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Marketing and Sponsorship

Sponsors Transforming Rugby Into Multi-Million Pound Sport

Sponsorship has "played a pivotal role in rugby union’s swift transformation" from an amateur sport in '95 to a multimillion-pound one today, according to Cave & Miller of the London TELEGRAPH. Between the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa and the '11 event in New Zealand, "sponsorship rose" from £8M to £29M, broadcasting revenue from £19M to £93M and gate receipts from £15M to £131M. The event has grown from 16 teams and 32 matches in '87, to 20 teams and 48 matches, and "the way broadcast sponsorships are sold has changed, with rights-holders now selling event sponsorships in advance and then giving backers an option to sponsor TV coverage, enhancing the value of a partnership." But the key ingredient is what MasterCard, a worldwide partner of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, calls the sport’s "incredible ability to engage and connect with fans across the globe." Former Ireland player and Kitman Labs Operations VP Kevin McLaughlin said, "Rugby has been transformed into a progressive-thinking professional sport." The commercial model of Six Nations Championship matches "is also thriving," with Royal Bank of Scotland agreeing in '12 to increase its title sponsorship from £26M to £44M for a four-year deal that runs until '17. The British & Irish Lions quadrennial tour, meanwhile, "remains the biggest rugby union property outside the World Cup." Standard Life Investments, principal partner of the Lions and jersey sponsor of the '17 tour to New Zealand, "sees similarities between that and its sponsorship of golf’s Ryder Cup." Standard Life Investments Client Relations & Marketing Global Head Nuala Walsh said, "There's a strong strategic, values and market fit. It's also about the hunger of the Lions to grow the property and their respect for the game." British & Irish Lions CEO John Feehan said, "We want sponsorship and partnership not patronage. Standard Life Investments is a perfect fit for us" (TELEGRAPH, 2/9). 

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