Home Depot also has had a policy of hiring lesser-known Olympic hopefuls with full pay and benefits, while requiring them to work 20-hour weeks with schedules that allow
flexibility for training. And Visa has made it a point to sponsor athletes in new medal sports, including women's pole vault and women's bobsled.
A bonus for marketers backing new or lesser-known sports is that athletes come cheaply. BOA says it pays them low five-figure sums. Paul Swangard, managing director of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, calls BOAs approach "almost like a mutual-fund strategy"--picking a larger group of lesser-known athletes, which can yield a few stories that capture fans' attention.
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