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A Year in Review: Sponsored by …

Welcome live to the SponsorCenter 2016 year-end recap, where we cover not just sports but the branding of it, too. This year we saw spectacular highlights from college sports to professional. We were also blessed with the Summer Olympics and the famous Super Bowl 50 commercials. This year it was estimated by The Wall Street Journal that over $100 billion was spent through sponsorships, branding, commercials, and advertising. I truly believe that this number is a meager amount but somehow advertisers found a way to go over budget with this small number. Now, without further ado let’s get started with the 2016 year-end recap of sports, starting with this year’s college football bowl games.

Everyone who loves college football remembers the National Championship game between Alabama and Clemson, where Alabama narrowly defeated Clemson, 45 – 40. Alabama also brought us the Barbie Heisman Trophy winner, Derrick Henry. Let’s not forgot the battle at the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl between The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Buckeyes took the lead early and never looked back, winning 44 – 28. One of the best nail biter bowl games this year was the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. In this game, the Akron Zips barely beat Utah State Aggies by a score of 23 – 21. However, this game was a disappointment because the gift bag I received did not contain a single potato, just a peeler. A big shout-out to all the artists who painted the end zones and 50-yard line logos for the bowl games, their work was sponsored by Rustoleum. It is rumored that for the 2016 – 17 season, the Ty-D-Bol Bowl will clean up team rivals and flush way any competition.

The NFL season brought us some great memories this year. Remember “deflategate” sponsored by the U.S. Government. Also, let us not forget the spectacle we got from the Disney NFL MVP Cam Newton all season long. The Papa John’s Super Bowl 50 this year was one for the ages with the retiring of an all-time great quarterback. That quarterback was none other than the Denver Broncos’ Payton Manning who was able to crush the Carolina Panthers, the best team in the NFL this year, by a score of 24 – 10. I was thoroughly impressed by Papa John’s promotion this year because of their special pizza that had golden flakes to commemorate the Papa John’s Super Bowl 50. Although what is the Papa John’s Super Bowl without the coveted commercials, which is the main reason many people actually tune into the game. How about the famous Anheuser-Busch commercial with their beautiful, iconic Clydesdales and the always hilarious Doritos commercial with the ultra sound. In addition, Forbes estimated that each second of each commercial this year was around $100 million.

The NBA season was full of record-breaking numbers from one team and a promise fulfilled by a player who came home again. This record-breaking team was none other than the Golden State Warriors who broke the record for the most wins in the regular season with 73 wins, surpassing Michael Jordan’s Bulls era record. This team also had the Under Armour NBA MVP Stephen Curry whose three pointers were sponsored by Brita. Personally, I feel that Stephen Curry made the wrong choice and should have gone with Pur water filters. The fairy tale story this year in the NBA was LeBron James who fulfilled his promise of bringing the KIA NBA Championship back home to “the land”, also known as Cleveland, Ohio.

The MLB regular season has just ended and eight teams are currently vying for a spot in the MasterCard World Series. Will the Giants win it again this year since it is an even numbered year? Will the Curse of the Billy Goat strike the Cubs, who had the best team in baseball? This year, each homerun and strikeout was sponsored DraftKings. Speaking of DraftKings, I was honestly surprised and disappointed that only $1 billion was wagered this year on fantasy baseball. The Chevrolet AL and NL MVP awards will be announced soon and favorites are Houston Astro’s Jose Altuve and the Cubs’ Kris Bryant.

Finally, how great was the Coca-Cola XXXI Summer Olympic Games this year? We saw two of the greatest athletes declare their retirement after these Olympics. The most decorated Olympian, Michael Phelps with a total of 28 medals and Usain Bolt, the fastest man ever to live. A surprising new element was added this year, that being each medal was sponsored by a different company. The Gold was by GM, Silver by Toyota, and Bronze by BMW.

I would like to personally thank each and every one of our viewers for tuning in tonight for our special year-end recap on the world of sports and branding, here on SponsorCenter. Throughout this year, fans were seen hopping into their Chevy cars with their MasterCards in hand to pick up their Papa John’s pizza, Budweiser beer, and Coca-Cola before the games began. Looking forward to 2017, we are hopeful for another year of thrilling sports action and to see what new sponsors will enter the sporting realm. We just learned this week that Papa John’s Super Bowl 51 Halftime Show sponsored by Pepsi will feature Lady Gaga. Finally, next year’s pre-estimates are in and the total amount for sponsorships, branding, commercials, and advertising for sports is roughly equal to the 2017 United States Government deficit at $500 billion. I truly believe that this amount is a disrespect to all sports fans because advertiser need to step up and break the $1 trillion mark. A final word to advertisers, the fans are supporting you, so use more of their money to make more ads.