Survivor2007

NASCAR could not charge the Army to race a car, because the ARMY does not enter a car in NASCAR races. They SPONSOR (there is that pesky word again) the car which is owned by MB2 Racing, a for profit racing team led by investment banking firm principal and auto dealership magnate, Nelson Bowers. The Army does not own the car! They pay for EXCLUSIVE branding rights (decals and the name ARMY CAR). Other sponsors who have their decals on the car/pit area/team vehicles etc. have to PAY for space, just as the managers of the USPA Nationals are requiring all vendors/sales and marketing operations to do at SPACELAND. It just keeps getting worse for you, doesn't it? Again, you assert that the Knights are selling something. What are they selling? The answer is nothing. What are they marketing? Again the answer is NOTHING. They represent the Army as a career choice and as a way of life. While they are a recruitment arm of the DoD, they are not trained as recruiters. They are not in sales and outside their tent, they are skydiving competitors. You keep mixing selling with marketing as though there is no difference. WTF? I hope you will be at Nationals to explain this to the Knights. I am sure, as one of your customers, they would love to hear your views explained to them personally. Good luck with that.

But they are promoting a product....that product being the Army. If a group of UPT of PD employees......like a group of Army employees.....formed a team, would they be able to set up the UPT or PD Spider Tent? If not, then the Knights should not be able to "promote their product" without paying.......... Let me get this straight. In an attempt to justify your point, you decided to toss the Knights under the bus. Are you upset at your firm's decision NOT to become a sponsor of the USPA Nationals and now you are angry that companies may not "guerrilla market" their products at will all over the event, for free? Try doing that at any other sporting event and see just how quickly you get tossed. Your justification for hitting the Knights is that the Knights are there "promoting" a product and therefore should be charged to display the Army/Knights logo on a tent? First of all, NOTHING the Knights represent is for sale. Nothing they represent takes away from any vendor's potential customer. The only thing the Knights compete for is a medal, period. They are competitors and consumers at the meet. Do they hand out Unit stickers, absolutely. Do these stickers represent a product which is in any way competing for the dollars of anyone attending the event? Nope! YOUR company depends on the Knights "Owners" for a part of your income/profits. Singling them out does nothing to make your argument, in fact is is not close to being relevant. Relax though, your remarks attacking that group of professionals soldiers are not a violation of Political Correctness. They are, however, a display of pure thoughtlessness on so many levels! Fortunately, as professionals, I am sure the team will say nothing. Really, though, nice cheap shot! To those upset about no logos on a tent might look to the PGA. Golfers wear on their clothing all sorts of logos of companies which might compete with the name sponsors of the particular event. However, all non-event sponsor corporate tents are pure white, logo free. Perhaps it is time for our sport to at least attempt to step up and try to locate larger sponsors outside of our industry. Otherwise, the sponsorship pie is just not growing fast enough to support all the teams seeking support.