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This study approaches corporate sponsorship of sport as identification rhetoric to further understand the relationship created between consumers and corporate sponsors. The focus is on the corporate sponsorship of the NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) Sprint Cup Series, examining how sponsorship messages utilise identification tactics. The study finds that messages rhetorically create identification through common ground and unifying symbol strategies between the sponsor and sponsored activity, and between the sponsor and consumer.

This study examined theoretical relationships between key variables of sponsorship effectiveness that include sponsor awareness, corporate image and future purchase intention. Involvement in the sport of soccer was also examined as a key consumer variable. Results suggested that favourable purchase intentions were more likely to occur when consumers held a positive image of the sponsoring companies and had a high level of sports involvement; and that consumers' sports involvement positively influenced sponsor awareness, corporate image and purchase intention.

While various scholars have identified relationship marketing objectives as a rationale for sports sponsorship engagement, analytic investigations of the implications of a relational approach to the corporate sponsorship network have been slow to materialize. The purpose of this paper is to advance the discussion of sponsorship as a means of industrial sports marketing towards a network conceptualization, which can be dissected from both the perspective of the sponsoring firms and that of the sponsored enterprise.

This paper employs an illustrative case‐based approach to the application of network analysis tools as a means of exploring the relationship marketing dynamics of corporate sponsorship portfolios.

Several research propositions and applicable network analytics are presented within the context of Formula One racing team sponsorship portfolios. The concepts of network range, density, power, growth, and social capital are explored in regards to their influence on network actors and prospective actors.

Though often neglected in sponsorship research, B2B relational objectives are the focus of this paper, where various evaluative methods are suggested and their dynamic implications illustrated.

By utilizing an international contextual case and explicating several analytic network measures, this research extends the investigation of sports sponsorship beyond the image and awareness‐based objectives that have dominated this area of research. This application of social network analysis to the study of inter‐organizational networks in sport builds on the discussion of sponsorship as a bilateral relationship and advances the dialog towards a broader exploration of corporate sponsors and sport enterprises as network partners.

This research aims to explore ways to build a corporate media reputation by sponsoring a sports event (i.e. a marathon), by examining the effects of communication intensity, CEO commitment and cause fit that are most conducive to helping a sponsor gain media reputation benefits.

An empirical study of 122 Chinese marathon title sponsorships is employed that explores the relationship between sponsorship attributes and media reputation construction from the perspective of cause-related marketing theory. Hypotheses are tested with hierarchical regression and interaction analysis.

The results show that a high level of sponsorship communication intensity, the proximity of the sponsor to a sport property, the level of CEO commitment and the level of cause fit contribute to the media reputation of enterprise sponsors. Further analysis also reveals the different interaction effects of technical fit and institutional fit in the process.

This research has practical implications related to sport sponsorship management for event organizers and business operators that seek to promote the healthy and dynamic operations of the sponsor market. Several suggestions for future studies and strategies to increase the media reputation benefits can be drawn from the results of this paper. Sports sponsoring is a process of system engineering and strategic planning, and the integration and coordination of various types of resources are needed.

This study advances the current research about the impact of sponsorship attributes on the media reputation of sports sponsors. The differentiation and exploration of the two kinds of cause fit (i.e. technical fit and institutional fit) expand the dimension of fit in the field of sponsorship. Furthermore, this research provides an in-depth understanding of the mechanism that determines the media reputation benefits that sponsors can reap from a property's activities.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the benefits of charitable sport events and examines how consumer involvement in the cause, attitude toward the event, and event-sponsor fit influence corporate image (CI) and corresponding purchase intention (PI).

The conceptual model developed in this research consolidates various constructs related to sponsors and events into a single comprehensive framework, thus offering an integrated view of the factors that determine consumers’ perceptions of a sponsorship and their attitudes toward a sponsor. Data were collected from participants in the Pink Ribbon Love Marathons (PRLM) held in Seoul, South Korea. A total of 650 female subjects (mean age=41.2, SD=12.5) participated in this investigation.

The findings indicate that CI plays a significant role as a partial mediator within a reciprocal relationship between participants’ event perception and patronage intention. Sponsoring a well-targeted event might have a positive impact on CI and PI.

What makes this study unique is the application of previous research examining cause-related sport sponsorship from a sport participant’s perspective. From a practical standpoint, the findings of this study reveal the importance of corporate communication in CSR.

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that analyzed use of traditional and targeted sponsorship approaches by eight companies involved in the 1998-99 Canadian Hockey Association women's corporate support program. The study found the sponsors used methods from direct and relationship marketing to support corporate goals of sales, advertising, community-involvement and brand image and awareness. Several factors are discussed that would improve the sponsorships' effectiveness in the women's market.

Sports sponsorship is perceived as important in developing relationships with key clients. However, few companies set relationship marketing objectives when sponsoring sports. This paper aims to examine whether sports sponsors are pursuing the right objectives. It concludes that a deeper understanding of the sponsor's relationship marketing objectives could heighten the sponsor's success, thereby reinforcing and sustaining their own relationship with the sponsoring organisation.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the sponsorship of a gay and lesbian sports event, and whether this differs from the sponsorship of more mainstream sports events. This is achieved by focusing on one particular non-mainstream sport and event, the Gay Softball World Series. It concludes that nonmainstream sports, such as gay and lesbian softball, have become a significant and legitimate, if problematic, cultural force and a desirable magnet for sponsors as corporations attempt to reach new target groups.

This study tested the paths of a structural model that was conceptualised by hypothesising that team attributes affect team identification, which in turn plays a mediating role in sponsor identification and image transfer from event to sponsor. A questionnaire adapted items from relevant constructs in past research and responses were collected from 991 conveniently sampled fans of professional soccer teams in Korea. Data analysis using the SPSSWIN statistical program (v. 12.0) and the AMOS structural modelling program (v. 4.0) found that the data fitted the conceptualised structural model.

The purpose of this study is to identify the decision making factors of sport sponsorship in the global market context using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).

To facilitate AHP hierarchy construction, three criteria level factors and a total of 13 sub‐criteria level factors were identified though literature review, expert panel review and pilot test. A total of 410 email accounts from global corporate sponsors were contacted three times to request on‐line survey participation.

AHP local weights showed that sport team factors were far more important decision making factors than the country factors and environment factors. AHP global weights showed that media exposure opportunity was the most influential factor followed by sponsorship fit, team image and fan base strength.

This study, the first to utilize AHP in sport sponsorship literature, examined sport sponsorship in the global market context by contacting corporate sponsors.