Intersport and their sponsored events - A case study of sponsorship relations

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to investigate and reflect about the different sponsorship relations between a Swedish sports retailer and their sponsored events. My case for this thesis is the brand Intersport and I am investigating the phenomena sponsorship and their different sponsorship relations and in this case in relation to sport events. A qualitative study has been conducted by doing interviews with representatives from three different events that Intersport are sponsoring, two interviews with Intersport and also observations during two of the events. Furthermore, a theoretical framework within sponsorship has developed through this process. The result of this study showed that there are different kinds of sponsorship relations between Intersport and their sponsored events. Moreover, there are differences in terms of how they are ranking sports and how much money and time they are investing in the specific events. This study showed that Intersport has different levels of professionalism and business relationships. Partille Cup has the highest position on that scale, Stockholm Marathon Group has the second place and Gothenburg Youth Games is in the bottom. The interviews resulted in a clear picture of how these sponsorship relations look like, the underlying reasons for cooperating with Intersport and this means that they are seeing the sports retailer as a large player, a good channel in terms of being connected to them and increase their awareness but also as a partner who can offer relevant products for their events. Lastly, meaningful relations is a key factor here and my result showed that it goes both ways.