In a recent article in the Boston Business Journal, Lisa van der Pool discusses the effect the economic crash had on even the most popular and successful sports franchises along the Eastern Seaboard – franchises that are experiencing a very slow recovery. The Boston Red Sox (easily one of the most popular teams throughout all of sports) have seen prices for Pavilion Suites fall as much as $3,500 in price in the past 2 years, “the lowest cost for suites we’ve had in the last five or six years” according to Will Droste, manager of premium sales at Fenway Park. Over at TD Garden, home of the Bruins and Celtics, luxury seating is still available for the upcoming season despite the popularity of both teams.

The effects of the economic recession have been felt by every American throughout the job market, housing market, and financial market as companies in every industry panicked, reassessed, and made changes based on what they thought would get them out of the hole. One of the top business practices – if not the #1 business practice – that came under scrutiny was the value of corporate spending for sports marketing. Every newspaper and news broadcast alike headlined with local and national companies who spent thousands to millions of dollars on corporate sponsorship for teams, leagues, stadiums, arenas, and more all defended with the justification that these sponsorships increase brand awareness and generate new business. When you combined large corporate marketing budgets with teams and/or venues across every sports league pushing for growth - both professional and collegiate – the contracts come fast. However, when the economy crashes, corporate budgets are slashed, and sports marketing comes under fire, companies retreat with their tails between their legs leaving venues high and dry with more seats and suites than they can fill.

It’s easy for companies to say ‘should-of’, ‘would-of, or ‘could-of’ when they look back at how the spent their funds on sponsorships and how they tracked the benefits of it – or didn’t as the case may be. But as we all know, you can not change the past – only learn from it. Sports marketing budgets were not put under a different microscope than any other business practice. Companies were held accountable for all aspects of business from products and employees to financial recording and executives. But the key here is that the companies were held accountable - all practices needed to be justified and proven to be beneficial to the company’s growth and success. This is where they fell short.

Sponsorship of teams, leagues, and venues is an incredibly beneficial business practice that should be seen as a profitable business venture instead of a liability. But it is absolutely essential that these business have a foolproof system in place to track the success and benefit of these sponsorships. Companies received a variety of suites and season tickets for their sponsorships, the purpose of which is to increase profits and establish business relationships. If there is nothing in place to collect the analytics needed to justify this spend, the programs will be cut and the effects will trickle down to the teams as we see it has in Boston.

But this is where the teams and venues need to step in and make a change. It’s not enough to give the same sales pitch any more – corporate spending is being dissected in ways that companies have never experienced before. Nothing can slip through the cracks and this needs to be taken into consideration in sponsorships and suite sales. The statement “Luxury hospitality spending was not popular last year” by Mr. Droste should never be expressed again without a tangible response. Spotlight Ticket Management is offering their software to these teams and leagues as an additional selling tool to their season ticket holders and sponsors.  Sure, companies have tighter wallets these days and some may have put sports marketing spend on the back burner, which will inevitably have a trickle-down effect. But there are other companies out there who have the funds, who have the desire to increase exposure of their brand, but fear – and fear alone – is keeping them from committing. Teams now have the ability to reassure their clients with ticket management software and eliminate the hesitation of any new and returning prospects. It’s time to stop passing around blame for everyone’s economic hardships and to put the proper practices in place to overcome them.