May - June 1997: Volume 8, Number 3
She took about three nanoseconds to decide. Until that moment, she had never given sponsorship a thought. She figured that none of the manufacturers would call her since she was a step outside the glare of the best players. As for approaching a manufacturer herself, she could no more envision such a pretentious move than she could foresee playing with one of those dimpled balls that Voit was selling.
Bailey and Voit settled into a casual relationship. "They said, 'Here's our stuff, wear it.'" Bailey says "They just assumed that I would have influence over the people in my area."
After Voit, there was a brief fling with Head, which sweetened the pot with shorts and socks. Bailey was moving up the pecking order. In 1985, with her exposure widening noticeably, she moved from Head to Diversified Products, or DP. Her deals with Head and Voit consisted of nods and handshakes. With DP she signed a contract. The company gave her equipment and expense money as well as bonuses for finishing in the semifinals or finals of major tournaments.
In 1988, she went with Fin, an English company that made what Bailey calls "a nice little racket." Fin looked upon court performance and efforts to grow the sport as laudable, but mostly irrelevant. What mattered was racket sales. As a sponsored player, Bailey bought Fin rackets at wholesale, sold them at retail, and pocketed the difference. It was sponsorship with a sales twist. If you sold a lot of rackets, your sponsorship continued. If not, you were on the street, even if you were a latent Sudsy Monchik.
"It certainly was an incentive for players to promote the equipment," Bailey understates. "Is it right to make you a sales rep and call it sponsorship? I don't know. But we did sell a lot of rackets. I was very upset when they went out of business [in the U.S.]."
Bailey then switched to Pro Kennex. In addition to equipment, expenses, and bonuses, she got the Holy Grail of sponsorship, a retainer.
For a while, life was good, but racquetball in general was stuck in second gear. Industry-wide sales were flat, forcing the manufacturers to re-evaluate their sponsorship programs. The hints from Pro Kennex were as subtle as a sledgehammer. When Bailey found out she was pregnant, she used her right hand to count her remaining days with Pro Kennex.
Bailey is back now, sponsored by Gemini Racquetball, which is based near her home in Norfolk, Va. She's come full circle. Gemini gives her equipment and clothing only. As for any loosening of the corporate purse strings, Bailey doesn't see it anytime soon. Two years ago she appeared in the cover photo of this magazine, the Gemini brand name clearly visible. One would think that the company could have sprung for some expense money; maybe a cash bonus.
"I didn't even get a call from Ron (Halloran, Gemini's owner)," Bailey says. "I was on the cover of RACQUETBALL and he didn't even call."
Quid pro quo. Bailey isn't whining. She tells the anecdote merely to make the salient point of her 15-year experience with sponsorships. No matter the level-whether ranked pro on the IRT or a club pro in a rural town in Mississippi, sponsorship is a little bit about performance and a lot about money. The manufacturers must see returns on their investments. If Bailey had Gemini's phone number written on her forehead during that cover shoot for RACQUETBALL, then Halloran would have called, but not before checking to see if racket sales had increased.
As obvious as it might seem, this quid pro quo - sponsorship for sales - often gets overlooked by players. Head sponsors some 700 players; E-Force 400; Ektelon over 1,000. Not all of these players are good, or even average. But to one degree or another, they all generate revenue for their respective companies. If not, the players are back in baggy shorts and ripped T-shirts.
"Someone who's not ranked at all, not a name you would recognize, will approach me acting like he's one of the best players in the world," says Dave Peck, Ektelon's promotions manager. "When I ask him what he can do to help sales, he says, 'Oh, I play. I don't do anything to help sales.' I see this kind of arrogance starting as early as the junior level. They think they will get something from us without accountability."
Ruben Gonzalez, who was ranked as high as sixth on the pro circuit until he tore his Achilles' tendon two years ago, agrees. Too many players overrate their drawing power, he says. They win a few tournaments at the local or regional levels and then begin to think that the manufacturers owe them a living.
"It's just not that way anymore," says Gonzalez, whose first sponsorship experience dates back to the mid-1970s. "The manufacturers are going to ask, 'What are you doing to sell rackets? Have you done any exhibitions? Any clinics? Do you teach lessons?' Don't get me wrong. Everything is not sponsorship. You should go out and play. Work on your game. Then the sponsorships will come along. But when they do, the company will want something in return."
