Q & Eh: Mark Harrison

Like pretty much everything in our lives over the past 12 months, the lay of the sports sponsorship land has been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re selling for a professional sports franchise today, there are no luxury suites, no VIP tickets, no concourse signage, booths or kiosks. That’s a two-hander to the solar plexus when it comes to revenue generation.

And if anyone else out there believes the passing of Bill C-218 comes with delivery of the proverbial golden goose, Mark Harrison suggests that’s wishful thinking at the moment. Given the founder of The T1 Agency’s three decades in the sports sponsorship and marketing biz, a list of clients - including the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation – longer than Tacko Fall’s wingspan, the small but nimble editorial team at The Parleh figured the sponsorship guru/cause marketing wizard/volunteer football coach would provide sound counsel on the matter.

Smart people learn and study before they take action, and that’s obviously Harrison’s approach right now when it comes to legalized single-event betting and the potential opportunities and obstacles for brands.

“We’re trying to figure out sports betting,” Harrison said during a Q and Eh conversation Wednesday morning. “You look at big (consumer goods) brands . . . are they going to sponsor sports betting platforms? If you’re a brand where trust is important, you’re not going to go near sports betting.

“I’m not saying it’s an evil business. Like cannabis, there are certain segments where you’re going to ask ‘Am I going to want to be involved?’.

As for the scrum that will take place when the provinces open the gates to sportsbooks and anyone else getting into the sports wagering industry.

“As in every (sponsor) segment you ask who are going to be the big three players and who will be the Monkey Knife Fight types,” offered Harrison, making it crystal clear his thoughts are far removed from the work T1 has done with OLG. “I don’t think (OLG) will shy away. They’re probably dealing from a position of strength (as the incumbent). The Score has been talking a lot about having this great brand, but has it been out of Canada for too long. Maybe somebody is going to buy The Score.

“Look at MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) and (majority owner) Larry Tanenbaum. Are they going to open their sportsbook, will they be allowed to? Does Tanenbaum do that through his own businesses?”

The Parleh: What other opportunities do legalized single-event betting present for Canadians?

Harrison: If sports betting’s legalization doesn’t improve sport in Canada, I’m 100% against it. Let’s not take the incremental profit and line the pockets that are already lined. The NHL is a $6 billion industry, you have $4.4 billion in players salaries, and it can’t figure out how to have a women’s league. That’s a joke, an embarrassment. A stroke of the pen, Gary Bettman, you can make it happen. The Canadian Football League has had about 40 years of “are we on stable ground”; we’re not truly Canadian because we’re not in Atlantic Canada and that’s a joke.

We’ve lost sight of what sport is about. It should be about participation, about teamwork, overcoming challenges. We need a safe environment for women in sport, we need to look at racial issues. I sit on the board at Football Canada. There’s two black people and I was the first one two years ago.

The Parleh: You obviously have a huge passion for football, so what are your thoughts on the recent news around a potential partnership between the CFL and XFL?

Harrison: “I love football. I’m a huge Ottawa Rough Riders fan (sorry, but I hate the Redblacks name). I have clients which sponsor the CFL and I’m a (long-time) volunteer coach. I’m quite skeptical, and first and foremost, how are you getting back on the field this year? That’s what you should be talking about. That’s what fans care about. I’m not sure why you’re making an announcement about this partnership but not being clear with your fans about when you’ll play.

It’s amazing that the CFL did not have a (2020) season. The CEBL had a season, the CPL (Canadian Premier League) had a season. The CFL started on the wrong foot asking (government) for a ridiculous amount of money.

(A CFL/XFL partnership) has some interesting potential. American expansion wasn’t the worst idea and some of their ideas around growing the game globally aren’t terrible.

The Parleh: We can’t have a conversation with one of Canada’s marketing and sponsorship leaders without getting your thoughts on the presenting sponsor announcement involving the Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team.

Harrison: When I first read the announcement, I thought to myself “will they have Rocket Mortgage on their jerseys?”. I think it’s clever. In this day, when you need financial support, it makes a ton of support. I want to know, however, if Michigan State will use some of the money to build a financial literacy program for student-athletes and are you making MSU basketball more accessible. The hypocrisy of the NCAA and these institutions have to be solved. (Spartans coach) Tom Izzo can take a flight on a private jet with a booster but one of his players can’t.