Money Isn't Everything
Wimbledon has slowly evolved in many ways, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the very, very limited number of sponsorship logos on Centre Court at Wimbledon. It is unlike practically any other major sporting event or venue in the world. Watch the World Cup, the Super Bowl, NBA, Rugby, Cricket, etc. and the stadiums are filled with sponsor logos and advertisements. In contrast, Wimbledon’s Centre Court
has only a few, tastefully placed logos, e.g. Rolex on the scoreboard, IBM on the small serve speed sign, Slazenger and Robinson’s on the umpire’s chair. Clearly, sponsorship money is necessary to support major sporting events. However, Wimbledon, like the Masters Golf tournament, is one of the very few major global sporting events which has managed to maintain a predominantly logo-free Centre Court. All sporting events derive most of their revenue from TV contracts, but they still pass up millions of dollars in advertising revenue when they elect not to sell the rights to the event name or place ads on the stadium court. This is one way in which Wimbledon still stands far apart from the rest of the pack…
|
