Players:
Getting back into this on a deeper level of detail, let's look at some ways that foosball players might approach sponsorship. (Note: while these tips are specific to foosball (table soccer), there are some themes and ideas here that could apply to other sport athletes, including darts, pool, air hockey, bowling, shuffleboard, and more.) First of all, gaining sponsorship is a whole lot less about what you want to get out of it than it is about what the potential sponsor gains from the deal. Contrary to popular belief, there's more to it than "give me money and I'll wear your logo on my shirt."
One part of what many types of businesses want in return for sponsorship is services in kind. It’s in this area the players seeking individual or team league and tour sponsorships can succeed the easiest, but it may be used by tournament organizers to provide a few smaller giveaways for local tournaments as well. And it’s how most foosball players – novice and pro alike – found sponsorships during the 1970s T.S. Million Dollar Tour. So what do I mean by services in kind? Well this is where you want to work with the types of businesses that might have some connection to table soccer – coin-op distributors, coin-op route operators or sports bars, home-model retailers; indoor soccer arenas, pro soccer teams, soccer specialty stores, sporting goods distributors, sporting goods stores (anyone from Sportmart to Sears), etc, etc.
What can you offer them? If you're a world-class, highly recognized athlete or team, it's about exposure (media/public). But for everyone else, it's mostly its about two things, a) sales-promo demos, and/or b) product maintenance/repairs/reconditioning. If you’re a fairly friendly, sociable kind of person, you can conduct sales demos and “beat the pro” demos everywhere from coin-op distributors’ semi-annual open houses to operators’ locations (which could vary from sports bars & billiard halls to bowling alleys, student unions, video arcades and family recreation centers) and from soccer team challenge matches to Sears sporting goods department Christmas clearance sales. (While you’re at it, be sure to teach their staffs how to assemble tables correctly in the first place – nothing worse than walking into Dick’s Sporting Goods during a Christmas rush and all their display tables are set up facing the wrong way and there’s no silicone on the rods.) Or you can, on behalf of distributors, teach their operators how to better maintain their tables on location to maximize revenues and/or teach them how to run leagues in their locations. Or you can run leagues for them, or teach them to recondition their tables for longer life (or do it for them). Or do any of these directly for the sports bars, pool halls or bowling alleys where tournaments are run.
Another creative but usually very successful way to generate individual, team or event sponsorships is to find out where the nearest large outdoor soccer fields are and who runs them, and obtain permission to pitch a gazebo-tent and do free field-side beat the pro demos on busy days. (You don’t have to be a pro, just a good, likeable and articulate player who knows about the sport, the pro tour and some of the game’s history.) Keeping in mind that every girls, boys, or adult soccer team out on that field has sponsors, you’ll want to give away foosball stickers, key-chains, pens, buttons, autographed balls, hats, t-shirts, etc (some of which are available for such purposes from manufacturers or promoters for free or at cost, or at cost plus shipping from USTSF), and make sure everyone you play gets a chance to score at least once. (You’re not there to beat everyone 9-0; you’re there to make sure everyone that plays you has fun.) Dress in warm-up pants and a soccer shirt and talk up the sport of foosball, the worldwide pro tour, youth competition, and of course your quest for sponsors and the potential benefits to sponsors as suggested above. Hand out copies of current and/or recent USTSF press releases and the USTSF Foos Data Fact Sheet from the USTSF website along with a business card or something with your contact info on it, and either show or hand out copies of DVDs (to those most interested) that quickly show the sport in a highly professional light, such as the one that you can download and copy for free (Flash Player required) from:
http://ustsf.foosball.com/images/Videos/tsabana(ITSF2008PromoVideo).flv .
I like doing it with outdoor soccer, but you could probably do the same type of thing in like-minded venues such as indoor soccer arenas, bowling alleys & pool halls (where both management and customers are already league and tournament oriented), roller rinks and more. Another possiblity: pre-game tailgait parties outside your local stadiums, especially before pro soccer games. (Last spring some creative folks were running both foosball tournaments and demos during the pre-game tailgait parties at RFK Stadium DC United matches...)
(Additional hint: Like you might with energy or soft drink distributors, sometimes you also can team up at such soccer fields, tailgait parties, etc. with a local radio station’s promotion, and they’ll provide the handouts… Radio stations can also provide great give-aways as sponsors of your local and state tournaments – everything from bumper stickers to concert tickets -- especially if you offer to do “beat the pro’s” at some of their other promotions in return for their involvement.)
The general key to success in all the above is professionalism in appearance, approach, and presentation. Be prepared with the facts, hand-outs, contact info and always follow up. And whenever you do get sponsorships of any kind, get everything in writing so that everyone fully understands what’s expected of them. Then follow up on all agreements with frequent communications, stats on player attendance, media coverage/exposure, etc., and send personal thank you letters (or for major sponsors, a plaque or other form of special recognition). Be sure to do the same for your tournament hosts and any charities involved in the event. A little thanks goes a long way towards continued/future involvement in both you as a sponsored athlete/team and in the future of the events you participate in.
Last, be professional in any/all correspondence with potential sponsors. If you're not good at that kind of thing, have someone double check your proposals, letters, thank-you notes, etc. for grammar and structure. Use spell check. Don't use slang, text-message language, or words/acronyms only players of your sport would know. Same goes if you leave messages on someone's machine -- be brief, professional, but leave details (name, reason for call) and best time/day/number to call you back.
Hope that helps just a little…
Very respectfully submitted,
Larry "That's the difference between me" Davis
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