Banks have came under fire for some of their sports promotions as of late. Especially when it comes to golf tournaments and the perceptions--fairly or not--that they are merely excuses for executives to get away with top clients for fun schmoozing at taxpayer expense. Most of you realize this is a bit simplistic. Some of you will swear that legitimate business occurs at such events. But the PR risk is high right now.

Who has the most on the line? Perhaps Bank of America, which is by far the biggest spender when it comes to sports marketing and advertising initiatives. Last year, it spent nearly $48 million on TV sports advertising, according to Nielson data reported by CNBC. That's more than four times as much as the next biggest spender. The bank seems to have the data to justify their investment. They noted to CNBC that of all the new checking accounts that were opened in 2008, 10 percent of those were attributed to their sports marketing programs. It would appear that a good way to talk about sports initiatives is to get into the ROI and benefits. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
Bank of America news from FierceFinance