Investigating the Effects of Investing in a Football Team’s Jersey on the Revenue of the Investor

This study investigates whether investing in football jerseys through the central logo is an exercise that increases the brand awareness for the investing company and whether this increase in brand awareness leads viewers to purchase the products and/or services of the investor. This study thereby investigates if there are financial benefits to such an investment for the investor company. This study thus assists investing companies in evaluating whether the return of such sponsorships is worth the cost and ultimately leads to higher revenue growth. This provides the investing companies with a basis on whether or not to invest in such undertakings going forward to increase their revenue growth. This study used a modified event study approach and found that only 35.71% of investing companies experienced an increase in revenue growth rates for the 3-year period post the commencement of the sponsorship compared to the 3-year period prior to the commencement of the sponsorship. 40.91% of the companies that had invested in European football clubs experienced an increase in revenue growth rates compared to just 16.67% for the investors of South African football clubs. It is therefore evident that majority of football shirt sponsors do not experience an increase in revenue growth from these sponsorships and that these companies undertake such sponsorships for other factors such as global brand exposure.