Getting Paintball Sponsorships

An easy step by step guide to Paintball Sponsorships.

Paintball is an expensive sport to play. Gear, paintballs and entry fee's can quickly add up. Getting a paintball sponsorship will help your team with expenses and can help get you noticed.

This is a step by step article on how to get sponsorship money and equipment for your paintball team.

Does your team deserve a Paintball Sponsorship?

Getting paintball sponsorships is easy with a little effort and dedication. Completing the process of finding, contacting and receiving sponsors is an easy team effort that will take time, ambition and a little organization. A well planned out team resume, website and participation will net you great results.
"Ask yourself how dedicated you are to playing paintball? This is the amount of effort you need to put into preparation and execution for getting paintball sponsorships."

1. Organize your team.
This may sound basic but take a look at your team from a sponsor point of view. Is your team name something offensive or drug/violence related. Would a sponsor be proud to have your team name helping to promote their product?

Does everyone have the same uniforms or is it a hodge-podge of colors and designs. It would be a perfect time to get a new uniform jersey with lots of space to add sponsor names as you get them. Consider getting all the same type of paintball masks, pants and what ever else it takes to look like a cooperating organized paintball team. Your guns can vary by needs and positions played.

Does everyone conduct themselves for the best of the team? Sportsmanship is as important as any win/lose record. Make strict rules about no cheating, whining, complaining or arguing on the field or off. If someone has a problem they can bring it up in a rational conversation and present their points. I've seen people lose penalty players on the field because someone decides to argue with a ref about getting shot. As a matter of fact, while reffing I have pulled penalty players because one of their team mates was standing outside the dead box arguing(with swear words) about getting hit or hitting an opponent and not getting credit for it. How does that type of uncontrolled behavior reflect upon the team as a whole?

Behavior off the field can especially get you in trouble. Having a teammate go onto a forum and complain about a field or flame other players can be a disaster. If your sponsored by a field and you rip on another field, if your sponsored field finds out, I promise you they won't be happy!

2. Promote your team.
Always try to get your name out there. Be proud of every aspect of your team. Create a website with your teams title and information. Be sure to have mom or a girlfriend come to your events and take pictures. Keep your website updated and keep fresh pics and blurbs about practice and events. There are many free website hosts that can accommodate a paintball team website. Get everyone on the team to contribute, embed a blog and add to it every time the team gets together. Have a section about paintball in your area, our team has a page for Wisconsin Paintball Fields.

Find a large paintball forum, local or nation, and ask for a team thread. Most will give you a private team thread. Non-teammates won't be able to view the individual threads but will be able to see your teams name and amount of threads. This can spark interest or talk about your team.

If your at a large event look for press. Introduce yourself and be polite. Tell them very briefly about your team and when your going to play. Let them decide if they want to take a picture. Looking unique(not like a freak) can create interest and get your picture taken too.

Invite everyone to your events. Ask family and friends to come out and watch you play. Get your friends to help fill your pods between rounds. Have mom cheering for you in the stands. Sponsors love that kind of thing, your team has more people cheering for you than all other teams combined. They see lots of people involved and can see a larger impact.

3. Build a paintball team resume.
This is where we separate the men from the boys. The time and effort you put into your team resume will make a big difference between a potential sponsor seeing you as a joke or a serious organized team. Your resume should include:

• Team overview, a kind of "about us" write up. How did you get together? What do you stand for?
• Goals of past, present and future. What are you doing to achieve them? What successes and failures have you had. What have you learned/done to adjust your efforts to overcome your failures?
• Individual teammate information. Have a basic head shot of everyone and maybe an action shot. Give contact info and have everyone write a small bio.
• List your other sponsors and how your relationship has been mutually beneficial. See if the other sponsor will act as a reference or write a letter of referral to include in your resume.
• Include a "hook", what makes your team unique?
• Itemize your teams expenses for the current year in a detailed schedule(see step 5 in part three of this article).
• Include a link to your website. Be sure to have your website up to date.
• Any press or recognition you have received as a team.
• What can you do for them? Offer to organize an outing for their company that would help with "corporate team building".
• Make every resume unique to whom your sending it. What do you like about this specific company your applying to for sponsorship? Do you use their products? Do you like what they stand for?

4. Who should we ask for sponsorships?
Don't be afraid to ask non-paintball companies for help. Search for places that sponsor bowling league teams, softball teams, ect. A drywall company can help you out just as much as a small paintball company.

Many company websites have a page you can fill out and send your resume. There is an available paintball sponsorships list that is updated every 6 months. These are companies looking to sponsor people and have these sponsorships sitting there waiting for your team to take them! This is a great place to start.

Another place I suggest looking is your local or favorite paintball field. Fields generally need help reffing events or corporate outings, setting up or with maintenance of equipment, clearing brush and tear down or set up of bunkers. They can save a lot of money by having your team help out in exchange for free practice time field fees. It's a win-win situation. Also, always try to bring new people out to play at their field. Get kids from school, work or contacts you make online. Set up team practices at their field on forums with local threads.

5. What to ask for from potential sponsors.
Your team should think of your season as a product. List all of your events and expenses on a spread sheet or organized document. Break down all of your costs individually. Paintballs, event entry fees, travel expenses, ect. Present it too a sponsor, as part of your paintball team resume, and let them decide how much they want to get involved. If you're a team just starting out, suggest they pay for one tournaments entry fees. Try to get them to participate more each year.

Be realistic about what you should expect. Most major teams that get big dollar deal and a "full ride" have already established themselves. They started from small sponsors who gave them maybe one events entry fees and worked their way up. Don't think your going to get it all and ask for a boatload of cash or equipment. Your chances of getting paintball sponsorship will drop off to zero!

Simply present them with an opportunity to help and let them decide how much they want to contribute. Give them an easy way to say yes, get your foot in the door by giving them small options. The next year you can let them know how much you appreciated their help and ask for a little more. Remember, you want this to be a long term relationship.

In the following years ask them how their needs for you have changed and what has worked in the past that they liked. Could you expand on previous successes or find a new innovative way to help promote them that could save them money? Also, send them an updated resume every year and include their company's impact to your team.

6. Make new contacts and maintain old ones.
Glad hand every field owner where you play. Go to large events and introduce yourselves to vendors. Follow up with an email a few days after the event ended and include what you liked about their company. Get involved!

If maintain old relationships by sending an email about how they have impacted your paintball playing and post a link from your website to their business. Thank them for their help in the past, even if they didn't sponsor you. If they spent some time talking to you, tell them how your learned something and still apply it to what you do now.

Your contact list is as important as your paintball equipment. Get your whole team involved.

Getting paintball sponsorships.
The effort you put into maintaining each element of your team will be directly related to the success you have. Organize your team, build a resume, know what to ask for and who to ask. Create a website and promote yourselves buy participating in your paintball community. Get to know the little people and the big alike and you will find your team many sponsorships.

Posted by Redwood on 01/10/09

Note: I originally posted this article on Squidoo.com, the article was not indexed by Google and it was abused by scrapers and reprinters. This article is the sole property of Wolfpack Paintball Team. If you see it posted somewhere else, please let us know. Thanks for reading! =)

Also see:
Looking for Paintball Sponsorship - Part 2
List of Available Paintball Sponsorships
Peoples paintball sponsorship expectations