Pro Players And Sponsorship: What Do You Think

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These quotes and the idea of the subject came from a different thread.

What do you think about these ideas:

Brabhamista's is an excerpt. Sorry I did not use the whole quote but it was long and only a small part was about the subject. I hope you don't feel this is out of context. But feel free to elaborate on your position.


Sponsorship is less about what you play and more about how much they pay.


I'm okay with TT players making money and having sponsorships. And if TT company's that sponsor you were only doing it for one sector of their equipment and you could have a second sponsor for other things, then it could be okay. For instance, if Butterfly sponsored a player for rubbers and Stiga sponsored that player for blades, that would be okay.


But it doesn't seem that this is how things are done. And when you accept a sponsorship with one company and are making a statement to the fans of the sport that you use, say, Stiga Rubbers and Blades equipment, and the company puts photos of you using Calibra for advertisements and it says on their website that you use rubbers from Stiga but you really use Butterfly rubbers, then there is an ethical issue.


Who is responsible? The player or the company?


I would say the way sponsorship works is sort of on the company. I think, if Tenergy is really that much better than everything else, then the sponsors should acknowledge that a sponsored player uses their blade but not their rubbers.


So I am going to agree with this post:


I believe you have to consider the ethical perspective.. If you are sponsored by a company that states in public that you are using their rubber, then it's kinda uncool to actually use a different brand than your sponsor. Therefore I state that it's better to use what Stiga pays you to use, or change sponsor so that you get paid for what you actually are using.


Now the players who have a blade from one company and the handle of a blade from the company that sponsors them, that is a slightly bigger problem. And if the player isn't actually using any equipment from the sponsor company, then I sort of wonder why the player would advertise the equipment of a company when he is not using any equipment from the company.


With that second scenario, I still feel the larger fault is with the companies. But, part of that is, that, if the company sees a player using racket and rubbers from a different company, the responsibility is with the company to address the issue.


I think that the players have a right to make money and they also have a right to play with whatever equipment will be best for their game. But unfortunately taking money from one company while using equipment from another company is a problematic solution to that problem.

Now what does everybody think about this subject?
 
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I dont see how using equipment from another company can be problematic. if i'm sponsored i see it as me advertising for that company. i can still use whatever equipment i like as long as i'm getting their name out there.

I'm sure apple commercials aren't shot with camera's made by apple. and they sure as hell aren't edited with iMovie
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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I dont see how using equipment from another company can be problematic. if i'm sponsored i see it as me advertising for that company. i can still use whatever equipment i like as long as i'm getting their name out there.

I'm sure apple commercials aren't shot with camera's made by apple. and they sure as hell aren't edited with iMovie

But isn't part of the sponsorship deal that you use the sponsoring company's equipment in this kind of sponsorship that a TT player would get? How else would they advertise the company? By using another companies equipment?

What if it is in their contract?

Anyone know if it is in their contracts?


Sent from the Oracle of Delphi by the Pythia
 
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But isn't part of the sponsorship deal that you use the sponsoring company's equipment in this kind of sponsorship that a TT player would get? How else would they advertise the company? By using another companies equipment?

What if it is in their contract?

Anyone know if it is in their contracts?


Sent from the Oracle of Delphi by the Pythia

I highly doubt it's in their contracts. If you were a company like butterfly, would you rather the player you're sponsoring play better and pretend they're using butterfly equipment. Or would you rather them actually use the butterfly equipment and play worse.
 
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I think it is probably in the players contract to play with the equipment. In football, players who are sponsored by Nike wear Nike, players who are sponsored by Adidas wear Adidas.

but do you think if the nike equipment caused their player to play poorly they would say use it anyway? or just put their logo on a different piece of equipment.
 
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says Spin and more spin.
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but do you think if the nike equipment caused their player to play poorly they would say use it anyway? or just put their logo on a different piece of equipment.

I actually don't think that happens in other sports. The players get sponsorships from the companies whose equipment they want to use. What else is the sponsorship about?
 
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I actually don't think that happens in other sports. The players get sponsorships from the companies whose equipment they want to use. What else is the sponsorship about?
But don't you think if nike were to sponsor someone and be willing to pay 2 million and adidas were going to pay 1 million. Even if the player likes adidas equipment more they'd go with the sponsorship that paid more.
 
