Car-maker General Motors may not renew its sponsorship of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after this season.
According to Bloomberg, the company is keen to end its sponsorship of the tournament in order to gain customer approval after being bailed out by the government.
General Motors avoided bankruptcy last year when the US government bailed it out with $13.4 billion in loans. The car-maker spent an average $75.4 million a year for network television advertisements during the NCAA men’s basketball tournaments over the last four seasons, according to New York-based TNS Media Intelligence.
Steve Tihanyi, General Motor’s general director of media operations, branded entertainment and marketing alliances, said the company will cut on-site spending at the Final Four stage of the tournament by at least 60 per cent and reduce dealer-incentive trips to the championship rounds.
"If it’s not mission critical, we’re not doing it,” said Tihanyi. "We can’t be stupid about how we do things here."
General Motors has sponsored NCAA basketball for 25 years.
