Does your place of work sponsor a bowling team?

[T4RH33L]

Good morning everyone! I'm new to the forums here. I have recently started up a team with several others from where I work and I have approached my President about sponsoring our team(s). He asked for me to research what that may entail. So, I thought that I would ask if anyone here receives sponsorship from their employer and what do they cover? Any information is appreciated. Thanks!

[ALazySavage]

It just depends on the team, league, and the company. Some sponsorship opportunities may be as simple as they will provide the team shirts that have their advertisements on them, some leagues will require an additional team fee which you could ask for (and name the team after the company), and some may include an entry in a tournament. In all honesty it is simply what you feel is fair to wear shirts with advertisements, change a team name, or whatever is being asked of your team.

[bowl1820]

Typically most leagues just require a team to pay a sponsor fee and just want your team to pay XX amount of money.
Example: The Sponsor fee here on my winter league was $24.

That fee is what your team (You) would ask a sponsor to pay (or pay yourselves if you don't get a sponsor), That money is usually the extent of the sponsors involvement.

The typical quid pro quo is that your team will use the companies name as your team name, Thus advertising the company name.

There are very few leagues/Tournaments anymore that require teams to have team shirts anymore. Though you might find some high end League/Tournament that requires them.

If a league/Tournament does require say team shirts, then anything beyond that org. sponsor fee is just whatever you want to ask for and see if the company is willing to provide, such as the team (company) shirts themselves or the money to purchase them.

[Aslan]

Most sponsorships I've seen simply involve the company paying for team shirts and having their company advertised on said shirts. That may sound like a minor cost...but team shirts with logo and embroidery can run $200-$300 (unless you go the 't-shirts' route).

The next level (the more traditional and somewhat outdated type) is for a company to fully sponsor a team which would include the above team jerseys and also the lineage. At $20/person...a 4-person team...a 30-week season...that's $2400/season. Add in the shirt costs, about $2650.

Getting a company to shell out $300 and write it off as advertising might be easy. Getting a company to shell out over $2500 and write it off as advertising may be a bit more difficult.

A more traditional approach would be to repay the $2500 out of the team's point money. So, if your team wins 60 points and loses 60 points...at $1 a point (per person)...that's $240 in point money that would go back to the sponsor to cover their investment. However, while that works well at the PBA level...it's an accounting nightmare for most larger corporations and likely not worth their time.

I've come across very few sponsored teams. Of the ones I've come across...it's usually a bar & grill and they give out coupons and stuff during league play...so it ends up bringing in customers. But, from the scouting of the leagues in the Iowa area (where I'm moving)...they have entire leagues where it seems like every team is a 'company team'...so perhaps it's more common than my experiences thus far would indicate. It used to be quite common in the 80s...entire leagues with company sponsors of each team, team shirts, etc...

[J Anderson]

Most sponsorships I've seen simply involve the company paying for team shirts and having their company advertised on said shirts. That may sound like a minor cost...but team shirts with logo and embroidery can run $200-$300 (unless you go the 't-shirts' route).

The next level (the more traditional and somewhat outdated type) is for a company to fully sponsor a team which would include the above team jerseys and also the lineage. At $20/person...a 4-person team...a 30-week season...that's $2400/season. Add in the shirt costs, about $2650.

Getting a company to shell out $300 and write it off as advertising might be easy. Getting a company to shell out over $2500 and write it off as advertising may be a bit more difficult.

A more traditional approach would be to repay the $2500 out of the team's point money. So, if your team wins 60 points and loses 60 points...at $1 a point (per person)...that's $240 in point money that would go back to the sponsor to cover their investment. However, while that works well at the PBA level...it's an accounting nightmare for most larger corporations and likely not worth their time.

I've come across very few sponsored teams. Of the ones I've come across...it's usually a bar & grill and they give out coupons and stuff during league play...so it ends up bringing in customers. But, from the scouting of the leagues in the Iowa area (where I'm moving)...they have entire leagues where it seems like every team is a 'company team'...so perhaps it's more common than my experiences thus far would indicate. It used to be quite common in the 80s...entire leagues with company sponsors of each team, team shirts, etc...

Back in the 60s and 70s the company my dad worked for had its own league. I'm not sure exactly how it worked but I suspect the company paid the league secretary and provided the end of year trophies.

[Tony]

Up until the early 80's they had a bunch of industrial leagues around here, the teams were all sponsored, but since I didn't bowl, I can't attest to the level of sponsorship.
In the early mid 80's I started bowling and the first few teams were sponsored, they paid the entry fee 25.00 or 50.00 and paid for shirts.
One of the guys I bowled with Father owned a machine shop and he sponsored us a few years, then we were sponsored by a rival bowling center another buddy of mine owned.
He had the same arrangement.