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By the way, two stories about sponsored players I know.

Story 1: This guy was sponsored by Butterfly, he is high level for this country but not for the world. It was after the last round of Olympic trials and he just missed going to the Olympics by 1 spot. After the trials for the 2012 Olympics he started playing a lot less and started playing more for fun and less for trying to qualify for the Olympics. He started going to College. And every so often he would show up at a tournament and play. One tournament he decided to use a racket that had Long Pips on one side. Now this guy is about 2650 with smooth on both sides, but he is almost the same rating with LP. The LP were TSP brand. Butterfly was his sponsor. They saw him with the TSP rubber, gave him a hard time and eventually dropped him.

Next Story: this woman who is a high level coach and a decently high level woman's player in US was sponsored by Stiga. She had been sponsored by them for YEARS, I mean YEARS. She was using a Clipper and Calibra. At the time that was Stiga's best rubber. She told Stiga, "Hey, it is really hard to compete with people who are using Tenergy while using your rubbers. Is it okay with you if I use Tenergy and just use your blade." So they told her no! So she dropped Stiga and got sponsorship with Butterfly.

Why, with players who are that level, would those two companies care. And then turn a blind eye to the top players. Why would those companies feel that their sponsored players are supposed to use their products?

And why is it okay for Stiga to say FZD is using an Infinity when he is not and whatever rubbers they say he uses when he doesn't use any of what they say in their adds?
 
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The reason why Stiga compromises with FZD is that he is FZD - he sells equipment at a level that false appearances are worth the trouble.

The reason why they didn't compromise with the players you mentioned are that they are lower level pros/hobbyists. And if you don't use Butterfly stuff, Butterfly will just toss you down the river - LOL. How dare you not use Tenergy 05 (unless you are Zhang Jike on the forehand, of course).
 
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But isn't part of the sponsorship deal that you use the sponsoring company's equipment in this kind of sponsorship that a TT player would get? How else would they advertise the company? By using another companies equipment?

What if it is in their contract?

Anyone know if it is in their contracts?


Sent from the Oracle of Delphi by the Pythia

I have a friend who was playing on national level as a junior and was sponsored by nittaku. They were pretty strict. He got in trouble for wearing a shirt and a TOWEL (!!!) from a different brand once he played a tournament. After a while he left nittaku and got a sponsorship from the company with the alien eyes in their corporate design. ;)

BTW: very interesting topic. Maybe we could also ask Dan and the pros on this forum, how they see it.
Nice thread, carl
 
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Personally, I don't see the problem. Firstly, pros need the best equipment in order to even the playing field - if Dimitrij Ovtcharov had to use Bluefires: 1) It would give him the weaker rubber, and thus less performance. And 2) it would be psycological, using worse equipment than an equally skilled player means you will lose more often than not. It actually does not help the brand if Dima moves down the rankings as he starts to use Donic rubber, so it's best to use the superior rubber.
 
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What I find strange for top players like Fan Zhedong, is that apparently Stiga can't make him a blade that he likes. I mean he probably uses a custom made Viscaria anyway, so at some point he had to sit down with Butterfly R&D and make a blade to his exact preferences and specifications. He is sponsored by Stiga, why couldn't Stiga make him a Viscaria like clone, so he can use equipment from his sponsor, and also use what he likes and is best for his game?

Same for Zhang Jike, Butterfly could literally make a Viscaria with different colors on the handle, rebrand it as Zhang Jike ALCDGVASDGA or whatever, and force Zhang Jike to play with it. Again win win for player and company.
 
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I used to play football in FCPorto when i was young and we were sponsored by Nike. I always felt better with Adidas but i was forced to play with Nike. That afected my game? No. But TT is different because the material really afect the game. TT is more like motosport. In Formula 1 you can advertise Ferrari but the best motor in the sport is a Merdedes and without a Mercedes motor you can't win races.
If i had a TT brand i would put in the contract that the player i'm paying for had by obligation to play with my blades/rubbers. But probably he wouldn't win because all the others were playing in Butterfly. Now we have a dilemma. If he doesn't win, i'm loosing money in the sponsor. If we win i sell more equipment. But if some one finds out that he wins with other brand, then my company sucks and he is just a false that sold is body/talent to the highest bidder.
 
