lyleoross
* Ace Member *
While theres always an opportunity to act compassionately and sensitively to most any situation in life. Sponsored sports teams exist to promote the brand and impact the bottom line.
Through a skateboard company I was involved with, I lead the negotiations for the team.. My observations from studying skate and other company teams...
- there's generally a 'golden goose' member (in Innova's case it's obviously Paul McBeth) who drives sales of the brand. If you're not the number one company in the marketplace, you can anticipate your golden goose will, at some point, 'move up the ladder' to a bigger brand or, just due the nature of things, the goose can get hurt, find other interests, or burn out. Signature product sales can readily be compared to same or similar products without the goose's name.
- There's a handful of members on the team that have potential to be a golden goose. They may get signature products, but generally at much lower volumes.
We always gave our riders a cut of any signature sales and bonuses for getting the brand in print (magazine) or virally distributed across social networks.
In any case, a rider's 'market pull' factored heavily into our decisions. 'problem riders' to us were those who's demands for sponsorship were not aligned with their 'market pull' (of course, if everyone on the team disliked the member, that would be problem as well) Beyond that, it's down to marketing image - which for a skate company is different that DG. Radical, contrarian or outrageous behavior were not seen largely as problems. Oddly enough, our top rider disdained formal competitions and was able to build his following by rad skating videos alone...
Innova's call, imo, is one of their marketing image. They have a track record of forgiving their player's faults and actions when they apologize - even when others (like the PDGA) aren't structurally ready to do so. Cam Todd negotiating out of his PDGA suspension to play in the USDGC in the early 2000's comes to mind. Innova was ready to let him play in the event regardless of the PDGA's position and the org eventually capitulated on the condition he donate any winnings to charity, if I remember correctly. Their position with BW seems consistent with their past....
Nice contribution, thanks!