Sport is good for business and the corporates know it, but money can get too tight to mention
On Monday, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) announced that sponsors are like London buses. When you want one, there are very few around. When one comes along, another follows. Except that they don’t come along as quickly as all that.
One Saru official says it has taken 18 months of negotiations to get First National Bank on the Springbok jersey. A person involved with the deal says it has taken closer to two years.
Money is tight. Down at the Radium Beer Hall last month, my mate Manny Cabeleira, the owner of the greatest pub and grill in Johannesburg, says he has had some thin months. We spoke on a Saturday at lunchtime just before the Lions played the Hurricanes in the Super Rugby semifinal. The Radium was packed, not a spare seat to be had.
“This is a Lions pub,” says Manny, “apart from some dodgy Sharks fans.”
The Radium was full again last week ahead of the Super Rugby final. I tried to get a table for an early lunch, but there was no space at the inn, not even for a man who so loves the pub he got married at the Radium in 2016.
Rugby is good for business. Sport is good for business. Corporates, however, can take some convincing as to just how good sport can be for their business.
There was a time when the Lions struggled to find sponsorships. MTN had opted not to remain on the front of their jersey. The transformation under Johan Ackermann began and the sponsors returned. There are now a dozen different sponsors on the Lions jerseys and shorts.
Saru officials are slowly digging themselves out of the financial hole they found themselves in when they couldn’t get a sponsor for the Springboks, their cash cow.
“We were in a very dark place last year,” says Mark Alexander, Saru president. “Ever since October we drafted a 100-day plan to turn the organisation around. We believe we are on track. We delivered on that 100-day plan. All the things seem to be aligned.
“We received backing from government for the World Cup bid, which will bring muchneeded tourism money to SA. We believe the country needs some positive news now.”
MTN’s move into rugby came as something of a surprise, although there had been rumours about the company getting back into sport. It had one of the biggest sponsorship deals in South African sport when it backed the MTN-Qhubeka cycling team, but it did not leverage it properly with a hands-off approach to interacting with the team. Jurie Roux
When it chose not to renew the agreement, it did so in the week after the 2015 Tour de France where the team had won a stage, held the King of the Mountains jersey and become the new darlings of world cycling. The timing was horrendous. Saru is offering space for sale on the Bok jersey. It is not a new thing for rugby or SA, but, strangely enough, it is relatively unheard of in American sports.
Major league basketball teams will be allowed to wear logos on the upper-left portions of their jerseys. The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed a big deal with Goodyear. Liverpool will have their first sleeve sponsor this season, having sold off the space to Western Union.
FNB will be on the top back of the Springbok jersey for the next three years. It wanted its logo to be a “gentle integration” with the jersey.
The Southern Palace Group was announced as an associate Bok sponsor in June. Nope, I too had never heard of the group. It is a “wholly black-owned and South African-managed diversified industrial holding company, established in 2002”. Its logo will be on the left panel of the Springboks’ shorts.
“We are not out of trouble yet,” says Jurie Roux, Saru CEO. “It will take another 18 months to get out of the financial situation we got into because of last year. But we’re sleeping a lot easier because of financial support. With the Springboks, there are still one or two rights that are available, and that we will sell. Hopefully we will make another announcement in the next seven days, before the next Test.”
There is money for sport out there. Finding it — and keeping it — is easier said than done.
WITH THE SPRINGBOKS, THERE ARE STILL ONE OR TWO RIGHTS THAT ARE AVAILABLE, AND THAT WE WILL SELL. HOPEFULLY WE WILL MAKE ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS