Assessing market value of event sponsoring: Corporate Olympic sponsorships

While the use of event sponsoring, particularly in the form of sports-relat ed sponsorships, is growing at an increasing rate, marketers have had diffi culties assessing the value of such advertising strategies. The present res earch addresses this valuation dilemma by employing event study analysis, a technique common to the finance discipline. In order to assess the market value of corporate sponsorship of the Olympic Games, the effects of sponsor ship announcements on changes in firm value are examined. Counter to many c ritics of Olympic sponsorship, the results provide evidence that this type of event sponsoring is of value to participating firms.