SONIC: It just means more
Parker Levy
Customer & Partner Engagement Lead | Software & Digital Platforms | Microsoft
All SEC jokes aside, let's talk about this new multi-year sponsorship between the SEC and SONIC...
NCAA conferences have been going crazy on the partnerships train recently, with rumors going as far as the Big 12 Conference completely changing their name in a potentially historic partnership with Allstate.
But, let's take a step back. What is the purpose of these types of partnerships & sponsorships?
It should create more value for fans & consumers.
How often is that actually the case? Let's take a quick look and see for ourselves...
As the Official Quick Service Restaurant of the SEC, SONIC will primarily focus on SEC football programming and productions across SEC Network, ABC, and ESPN. SONIC will also activate on-site through SEC Nation, the network's traveling football pre-game show, in addition to other activation opportunities throughout the season.
For SONIC, that sounds pretty great, especially considering the SEC has consistently been the strongest conference in college football. It's even better when big SEC matchups are raking in major viewers like last year's SEC Championship Game peaking at 22.35M viewers.
(NOTE: There's always a question about cost of the sponsorship. Since that hasn't been disclosed, we can't take that into consideration of the value for SONIC even though it's a major factor.)
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On the other hand, there isn't much of a downside here for the SEC. This is a new 'category' that the SEC has sold and with the new media assets from ESPN/Disney, the SEC fills a nice gap and guarantees new revenue with SONIC on board. While you could definitely argue that there are better choices for this category that are more southern and align better to the SEC (like Waffle House, Chick-Fil-A, or Popeye's), SONIC isn't a bad choice by any means.
The question remains: Do we see enhanced value for fans?
Yes. Everyone loves free food, especially at sporting events where concessions costs are high. If SONIC can put together engaging on-site activations alongside SEC Nation, they'll bring more fans to the stadium earlier to create a better, more centric pre-game college football experience rather than the dispersed nature of tailgating.
Even more so, SONIC and the SEC should take this further, particularly outside of football. With the way that food brings people together, SONIC has a unique opportunity to do something similar with student-athletes and fans. Who would pass on an experience to share SONIC with someone like Livvy Dunne (gymnastics), Flau'jae Johnson (basketball), Mark Sears (basketball), or Riley White (track)?
Today's grades:
What do you think? Who wins out most in this partnership?