Are we on the verge of a sell out?

Is there any real difference between “sponsorship” and “media advertising”?

I SURE HOPE SO.

Is a generic banner ad on a team Website just as good as an integrated, online / offline “sponsorship”?

THERE’S A HUGE DIFFERENCE!

(By the way, this post is not about tickets. It’s about Web site revenues).

I believe team Web sites are among the most undervalued assets in sports, both by sponsors and the many teams themselves. This is unfortunate, but certainly not impossible to solve.

Three things we could do about it:

1. Teams need to learn to value visitors from out of their local markets – We know what to do with local fans (sell tickets), but we’re not too sure how to make money from fans outside our markets. Colts.com, for example, draws 7.5 million visitors each year, and 3/4 are from outside our home state. What is our revenue per unique visitor?? What if we could make $1 per visitor per year in sponsorship revenues? Very quickly our Website would become the single biggest sponsor asset in our portfolio…even before counting money from E commerce (i.e. merchandise sales).

2. Teach sponsors to think of teams as MORE than just local or at best regional marketing channels - We need to get ourselves and our partners out out of the “stadium” mindset. You don’t have to live in the market to be a fan anymore!! We are not JUST a local event. We are an international affiinity group. A CAUSE. Local pays the bills for now, but the really big opportunity for both teams and sponsors is on the national front. This is virgin territory. Blue sky. Untapped. AND LARGE!

3. Changing the way we think about team sites requires, well, changing the way we think – period – before humans will change behavior we FIRST must change the way we think…so you can see the dilemma.

Many advertisers are making BANNER ADS the focal point their online marketing programs. And why not? Banner ads are easy. And theyr’re easy for teams too. They’re just like signs. We know how to sell signs and our sponsors know how to buy ‘em.

However, I believe an overemphasis on banner ads will lead to undervaluing our online assets, limit our revenue potential and do a disservice to our sponsors. Banners are bought and sold on a CPM basis. The more eyeballs the better. These decisons are made buy media planners and media buyers. If we only call on media buyer and sell banner ads at CPM, we risk becoming a commodity in the media marketplace.

Please don’t get me wrong. Banners ads belong in the mix, but in order to realize the full value of our sites, I think teams should focus on building partnerships corporate sponsors. Most teams are quite good at selling radio and print elements inside sponsorship packages for prices that far exceed standard media pricing. And sponsors gladly pay these prices because they know that they’re getting maximun value.

Sponsorship is not the same as media…online or off!!

Yes, you can add media elements to your sponsorship package, but just because you buy a banner ad to promote your product doesn’t make you a sponsor.

Sponsors look to add value to the fan experience and benefit from the goodwill such participation creates. That’s what makes the team valuable…we are the conduit that connects the sponsor to the fan. And our websites magnify exponentially the number of connections that can be made.

Fans care deeply about their favorite teams. These fans are frequent visitors to team Websites. The fans consume the content, use the services and join our online and offline communities. Fans may visit many sports sitess, but there is no substitute (in the fans’ minds and hearts) for the Official Team Site.

So instead of just running a banner, sponsors should consider presenting the most popular content or experiential elements of the team sites.

Here’s a really good example: www.mycolts.net/att