Is Zach Gormley sponsored by CLYW?
Is Dylan Benharris sponsored?
Why do some sponsored players have signature throws and others don’t?
How do yoers get sponsored?
How do yoers get a signature throw?
At contests I see the performers all have brand t shirts, are those brands the company that sponsors them or do they just get free stuff for being in the contest?
Thanks!
thank you so much, znin! I always see vids of him wearing CLYW swag and throwing the Arctic Circle or something and I’m just like, “that fuse has GOT to be sponsored.” lol thanks, man.
I’m going to go against my better instincts and put this out there as a GUESS. I don’t want to be flamed for anything other than venturing an opinion…
I doubt anybody’s getting paid directly to use a throw in competitions. At least not in those terms. If they’re sponsored by a large enough company with the resources, they might be able to recover travel and accommodations expenses. Perhaps in some cases they get some sort of “bonus” for placing.
If they make any sort of significant money with the company, it’s probably in two ways (emphasizing again here, by my own GUESS):
being paid as a promoter and brand ambassador. This means doing gigs at theme parks showing off yoyos and representing the brand. Maybe doing school or other public appearances. Giving interviews. Being a performer in promotional materials (videos) or instructional materials (this is probably becoming less prevalent). To a lot of companies, sponsored players are their brand ambassadors. But yoyoing has a long history of brand ambassadors who are NOT competitors. So they’re not mutually inclusive things.
putting in “day job” type work for the company… ie. some hours in administration, shipping, design, manufacture, marketing, or whatever other type of “daily” work might be suitable to a particular individual. Depending on the age and experience of the player, it could be more like a part-time job, an internship, or might even actually BE a full-time job with expected time off to fulfil brand ambassador/competitor type duties as well. I think some companies do groom their sponsored players to become regular employees at a later date, which is great.
Smaller companies? They just don’t have those kinds of resources. A sponsorship might be partial payment of travel and accommodations to compete. Small ad hoc payments per promotional material. Some comped equipment.
Smallest companies? Probably just comped equipment.
If any of this seems out of left field, I’ll gladly eat humble pie.