Sport sponsorship contracts

• Author: Tu?çe Oral
• Position: Faculty of Law, University of Ankara, Turkey, oraltugce@gmail.com.
• Pages: 215-226

Sport sponsorship contracts

PhD. Tuğçe ORAL1

Abstract

Sports organization s constitute the biggest events of the world and a re usually

widely followed. The main financia l source of many a thletes or spor ts organizations is the

sponsorship, which enables the sponsor to reach customers. In this paper, I begin by defining

the sponsorship, sponsor ship contra cts and sport sponsorship contra cts. Then, I will discuss

the legal nature of them. Secondly, I will an alyze the pa rties of this contr act. In addition, I

will dea l with the objects of sport sponsor ship contra cts, na mely the aims of promotion,

image transfer and increa se engagement with its target audience and to reach a larger target

market for the sponsor; and pr ovide funding and promotion for the sponsore d par ty. Finally,

I will discuss the rights and obligations of this contracts a nd in conclusion I will examine

whether it is possible for the p arties to claim da mages for non -pecuniary loss in the case of

a violation of persona lity rights.

Keywords: sponsorship, sport sponsorship, legal nature of sponsorship, image transfer,

sponsor.

JEL Classification: K12, K29

1. Introduction

Sponsorship has become one of the most important means of marketing and

sport is the most appropriate industry to approach customers. While concluding a

sponsorship contract, the sponsor aims to promote itself and increase engagement

with its target audience and to reach a larger target market. In order to realize this,

the sponsor transfers the image of the sponsored party and this characteristic of the

sponsorship contracts distinguishes it from other conventional means of

communication such as advertisement, propaganda or public relations.

As the sports organizations are one of the best ways to reach large masses,

sponsors prefer to provide financing or any other support to athletes, sports clubs or

teams, federations or sports organizations. Therefore, almost every professional

athlete, coach, sports club or organization has a sponsor in exchange for a marketing

or promotion service. That is why sport sponsorship is the most preferred type of

sponsorship.

2. The definition and legal nature of sponsorship and sport sponsorship

contracts

A. The definition of sponsorship and sport sponsorship contracts.

Sponsorship contract2 is a contract, whereby one of the parties undertakes to provide

1 Tuğçe Oral - Faculty of Law, University of Ankara, Turkey, oraltugce@gmail.com.

2 According to ICC International Co de on Sponsorship, the sponsoring was defined as follows:

“Sponsorship: any commercial agr eement by which a sponsor, for the mutual b enefit of the sponsor

and sponsored party, contractually provides financing or other suppor t in order to establish a n