Getting a College Team Sponsored

[clockworkmiller]

Some friends of mine and I are forming a University of Arizona paintball team. We're just starting out, but we have 5 guys willing to dedicate the time to the team. The problem is money. Im wondering if anybody has started a team, and has any suggestions on how to get sponsored. Anything would help. Thank you.

[LaW]

Well first if it's a recognized club by the university you can get some funding... maybe they'll pay for jersey's etc nothing much though... with sponsorships your not going to find companies that will give you money... maybe just a partial discount but your lucky if that. What you should do is play at tourney's and get some name recognition. Then you'll have better luck with finding some form of sponsorship.

[gimp]

Definetly get the club approved, and funded by the school. That will be a big help.

http://www.college-paintball.com/

You might find some good info there.

[Snooky]

clock is ur name inspired by clockwork orange? If it is i love that movie, me and me droogs.

[clockworkmiller]

snooky, yes, my name is inspired by that wonderful movie.

[AkaEnder]

As captian of the Kansas State University team, I can tell you from experience not to expect anything but grief from the school. Miles of red tape, threats against our club, agruements over use of logos, in our case, it turned out to be a lost cause.

The best advice I could give would be to get out there and establish a name for your team. We picked up local sponsorships from our local field by offering free reffing, and after proving we had the heart they helped us aquire small sponorships here and there from nationally known paintball manufacturers/vendors.

It's going to take 'years' of operating as a club before the school will ever consider funding, and even then all it takes is one idiot with a $20 walmart marker to ruin it all by shooting someones car, or whatnot.

To date, I think Iowa State is the only school with heavy sponsorships and a on campus field - but they've also ran a successful and safe club for nearly 10 years. It takes alot of time and effort.

I definately dont want to discourage you, because I think college-paintball is great. Just dont expect a whole lot in the way of aid from anyone, you guys gotta do this on your own at first, and show'm what paintball is all about.

Check out college-paintball.com and try to make an event this year, and make sure it gets into your college newspaper. (bribe a reporter if you have too) I would suggest the nationals in April.
If theres anything I can help with, let us know.

-Bryan
Captain Kstate Wildkats

[clockworkmiller]

ha ha. Thanks from a fellow wildcat (of the arizona variety).

Thank you guys very much for your help, but certain issues I would rather not get into at the moment are really pressing on me, and I may not be aiding the U of A team. Its a long story.

[polorboy]

Hey, I know a little bit about sponsorships and they are hard as heck to come by. I am part of my local stores team and we are just starting to get sponsorship after playing for three years. Right now we are sponsored by Cannondale (the company, not a local store), McD's, Burgar King, and a few other local stores. Dye has offered us sponsorship if we place in skyball. We have to place in the top ten in our division and they offered to sponsor our team with cash! . Which means that if we place from now on all of our tournaments will be free and we will get anything we need. We have to place in the top ten though to get it. That is not going to be easy since our team is just starting to realy get organized. I know I said we have been playing for three years but the players have changed every year. We finaly have some devoted players. It is not easy to get sponosoships. You have to go out and prove to the companies that you are worth their while and give them a reason for wanting to sponsor your team.