It is a sad state of affairs when Sponsors rule the player...unfortunately if they lose Yonex sponsorship the $$$ will be less. I guess CHN didn't fulfil their obligations in missing so many tournaments?
well..of course not..same thing for INA or CHN....it is collective sponsorship but CHN deals with Yonex Japan direct , the rest of Asia deal with Yonex Sunrise ( except CHN,KOR or Taiwan) ..and again, like TH, he has a separate deal with Yonex also..thats why he has certain commitments with Yonex Sunrise.... Like Tennis players, the fine is much bigger too like over US$ 100K if player like Serena did not commit the tournaments she signed unless she is injured or something... Look at Candra Wijaya,also he has to play at this tournaments... same as HendfraAG/Alvent.
hmm, i remember hearing that quitting pbsi is the best thing TH did for himself, he can earn more money and have better control of his career. i guess they forgot the 'work to earn' part, and his new boss, the sponsors, are even more overseeing.
I guess this means that the National associations are bending to the will of the companies unneccessarily?
i don't think so. PBSI can drop yonex if they wish when they can find a better sponsor. The china team did. Li Ning even allow CHN players to use yonex product in 09 AE. Also, from the latest photo, some chinese players still wearing yonex shoes.
I believe so..look at Japan Open, now you understand why all players ( sponsored by Yonex) have to be there...of course CHN will send theirplayers this year to Japan Open but not obligated as much as before since CHN is sponsored by Li Ning now...
LOL - Who is right?!! Cooler - The China move could be a key change, they have freed up more money for yonex to offer to other indepedents thus moving towards a more professional sport. Post #8 in this thread by myself back in 2005 I said I think we needed a rival to give competition to Yonex, Maybe we are now getting this in sponsorship terms? And if PBSI can drop malaysia and choose the tournaments they want to play in 100% why don't they? Do they like being dictated to by Yonex?? Huangkwokhau - I hope so, for badminton's sake
No doubt it's a key change, for LN, china team and yonex. I do however, feel that this was a blow to yonex, and a coup for LN. No way did yonex let LN take their china account for the sake of 'improving badminton popularity'. LN won because they can sponsors the top players at 'bulk discount' price since most of the best players are in the china team and LN is also a chinese company, lots of synergy to milk off that yonex can't.. What yonex got are more money for the sunset pros like TH, PG. Good for them but is it really better for yonex? Sure yonex now have more money to put into emerging countries like EU, north/south america,africa, india if they wish to but as a business maybe not so good. It's like yonex fund the R&D and biggies like nike, LN, or wilson come in afterward to scoop up the fruit bearing tree. Krisna i'm sure thinks like this too
oh, then u r correct. Any interest from a new sponsor is a plus for badminton popularity. In fact, i think this is the first time badminton has interest from a full spectrum of sponsorship, mega, medium and small size. Before we only had yonex as the key anchor which i alway saw them as medium size fish. I would put Li Ning as mega size since they are in many other sports as well, and well funded. Buying kason and outbidding yonex this quick is a tactic of very large company.
Apologies if it has been said before. Although Badminton has it tough compared to sports such as American Football, Soccer/Football and Basketball. Badminton is a lot better off than Squash. I think the majority of people would struggle to name any famous Squash players, previous or present. It holds an even lower profile than Badminton. So always be happy that there is at least one sport lower down on the "food chain"
my reply was directed to national associations as u have asked. Basically it all come down to the letter of the contract. Negotiation from a national assoc. level has more clout than from an individual position huang repliy reflect upon individual player position. No play, no pay. take your pick
I look forward to the day when Nike, Adidas, Wilson etc. enter the badminton business in a big way... Badminton will then be a Premier sport on this planet, just like Tennis... I think a lot of worldwide-fan popularity attention today are categorized (using airline terms): First Class sport: Football/soccer Basketball Golf Tennis Note: my simple measurement method... almost everyone I know from different countries can name the top champions of these sports... Business Class sport: Badminton Athletics Volleyball Boxing Economy Class sport: Squash Hockey Water Polo Greco-Roman Wrestling I know there are regionally strong sports like Cricket in India etc., American Football and Baseball in the US, Australian Football etc... But they are not argueably not worldwide sports... I know some will disagree with me on this... Badminton's job is to improve the popularity status from Business Class to First Class! And we cannot do so with a Yonex near-monopoly on the sport... We gotta get the big boys to join in the fray...
I think you rated hockey way to low there, in europe and usa hockey has to be miles beyond badminton in popularity.
James I agree with this aswell . We need the big boys to support badminton , but first before they will enter we need to change the appearence from a "backyard sport". The role of Yonex? I agree with this but Yonex is slowly loosing power to companies like Victor - who have sponsored Thailand and KOREA . And Yonex have lost the chinese team to Li Ning ( Kason) But this could quite possibly be massive for badminton because these companies are big and it may show that other companies have a chance. Maybe soon we will have companies rivalling for number 1 , which will cause badminton to increase because sponsors will be there. I hope . Badminton will be the sport - that it should be ... One day people
I would say the role of China is much more important than Yonex when comes to badminton popularity. Just as this country is growing so rapidly, the big names, like Nike and Adidas will eventually set their foot into the badminton market, consider badminton is a popular sport over there. Their influence will be bigger than anything Yonex has done for the past 50 years.
This will only be the case if badminton is appealing to the developing China. Tennis, Football & Golf have a massive interest in seling their product there. Badminton must develop here to ensure they can create our dream situation. If not, then as this is one of the last frontiers for commercial placing then the chance could be gone forever.
Seems like the company that has helped the sport the most recently is Yonex and most of the postings here think Yonex has somehow held baminton back. In NA the sport is decades away from being anything other than what it has been recently in the scheme of noteriety or popularity. Baseball, football, basketball, Nascar, hockey,..... how far down is badminton? Badminton is big in the Asian and some Euro markets. To be big it has to be played by more people, simply. Squash had a large rise in popularity but has fallen because it simply didn't have the television appeal or the personalities to connect with the fan base. For all of the noise that you guys make about badminton it is only you guys making the noise and nobody else but badminton players are listening. When the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, Olympic sports like track, gymnastics, swimming, etc are on the tube many people watch that don't participate in those sports but they get passionate about spectating them. When badminton is on the general populace gets about as amped up as you badminton players do watching squash, or golf! Take it to a personal level and I see many people who like to play badminton but when they go to their local gyms for drop ins the Asian crowd and the better players look down their noses at them and NEVER hit with or even try to include them. They tend not to come back and seek other venues where they feel more accepted. Most of the posters here have a very elitist approach and that effects the game more than a sponsor. I will also add that if the powerhouse teams in badminton may now be able to pass up the Yonex sponsored events because they are sponsored by Victor or Li Ning than does this mean national lines get drawn now? Competition is a good thng but if it winds up fracturing the sport then badminton will be set back instead of growing. I would like to hear from some of you because I am not really keyed into the teams like you seem to be. If Yonex was strong arming players to show up to events how this has hurt the sport? As well how has the Yonex sponsorship held the sport back? In closing to Krisna...If hockey is such a economy class sport try walking into Flames Central and selling them on the idea to change the channel to a business class sport like badminton! I'm out! Again!
