Birchfield Harriers ask for help to sponsor athletes

Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham have made athlete sponsorship costs known to the public on their site, asking for help to ensure a handful of athletes receive some form of sponsorship.

The club don’t receive funding from UK Athletics or the National Lottery, but instead rely on membership fees and sponsors to run the club.

They have detailed the different ways in which you can sponsor the athletes in a shopping list format.

Costs have been made public on the site: Copyright Birchfield Harriers

“The cost of being a full time athlete does not come cheap”.

The club is currently sponsored by major company Nike amongst others, however with the lack of financial funding for its athletes the club have turned to the Internet in hope that others are willing to help their talent athletes.

Many of the athletes featured on the site receive no funding and are forced to finance their career through part-time jobs.

Those interested in sponsoring an athlete will be able to meet the athlete and watch them train at a sponsors event.

Not as expensive as majors, sponsorship costs are still steep ranging from the cost of kits to massages. 

Athletes who underperform lose sponsorship

What happens if athletes under perform? Well according to Brian Brady of the Independent 1,800 Olympic hopefuls were kicked off a funding program after falling below personal standards.

The World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) guarantees athletes up to £55,000 to cover training costs in the run-up to the London 2012 Games.

However the WCPP withdrew 1,800 athletes after they fell below their set personal performance standards.

Athletes pulled from the program have to now either gain private sponsorship or work part time to keep their Olympic dreams alive.

After having his annual £20,000 funding removed 4x400m runner Richard Buck said: "It's a huge disappointment. I had improved and won international medals". The athlete is now stacking shelves in Tesco to fund his training.

While some athletes lost funding through retirement, many have lost their funding because of injury or because they have been judged as underachieving.

Funding

Between 2009-2013 the funding given to help athlete training has sky rocketed to £264 million, however the increased budget has meant instead of being able to help more athletes fund their training, the demand for better training performances out ruled this.

Chart created with Chart go

The chart looks at the changes made to athlete training funds between the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

However the budget given to fun 34 Olympic and Paralympic sports in the 2012 games is £50 million short of the amount originally considered. This means that 12 sports have been considered as medal "no hopers" and have received virtually no funding.

How sponsors can help athletes

UK Sport have issued a document titled "Get Sponsored" which targets athletes who are aiming to reach the World Class Pathway, and guides athletes through the sponsorship process.

How can sponsors help athletes?


Money is often an issue when it comes to sponsorship, however there are many different ways in which a sponsor can help support their athletes.

The table shows the different ways in which sponsors can help athletes, it leaves the question are these forms of help more crucial than a lump sum?

Athlete sponsorship - the legal side

Under the advertising compliance law, agency Reed Smith have released a guideline that sponsors can follow when it comes to marketing campaigns surrounding the London Games.

In 2006 the Government alongside the International Olympic Committee passed the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act, which together with the Olympic Symbol Act of 1995, offers protection to the Games and their sponsors.

The British Olympic Association has informed the 560 UK athletes that they must sign a confidential rule book, titled the 'Team Members Agreement' failure to do so could result in disqualification from the Games.

The law surrounding athlete sponsorship is very complex and failure to comply with these rules can ultimately see athletes banned from performing in the Games. During the Olympic Games a team of 'branding police' will be checking venues to ensure that manufacturers logos are removed or hidden during the Games.

Kit

A strict clean venue policy has been enforced by the International Olympic Committee, which means that sponsored athletes are not permitted to wear branded sports kits which carry logos other than that of the official kit sponsor.

For example during the 2012 Games an athlete sponsored by Nike will not be allowed to wear their branded clothing, instead they must only wear Adidas whilst in the arena.

Athletes are banned from wearing any item that carries individual sponsored logos during the Olympic trials, events and pre or post race interviews.

If an athlete is found to be in breach of the IOC's rules, they can then ban athletes from participating in the 2012 Games.

Appearance

Athletes have been place under a strict code surrounding tattoos, haircuts, piercings or contact lenses. These must not issue commercial or political messages.

Any athlete who has existing tattoos that the board believe make political statements must be covered up.

Endorsements

Athletes have been placed under strict rules when it comes to mentioning brand names. Restrictions are in place to stop athletes being seen or mention sponsors such as Nike, Puma and Cola - as these are not official sponsors.

Under the rules of the competition, competing athletes are not permitted to endorse products during the period of the games.

However if an athlete is chosen to endorse products or services for a company, then these advertisements must be published either before or after the Games - and not during the Games.

Any competing athlete found to appear in adverts during the period of the Games may be banned from participating.

However this is one exception to this rule: well known former athletes. Those who are not competing are allowed to be featured during this time.

For example athletes like Dame Kelly Holmes.

