Sponsorship dollars at risk

Barry Faulkner

Limitations on sponsorships proposed by a state Economic Viability

Committee could eliminate a significant portion of the annual CIF

Southern Section operating budget, according to information presented

at the Southern Section Council meeting Thursday.

Southern Section Director of Sports Marketing John Costello said

16 Southern Section sponsorship agreements, ranging from $165,000 to

$2,000 and accounting for 21% of the section’s operating income,

could be lost or compromised if the CIF State Federated Council

adopts the committee’s recommendations to its state marketing plan.

The plan, which calls for centralizing statewide sponsorship deals

through the CIF State office -- prohibiting individual sections from

generating title sponsors or deals with companies that compete with

state sponsors -- could be voted upon as soon as the Feb. 6-7 State

Federated Council meeting.

Costello outlined Thursday a proposed amendment to the EVC

recommendations that would help sections package sponsorship

opportunities with CIF State marketing efforts. This would allow

sections to continue to generate sponsorship dollars Costello said

would only be available for companies interested in title

sponsorships -- an increasing trend, he said -- or from companies

with regionally based marketing strategies.

Costello, Southern Section Commissioner Jim Staunton, and Southern

Section Council President Paul Breit said the elimination of

sponsorship dollars would force the section to pass costs along to

its member schools.

Costello estimated the loss of the $165,000 paid annually by

Toyota to be the title sponsor of all Southern Section championships,

would prompt fees of 22 cents per student for the section’s

535-school membership.

Costello said that while the Southern Section endorses the goal of

helping smaller sections -- all but three of which have no marketing

arm -- he believes the methods called for by the state

recommendations create initial losses that may or may not be

recovered.

* A proposal to create a running clock for boys and girls

basketball games in which one team has a 40-point lead after three

quarters, or any point thereafter, was also introduced. It can be

voted on at the Jan. 22 section council meeting.