I just ran across this trying to catch up on all of my post holiday reading. My day job is in marketing, albeit for a form builder called FormSpring, but I always love to read stories about sports and sports marketing. The business of sports often seems outrageous to me, trying to fathom how much money is spent in sponsorships. ads, product placements etc. it is just mind boggling, and I wonder what real return most businesses get from such deals.

Advertising for Notre Dame football games can demand up to $80,000 per 30 second spot, as a web marketer, I think it is crazy, first that companies spend that much, but secondly that companies spend that much on a medium that has little chance of direct ROI. But that could also be because I work for a start up and I couldn’t imagine spending more than a grand on an ad.

The other ridiculous thing is that unlike most teams, say in the Big Ten, who would normally share any TV revenue with the rest of the league teams, Notre Dame keeps all the money from any deal they make. So when Joe Paterno says “Notre Dame has gone from being an academic institute to a banking institute,” it isn’t too far of an exageration.

Now, if Notre Dame and Charlie Weiss can improve on that great ‘07 season they just might be able to justify those amounts.