Looking for little league sponsors - how much should I ask for?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I coach a little league 7-8 team, last year was my first year doing this. Things have changed since I was playing 25 years ago. When I played, all the teams came from two schools to form the league. The rec council handled securing sponsors, every team shared the sponsor money equally. We all had the same style uniforms, helmets, equipment…everything. Well things have changed. Now, every team has to fend for themselves. If a team goes out and finds sponsors, they use the money for themselves. Some teams are running around with fancy new catcher’s equipment and Under Armour shirts, and others have cotton t-shirts and 70’s equipment (my team for instance). I’m going to make a change this year, I’m going to operate a mini PA system at the home games, to announce batters, play music…stuff like that. But also run commercials for sponsors between innings. Also hang a banner on the backstop for the sponsors.

So my question is this: when I solicit potential sponsors, how much is an appropriate amount to ask for? What I offer is commercial spots during our 7 home games, an up to 2’ by 4’ banner to hang (that they supply), and fliers/menus I’ll have available to hand out. $100? $200? I have no idea. Or should it depend on the business? A small carry out isn’t going to fork over as much as a big restaurant. Also, do I need to provide some sort of documentation for tax purposes?

2

Set up a list of amounts of money for a certain level of exposure.

$50 2 PA announcements per game
$100 5 announcements
$250 2x4 ft banner behind plate
$500 4 x 8 ft banner in outfield

You get the idea, adjust amounts and exposures as fit local conditions.

When I [del]played[/del] sat on the bench LL, the main sponsor had a patch across the back of the uniform jersey.

3

Moving this from General Questions to IMHO. I considered moving it to the Game Room, but it seemed a general enough question that I think this is the right spot.

samclem, Moderator

4

If in your day job you are a vendor to businesses, you may be able to hit them up for a couple of hundred or so. We never turned down a customer request for a donation to a good cause.

The restaurants around here often put up a plaque containing a picture of the team they have sponsored, so be prepared to do that.

If you have a team web site (if you have not looked into this, there are sites that allow you to set up and manage your team very cheaply - here’s one), you can also put adverts for your sponsors on the site. The site I linked to suggests different packages at different prices.