http://renowriter.net/2014/03/18/what-d ... /#more-885
When a major brand sponsors an athlete or league, they trade a mixture of cash, product, and services(that have a dollar value) in order to be featured prominently in association with the sponsored entity. This makes business sense because both parties get something of value. But what does it mean to be sponsored in paintball? Do both parties get something of value? Is this a real sponsorship deal or just a way to move product and get cheap advertising?
First off, we need to break up the concept of a paintball sponsorship into four categories.
The Manufacturer Sponsorship
The Field Sponsorship
The Outside Business Sponsorship
The Daddy Warbucks Sponsorship
Today’s post is going to focus on the Manufacturer and Field sponsorships because these are the two most common on paintball. Before diving deep, lets look at the other two types of sponsorships commonly seen within the sport of paintball.
First, the most sought after, the Outside Business sponsorship. These are the heavy hitters or even your mom and pop businesses that see a benefit to reaching your fan base. These don’t come easy and unless you can justify how you are going to reach and engage 1000+ people within their target market(heck at ~90c per impression value think more like 10,000+ to make a worthwhile deal), this is probably not the sponsorship you are being offered. If, somehow, it is, a) congratulations, b) why are you reading this, you obviously know whats what, and c) have you hired an attorney yet?
Second, and the most common at the upper echelons of paintball, is the Daddy Warbucks sponsorship. These are the byproduct of some well off individual who highly values the intangible experience of enabling others to experience reward for hard work and talent. Or, you know, the person who wants to have some glory days vicariously through other talented individuals and has the pocket book to make it happen.
Honestly, I have an appreciation for all the Mr. and Mrs. Warbucks within paintball. They make dreams come true. But the other side of the coin is that they have a tendency to stymie innovation by throwing cash wherever they think they can get the most prestige instead of demanding a reasonable return on their investment. Again, this is a ‘ya gotta know somebody or be damn good’ kind of sponsorship and it is rarely an option most ‘ballers find themselves considering.
So now to the meat and potatoes of what paintballers call ‘sponsorship.’
The Manufacturer Sponsorship
This sponsorship is almost always nothing more than a ploy by manufacturers
sell more gear,
convert otherwise innocent players into walking free advertisement,
and lock in a few extra sales in the rest of the year.
How does this work?
Well, the sales representative offers you and your ragtag bunch of new players that you call a team an ‘entry level’ offer where in you pay at or near wholesale for either a soft kit(just pants, jersey, pads) or a hard kit(Head to toe, barrel tip to backside, everything covered). The hook is two part. First you have to buy in a minimum quantity(Normally 5+ packages) and you have to sign a contract saying that you will use/wear their branded equipment exclusively at all events. Should a piece of your kit look ragged, you are required to buy your replacement from them and should you be photographed(or seen by one of their reps) not wearing said branded gear at events, you need to pay the difference between your cost and retail pricing for all equipment you purchased.
On face value, this doesn’t sound like a bad deal. You and your minions get matching gear that has the newest goodies at a price less than retail and all you have to do is keep it in good shape and sport it during events to keep your side of the bargain.
But is this worth your hard earned cash? If you have to pay out $5000 for your team to be kitted out instead of using your dirty(but working) gear from last season, are you going to get $5000 worth out of the purchase?
Not happening.
I promise.
Never.
So what would be a reason to take one of these offers? Honestly, there is none. I have heard over an over that it builds a relationship with the company in hopes of future kick downs and goodies. THIS IS A MYTH! The only kick downs you will get will be table scraps left over because they couldn’t be sold at an event or during a season. Enjoy your pod swabs and barrel covers. As someone who has travelled the circuit as both a sponsored and unsponsored player, I can guarantee that you will get the same level of “swag” simply for asking nicely or even just for being there.
On top of the fact that you won’t get your money’s worth, the dark side is you just signed a contract that locks you for a year. New fangled jersey technology that you want to wear? Nope, can’t do it. How about a rule change that makes your equipment unusable? Remember that part of the contract that said you would buy from them? Yup, you are eating the cost. All of a sudden that ‘deal’ isn’t looking so sweet after all is it?
So why do manufacturers push this kind of ‘sponsorship’?
Volume and advertising.
Yup. If you were a business and had people clamoring to PAY YOU TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCT, would you say no? That is what a manufacturer sponsorship is. Don’t get it confused with the pro deals they strike with their winning teams, you and your merry hooligans are simply no cost advertising opportunities that generate cash flow.
But what is this volume stuff?
Volume is a way to drive profit margins. The more units a business can sell, the lower per unit price they pay. The lower the price, the greater the per unit profit. So even if they make zero profit on you and your squad, they still make more profit on sales generated by your incidental sales than they would had you not bought five more units from them. Also keep in mind that the wholesale price they charge you in your ‘deal’ is the same(or slightly higher) than the price they charge your local retailer. They aren’t even just breaking even here. The house always wins.
The Field Sponsorship
The field sponsorship is a different animal. It comes in many forms. The most common variant is that of discounts in trade. Here, the team or players trade labor for discounts on paint, gear, and field entry. The field reduces their expenses, and the players preserve their cash. This is the closest to a real sponsorship that most paintballers ever experience. I was lucky enough to have a field sponsorship that went so far as to pay my travel and event expenses while we competed in a national circuit. But we paid our dues. We put in hours of training and conditioning, we actively worked to promote the business and drive new customers, and we staffed during rush times and special events so that the business could be more profitable and not have to go through the expense of hiring and firing temp staff. Our professionalism and high skill within our market made it valuable for the field to be associated positively with us.
At most, this could be considered a bartered trade at the end of the day. And like it or not, that is what a sponsorship is. The value of the trade is directly commensurate with the value of what you, as a player/team, bring to the table.
The Bottom Line
Sponsorship in paintball for most is not the same as sponsorship in other industries. If you are new to the game, you don’t bring significant value to a potential sponsor. Put your money toward getting to the best places to get better. Get as much event experience as you can.
If you really want to start getting your gear for cheap, buy used off other local players or online places like ebay and PbNation. Paintball tech has not moved along enough to make a 2-3 year old piece of equipment uncompetitive.
If you want to start getting paid, or having expenses covered, start bringing in business to your local field. Offer them a system where they can track your referrals and in exchange they comp you paint or entry depending on how many new customers you generate.
And if you want to live the dream of getting paid to travel the world and compete on the big stage… work hard, establish yourself as a positive, talented, and professionally minded player, and take every opportunity to learn from those who are better than you.
More than anything else, winning will bring in real sponsorship offers because it makes good press.
As they say in auto racing,
“Wins on Sunday make sales on Monday.”