Although no association should be made to the Games during these adverts otherwise this is an infringement of the London Olympic Association Rights.

Social Media


A social media and blogging policy has been created to help athletes understand the restrictions on blogging.


During the Games period (18 July - 15 August) athletes are not permitted to blog about sponsors or endorsed products, unless it's an official sponsor.

For example Usain Bolt will not be able to Tweet about drinking Pepsi (as Coca Cola is the main drinks sponsor)

Audio and video content from the athletes' village and any Olympic venue is banned from being uploaded to the Internet.

Athletes are banned from reporting on competition or comment on the activities of other athletes.

Press


Athletes are banned from attending any press conferences that have not ben arranged by Olympic organisers wearing official kit or medals.

Non-Sponsors


Sponsors who are not official Games sponsors are not allowed to advertise slogans such as:

"Supporting our athletes at the 2012 Games!"
"Help us make it a Gold 2012"

Companies are not allowed to use images that suggest an association with the London Olympics

As part of a promotion non-sponsored companies are not allowed to offer tickets.

A website has been set up in order for both organisers and athletes to report any ambush activities they may encounter. OlympicGamesMonitoring.com has ben set up, however it is inaccessible to the public and unauthorised users.

To protect sponsors brands and broadcasting rights, these strict rules will affect every athlete and business in the UK.

Athlete Personal Awards

Athletes under sponsorship from the National Lottery are entitled to apply for a personal award - the Athlete Personal Award (APA). This award serves as a means of helping to pay for athletes living and sporting costs.

Successful athletes are then compared to a number of criteria's - including the level at which an athlete is capable of performing - before receiving their award.

Podium athletes are then separated into three performance bands:

• Band A - Applies to athletes who have won medals at Olympic of World Championship level
• Band B - Athletes who finish in the top 8 at Olympic or World level competition
• Band C - Athletes who are likely to be major championship performers, but flexibility is given so that individual sports can set their own criteria. 

Depending on the band that athletes are placed into directly affects the amount of money they will receive as part of the reward.

• Band A athletes - £27,737
• Band B athletes - £20,804
• Band C athletes - £13,869

This system was first introduced in 1994 to allow a new stream of funding to support the UK's most talented athletes in their attempts to compete and win in the Olympics. 

The reward system begins on the 1st April and runs for four years following the Olympic cycle. 

Funding from the National Lottery

Over the past few years The National Lottery have been responsible for the funding of certain athletes. Funded athletes are given world class support in preparation for the London 2012 Olympics and beyond.

Since the funding began the National Lottery have been able to help talented Olympic and Paralympic athletes land 438 medals.

The National Lottery funding gives athlete three levels of funding:

• World Class Podium - this type of funding and support is given to potential 2012 Olympic medal hopefuls. 
• World Class Development - funding and support is given to athletes with the potential to be competitive at the 2012 Olympics. 
• World Class Talent - this targets athletes who have the potential to win international medals by 2014.

Support given to Podium athletes is set to be worth around £55,000 per athlete, and depending on the sport athletes working at the Development stage are estimated to receive funding worth £30,000. 

In addition to this all athletes in the company's sponsorship program are entitled to apply for a personal award - Athlete Personal Award - This award is paid directly to the athletes and contributes to the athletes living and sporting costs. 

All athletes sponsored by the National Lottery receive support from:

• Coaching
• Training and competition support
• Medical and scientific services
• Access to the best facilities in the UK

Lottery funding also contributes to living costs as they understand that athletes who want to succeed in the market need to make full time commitments to their chosen sport. 

Funding schemes run from December 1st to the end of November yearly, this allows UK Athletics to undergo assessments on athletes, which review both current funded athletes and potential new athletes. 

Athletes are assessed using an Athlete Performance Template (APT) which is used to measure a wide range of factors which contribute towards being a successful Olympian. 

In previous years the template has looked at the ability to perform under pressure and whether athletes are able to perform and compete in this years London games. 

In 2008 the National Lottery funded 33 athletes at podium level, however in preparation for this years games the company have doubled the amount of athletes sponsored at this level to 68. 

However overall the National Lottery back over 1,200 athletes from various sports and are supported by professional players to help reach their ultimate goal.

breakdown of funded athletes, pie chart has been created using Chart go

Who do Nike Sponsor?

Nike is the largest sports supplier in the world, in 2008 the company spent a massive $235 million on direct sponsorship. With this figure in mind it is important to look at how many athletes the company sponsor.

(source: Charlee Greenhalgh)

It is evident when compared to athletes sponsored by Adidas, that both companies have chosen to endorse footballers heavily, and play an important role in the sponsorship process for players. 

Who do Adidas sponsor?

Adidas is a major international sports sponsor, with its sponsorship budgets on the rise, it's important to look at how many athletes Adidas currently sponsor.

