced below which shows that sports sponsorship is going to be worth over $14 Billion in North America this year.
That makes it seven times more valuable than the amount devoted to entertainment and 15 times more than is given over to sponsorship of the arts.
Not only that but spending on sports sponsorship is also likely to grow faster than any other category in the coming year, and three times the pace of growth in the arts.
The Irish sponsorship market is still being forecast by some to dip backwards in 2014.  If it does it is unlikely to be for long and when it bounces back sport is almost certainly the category that is leading the way.
IEG Sponsorship spending
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thanks to Sport for Business member Dermot Rigley of RTE for sharing this content.