An examination of women’s sport sponsorship: a case study of female Australian Rules football

ABSTRACT

In recent years we have seen an increase in corporate and media interest in women’s sport leagues and events. Despite the increase in commercialism and professionalism of women’s sport, there is a lack of research focusing on the marketing of and through women’s sport. This current study addresses this gap, examining the motivations of sponsors involved in the women’s Australian Rules football national league. Exploratory in outlook, this paper presents insights from key sponsorship decision-makers. It was found that sponsorship was motivated by a desire to promote gender equality at a firm, industry and broader societal level. Sponsorship of women’s football provides convergence of corporate social responsibility and commercial benefits. The paper provides insights for sport marketing and initiates the conversation of women’s sport sponsorship.

KEYWORDS:

• Sponsorship
• women’s sport
• sport marketing
• sponsorship objectives
• commercialisation
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Spruik is an informal Australian word for promoting or publicising something.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ashlee Morgan

Ashlee Morgan is a lecturer in the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University. Ashlee teaches within the Marketing program and Sport, Recreation and Event Management program. Ashlee completed her PhD at the University of Technology Sydney in the area of sport sponsorship. Ashlee’s area of expertise is sport marketing. Her research interests focus on inter-organisational alliances, marketing, sponsorship and strategic management within the sport sector.