Australia and New Zealand have combined to spend $880M on sports sponsorship, a study by Int'l Marketing Reports has found. The report lists and analyzes 1,405 deals in Australia and 257 in New Zealand. It estimates the value of sponsorships at $735M in Australia and $145M in New Zealand. Relative to GDP, the report says that sponsorship spend levels compare favorably with other developed nations. The 129-page report said that Australian rules football is the biggest recipient of corporate backing with $136M spent by sponsors annually. Rugby union is second at $105M, followed by rugby league ($90M) and motorsport ($77M). Football, cricket and tennis were the next three sports in line. Report author Simon Rines said, "Rugby union's high showing is down to the very large deals achieved by the All Blacks in New Zealand. Adidas pays in the region of $25M per year, and AIG, the shirt sponsor, $12.4M." Analysis of the data shows that in Australia, the profile of sponsorship differs from other Western economies. Rines: "In most countries the financial service sector is by far the dominant player in sponsorship, typically accounting for between 20% and 25% of total spend. In Australia, it is only 13.4%. Similarly, telecommunications is normally another major investor, but again, in Australia, Telstra's rugby league title sponsorship, at $21 million, is the only deal of major significance, and the sector is worth just 5.6% of the total." Instead, the car (13.2%), alcohol (7.4%), government (6.1%) and soft drinks (6%) industries contribute higher levels than in most countries. The report suggests that the recent reports of illegal doping and links to organized crime have not yet hit sponsorship in Australia. Rines said, "Many of the sponsors are still waiting to see how this will unfold. Because the sponsors are contracted over a number of years, it is a big decision to terminate the agreements" (IMR).
