North American Sponsorship Spending Seen Up In '08

CHICAGO - Sponsorship spending by North American companies is forecast to rise 12.6 percent this year to $16.78 billion, which would mark the biggest jump since 2000, according to a research firm.

The expected growth from last year's $14.91 billion would mark the sixth consecutive year where growth was higher than the previous year, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report. Spending last year rose 11.5 percent, just below IEG's 11.7 percent projection.

The expected growth in sponsorship spending will outpace the growth in ad spending despite the boost the latter area will receive from the U.S. presidential election and the Summer Olympic Games in China, IEG said.

A greater proportion of the 2008 sponsorship dollars will go to sports properties, with that category garnering 69 percent, or $11.6 billion, of the total, IEG said. Spending on sports properties last year was $9.94 billion, making the projected increase 16.7 percent.

No other categories will see double-digit growth in 2008, IEG said. The category of festivals, fairs and annual events was next with a projected increase of 7.7 percent, followed by associations and membership organizations (up 4.6 percent), causes (up 4.4 percent), arts (up 3.4 percent), and entertainment tours and attractions (up 2.9 percent).

"The upcoming year appears to be a dramatic illustration of the rich getting richer," William Chipps, IEG Sponsorship Report's senior editor, said in a statement.

Globally, sponsorship spending, including North America, is expected to increase 14.8 percent this year to $43.5 billion, IEG said. Excluding North America, spending by the rest of the world is forecast to rise 16.1 percent to $26.7 billion.

Europe remains the region with the most spending after North America, with spending there expected to rise 10.4 percent to $11.7 billion, IEG said. Asia Pacific companies will spend 25 percent more at $9.5 billion.

Spending by companies in Central and South America should rise 16.7 percent to $3.5 billion while companies from all other regions are expected to hike spending by 11.1 percent to $2 billion, IEG said.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Mark Porter)







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