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Nick Drake
Prof Dagher
UWRT 1102
3 April 2015
EIP Exploratory Research Essay
Inquiry Question: Has advertising completely taken over the sports industry?
Having being brought up in the sport of racing Ive been aware of the influx of
advertising first hand. Ive seen how it has changed the sport over the years, specifically in
NASCAR. As a child I was un- aware of how big the idea of advertising was, I just saw the likes
of companies such as McDonalds and Goodwrench on the hoods of racecars and thought nothing
of it. Now that Im nearing the age of twenty it has become tremendously apparent that
advertising and sponsorship is the primary drive of the sport. Whether it be with TV commercials
or advertising booths and company logos everywhere you look around the racetracks or even
seeing certain teams going out of business due to the lack of sponsorship with companies not
advertising their logo on their cars. I was never really into any other sports, I watch football and
basketball from time to time but I never really kept up with either in entirety. I was curious to see
if the influx of advertising has taken over the entire sports industry as a whole.
With the technology advancements around the world I feel as if most of the population
has access to the viewing or participation in sporting events. Disregarding 3rd world countries its
evident that most families are tied to a favorite sports team in which is often a desire ritual for
them. Whether it be soccer world wide or the popular sports of baseball, football, and basketball
in America the amount of people being targeted with advertisement could be countless.
Beginning my inquiry I started local, with ideas that I would have prior knowledge of before
broadening my research. Joshua Newman wrote A Detour Through NASCAR Nation and

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addressed certain ideas of how advertising is shaping the die hard NASCAR fans and well as
casual viewers. He took notice to the sport being driven by corporate logos and even went as far
as saying how some of the die-hard fans of the sport are becoming more and more concerned
with the company logos on the hood of the cars rather than the drivers themselves. Some
political controversies were even drawn up such as God and Guns involving the cowardly
phrases and pictures worn on peoples shirts, post 9/11, during pre-race prayers and the national
anthem. Regarding personal experience of teams going out of business due to lack of
sponsorship I came a gross a video dont by Target promotions. As teams go out of business due
of funding, drivers often are forced to put an end to their careers via the same reason. The video
is a very short documentary type clip about young NASCAR star Kyle Larson discussing his
route to the top of the sport. As the role of advertising and sponsorship becomes more and more
prominent in auto racing, it is not seen as of late for a driver to successfully make it to the top
without any sort of family funding. Larsons father goes to on explain how the sport is so
financially driven and that their father figure of a large company to fund Kyles racing career was
not present. Larsons dad said he wasnt able to afford anything beyond the go kart level and that
his talent would have to take him the rest of the way. Pertaining to my inquiry question, this was
one of the only cases in years that a kid with no financial backing was able to successfully
advance his way to the top of the sport. Kyle Larson now has the likes of sponsorships and
endorsements from companies like Target, Energizer, and Chevrolet that advertise upon his
behalf.
For further inquiry I dug deeper to find out the effected and roles of advertising in other
areas of sports. I looked up the NBAs most popular and arguably the best player, LeBron James.
I came across an article on Forbes. They addressed him as the King both on and off the court. He

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is statistically the best active player as well as the king when it comes to moving and growing his
branded product. LeBron was signed by Nike after graduating high school to a 7 year- 90 million
dollar deal for a shoe line in his name. Being the iconic figure he is in all of sports his shoe line
with Nike grossed over 340 million dollars in just the last 12 months. Having complete control
over the basketball shoe market with nearly double the sales numbers of his runner up
competitor. The article explains that Nike has nearly monopolized the basketball shoe market by
controlling 95.5% of it using LeBrons name. This type of power inevitably beats into viewers,
competitors, and participants that if you want to be the best, you have to wear the best. After my
findings of how an iconic player such as LeBron effects the apparel market the question of how
an iconic sports figure moving or being traded to a different team and city can effect that cities
economy. This directed me yet again to LeBron. An article done by John Petkovic of
Cleveland.com addressed LeBrons return to Cleveland after being traded back to the Cavaliers.
He is an event and an economy. They address having Lebron to advertise and improve the
morale of the team and its fans greatly aids Clevelands economy. As Lebron in the most wellknown basketball player, having his bake back in the city shows tremendous inclinations in
people from the outside coming in. Upon his departure it was said that a large 60 percent of fans
to attend basketball games in Cleveland were form that same county .Ultimately assisting local
food businesses as well as other attractions in the area. His effects on merchandise sales take
over the population of fans, whether they are local fans of Cleveland or outside fans of Lebron
himself. As I see how an iconic figure can effect a city as a whole with either branding their
product or advertising themselves I wanted to see how advertising could run the sports industry
in other ways. The first thing I thought of was the Super Bowl. Being the most widely watched
sports event in the United States. One of the main elements of the event is the commercials that

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are aired during the event. An article on ads week came caught my eye during research. In this
article a survey of 500 people was constructed by lab42, a survey company in Chicago in 2015.
The 500 people were asked what their favorite part of super bowl sunday was. The super bowl is
the most largely viewed sporting event in all of America. Of the 500 people surveyed the largest
percentage of them (39%) responded that the commercials were their favorite part. As compared
to the 28% that were actually more interested in the game itself. Other responses consisted of
eating food and spending time with friends and family. These numbers are up from surveys
constructed in 2012 which showed 47% were not going to miss the game and only 37% were
more interested in the entertainment of the commercials. Companies are going to extremes as the
price for a 30 second super bowl ad has grown to 3.8 million dollars. Advertising in this nature is
growing and is slowly taking over the viewers attention as opposed to actual product of the
game of NFL football. After realizing the importance of commercials nowadays I was curious as
to see how iconic sports figures effected commercial advertising. An article conducted by Sara
Abrams of San Diego State University came up and the article introduced the "halo effect" in
which i wasn't particularly familiar with. It has been seen on actors, singers and other largely
known public figures in advertising. And now on athletes. They determine the "halo effect" as
the belief that when the general population sees an athlete with or using a certain product, they
will be more inclined to buy it in mimic of the sports figure. Gatorade for example utilizes 24
important athletes including the likes of baseball player Derek Jeter, basketball player, Michael
Jordan, tennis player, Serena Williams, and NFL endorses upwards of 75 sports figures and
Gillete, a mens grooming company is considered as one of the best when it comes to product
promotion via athletes. Halo effect advertising has inclined such companies to the top of their
market shares with the help of this product placement technique.

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To conquer with the give sources Ive come to realize the take over of advertising in the
entire sports industry. Advertising is now running different areas of many different sports
whether it be with merchandising, branding, or even economic and morale benefits for given
cities. The commercializing of iconic sports figures are evident and are inevitably going to
continue to grow with the proven effects it has on consumers. Ive been contemplating on the
actualization that advertising in sports is almost a game itself. Business are competing as a team
designing different plays, if you must, as advertising strategies to out-do their opponents. If I
were to continue research I still ponder the questions of how does advertising effect sports that
arent top tier. Id also look into advertising in minor league sports divisions and contemplate
whether or not the sports industry could ever do away with advertising. And if not, how long
they would last before they would completely burn out.