To an extent I could understand the difficulty and last minute nature of negotiating a sponsor last season after the departure of JJB. However that said, the excuses were a bit hollow.

From the murmerings coming out of the club it looks as though we are in a similar predicament this year.

Now given that the club stated in public last year that the search for new sponsorship was to begin immediately I find myself extremely perplexed as to why the club are letting this happen.

What is more frustrating is that we are struggling to market the smaller sponsorship options too, either that or we or not making as much effort on this front.

You only have to look around the new kits emerging to see that most clubs are setup on this front, better than we was last season.

How do you know we don't have a sponsor yet?

I must admit that it is only based on murmurings..but mainly stems from the fact it is widely accepted that the club will bring out a shirt before christmas [iwith or without sponsor[/i.

Why is this? Why hasn't it been sorted earlier? I believe the club got off quite lightly last year in terms of their excuses for it, but there's certainly no excuse this year.

Hasn't it been said the 2010 season replica shirts will go on sale for Christmas without a sponsors name on?

If so that would mean we have not got a main sponsor and don't expect to get one before the club needs to start selling replica shirts so as not to miss the Christmas selling period.

Dave

I've said before about the whole concept of sponsorship being a bit flawed, in my opinion.

It's easy for your Man Uniteds to command millions for the privilege of sponsoring their shirts, but in this economic climate, where people are reluctant to spend money, you need to look for alternatives.

You can go down the route of not having sponsorship at all, and covering this by having a fabulous, retro designed shirt, which will hopefully sell by the bucketload. But this is skirting the issue.

The sport and the club need to be marketed, and my view is that if the club was to enter into 'contra' deals, whereby the sponsor would also promote the club and its games through its products, then this should, on paper at least, benefit the club by getting more backsides on seats.

For example, anyone who advertises in the local rag or has a fleet of cars and vans would have no trouble promoting Wigan RL's matchday experience via that, at no extra cost. I mooted the idea of the RFL trying to get a tie up with Cadbury to promote the Challenge Cup on all its chocolate bars, as a more extreme example.

Now whilst this wouldn't bring in the immediate lump sum of cash, the idea of the club/game being advertised by partners will create awareness and should result in higher crowds, merchandise spend etc.

I'd like to think, though, that the club are already looking into this and that what I have said above is of course, nothing new.

So you mean the sponsor would not actually pay to be the clubs sponsor but would instead earn their sponsorship by promoting the club?

An interesting idea if so but the club needs to get its act together to try that given what I have just read in Mike's forum.

I read a post posted by the person who sponsored Pat Richards last season for £1800.

He isn't doing it this year because the club would not donate a signed shirt for auction at a charity fishing match he organized. As he points out the club recently gave a signed shirt away to someone who introduced two new season ticket holders which is worth far less than the sponsorship for Richards (which does by the way, go to the club not the player).

Not giving him that shirt was a lost opportunity to promote the club and has cost them the goodwill and the sponsorship of a local businessman.

Dave

Basically, yes. The club promotes the business, the business promotes the club and its fixtures.

Apart from shirt sponsorship, a lot of other sponsorship doesn't benefit the business as such. I mean, my company is usually a sponsor of at least a couple of matchballs per season, and we'll happily do it again this year. Will anyone decide to use my company because they've heard my company's name over the PA, or seen my logo in the programme? No, but it still provides a thoroughly enjoyable night out, and its a chance to schmooze potential clients.

Shirt sponsorship is done with the specific aim of bringing in new business, though, and it must very hard to make your money back in this climate. I'm sure Wigan Warriors arent the only ones to suffer from it - if indeed they are suffering of course.

In this economic climate Firms are unwilling to take up sports sponsorship when they are laying off staff.
If the club do have a sponsor for next year they will have done well and worked hard in securing a deal.
They just announced an increase in season ticket renewals over last year's renewal figure and that is excellent.
Nothing announced yet re sponsorship and there's time for it to happen.
Let's hope for the best!

It's very much an optimistic view, but as Dave pointed out it seems as though nothing has been sorted.

What strikes me is that clubs are releasing their new jerseys left right and centre, covered in sponsors. I know for a [ufact[/u that last year we advertised for one main sponsor and two secondary sponsors. This is the absolute baseline in my opinion, especially compared to how successful other clubs are.

We recouped one secondary sponsor eventually, and that was a renewal of an existing deal.

What is more worrying is that there was a hint of going for name over the value of a deal, now this may have significant long term benefits but we are always running the risk of leaving the club on its knees.

Although Neil's ideas are original and worth consideration, it seems we are failing to get the basics right at the moment.

Agree it doesn't look good at the moment but things are going right at Wigan RL.
New Coach & Asst.
New Strength & Cond.
An experienced half back,
A commitment to bring through our U-age players.
I have an optimistic view that we will have a sponsor for next year.
I don't know anymore than anyone else, I'm just optimistic for the future.
Management is about making things happen.
Things are happening at Wigan RL because we have people in charge who can make them happen!

