Impact of Sponsorship on the Performance of a Football Team in England

1. Proposed dissertation title

Analysing the impact of sponsorship on the performance of a football team in England

2. Aim(s) and objectives

The aim of the study is to evaluate the influence of the sponsorships on the performance of football players. Keeping this aim into consideration, the study is concerned with the below listed main objectives:

• To identify the impact of the sponsorship on the performance of football players in England and to find out their influence on the motivational level of the players.
• To highlight the major challenges that the football team of England is facing and their effectiveness on the performance of the football team.
• To investigate the main factors that are contributing to increasing the morale of the football team and how these factors are developing the confidence of the football players.
• To find out the recent development in the football game due to the sponsorships of the team in England.
• To investigate the growth of the football business and the progress in football as well as their impact on the football players in England.

3. Literature consulted

The football sponsorship, since the last few decades, has been taken as a widely used strategy by the sponsors to target the mass audience. The sponsorship is used  by the enterprises to obtain the competitive advantage. While on the other hand, it also serves as a source of motivation for the players (Pope, 2017). History reveals that the football matches are the great source of entertainment for the people around the world, especially of England. As the people love to watch the football and they expect great performance from the football players which would ultimately boost their enjoyment and entertainment level (Pope, 2017). Behind the scene, this entertainment source is coupled with different sponsorships.

According to Tom Worley (2016), about $57.5bn in 2015 was globally spend at the name of sponsorship. While the sponsorship amount in 2016 was raised up to $60 bn and in 2017 it was again raised up to 70%. While the trends of sponsorship can be seen in the below-listed figure:

Figure 1: Worldwide sports sponsorship

Source: IEG

Van Ours and Van Tuijl (2016) investigated the use of sponsorship in sports.  The authors concluded that the use of sponsorships in sports can be traced back to many years. As sport sponsorship not only leads the sales of firms but also enhances the performance of the players and encourage the team members to achieve the target of the match. The sponsorship of the team improves the morale of the players and they work to achieve the goals of the game.

Rui Biscasia et al (2014) in their article one Sponsorship effectiveness in professional sport have found that the logos and the brand names written on the shirts of football player do not associate the brand identity with the players that build a pressure on them to play at their best but also encourages their fans to sport their favourite players by using brand slogans. Therefore, this motivates the football players to play not for themselves and for their team but also for the brand, sponsors and for their fans.

       From 1990, the football matches gained the attention of stakeholders or investors and they are struggling to increase the professional football business in order to improve the economic conditions of the country (Pope, 2017). The scholars have given different approaches to market the football clubs in England such as cost-effective approaches to gain the maximum profit from the football business.

           Naidenova, Parshakov, and Chmykhov (2016) said that the football team of England is the metaphor for the structural and organisational change. They investigated the laws of the football sponsorship and their impact on the player’s performance. The sponsorship increases the football business and develops the football clubs that have a positive impact on the performance of the players as the players get reward or incentives when they play well which increases the element of productivity in their performances (Sung et al, 2016).

They also investigated how the sponsorship of the football team gives the positive outcomes and develops the financial status of the football teams in England. According to their study, the sponsorship increases the market value of the players and also increase the financial conditions of the team and in England, the sponsorship of the football team becomes a business for the stakeholders and they are working to gain the competitive edge on the competitors (Herrmann et al, 2016).

The people of England watch the matches of football for the purpose of entertainment and it is the limelight of the people’s interests. Roberts, Anderson, and Magrath (2017) studied the influence of sponsorship on the football players in England, in which he investigated that the sponsors are the main part on the football team and they have a positive attitude towards the football players of England, the sponsors motivate the football players and a great source of business development that is contributing to the economic growth of the country (Rohde and Breuer, 2016).

 Naidenova et al. (2016) believed that at the expert level, one can observe the structure of associations between sports alliances and regular gaming groups. Traditional sports team seek to participate in sports in order to benefit from revenue streams, including sponsorships, promotions, and tickets. The association of team motivation is likely to stimulate progressive eternal relationships, stable contracts, and group promotion in the field of sports.

Likewise, Rohde and Breuer, (2017) argued that professional groups in athletics are likely to gradually turn into the teams of sport, as players are involved, contracts of sponsorships are awarded and paid. For a more convenient presentation and motivation of the player, it is necessary to establish principles and directions that are practically non-existent at the moment. It is not yet known how the new designs and design of sponsorship would affect the elements of the sports team member.

      As for the players, although observers from sports competitions are not real gamers, most of the clients of the games and their fans are people who play entertainment themselves (Sung et al., 2016). Thus, the players who usually meet online at their leisure and begin to quickly finish a group continue to be the most important part of game buyers. Sports organisations and sponsors would benefit from a deeper understanding of how to improve the happiness of participating in recreational activities to attract more players. This circumstance may be questionable for the team members in sports.

