Sport accounts for 80% of European sponsorship

The sponsorship industry can expect a significant boost with expenditure expected to double by the end of the decade, according to the European Sponsorship Association.

“There is a growing feeling that marketers are recognising sponsorship as an essential part of the marketing mix and accepting that it can make a substantial difference not only to brand awareness but more significantly to a company’s bottom line," chairman Nigel Currie told the ESA's Annual Congress in Rome.

Sports Business reported he went on to say that the annual sponsorship spend across Europe was now € 7.5 billion, with sport accounting for 80 percent of this. “The current spend on sponsorship is eight percent of the total marketing spend across Europe. We expect this figure to rise to around 15 percent by 2010,” he said.