Sponsorship's a lottery

When Bristol Rovers FC, of the English First Division, attempted to find a new shirt sponsor, only four companies bid for the rights and none offered the amount the club was looking for. As a result, the club decided to launch a raffle to determine the organisation that would have the right to sponsor the club's shirts next season. In the end, 96 companies paid £1000 each for a raffle ticket, with N-gaged emerging victorious in the lucky draw. The £96,000 the club has earned from the raffle is more than double what it would otherwise have earned. Is this a stroke of creative genius on the part of Bristol Rovers, or a sad indictment of the state of sponsorship and the esteem in which it is held by sports properties?