For the past 70 years, the Goodyear blimp has been as ubiquitous in the sports world as the national anthem. The tiremaker’s small fleet of blimps have floated above football games, NASCAR races, golf tournaments and other events, providing aerial coverage to networks and signaling to fans that a sports spectacle is underway.
Goodyear’s relationship with television networks and event organizers is a unique and enduring sponsorship. Since 1955, when NBC asked Goodyear to provide live video coverage of the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl, the company has sent live images of games and events to television producers in return for mentions of the company’s name and logo during the broadcasts. These “blimp pops” run about once an hour and can be worth millions of dollars in ad time.
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In an age of digital inserts, screens within screens and other ways for sponsors to reach viewers, Goodyear’s technology is quaint. The blimps, which are slightly longer than a Boeing 747, hover about 1,000 feet off the ground and rarely move faster than 70 miles per hour. But their ability to capture a skyline, a stadium or the flight of a golf ball down a fairway has made them an indispensable part of broadcasts.
