Some of you blokes on the Kennel must be super connected or possibly actual board members or staff in disguise...
. Who here actually knows for a fact what he is contributing financially ( and I mean everything above and below the table). And while you are at it, how do you know that the club/board have not asked or encouraged him to be involved directly with some of the clubs recruitments. Do we know for a fact that Laundy hasn't been asked to make certain statements publicly so that the club is at arms length? Surely if his contribution is so small financially, why would Khoury and Co and now Gould allow him to potentially damage Canterbury with unwanted involvement or comment.
Sponsorship is a fancy name for donation. Those that don't actually understand or know how sponsorship works would probably be very surprised to learn that most of the time it would be much easier with greater return to just spend the money on direct media advertising (print, radio tv, online etc. or now these days thru targeted social media) than it is to be a sponsor of something.
Lets say for a guestimated example that Laundy is giving Canterbury $1m a year in sponsorship, what does he get in return. In realty "fuck all".
Exposure? What, for the hotel empire that he has successfully run over 50 years, or for the half a billion dollar deal he did for the 30 odd pubs he leased to Woolworths for the next 20 years, media awareness, business networking, political influence?? He has more than enough clout with his hotel empire to do just about anything he wants to already.
The fact is he gets to watch his logo run around (at the moment on the worst team in the comp,) and some footy players visiting his establishments (which they already did). Yeah, I know there is corporate hospitality and sponsorship activation, ticket allotment, merchandise, player appearance and access, business to business opportunity's, cross over marketing etc. but why would he bother? I can tell you from 1st hand experience with most sponsorship there is usually a personal or emotional connection or a long term plan for something else.
With major corporates that have budgets for sponsorships etc. it normally comes down to the person directly responsible for this spend and what ticks their box. If that person is AFL mad, there is probably not much chance of a league sponsorship etc. and vice a versa. Other times it can be because the company wants to align itself with a particular sport for financial opportunity, but it is never just for the actual sponsorship package benefits like tickets, merchandise, corporate hospitality etc.
Arthurs first passion in league is the Tigers, so I doubt its an emotional attraction..
The return on investment rarely matches let alone exceeds the cost so Arthur must have a long term goal otherwise its a totally useless waste of his time and money to be involved. The goal might be to eventually get on the board (either him or one of his sons) or it might have to do with the potential development of something on the old site at Liverpool or even Belmore, who really knows that isn't in the loop.
Either way Arthur will have a plan and it wont be to just watch a bunch of boof heads run around on a footy field with his name on their jerseys while impressing a few friends in a private corporate suite. More importantly if what he brings to the table is actually a hinderance and does not benefit The Bulldogs, I am sure Khoury/Board/Gould etc. will quickly cut ties and find a better sponsor.
