All ur answers about how to get it: SPONSERSHIP

[Flanders]

sponsorship is a lot about who u know, and who knows u.

Making a name for you self is one thing, but if u go to tourney's. start to hang out for a day or 2 after your games are over...check out the vendors (cheap stuff, take advantage of this) and make sure ur accolades are known. if u have a team jersey where it, be like yea i was on that team that just took second on our first time out.

when you go by booths and people realize that ur part of team X slip in that you show ur interest in their product or if u have some of their products make it relatively obvious that u love their crap (if it is truly what u like). slip it in be like, oh u know that pack u made, the XXX pack, that thing has stuck with me works great. (this also works for drug dealers..switch pack to a name of weed and team to group of friends) [if you can't tell im joking]

always respect people, don't knock products harshly, even if you are talking to the owner of the competitor's company, it's seen as rude, harsh and immature. state that you've had bad luck with product X or that you don't find that it meets ur needs or level of quality.

[nycpb.com]

not really.. sponsors will hardly ever go after an individual, they'll go after the whole team. they ask for what you've accomplished, what tourns you went to, how many you went to, which you plan on going to in the current/next year, and which fields you play at

if they consider your team, they do their homework and check up how often you played at the fields you've gone to (yeah those waivers are used for this too ya know), they check the fields you played at, the team you claimed you played in, the team roster (uh oh goinna suck since you weren't really on it!)

do you honestly think a sponsor is going to give away thousands of $$ and not research a team and players?

then the blow off/waiting list or acceptance letter

sponsorship money comes out of advertisement money. ask yourself this before bothering a sponsor: do you think you're worth the $? what can you do for the sponsor? (not what can the sponsor do for you)

[Blacksheep]

Not true.

A friend of mine has a son who knows two store owners, both said they'd give him a sponsorship if he has a team.

[nycpb.com]

1. the owners are a friend
2. thats a local store, they have some knowledge of him
3. no contract
4. will mostl likely be for local only
5. they haven't gotten sponsorship yet

[US_Ghost]

Obviously there are differences in the levels of sponsors out there. As for myself, my team is sponsored by our local field and a few local businesses. Those are rather easy to get, especially if your known in the area. The BIG $ comes from the national sponsors and that ain't to easy to come by. I had the opprotunity to get sposored by a paint company, had contract in hand and everything, then I ast down with the team and we had to talk it over. We decided to turn down the sponsorship due to the factors of the sponsoring. We had to buy X amounts of paint from them in a year to keep the sponsorship. Usually not a big deal except for the fact that we would have been cutting out our local field's sponsorship (it was where we got our paint from)and the fact that tournaments are mostly FPO, we would've had quite a bit of old paint sitting around. It was a great opprotunity for us to be accepted for sponsorship, but it is a big decision to make. It aint always free stuff you get from sponsors until you hit the big circuts and make a name for yourself, so I would suggest start off small and work your way up there.

[Cpl_D]

Obviously there are differences in the levels of sponsors out there. You are correct

Coming from a mountain bike background, this is oh so true.

Lower level "sponsorship" may be in the form of maybe getting hookups or free support from your local shop. I.E. discounts on purchases, free schwag, etc. Kind of like in mountain biking.

Moving up the sponsorship ladder may require you to send a resume to the company you are interested in recieving sponsorship from. Why do companies do this? Simple, they want their products to be used/promoted by the best and most qualified people. Most companies require the team being sponsored to attend a required amount of events/venues per season(this is set in a contract that the person being sponsored will have to sign). This is to ensure that the company's product/item will get the most exposure for the cost of the sponsorship.

Also, if a team were fully sponsored by a company, they would be using unique factory parts for their equipment. This is usually for prototype product testing before the company considers it for a production run. This would require a person to be very knowledgable with the companies equipment to help further future product development.

If you are considering sponsorship, think about what level of support you are trying to attain. Ask yourself a few questions.

Do I just want some hookups or local support from my local shop?

Do I want to help a company with their product development and product exposure? If you've got a full 'ride' from a company, don't expect to just get free stuff and run. They'll want a return on their 'investment.'

What can I do to help my sponsor make more money(aka product exposure)? Business is business anywhere you go and the all mighty dollar is has the final say.

Sponsorship at any level is good, but just remember that the farther up the ladder you go the more you'll be expected to perform and give back to the sponsor.

Please note that all my comments come from previously being sponsored in mountain biking. This post is not meant to be taken negatively. Finally, there are gaps I left in some of my explanations, I attribute that to lack of coffee (see, I start work at 6am so my brain doesn't work so good until I've had some coffee).

[Flanders]

nycpb.com

very true they won't come after u, but they'll know u

like i said name recognition

theyll her esome team took like second and first in a few tournys and ask whose on it, if they recognize a name, it's just a boost in connection

[Spoony McSpoon]

do these sponser neccesarly have to be a paintball company, or store/field?

[nordic]

Not really unless you get into professional play. When I started off I was just sponsored by local friends and stores within the city.

[nycpb.com]

my college team that i created is partially sponsored by coca cola and right guard

[Sid]

Key to sponsorship #1: When asking for sponsorship, make sure you ask for "sponsorship", not "sponcership" or "sponsership".

[Raptorz922]

Me and some of my friends are seriously thinking of getting a 5 man team sponsored by a local (sorry, won't tell ya!) sporting goods store. We're really hoping we can get it. A group of us actually won our first speedball game ever and it was against a sponsored team with totally tricked out Spyders and we had our stock Tippy 98s and Eradicators!! :crazy:

[tonysk83]

sorry bud, you won't get sponsored with stock tippys and beating a team in speedball is nothing, my team has beat guys with 10+ years experience that come to the field everyweekend, and we defiently aren't sponsored

[Raptorz922]

We won't have stock Tippys for long though. In a week or two at least two of us will have some major upgrades and my friend's gun came with some minor upgrades. He'll be getting some stuff soon too.

[CDietz]

Originally posted by Raptorz922
Me and some of my friends are seriously thinking of getting a 5 man team sponsored by a local (sorry, won't tell ya!) sporting goods store. We're really hoping we can get it. A group of us actually won our first speedball game ever and it was against a sponsored team with totally tricked out Spyders and we had our stock Tippy 98s and Eradicators!! :crazy:

Originally posted by Raptorz922
We won't have stock Tippys for long though. In a week or two at least two of us will have some major upgrades and my friend's gun came with some minor upgrades. He'll be getting some stuff soon too.

i dont know how to respond to this without being banned :eyes:

[Sid]

The point is this guys: What can you offer a sponsor that no one else can? If all you can say is "we're a good team", forget it. How does your team's actions translate to increased business for a particular sponsor? You better have something to offer because you can't get something for nothing!

[PyRo-TV]

easiest way...get some local buissness sponsorships then when you decide to go into big time play with pro divisions..suck it up and pay (and stick with the local sponsor they will help you out too). the easiest way to get a sponsorship is when they come to you (if you are good enough)

my friends g-ma is a manager at L&E bottling over here in Olympia, Washington. they are a pepsi bottling company and they might sponsor our team. its just little things like that that will take you a long way. so dont just go up to a mainstream paintball company asking for a paintball sponsor ship...cause it wont happen.

good advice flanders:tup:

[mankeymanOK]

When you are typing to a sponcership what do I say? I am trying to get my three man team sponcered we have 4 players. 2 cockers with an eblade and warblade and 2 timmys 2k2 (mine) and a dragon.