Basketball: Sponsor helping community

Sponsors certainly have their place.

For the Otago Nuggets, that place is at the top of stationery, on merchandise, in and around corporate boxes, on uniforms and just about anywhere you can scrawl Oceana Gold.

Not many teams are as acutely aware of the value of a good sponsorship deal as the Nuggets.

The battling franchise dropped out of the league because of financial concerns in 2009 but returned the following season with a new naming sponsorship deal.

The basketball community had rallied around the beleaguered team and devoted a huge amount of energy to help resurrect the side. But had it not been for the involvement of the Oceana Gold Corporation, it is likely those efforts would have been in vain.

For the Nuggets, the partnership was simply about survival. But what was in it for Oceana Gold?

What did the company want in return?

Well, it was about recognition. The Otago Nuggets' first concession was to adopt the name Oceana Gold Nuggets. History and tradition took some collateral damage, but Oceana Gold was able to do something positive for the community and it wanted a little recognition for it.

"As part of our corporate responsibility, we do try to make a difference in the community where we can," Oceana Gold chief operating officer Mark Cadzow said.

"There was a bit of a natural synergy with the Nuggets name and Oceana Gold. It fitted with the brand ... and from our perspective we like to be in the community. We've got a workforce in Dunedin, or in the Dunedin area, of about 550 people. We want to be seen to be part of that community."

When the Nuggets pulled out of the National Basketball League, there was no pathway for the region's youth to aspire to, and that was one of wrongs Oceana Gold wanted to help put right.

"Obviously, you want to be associated with a winning team. But it is not about that particularly; it is about providing a pathway. But in saying that, if you provide a good pathway then the results will come.

"We didn't go into this with our eyes shut. We always knew it would be a long way back for the Nuggets. From Oceana Gold's perspective, it was always our intention to help Basketball Otago build back so they could help the Nuggets to be a competitive team in the competition."

The company committed to a three-year deal it hoped would provide security and allow the franchise the time "to develop the young players and work on a plan" rather than find a quick fix.

While Cadzow declined to say how much money Oceana Gold's sponsorship deal was worth, he did describe it as a "substantial commitment".

The naming rights agreement with the Nuggets - thought to be worth more than $100,000 - is understood to be the best in the league.

And while the company is delighted with its relationship with the Nuggets, it is annoyed with the print media's refusal to adopt the team's corporate name.

"What we want is that recognition that we are a good corporate citizen and that we are helping out the community.

"We do a lot of other things besides the basketball. We sponsor game days at the rugby and things like that as well, so that our employees, and the rest of the community, can see we are responsible corporate citizens within the Otago region."