(Source: Charlee Greenhalgh)

The infograph shows that Adidas currently sponsor a wide range of athletes from across the globe, however these results show that their sponsorship of athletes heavily fall within that of rugby and football.

Olympic Athlete Sponsors

Following the spreadsheet which focuses on the sponsors for a selection of this years athletes, check out the graph I have created to make this information clearer.

(source Charlee Greenhalgh)

As expected the big sponsor names such as Adidas, Nike, Aviva, BMW, British Gas and Speedo are amongst the companies sponsoring more athletes in comparison to smaller companies.

How endorsements are helping top female athletes to cash in

In his article for the Daily Mail, Alex Miller claims that the marketability of Britain’s top female athletes prior to the 2012 games, has allowed them to negotiate endorsement pay rises, and also the chance to take on additional sponsors.

He states that:

“The highest profile female British athletes typically take on up to four major endorsements, each worth up to £150,000 a year”.

Jessica Ennis, Victoria Pendleton, Jenna Randall, Keri-Anne Payne and Laura Bechtolsheimer have been able to cash in on the games by substantially increasing their incomes. 


Each of these have noticed a major increase in their salaries from endorsements. The table below looks at the difference between their 2011 income and their 2012 income. 

(source: Charlee Greenhalgh)

This table compares the female athletes and looks at their sponsors, and how they have changed in the last 12 months. 

(source: Charlee Greenhalgh)

Jessica Ennis

Jessica's sponsorship deals with Powerade, Aviva, BP and Olay are estimated to be worth around £150,000 each. 

Her contact with Aviva requires her to only work six days a year, so that her training schedule remains untouched. 

Her kit sponsorship deal with Adidas is thought to be the biggest deal for a Team GB athlete, the deal is estimated to be worth around £320,000 including performance related add-ons. 

Victoria Pendleton

In the last twelve months Victoria Pendleton has been able to take on three new sponsors, which has allowed her income to increase by 50 per cent. 

Her lucrative sponsorship deal with Hovis is estimated to be worth around £150,000 - the deal involved TV, print and on-pack promotions. 

Keri-Anne Payne

Keri-Anne Payne's new sponsorship deal with Max Factor is set to be worth around £70,000 a year. 

This year female sponsorships have been significantly increasing, and these five women are set to become some of the highest paid athletes in the run up to the 2012 games.

Types of UK Sponsorship

The UK's sport sponsorship market is valued at around £400 million according to UK Sport.

Types of sponsorship:

There are different forms of sponsorships that athletes can receive, some companies choose to dress athletes head to toe in gear whereas others will provide athletes a place to train during the run up to the Olympics.

(source: Charlee Greenhalgh)

Shirt / Team Sponsorship:
Shirt and team sponsorships are the most common form, and are mainly used in sports such as football. For example Samsung Mobile sponsor Chelsea FC. 

Squad Sponsorship:
Squad sponsorships are common during the Olympics, examples of this include: Aviva and the UK Athletics Team. 

Athlete Sponsorship:
Athlete sponsorships are when a brand chooses an athlete to sponsor, which includes providing them with branded kit and training. For example Nike sponsor Wayne Rooney.

Event Sponsorship:
Event sponsorship is used when events such as football matches are sponsored by companies, for example the Barclays Premiership.

Venue / Stadium Sponsorship:
Venue and Stadium sponsorship is when specific buildings are sponsored by companies, and example of this is the O2 Arena. 

Broadcast Sponsorship:
Broadcast sponsorship is when sponsors cover an event that is broadcast on media platforms. For example Heineken sponsor ITV's Rugby World Cup coverage. 

Small Athlete Sponsorship Deal:
Small athlete sponsorships deals tend to help athletes on a smaller scale compared to athlete sponsorships. Deals can sometimes include places to train or kit to help them. For example a small sponsorship deal could be a hockey player receiving four free sticks a year.  

Olympic Athlete Sponsors

With the Olympics just around the corner it is important to look at athletes and their sponsors. It is especially important within this investigation to look at whether winning athletes gain higher sponsors compared to those who have just earned their place in this years games.



UK Athletics have become a popular sponsor among both new and experienced athletes. They work as part of the Power of 10 which is a program set up to help selected track and field athletes improve their performance for the London 2012 Olympics. Athletes in the program are then rewarded with gifts which will aid their performance from the group of companies that sponsor the Power of 10.

which helps athletes to improve their performance ready for the Olympics.

I have also found that while top athletes do secure major sponsors in the games newcomers have also managed to secure sponsorships with major companies such as Nike, Lucozade and Adidas.

A new lead from this could be to look at what major sponsors look for in athletes and whether their performance in previous games helps influence the decision.