Proposal for Airline Sponsorship World Championships 2006 NZ Ultimate Frisbee Teams
Kristin D‟Agostino 20 April 2006
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A brief introduction to Ultimate
"..ultimate frisbee combines speed, grace and powerful hurling with a gruelling pace." THE WALL STREET JOURNAL The sport of ultimate is growing rapidly throughout the world and has a particularly strong following in the US and Europe. The sport originated in the US and is closely linked through colleges and universities world-wide. www.whatisultimate.com www.ultilinks.com Ultimate is a fast, non-contact, free flowing team sport that combines elements of netball, soccer, gridiron and touch rugby and uses a flying disc (Frisbee®). The basic idea of the game is very simple. The aim is for the team with the disc to pass it up the field and score a point by catching it in the endzone. A turnover occurs any time the offence team fails to complete a pass, or the defence team blocks or intercepts a pass. See the picture below for a view of the field.
Ultimate has traditionally relied upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the players themselves. This means the players are in charge of any foul calls and disputes that may occur rather than having a non-playing referee. This is a unique part of Ultimate and is called the “Spirit of the Game”. This works to create a highly competitive sport that does not have problems such as players faking fouls and injuries that typically occur in other refereed sports. Ultimate is now played in around 50 countries, with government-funded programs in Sweden, Norway, and Japan, and college scholarships available in the USA. It is estimated that at least 100,000 people play the sport worldwide. Ultimate was also a medal sport in the 2001 and 2005 World Games.
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About NZU
New Zealand Ultimate (NZU, http://www.ultimate.org.nz) was officially incorporated in May 2005, and its parent body the New Zealand Flying Disc Association (NZFDA) officially gained SPARC recognition in January 2006. NZU‟s mission statement is “to direct and develop Ultimate in New Zealand”. NZU does this by organising national events throughout the year, assisting regions with their growth, while providing national direction for the sport. Evidence of NZU‟s success in developing Ultimate in New Zealand and increasing its quality can be seen in our performance at recent overseas tournaments. In 2006, NZU sent three teams to the Australian Nationals as part of the training and selection process for Worlds. th The men‟s team finished 6 out of 18 teams. The NZ women assembled two evenly split th th national teams and entered the tournament ranked in 9 and 10 place. Their performances st th produced 1 and 5 place finishes; NZ women are the Australian Nationals Champions. In the last world championships, where countries rather than clubs are represented, the New Zealand team brought back a bronze medal in the mixed division. We consider ourselves to be serious contenders at Perth for the World Ultimate Club Championships in November 2006.
Previous results at World Championship events.
Year Venue Division Result
1992 1994 1994 1997 1997 1999 1999 2002 2002 2004 2006 2006 2006 2006 2006
Utsunomiya, Japan Colchester, England Colchester, England Vancouver, Canada Vancouver, Canada St Andrews, Scotland St Andrews, Scotland Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu, Hawaii Turku, Finland Perth, Australia Perth, Australia Perth, Australia Perth, Australia Perth, Australia
Open (men‟s) Women Open Women Open Women Open Mixed Mixed Mixed Open Women Women Masters Mixed
8th / 10 8th / 13 13th / 15 26th / 32 25th / 48 19th / 24 22nd / 39 8th / 40 7th / 40 3rd (Bronze) ? ? ? ? ?
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Event information – World Ultimate Club Championship
Name: World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) Where: Perth, Australia
When: November 11 18 2006
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World Ultimate Club Championships are held once very four years, and World Ultimate event has been located in the Southern Hemisphere before. It is estimated that over 100 teams, or over 2000 players, will attend, competing in four divisions, Open (men‟s), Women‟s, Mixed, and Masters. It is NZU‟s intention to send as many New Zealand players to WUCC as possible. We will be sending teams in each senior division Open (men‟s), Mixed, Masters, and 2 in the Women‟s division. If you would like more information on WUCC, please visit http://www.wucc2006.org/
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Team details
New Zealand Ultimate is sending five teams to the 2006 World Ultimate Club Championships in Perth, totalling 90 players. The teams are made up of individuals throughout New Zealand and are not geographically based teams. Several New Zealand team members have connections with Air New Zealand.
Kristin D‟Agostino Air New Zealand Employee
Kelly Crombie Fiancé of Air New Zealand Employee (2005-2006 NZU Female Player of the Year)
Sam Mason Daughter and Sister of Air New Zealand Employees
Alex Hatley Partner Eagle Airways Employee
5.0 Air New Zealand - Sponsorship outline
Air New Zealand is already involved in New Zealand Ultimate; you fly us where we need to play. There are five official national tour events in different cities throughout New Zealand each year, two social beach tournaments (one on each island), a minimum of three annual/worlds training camps, and many other regional tournaments. Players from all over New Zealand attend all these events. Communicate the benefits of travelling on Air New Zealand to our target audience Ultimate is an innovative, young and exciting sport played by university students and professionals who travel to tournaments throughout New Zealand and the World. Forming a good relationship with an organisation like ours will increase brand loyalty for future travel and advertise Air New Zealand to other Ultimate players from around the world, including the Perth WUCC event and the coinciding Red Bull Air Race. Increase sales on Air New Zealand services and increase inbound tourism to New Zealand NZU will publicise and promote Air New Zealand as our travel sponsor and recommended carrier to the paying friends and family members travelling as spectators to Perth. It will also encourage athletes to choose Air New Zealand when booking travel to New Zealand based events and training camps. With the Tournaments drawing ~200 players, many weekends a year, this is a large amount of travel. Stimulate demand for travel outside of peak periods of demand The travel we are seeking sponsorship for is in November, prior to the peak season and it is within the Southern hemisphere. The teams will most likely travel with partners or family members, which will potentially double the numbers travelling to the event.