Totally correct. But there are those on here that will say its criticising for the sake of it and its all the recessions fault.

It seems to me a very strange situation to be in, and one that Quins were also in, yet they had a main sponsor last season.

can anyone come up with a figure regarding how much the club benefits directly financialy?

and then compare that to how much extra income we will make by not having a sponsor on the shirt?

last year was a fiasco...many didnt buy because it was well into season , and many didnt buy because they didnt want to walk round with mecca bingo on the shirt.

we need to be careful selecting a sponsor.
how many would want RENTOKILL or TAMPAX on the shirt ???

Correct. In fact, I was told to get a grip when I criticised the fact we had no sponser and I don't understand the fact we're in a recession, apparently.

We need a sponsor who is on the rise and could market us with their product/services like a mobile phone company and charge them minimal for them to sponsor us just advertise us with their products and give them a boat load of tickets and memerobilia to advertise as prizes and that.

Tampax would be suited sponsoring Union teams as their all stuck up c***s.

I have typical figures to hand but they are worthless unless weighed against the actual mark up from shirt and ticket sales. It is also somewhat of a gamble with far more variables dictating it's sucess other than whether the shirt has a sponsor on or not.

I am also not talking about how we want a brand to look, but more to do with the effort/methods going into finding a sponsor compared to other clubs.

The sponsor issue is a concern for sure, it would be great to get a big world wide company but I think we may have to settle for a smaller company just to get some money.

Does anyone know how much these deals are worth?

Oh dear - I can hear the Happy Clapping Brigade mobilisating as I write. How dare you question anything!

Anyone think we might suffering from the major adverse publicity we suffered from the Gareth Hock failed drugs test and ban saga?

We've already been done in recent years for breaching the salary cap, deducted points and been fined and now one of our top players fails a drug test.

Perhaps the problem is that you are no longer in the limelight (as you once were). Getting to finals is what sponsors want and that failure will not help you sell the brand.

Don't know if you have picked up the Saints release but different sponsors for home and away shirts (and a general increase in the number of partners) at this time of year makes that point.

and before you all cry selling it cheap - remember Mecca had an option for yr2 which they obviously didn't take up and any sponsorship is bringing money into the club.

Wigan RL is still a team that all none RL supporters have heard of, we still get massive attendances, we still get bigger shirt sales than most other teams, we still get loads of games on tv every year. Getting a decent sponsor is not just about winning things or getting to finals.

DaveO Mick Hogan has responded on that site by stating
Dear All

Can I just clarify the club's position on signed merchandise. We receive over 1000 requests a year from all sorts of organisations for signed merchandise/sponsorship. It is not possible to support them all even though the vast majority are great causes. We nominate one charity each year (Last season was Wigan & Leigh Hospice which we raised £11,000 for). We also support other national causes, RFL charities and selected events. Our players have made more than 400 appearances in the last year to support various charities, schools, clubs etc.

With this instance the individual did request a signed shirt and the policy was explained to him. The club did offer a family ticket (2 adults, 2 juniors plus bar tickets to meet the players). I personally called with the offer and this was accepted with thanks and put forward to the fundraising event.

I am therefore surprised and disappointed that a public forum has been used to criticise the club in this way, particularly as the full story has not been told.

We will continue to help as many groups as possible and I have every confidence that this club does as much for local charities (in terms of donations, PR, Prizes and player appearances) as any business across the north west.

Regards

Mick Hogan
CEO

I personally think this is fair comment by the club.

And how did you become so well known then - wasn't that by winning things???

Sponsors don't really care about the past - they only care about publicity for their company in the here and now - and that relies on winning stuff especially if it's on the bbc?

Yes but through that success Wigan RL is a name known far and wide now. If good sponsors rely on just winning things, why do teams in super league have good sponsors when they have not won things?

If your theory was true then Leeds, Saints, Warrington, Hudds and Hull FC would be the only teams with sponsors!

Winning things obviously helps, but it is not the only thing a company will look at when sponsoring a club is it? They also look at the list I produced.

Also companies are likely to sponsor teams who are likely to be playing in finals, I think you could say Wigan are one of those teams with 5 semi finals in the last few years. I doubt Warrington and Hudds got their sponsors because they were expected to be playing in the challenge cup final really though.

People really do overated this whole fall from glory thing for Wigan, this is a bad era for us and yet still for the last 3 years we have finished the third best team.

Even a side that made two NRL finals recently is struggling for sponsors...... www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... public_rss And they get Free to Air exposure!

Even a side that made two NRL finals recently is struggling for sponsors...... www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... public_rss And they get Free to Air exposure!