Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The sustainability of organisations supporting disability sport and athletes, is contingent on their ability to manage increasing pressures of commercialization (Gomez, Martı & Opazo, 2008). Within this environment, the reliance on income generated from various stakeholders, such as sponsors, has become an important feature of disability sport. This presentation draws on a larger research project that aims to investigate how sponsorship decision making processes occur within the context of elite disability sport. In particular, I specifically consider the experiences of elite disabled athletes involved in the sponsorship process. How do such athletes engage in this process, what value do they believe this brings to them, and what challenges are encountered on their sponsorship journey? I explore these questions by drawing upon Bourdieu’s conceptual tools including the notions of social, cultural and economic capital (Bourdieu 1986). Data were collected from (n=5) semi structured interviews with British Paralympic athletes who have successfully secured sponsorship and those that had not. The presentation explores how disabled athletes seek and secure sponsorship early on in their career. In this way, they recognise how this activity contributes to accumulating social and cultural capital in their sport. This research demonstrates that, although there has been an increase in Paralympic sponsorship since the London 2012 Paralympic Games, it is clear that these opportunities are not afforded to all elite disabled athletes and those who are not successful in securing and/or maintaining ‘useful’ sponsorship are acutely aware of how this impacts on their ability to generate valued capital in disability sport and sponsorship.