          While motivation and performance of the team members are designed to be as exciting and binding as it would be reasonable for the sponsorship (Yang, and Goldfarb, 2015). A large amount of gaming knowledge depends on connections with different players who are not completely beyond the control of sponsors. The motivation of players is strongly influenced by their sponsors. Thus, the study by Amirnejad, Elahi, and Yazdi (2018) regarding the elements of gathering network gaming groups and networks is important for the distracted team member, because they can create progressive game conditions by controlling certain components in their entertainment.

2. Proposed data collection methods

The authenticity of the research study depends on the data collected for the research from valid and relevant sources by using the appropriate methodology (Bengtsson, 2016). However, the opted methodology for this research study is the quantitative approach while keeping the major focus on conducting surveys concerning the fans of football sports and some sponsors who offer sponsorship against different sports. The data collected through surveys would be the primary data as obtained from the direct sources. Additionally, for sampling with respect to the survey conducted, the investigator would employ the probability or the randomisation approach as a sampling mechanism. While the participants include the fans of football players.

However, the data collected through this approach pertains to all relevant information taken in the context of the impact of sponsorship on players’ performance, motivation, and confidence. While on the other hand, by conducting an in-depth study of literature and consulting the previous researches, articles, books, peer-reviewed journals the secondary data would be collected.

While during the data collection, the ethical considerations would be placed at the top priority along with the privacy and the confidentiality of the respondents. Furthermore, all the data would be collected by avoiding and not exposing the respondents to any sort of aggression, menace or biases.

3. Method of data analysis/presentation

Every research study entails a data analysis plan through which the data collected from primary and secondary sources are analysed and results are deduced. Therefore, this research study also encompasses a data analysis plan to find out the impact of sponsorship on team performance of England.

 By using the quantitative approach, the obtained data shall be passed through the SPSS software to deduce the results. Additionally, test for data analysis executed on the data includes the correlation analysis, regression analysis, and demographics assessment.

4. Specialist equipment/software?

The preferred software used for conducting this research study is SPPS software, which is considered as one of the world’s leading software used for statistical data to solve the research problems by means of hypothesis testing, ad-hoc analysis, predictive analysis, geospatial analysis and many more (Yockey, 2017).

References

• Amirnejad, S., Elahi, A.R. and Yazdi, H.A., 2018. A comparative study to identify a suitable model of ownership for Iran football pro league clubs. International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology, 7(1), pp.30-47.
• Bengtsson, M., 2016. How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. NursingPlus Open, 2, pp.8-14.
• Biscaia, Rui & Correia, Abel & Ross, Stephen & Rosado, António 2014. Sponsorship effectiveness in professional sport: An examination of recall and recognition among football fans. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. 16. 7-23. 10.1108/IJSMS-16-01-2014-B002.
• Bouchet, A., Doellman, T.W., Troilo, M., and Walkup, B.R., 2015. The impact of international football matches on primary sponsors and shareholder wealth. Journal of Sports Management, 29(2), pp.200-210.
• Flint, S.W., Plumley, D. and Wilson, R., 2016. You’re getting sacked in the morning: managerial change in the English Premier League. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 34(2), pp.223-235.
• Herrmann, J.L., Kacha, M. and Derbaix, C., 2016. “I support your team, support me in turn!”: The driving role of consumers’ affiliation with the sponsored entity in explaining behavioral effects of sports sponsorship leveraging activities. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), pp.604-612.
• Naidenova, I., Parshakov, P. and Chmykhov, A., 2016. Does football sponsorship improve company performance?. European Sports Management Quarterly, 16(2), pp.129-147.
• Naidenova, I., Parshakov, P. and Chmykhov, A., 2016. Does football sponsorship improve company performance?. European Sports Management Quarterly, 16(2), pp.129-147.
• Pope, S., 2017. English national identity and football fan culture, who are ya?.
• Roberts, S., Anderson, E. and Magrath, R., 2017. Continuity, change, and complexity in the performance of masculinity among elite young footballers in England. The British journal of sociology, 68(2), pp.336-357.
• Rohde, M. and Breuer, C., 2016. The financial impact of (foreign) private investors on team investments and profits in professional football: Empirical evidence from the premier league. Applied Economics and Finance, 3(2), pp.243-255.
• Rohde, M. and Breuer, C., 2017. The market for football club investors: a review of theory and empirical evidence from professional European football. European Sports Management Quarterly, 17(3), pp.265-289.
• Sung, H., Nam, C., Kim, M. and Han, S.H., 2016. The spillover effect of sports team performance on the value of corporate sponsors and affiliated firms. International Journal of Sports Finance, 11(1), p.79.
• Sung, H., Nam, C., Kim, M. and Han, S.H., 2016. The spillover effect of sports team performance on the value of corporate sponsors and affiliated firms. International Journal of Sports Finance, 11(1), p.79.
• van Ours, J.C., and van Tuijl, M.A., 2016. In‐season head‐coach dismissals and the performance of professional football teams. Economic Inquiry, 54(1), pp.591-604.
• Yang, Y. and Goldfarb, A., 2015. Banning controversial sponsors: understanding equilibrium outcomes when sports sponsorships are viewed as two-sided matches. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(5), pp.593-615.
• Yockey, R.D., 2017. SPSS demystified. Taylor & Francis.