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This paper reviewed two prominent legal disputes concerning the highly valued right of product category exclusivity in commercial sports sponsorship: MasterCard versus FIFA (World Cup) and AT&T versus NASCAR. The MasterCard case resulted from FIFA’s deceptive practices in renegotiating renewal rights, leading MasterCard to successfully sue for FIFA's breach of contract regarding its "first right to acquire". The AT&T case centered on the right to maintain visibility on a race car sponsored by AT&T after NASCAR imposed circuit-wide exclusivity for rival Sprint Nextel. A key outcome was the courts' legal recognition of "irreparable harm" faced by the excluded sponsor, validating the academic theory that specific sponsorships provide unique, inimitable goodwill and a competitive advantage. Both cases underscore the necessity of treating sponsorship as a strategic alliance based on mutual trust, communication, and commitment, rather than merely a transactional property-based contract.

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This page is a summary of: Legal battles for sponsorship exclusivity: The cases of the World Cup and NASCAR, Sport Management Review, July 2011, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2011.01.004.
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