Even Michelle Gould, indisputably the top women's player in the world, feels a bit uncomfortable relying strictly on her tournament performance.
"I do an enormous amount of work for Ektelon," she says. "It's all to get more visibility in the marketplace. The racquetball industry is tough. There are no unlimited funds."
What's left? If someone of Gould's stature has to scramble to maintain her status, what's left for the mass of racquetball players?
In fact, more than you might think. Racquetball rests in the middle of the advertising spectrum. The industry is too small to justify the expense of advertising on television or in mainstream magazines, but too large to rely strictly on brochures and ads in trade publications.
"If you spend money (on television and print ads), you waste a lot of it because many of the people you reach are not going to buy racquetball products no matter what," says E-Force owner Ron Grimes. "So, how do you get the exposure you need? By getting those influential players at the clubs who the other players pay attention to."
Consequently, manufacturers offer an eclectic mix of sponsorship programs. The titles vary from company to company, but the purpose of each program is the same: cheap advertising at the grass-roots level.
At the entry level, you need to look closely at what you are getting as a "sponsored" player. Most of the manufacturers' entry-level programs resemble the deal Bailey had with Fin, only minus the sales commission. Head will dub you an influential player after you pay a couple of hundred dollars for a head-to-toe equipment package, including a racket. E-Force's preferred player program is nearly identical. With Gemini, you buy the first racket at regular price, anywhere from $169 to $220. If you sell two other rackets, you get an equipment bag and two shirts for free. Sell another three rackets and you get a racket for free.
Hmmm. Let's see. A player pays $200 for the opportunity to wear Head's clothing and play with one of its rackets. Doug Ganim, a Head marketing consultant, says the price is a deep discount from retail and availability is limited to two players per club. Maybe so, but it sounds more like advertising than sponsorship with the player picking up the tab.
"It's multi-level marketing," insists Peck of Ektelon. "It's a very effective business tactic, but it's irresponsible to call it sponsorship."
Pockets of influence. Consequently, real sponsorship begins at a higher level, where the manufacturers give out clothing and equipment and demand a return on their outlays. They want players in similar situations to Bailey back in 1982. When she spoke, most of the racquetball players in southeastern Virginia listened. The others at least noticed the brand of equipment she was using.
"Racquetball is a sport of pockets," says Ganim. "In each pocket there is an influencer, an opinion leader, and it's not directly related to the level of his or her play. It could be someone who teaches a lot of lessons, runs a lot of leagues."
"It's not a matter of who the best player is, but who influences the most number of people," says Grimes. "A player in, say, Albuquerque, may get a preferred contract (equipment at a discount), while in L.A., a player who is not as good may get a club pro contract (equipment free). It's a question of who is reaching the most people."
Ektelon takes a slightly higher road, according to Peck. The company is more concerned with growth than influence. If racquetball's popularity grows, Ektelon, given its dominant market share, will undoubtedly grow along with it. Peck is after players willing to put in the time to teach lessons, administer leagues, run clinics. Ektelon's point system for accountability awards one point for playing in a local tournament, but five points for staging an exhibition. Getting certified as a referee is worth 10 points.
Junior players are the exception to the manufacturers' sponsorship rules. All the companies want the next Cliff Swain. But handicapping adult performance based on youthful talent is hardly an exact science. The potential for error is enormous. So the manufacturers do what college football coaches do - recruit 10 in the hope that one works out.
Junior players typically receive equipment free with little expected in return other than steady improvement in their game and decorum on the court.
"What are you going to do for the company when you are 14?" says Gould, whose first sponsorship was with Head in 1985 for equipment and clothing. "The manufacturers are realistic when they deal with junior players."
Whether a junior or an adult player, if you are interested in a sponsorship, contact the manufacturer's local representative or call the company directly. You will likely be told to mail a racquetball resume with references included. Ganim says he averages 60 letters a month, of which five or so are from players with backgrounds that make his cut. If those numbers sound daunting, take heart from another Bailey anecdote.
She recently ran into someone decked out - head to toe - as a newly-sponsored player. He was a B-level player and not that well known. Bailey had doubts.
"Where did you get all of this stuff?" she asked.
"I got a sponsorship," he said.
"A sponsorship?" she asked. "How did you work that out?"
"I lied," he said, not a trace of compunction in his tone. "I told them I was a club pro and an open player."
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