Sponsorship plays a critical role in the delivery of major sport events. To date, the majority of sponsorship research has focused on the sponsors’ perspective or consumer responses. Drawing upon brand alliance literature and relationship marketing theory, this paper discusses learnings from the management of sponsor-sponsee relationships at a major sport event. We provide insights from the sponsee (i.e., the event) perspective: this is intended to further our understanding of relationship management in the context of event sponsorship, as well as providing practical information for both event industry and sport industry practitioners. This case study produced three main findings in terms of relational effectiveness: clear and compatible strategy, development of positive inter-organisational culture and inter-personal relationships, and stability. Each of these attributes are key to successful and effective sponsorship management.

赞助在重大体育赛事的交付中起着至关重要的作用。迄今为止，大多数赞助研究都集中在赞助者的观点或消费者的反应上。借鉴品牌联盟文献和关系营销理论，本文讨论了重大体育赛事中赞助商与赞助商关系管理的经验教训。我们从赞助人（即赛事）的角度提供见解：这是为了进一步了解赛事赞助背景下的关系管理，并为赛事行业和体育行业从业者提供实用信息。该案例研究在关系有效性方面产生了三个主要发现：清晰且兼容的策略，积极的组织间文化和人际关系的发展以及稳定性。