investigation of effective factors in sport sponsorship decision making

the aim of this study was to survey four fundamental effective factors in sport sponsorship decision making. for this purpose, viewpoints of 30 experts and active individuals in sport sponsorship such as managers of sponsor corporations, authorities of sport federations and clubs were analyzed. the method of this research was qualitative and explorative and was performed through interviews. the time of each interview was about 25-90 minutes. these interviews surveyed four fundamental factors (sport sponsorship objectives, sport selection criteria, marketing communication mix and sport sponsorship evaluation method). the findings of the study indicated that the awareness of corporation and its products, corporation brand, social commitment and media objectives respectively were important objectives for sport sponsors. furthermore, tv broadcasting, audience coverage and sport popularity were all major selection criteria for the sport fields. also, sponsors mostly used tv, radio, mass media and signage in sport grounds in their marketing communication mix. finally, in sport sponsorship evaluation process, media coverage had the first rank.