posted Sep 11th, 2011 - The August issue of the Blue Skies Mag (#23) featured the next piece of the "Turning Points" series. It was the 7th contribution from the Formation Skydiving competition community by the NSL News and for the comprehensive Blue Skies Mag coverage of the whole skydiving world.

The article in the June issue had promoted recreational 4way competition and pointed out that it does not always have to be so serious. The NSL News then covered the World Cup 2011 extensively and live from the event site. A different perspective will soon follow in the Blue Skies Mag.

In the meantime, the piece in the August issue covered a part of skydiving competition that has become more and more important. Teams and competitors often need external support if they want to get to the very top of any leaderboard. It's about sponsorships and the difficulties in finding and opening up financial resources. This topic comes in two pieces, and it begins with a brief evaluation.

Show me the Money

Open Thoughts about Sponsorships

More and more teams and competitors have been asking drop zones for sponsorships. They see that the top athletes in the sport are getting a lot of support, like free jumps, free pack jobs, free videographers, travel expenses, or even more. Logically, they follow the examples of their role models and start their own inquiries and "marketing campaigns".

On the other side, drop zones complain about the burden of having to sponsor teams if they want to keep up with the competing drop zones. Many want and need the team business to keep the drop zone busy, at least to start the day and fill the slots in the planes that get the tandem passengers in the air. They understand that top teams and competitors can be good messengers and attract even more teams and other drop zone business. However, they still have to run a business and pay the bills.

What's the solution for both sides?

Sponsorship

In sports business, a sponsor is "a firm that pays a performer for a program that allots some time to advertising its product" (source: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary). There are probably better definitions for this magic word. Translated to our sport a sponsor is a drop zone or a company of the skydiving industry that supports the "performer", a team or competitor. The "performer" is supposed to "advertise the product" in the sponsorship program.

Skydiving Industry Sponsorship

The parachute manufacturers usually make their logo or brand name visible on the canopy, and you can see many patches and embroideries on jumpsuits and helmets. This situation usually occurs when teams and competitors successfully solicit for free equipment or discounts. The sponsor usually does not ask for much more than exclusive usage of the equipment and attend events – the more the better.

Drop Zone Sponsorship

Teams and competitors approach the drop zone operators and ask for special deals, beginning with cheaper rates and up to free jumps, pack jobs, video, registration fees, travel expenses, even payments on the very top. The drop zone operators have to decide how much they can or want to invest. The pressure is high since the competition is strong. However, the drop zones usually don't appreciate any financial pressure. Often they respond to those kind of requests with the advice to look for support in the skydiving industry or in the corporate world. Sometimes they ask the solicitor for a proposal with activities that generate new or more business.

Corporate Sponsorship

Achieving corporate sponsorship requires the most work for the soliciting teams and competitors. Once in a while, you can see a parachute with a corporate logo. Teams and competitors succeed only very randomly in convincing a company to invest some money, even though many corporations have piled up large amounts of cash these days. The big corporations are usually not greatly interested in spending money for skydiving sponsorships. It is often difficult for teams and competitors to understand a negative decision, as we feel like we have so much to offer, that we are training so hard and deserve the support so badly.

Main Question

So, why are the companies not interested? Why can't they invest as sponsors and take the burden off the drop zones and the skydiving industry?

The Vicious Circle

There is actually a quite simple answer, and most of us know it already. The sponsor wants and needs exposure to as many eyes as possible to justify the investment. Reasonable exposure means media coverage, TV, Radio, Newspaper, Internet - the more the better. No media coverage - no professional sponsorship.

Unfortunately, the same system also works the other way around. Once you have a corporate sponsor the media will most likely work with you. The media experts of the corporations have the connections and know how to get what they need. The broadcasters know by experience that the action is where the sponsors are. Most of the times, there are very tight bonds between the TV guys and the company representatives. We all see the nice and friendly chats between company reps and TV anchors on TV. There are even more of those kind of conversations on the golf courses...

Sad conclusion #1: No TV - No Sponsor Sad conclusion #2: No Sponsor - No TV

Sounds familiar?

However, there could be hope, as there are exceptions. Skydiving seems to be interesting and attractive enough to make it into the shows once in a while, randomly. This still proves that it can be done. What does it take to break this vicious circle and build a bridge to the corporate world? The next NSL contribution for Blue Skies Mag will offer some answers.