I have attended the US Open at Flushing Meadows a few times. It is indeed, a major event and from my perspective, not just for tennis aficionados. I attended the US Open with clients and it was logged as an entertainment expense for the investment bank where I worked. I know I was not alone. It was clear that many in attendance were there to have a professional presence, network with colleagues, meet new people, and discuss some business. The US Open, like most major sports events is big business – well beyond ticket sales. The two-week event attracts top companies, willing to spend millions to brand their products and to wine and dine their clients. And what better place to bring it all together than New York City?

Unlike other major sports events that are not played in the same location and on  consecutive days (ie MLB’s World Series or NBA finals), the US Open provides a unique business opportunity for sponsors at the US Open. From an article in the NY Sun,

"What I honestly believe is they are getting to partner with one of the world's five biggest sporting events," a U.S. Tennis Association spokesman, Chris Widmaier, said. "You can handle a lot of different clients. It's not like the Super Bowl where it's one day, fly in and fly out. You have 14 consecutive nights."

The US Open is the world’s highest-attended annual sporting event, attracting nearly 700,00 spectators over a two-week tournament. But the real business end of most major sporting events is not ticket sales but advertising and the US Open is no different.

“USTA will receive a little more than $55 million in sponsorship for this year's event -- up slightly from the $50 million it received last year. Sponsorships can include rights to use the U.S. Open name, which can cost between $2 million and $10 million, and purchases of airtime on CBS.”

Did you ever wonder how businesses justify spending millions on sponsorships for sports events? Is it the personal interest of the CEO or marketing officer that draws a company to sponsor a sporting event or is there a measurable return on investment?

While the numbers are not in for 2007 US Open, the 2006 US Open gives us a glimpse into the value of sports event sponsorships. In 2006, the primary advertisers at the US Open were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Lexus, the luxury brand from Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM).

According to Relay SponsorVision, Lexus and JPMorgan Chase took top value among brands that invested in sponsorships of the 2006 US Open Men's and Women's Tennis Finals, broadcast on CBS.

Lexus, through branding placements on in-stadium signage, net logos, onscreen graphics and player clothing, received more than $13.5 million in broadcast advertising value during the broadcast of the Men's Singles finals. During the Women's Singles finals, while Maria Sharapova was besting Justine Henin-Hardenne, JPMorgan Chase was beating out all other brands for exposure with more than $16 million in ad value with its in-stadium signage and net logos.

For 2007, Lexus, the Official Vehicle of the 2007 US Open and Presenting Sponsor of the US Open Men's Singles Championship did more than advertise. It promoted an “exclusiveness” of the Lexus brand by offering complimentary parking to attendees who drove their Lexus vehicles to the Open. Throughout the parking lots at the 2007 Open, you saw, "If you drive a Lexus, parking is on us."

American Express offered its own “exclusive” for its card members. American Express card holders could stop at two on-site locations to pick up fee a handheld video device (secured by a $350 deposit) that enabled fans

“to watch six different matches, one of which will be via the event’s network (CBS) or cable (USA) feed. The USTA installed extra on-court cameras for the coverage, said Jessica Igoe, American Express director of global sponsorship marketing. “

From the Sport Business Journal,

“Last year, American Express distributed more than 100,000 radios that carried coverage of the tournament. Each Labor Day, the company hands out free subway cards to fans.”

IBM - International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) – promotes its technology through providing a technical team and all of the information technology for the event in addition to managing the U.S Open web site.

All of this money and effort for an event that has nowhere near the US TV audience of football, basketbal or baskeball.

“’The U.S. Open is nowhere nearly as successful from an economic standpoint as the NCAA or the NFL, which generate more than $1 billion in sponsorships, but as a major American sporting event, it's an attractive vehicle for companies to flaunt their brand name,’ a marketing consultant and professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Tim Calkins, said. ‘Large sporting events aren't necessarily the right fit for all businesses.’”

It is easy to see why it might work for American Express or Lexus. But consider 200-year-old Minneapolis-based paint and coating company, The Valspar Corporation (NYSE:VAL) located far from New York City, geographically and culturally.

“the Valspar name will be on view at the U.S. Open this year. There will be television advertisements, signs dotting the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a branded booth at the stadium, and even a fan tennis challenge that will culminate with the winner playing in a "tennis event" with one of the stars. "We wanted to make sure we had visibility," Mr. Karstens said. "We found out, on average, a person at the event spends about seven hours per visit, so we wanted to make sure we have a presence on site."

This after considering

“everything from the Super Bowl to college basketball's March Madness before deciding the U.S. Open would be the venue for their multimillion-dollar branding campaign.”

I had never heard of Valspar before this week, so maybe it is working.