National, Provincial, and Community sports organizations believe the availability and use of community sport infrastructure will enable physical activity and, by extension, supports health and wellness in our communities. It will provide a space for people of different walks of life to connect around common objectives, it will support employment and the economy, and will be a critical requirement for making Ottawa an even more livable city.

What is less understood, or at least less discussed, is the role and place of sports infrastructure and more specifically, community sport infrastructure. Yet, without the appropriate infrastructure and facilities to support sport and physical activities, many of the associated benefits aspired by the National Sports Organisations (NSO), Provincial Sports Organisations (PSO), and Clubs would be left unrealized. Further, those at the grassroots level understand that community sport infrastructure can be much more than just a place to play sport and that such facilities are critical infrastructure for the broader community.

Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) provides a general framework for athlete development. LTAD describes a series of sequential stages for learning, training, and competition, based on the maturation or development of an individual rather than chronological age. Canada in general, but Ottawa specifically requires infrastructure to develop and improve the capacity of our athletes and coaches to support the Canadian sports initiatives.

Political Support at the Federal, provincial, and territorial Ministers of Sport endorsed the Canadian Sport for Life concept in 2004 and are working towards implementing the principles of long term athlete development (LTAD) within their jurisdictions.

Sport Canada has embedded LTAD in the Sports Development Framework and its policies and programs. As discussions continue, a growing number of political supporters, both administrative and representative, have joined the ranks of support of both renovations and construction for sports infrastructure.

While Sport Canada is committed to the development of our high-performance athletes through programs like The Athlete Assistance Program; Ethics in Sport; High-performance support and Coaching support. Today, as we have mentioned, there is a growth in support for improving existing infrastructure and building new state-of-the-art facilities that are consistent with being known as a sporting nation.

The NAqC will be a facility positioned to provide essential improvements in the country’s capacity to develop and train athletes as well as host both domestic and international events like only a few cities in Canada can.

Corporate ‘champions’ offer the third level of support and will expand in numbers as the project evolves and grows. Interest in marketing, sponsorship, brand association and event management programs and activities will emerge with time as the vision becomes more of a reality.

In the earliest stages of the planning and development, there will be sponsors who will see the value in all communication/marketing outlets including email, website, physical ads, facility site signage throughout the construction to opening stages, and for an agreed-upon contract lasting years. Having naming-rights, access to all media releases, events, and communications an early sponsor can benefit from an extended brand association with the NAqC. While supporting a popular and socially conscious cause may be mutually beneficial to sponsor and sponsee, corporate sponsorship in this category cannot be looked at as a donation; it is a business deal.

Corporate sponsors often characterize their sponsorship activities and their benefits as “doing well by doing good.”

Corporate sponsorships are a tool used to form a brand identity, image, and association via increased visibility over an extended time frame when the complex is changing and evolving into the premier aquatic’s facility in Canada.

Traditionally, most corporate partners arrive at later stages of development. With them, we will begin to see the ‘wow’ factors (programs, services, and accessibility) of the development start to emerge as critical messages that will excite and motivate the citizenry of the Greater Ottawa Area and potential visitors from Canada and beyond!

Other corporate sponsorship examples involve promoting product sales that benefit a cause, campaigns that seek donations at the point of purchase (purchase plus), licensing involving logos that send a portion of sales to a charity, cobranded events or programs, and social or public service marketing programs that encourage their internal and external stakeholder support for the development of the NAqC.

The NAqC Corporate Champions will expect to see their logos on signage and event merchandise, such as t-shirts, cups, banners, web and print advertising, in social media and email marketing, invites, and more. They will also expect to be mentioned frequently in public communications, as well as have the opportunity to see the facilities as they develop, meet, and attend any events as VIPs. We recognize the enormous responsibility in attracting corporations who wish to treat this association and expect a return-on-marketing investment.