Exclusive Air Travel Provider
Air New Zealand will be appointed the exclusive air travel provider.
Rights and benefits offered to Air New Zealand by NZU
1. Air New Zealand Name/Logo will display prominently on official team playing strips. All World Championship events are prestigious in nature. The NZU will provide stylish and professional looking uniforms for its teams. 2. Air New Zealand Name/Logo will appear on travelling uniforms worn to and from Perth and the training camps. 3. Air New Zealand Name/Logo will appear on the NZU website relating to WUCC ‟06 information and results. 4. Air New Zealand will be given the right to use the NZU team names in advertising, eg “Air New Zealand, Proud sponsor of New Zealand Ultimate”. 5. Air New Zealand will be given the right to use the official design of the NZUdesigned flying discs as advertisement. 6. There is the potential to create a partnership with NZU for Air New Zealand team building events, indoor ultimate leagues, or OSH programs similar to the 10000 steps program undertaken by many Air New Zealand departments. Please contact Kristin.d‟agostino@airnz.co.nz to discuss this option further.
Dates of Sponsorship
The World Ultimate Club Championships occur every four years. Air New Zealand would be considered an official sponsor for the 2006 team, but the team jersey would remain current until 2010. Air New Zealand is only being asked to sponsor flights to Perth for the 2006 WUCC event.
Target Audience
A. Target Audience WUCC It is expected that over 2000 players will compete in the WUCC games. There are currently 102 teams signed up from 20 countries. B. Two for one deal: Perth is hosting both the 2006 WUCC November 11 - 18 and the Red Bull Air th th Race, held November 16 - 19 . The air race has been termed the „Formula 1 of the sky‟ and is likely to attract hundreds of thousands of spectators to the Perth foreshore, with the air race taking place over the Swan River. For full details on the air race go to http://www.redbullairrace.com/. The WUCC‟06 organisers are working with the Red Bull Air Race team to hold a special joint event and run joint promotions.
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Air Travel Increase
A. WUCC International Travel All New Zealand athletes and spectators will travel from Auckland – Perth in early November and return after the event via Auckland in the end of November. B. WUCC Regional Travel Because the teams are comprised of New Zealanders from all over the country (Dunedin, Christchurch, Nelson, Queenstown, Wellington, Palmerston North, etc) there will be round trip regional flights to Auckland in order to connect to the Auckland - Perth flights. C. Training Camps There will be training camps in Wellington approximately every six week from April to November where all of the members of the teams will train together. The athletes will fly from their regional location to Wellington.
Opportunities for Air New Zealand Brand Exposure
A. Name/Logo on Travel Uniforms (Approximately 90-100) Worn to and from Perth Worn within NZ to and from training camps
B. Air New Zealand Name/Logo on Official Team Uniforms Each team will take two uniforms, one light and one dark. This will mean roughly 180 – 200 uniforms will be sent to Perth. The uniforms will be worn every day of the 7 day WUCC event in Perth. After the tournament players often trade jerseys, thereby distributing the logo and advertisement to different audiences. All Jerseys will be officially for the 2006 WUCC event, but they will be worn with great pride for many years afterwards.
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Air New Zealand Name/Logo/Link on NZU website in relation to WUCC events and results.
Contribution Sought from Air New Zealand
NZUPC is looking for airline sponsorship for the 90 players travelling to Perth to play for the New Zealand Men‟s, Master‟s, mixed, and 2 Women‟s teams at the 2006 World Ultimate Club Championships. We would like to make this work and have presented a number of options that you may be able to help us with. Option 1 – Full Round Trip Airfare from Auckland to Perth th The team would be travelling Early November returning after the 19 of November Sponsorship Value: ~ $700 - 900 per team member Option 2 – Confirmed Seats at Staff Travel Rates from Auckland to Perth We understand that the airline business is a tight one and that our sport does not have the highest profile. But we are young, enthusiastic, competitive, and creative and honestly we need a ride. Help us by getting us there at cost. The th team would be travelling in early November returning after the 19 of November Sponsorship Value: ~$600 per team member Amount Paid per Team Member: $170 (this represents the current staff travel rate from Auckland to Perth)
Thank you for your time. To discuss sponsorship for NZU further, please contact either Kristin D‟Agostino Airline Sponsorship Co-ordinator World Ultimate Club Championships kristin.d‟agostino@airnz.co.nz (out of the country for most of June) or Penny Jackson Co-ordinator World Ultimate Club Championships penny@pennyj.org