THE SPONSORSHIP PROCESS AND CHALLENGES WITHIN A NATIONAL SPORT ORGANIZATION: THE CASE OF OMAN ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION

Abstract

The interest in sports started very late in Oman, when comparing it with countries worldwide. Its real start was in the 1970s. However, other countries which showed interest in sport in parallel time with Oman like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been showing better progress in sport, this clearly appears in the overall position and results of Oman teams compared to Qataris’ and Saudis’ in the international events. So far, Oman has gained no Olympic medal, very few medals in the Asian Games and continuous failing in most world and Asian championships in different sports, besides the unsatisfying numbers of people who participate in sports in general (Al-salmani, 2016). One of the main aspects why sports in the country are developing slowly is the deficiency in funding the sports organizations. Marketing is one of the main sectors that do not help sports to develop faster in the country. Clearly, the national federations are having deficiency in marketing themselves as an organization and how to present themselves to the community and sponsors since 80% of the federations’ budget still comes from the government (Shura Council, 2017). This thesis is written mainly to discuss the sponsorship process and challenges within a national sport organization (Oman Athletic Association). The federations and sports committees are running the biggest part of sports in Oman. Therefore, this thesis will be focusing on the sponsorship strategies of the Athletics Association, and in the literature chapter of this research clarified the most appropriate methods in developing a sponsorship plan for sports organizations. The methodology is used in this research is the qualitative method by using semi-structured interviews. The results of the research represented significant challenges face Oman Athletics Association to implement sponsorship strategy.