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If i had a TT brand i would put in the contract that the player i'm paying for had by obligation to play with my blades/rubbers. But probably he wouldn't win because all the others were playing in Butterfly. Now we have a dilemma. If he doesn't win, i'm loosing money in the sponsor. If we win i sell more equipment. But if some one finds out that he wins with other brand, then my company sucks and he is just a false that sold is body/talent to the highest bidder.

Also, you end up advertising your competitors products. If I see a Zutterfly sponsored player playing with Zenergy, I might think that he is a great player so Zenergy must be a good rubber if he's playing with it. But in the back of my mind there's the possibility that he's playing with that rubber only because the sponsor forces him to. On the other hand, if I see a player using Zenergy, despite being sponsored from say Sfiga, I immediately conclude that Zenergy must really be the best rubber.
 
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From my point i few, i see sponsorships as a gift. To me, receiving sponsorship from butterfly, stiga, tibhar, or donic would make my dream come true. I mean, i'm getting paid to do something i love, something i never would think i could do for a living. Although getting a sponsorship is good, i sort of agree with companies having their players use only their equipment. The main point was for the player to promote the equipment provided by the company. If the player did not like the equipment, they shouldn't have signed up with the company. To me, having any company sponsor me would be me happy. I do feel empathy for those that lose their sponsorship for using different sponsors, but they should have sticked to the companies rules.
 
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By the way, two stories about sponsored players I know.

Story 1: This guy was sponsored by Butterfly, he is high level for this country but not for the world. It was after the last round of Olympic trials and he just missed going to the Olympics by 1 spot. After the trials for the 2012 Olympics he started playing a lot less and started playing more for fun and less for trying to qualify for the Olympics. He started going to College. And every so often he would show up at a tournament and play. One tournament he decided to use a racket that had Long Pips on one side. Now this guy is about 2650 with smooth on both sides, but he is almost the same rating with LP. The LP were TSP brand. Butterfly was his sponsor. They saw him with the TSP rubber, gave him a hard time and eventually dropped him.

Next Story: this woman who is a high level coach and a decently high level woman's player in US was sponsored by Stiga. She had been sponsored by them for YEARS, I mean YEARS. She was using a Clipper and Calibra. At the time that was Stiga's best rubber. She told Stiga, "Hey, it is really hard to compete with people who are using Tenergy while using your rubbers. Is it okay with you if I use Tenergy and just use your blade." So they told her no! So she dropped Stiga and got sponsorship with Butterfly.

Why, with players who are that level, would those two companies care. And then turn a blind eye to the top players. Why would those companies feel that their sponsored players are supposed to use their products?

And why is it okay for Stiga to say FZD is using an Infinity when he is not and whatever rubbers they say he uses when he doesn't use any of what they say in their adds?


Because top players dont need the sponsors, the sponsors need them. Or else , the sponsors need the top players more than the top players need the sponsors. If a top 50 player decides to play with brand A rubber and brand B blade and he is sponsored by the B brand, then if the B brands stops sponsoring him he will find another company who will, because being top 50 is great advertisement. By top 50 player I dont necessarily mean in ranking but in publicity and popularity.

If a big name in TT wants to play with TSP equipment and likes the money that stiga offers him, what can stiga do to prohibit him ? I believe almost nothing cause he will extort them by going to another company even with less money, because he knows that stiga needs him to make tons of money.

The companies are getting advantage of the players not vice versa, for me there is no ethical issue here, lets be real and honest TT sucks at paying money (comparing to the training you have to endure to be famous or a top player), especially if you are not top 50 but still a professional.

This situation is happening because the players/spectators do not know or fail to understand that TT is 90 % technique and 10 % equipment. If you suck, then you will suck whatever rubber or blade you use, people believe that if they play with a tenergy or ZJK blade they will play better whereas most likely they will play almost the same, in terms of results.

This of course does not happen when you are a professional, if you play BH to BH with a stiga calibra LT and the opponent plays with a tenergy and you both have perfect technique, most likely he will crush you because the tenergy has better feel better spin and better accuracy, you only win on speed. So i kinda understand why the female coach you are referring to wanted to play with a tenergy rubber
 
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