Sports Sponsorship: Evolution, Content Analysis, Problems, Trends

Abstract

The paper examines the foundations of sponsorship research in order for better understanding the conceptual and theoretical foundations that have underpinned the development of sponsorship to our date. It tackles this field of study fr om a historical perspective and analyses available scholarly research, tracks back its development and consequently projects future trends, tries to highlight the gaps found in academic literature and to cite problems concerning the sponsorship application. What this study does reveal, is that sponsorship is still following a positive trend, as validated by our content analysis and financial figures, and in accordance with the results of previous studies in this field. However, the problems are still various and diverse, some are of evaluation nature, others purely academic or related to function. When it comes to the Russian market, the lack of scholarly research is notable. In this context, sports sponsorship should not be seen and limited to sports economics or marketing. There are broader geopolitical and strategic dimensions, wh ere sports sponsorship plays the role of a soft power tool. Therefore, there is a need for the development of this field, for the trend analyses, which are not common in academic research to date, not only for Russia but also globally.

Key words: sports economics, sponsorship, new research, bibliometrics, content analysis.



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