I know of some teams that different arrangements, one I haven't seen mentioned, and I know a couple teams still doing it, the sponsor pays the lineage and the bowlers pay the prize fund portion of the weekly envelope. In those cases the sponsor also pays for some tournament entries .

[T4RH33L]

Thank you all for your responses. The company that I work for has never done anything like this before, but are open to the idea. So, I sent a request for them to pay for shirts and for the lineage fee.

[Aslan]

When you guys say "the sponsor pays a fee"...are you talking about a sponsorship fee or dues?

The difference is tremendous. If a sponsor pays a "fee"...that's just an extra $25-$50 that the bowling center makes off of the team. If the sponsor pays "dues"...that means the bowlers essentially bowl in the league for free.

I know that you can separate actual "lineage" out of the weekly "dues"...and thus you could have a sponsor pay lineage but not the entire dues/prize fund....but that seems rather complicated...and not much value given lineage is fairly insignificant compared to the prize fund in many leagues...especially those that sweep elsewhere (like Vegas).

I've payed $21-$25/week to bowl in a sanctioned league. Probably a bit more than most...only because all our larger leagues in this area sweep in Vegas...so there's an added expense included in that money. I know a certain portion of that $21-$25 is lineage that goes to the center...but it's usually like $3.75 to $6.75 per night per player.

Getting a company to pay your entire costs and buy you shirts...means you essentially bowl for free...which is great. That's a rare deal nowadays. In my Tuesday league I bowl for free because I'm a "designated sub"....which means I can only sub for one team. The league doesn't charge sub fees...and the advantage of being a "designated sub" is that I can bowl with the team when they sweep in Vegas....where as "floating subs" cannot. In my Wednesday and Friday leagues....there's a $5 sub fee...no designated subs...all floating subs...and I can't go with them to Vegas and bowl. The bowling in Vegas thing is important...because that's where the majority of the prize money is paid out. Each team gets "point money" for their wins...but thats usually like $1.25/win...not much money. Meanwhile, my tie for 1st place in Vegas last time I went grossed $1555 in prize money when you factor in brackets and everything. Long story short...getting to bowl for free is AWESOME!

The "downside" to corporate sponsorship is...you have to "BEHAVE" yourself. Remember, you're now "representing" that company. If you act a fool, start fights, or do anything that would reflect badly on the company....the company tends to "frown upon" that....and if you actually WORK for said company...you could receive disciplinary action.

[bowl1820]

When you guys say "the sponsor pays a fee"...are you talking about a sponsorship fee or dues?

Most every bowler when they say "Sponsor Fee" is referring to a one time fee, a league requires a team to pay at the beginning of the season.

It has nothing to do with paying the weekly league fee's (Ex: Linage, Sec/Treas. salary, Prize Fund, sweeper fee etc) the players pay.

The money from a sponsor (aka: Franchise) fee typically goes to the prizefund.

Having all of a teams fees/dues fully subsidized in the manner you've described is pretty much unheard of in a typical league. Even back in the heyday of bowling it wouldn't have been the norm for most teams.

[Tony]

When you guys say "the sponsor pays a fee"...are you talking about a sponsorship fee or dues?

The difference is tremendous. If a sponsor pays a "fee"...that's just an extra $25-$50 that the bowling center makes off of the team. If the sponsor pays "dues"...that means the bowlers essentially bowl in the league for free.

I know that you can separate actual "lineage" out of the weekly "dues"...and thus you could have a sponsor pay lineage but not the entire dues/prize fund....but that seems rather complicated...and not much value given lineage is fairly insignificant compared to the prize fund in many leagues...especially those that sweep elsewhere (like Vegas).

I've payed $21-$25/week to bowl in a sanctioned league. Probably a bit more than most...only because all our larger leagues in this area sweep in Vegas...so there's an added expense included in that money. I know a certain portion of that $21-$25 is lineage that goes to the center...but it's usually like $3.75 to $6.75 per night per player.

As Bowl1820 stated most of the fee's are a set fee (25.00 and up) the goes to the prize fund for a sponsored league, every team pays it, even if they have no sponsor. I suppose it could have happened where a bowler got in trouble for conduct at the bowling center, but I've never seen it. Punishment that is, I've seen plenty of bad behavior by guys on sponsored teams....

The lineage fee's can vary greatly, the rates you quoted were what we paid around here back in the 1980's and 90's, the cheapest ones now are for summer leagues and are 9.00, for the regular 33 week handicap league lineage is at 11.75 right now.