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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 (confusing). 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. (more detail / example) 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

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knowledge of before broadening my research. Joshua Newman wrote A Detour Through
NASCAR Nation and 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. (more detail) 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. (nicely written) 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.

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I came across an article on Forbes. They addressed him as the King both on and off the court. He
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. (nicely written) 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.(confusing) 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 well-known 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. (confusing) His effects on
merchandise sales take over the population of fans, whether they are local fans of Cleveland or
outside fans of Lebron himself.(nicely written) 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

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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
are aired during the event.(nicely written / great example) 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. (confusing) 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

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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.
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. (good conclusion) 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.
You have many good examples that relate to your topic and your conclusion well. I would
recommend reading it aloud to yourself to correct grammar and run of sentences. You follow the
structure of exploratory perfectly.
John Teunis