Regulation, shifting fan behaviour, challenger formats and new market entrants. 2026 is shaping up to be a year of opportunity for brands and rights holders that understand how the marketplace is changing, where budgets are moving and how value is created. The result is a more active but competitive environment. One defined not by fewer […]

Behind the scenes of AO's sponsorship decision making process leveraging data and scorecards to make smart decisions.

Uncovering the driving force behind Louis Vuitton's F1 sponsorship: A lesson in luxury branding.

Two young entrepreneurs believe their audience-driven data approach might finally provide the clarity needed to build a working sponsorship marketplace.

Gambling sponsorship in sport is diverging fast. Some markets are tightening, sometimes abruptly. Others are opening up and driving record spend. The result is not one global trend but two competing realities that will reshape rights fees and deals over the next 12 to 24 months. India and Europe are tightening India just fired the […]

Padel is exploding. With over 25 million players worldwide and the number of courts growing at an astonishing 181% annually, this isn’t just another niche sport—it’s a movement. In Spain alone, 5 million people play padel regularly, making it the country’s second-most popular sport after football. Across Europe, clubs are struggling to keep up with […]

I received a press release this week announcing Blueberry as the latest sponsor of the Australia SailGP Team. On its own, it’s a perfectly solid partnership: a growth-minded financial trading platform aligning with a fast-rising global sports property. But it landed at an interesting moment. In recent weeks, two separate sponsors have told me that […]

Aviva has a long-standing presence in sponsorship, spanning rugby, football, athletics, and cycling. However, when those UK partnerships ended in 2018, a noticeable shift occurred. “We began to see a gradual decline in brand health and a lack of differentiation in a crowded financial services category,” says Tom Whiteside, Head of Group Sponsorship at Aviva. […]

When Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) first dipped its toe into marathon sponsorship back in 2008, few could have predicted just how central running would become to the company’s global brand story. At the time, TCS’ sponsorship strategy was spread wide across cricket, Formula 1, cycling and more. However, as Abhinav Kumar, Global Chief Marketing Officer […]

Coca-Cola’s Elodie Peribere on adapting to a new era of football fandom and meeting fans where they are.

When Kaspersky launched its partnership with Scuderia Ferrari in 2010, it wasn’t simply about brand exposure on some of the world’s fastest cars. Their global sponsorship strategy was at once adaptive and dependable, with an eye towards internally measurable impact, co-creating value, and mutual preparations for uncertainty.  As Sandro Cisco, former Global Head of Sponsorship […]

Each April, the world’s most prestigious golfers descend on Augusta National Golf Club for The Masters — a tournament steeped in tradition, exclusivity, and immaculate presentation. But beyond the azaleas and green jackets lies one of the most distinctive sponsorship models in sport. Unlike other global sporting events, where brand logos are plastered on every […]

The Sponsor has once again published its annual Premier League fair market sponsorship values research covering all 20 clubs' front-of-shirt and sleeve sponsorship assets. The results show that some clubs and sponsors are getting a great deal while others are overpaying. Fair market value in sponsorship refers to the income a team or event can […]

Sleeve sponsorship has quietly transformed from an experimental bolt-on into one of the Premier League’s most commercially powerful assets, and its value is about to rise even further. With the front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship ban coming into effect in 2026/27, many gambling brands are expected to shift to the sleeve. On average, gambling brands pay 38% […]

Following the release of the top 10 Premier League fair market sponsorship values, The Sponsor can now reveal the full ranking from Liverpool’s £65.9 million front-of-shirt valuation to the clubs fighting for commercial ground at the bottom. This year's results once again see Liverpool top the table with a fair market valuation of £65,9m, some […]

Discover how the DP World sponsorship portfolio is measured through its Attention, Attitude, Action framework, linking brand impact to business growth.

The Sponsor has today published the fair market sponsorship value of every major European stadium. Covering 75 stadiums, it represents the most comprehensive valuation and pricing analysis of European stadium naming rights conducted to date. The findings reveal a defined yet underutilised market, in which some stadium owners and sponsors are securing exceptional value while […]

On 27th November, The Sponsor hosted a Leaders Roundtable debate at the St James’s Club in Mayfair, where senior brand and marketing leaders gathered to tackle one of the industry’s most persistent measurement questions: how do you credibly demonstrate sponsorship returns? The ambition was straightforward. The reality, as anyone in the room will attest, was […]