Sports Sponsorship: Evolution, Content Analysis, Problems, Trends

Abstract

The paper examines the foundations of sponsorship research in order to better understand the conceptual and theoretical foundations that have underpinned the development of sponsorship to date. It tackles this field of study from a historical perspective and analyses available scholarly research, traces its development back to its early origins, highlights, tries to highlight the gaps found in academic literature and cite problems concerning the sponsorship application. Our study reveals the research in the field of sponsorship has been growing steadily over the last years. Our conclusion, which is deduced from our content analysis of publications, confirms the findings of similar previous studies in this sector. 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 at play, where sports sponsorship plays the role of a soft power tool. Therefore, There is a need for the development of this field, not only in Russia but also globally.