Corporate sponsorship and secondary school athletics

grantor: University of TorontoAs financial constraints for public education across North America tighten, schools must look for creative ways to raise money to support school athletic programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the emerging role of selected companies in the Greater Toronto Area in the sponsorship of secondary school extra-curricular athletic programs. The study consists of five focal areas including: the corporate interest level for sponsorship, company motives for sponsorship, corporate decision-making with regard to sponsorship, soliciting corporate sponsorship and the expected nature of corporate sponsorship of secondary school athletic programs. For this study, questionnaires were mailed to 50 companies in the Greater Toronto Area. Thirty of these companies were considered to be large in size and 20 were considered small in size. The overall response rate was 60%. Companies were randomly selected from business directories as well as from personal business contacts of the author. As budgetary constraints tighten, it appears as though corporate involvement in schools will continue to become more prevalent. With proper regulation, this increase involvement has the potential to greatly benefit secondary school student-athletes across Ontario. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)M.Ed