Sponsorship: More than a Commercial Affair

by Dr Primo Nebiolo

President of the International Amateur Athletic Federation
As our Federation has grown over the years, so have the financial needs and demands on the sport itself. Faced with the realities of a continually changing and commercially challenging world, athletics has made great advances in recent times for the benefit of the athlete and the spectator.

At some point, I realised the need to embrace corporate sponsorship as a means to better promote and thus better develop the sport world-wide, at all levels. Today, economical issues are a part of every sport, big or small, and I know that accepting these issues is essential to the survival of athletics for the future.

With a recent evolution of traditional sponsorship into a more integrated approach between corporations and federations, it has become necessary for me to get more and more personally involved in the marketing of the IAAF and international athletics. While the terms of each and every one of our sponsorship deals are important, I think it is equally essential to understand and appreciate, on a personal level, the people who support us. As a result, I have met with various leaders from the companies which support, or are considering supporting IAAF. Together, we have shared some thoughts, dreams and hopes.

While such an active approach has taken its toll on me personally and forced me to rethink the administration of athletics in the recent times, I have always attempted to maintain one simple principle in these relations: sponsorship of world athletics is much more than just a business deal, it’s a partnership.

It is with such a philosophy that we have proudly entered into agreements with our current sponsors: adidas, Carlsberg Beer, Coca-Cola, Mita, Seiko and TDK, as well as Eurovision, NBC Sports and TBS for TV. Now, more than ever, we hope to enlist the help of these sponsors to promote athletics and raise the interest and publicity world-wide. The new technologies being developed will also allow us to better activate these relationships and thus draw more attention to our sport and its protagonists.

Such developments mark the advent of a new style of sponsorship. With large corporations wanting more than the standard event exposure, we are looking at new ways to activate our sponsors’ involvement and, in the end, their investment.

Ultimately, we are convinced that such efforts will not only assist our sponsors in meeting their objectives, but will also place IAAF and world athletics at the vanguard of international sports marketing.

This foreword by IAAF President Primo Nebiolo introduces an article on IAAF Sponsors in the latest edition of IAAF Magazine, available by subscription from IAAF Media Department. To order a subscription, please visit the IAAF Store elsewhere on this web site.

Official IAAF Sponsors of the 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships.