The topic of sponsoring sports has sparked considerable discussion, with opinions divided between two opposing perspectives. While some individuals advocate for sport advertising, others argue in the favour of sponsoring drawbacks. I will examine both sides of the debate before outlining my personal stance in support of the former.
People who are not the supporters of sport advertising point several compelling arguments. One of the major reason is pressure on the athletes, which may increases because of bearing both the responsibility of brand ambassador and sport player instead of concentrating exclusively on competition. This lead to harmful affects on athletes’s mental and physical health, their performance are impacted significantly, adding more challenges to the journey of earning a medal. For example, Anh Vien, who is one of the most talent swimmers in Vietnam, being distracted and exhausted by attending at marketing campaign events in return for sponsoring during the National Swim Champions in 2020, lost her chance to archive the gold medal. In addition, many argue that if sponsoring is paid in-kind, brands might deal with hate raising from sport’s fanclub due to inappropriate products compare to the sport’s spirit. A relevant case is advertising alcohol beverages by football players whose duty is promoting healthy lifestyle, is the cause of turning sport followers into antifans for the beverage sponsors. This largely because sport audiences want provocative competitions and support healthy purposes. This case underscores the potential backdraws of this approaches in the perspective of athletes and sponsors.
Conversely, those in favour of sponsoring in sports present their own set of justifications. They believe that sponsoring can enhance the training quality for athletes, primary due to financial support. This perspective suggests that financial sponsoring allows athletes to approachs high quality training programs, facilities and healthy diets, which play a vital role in the success of a champion. A pertinent example is Hanoi Football Club which being sponsored by Saigon Bank in 2018, hiring one of the best football trainer from Korea then they became the winner in National Football Competition. Not only that, there is an opinion about the benefit for brand recognition by advertising sport. This advantages can be explained by the huge of sport audiences, brands can easily take advanatges of the fanclubs to reach high interaction for their marketing campains to promote their products. Therefore, the brand recognition can be developed and boost the firm’s profits.
While both positions present valid arguments, I am more persuaded by the view that sponsoring sports have more benefits than drawbacks, primary due to the win-win relationship between training condition for players and beneficial economic impacts for brand recognition. Nonetheless, maintaining a balance perspective remains essential, as this issue continues to evolve within morden society.