Author: Sean Connell

Sean Connell is the Editor of The Sponsor, a magazine dedicated to the business of sponsorship. With a background in brand and asset valuation at Brand Finance and experience advising both sponsors and rights holders, Sean brings industry-leading insight into what makes partnerships valuable, measurable, and impactful.

Has SailGP overtaken F1 as the best client hospitality in sport?

Has SailGP overtaken F1 as the best client hospitality in sport?

Nov 25, 2025 |

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 SailGP now offers the...
Arsenal’s sleeve sponsorship asset set to reach £20m as Visit Rwanda deal ends

Arsenal’s sleeve sponsorship asset set to reach £20m as Visit Rwanda deal ends

Nov 20, 2025 |

Arsenal's sleeve sponsorship agreement with the Rwanda Development Board will end at the close of the 2025 to 26 season. The decision follows months of fan-led protest and growing pressure around the partnership, which had become increasingly difficult for the club to defend publicly. With the news now confirmed, attention now shifts to what the sleeve is worth and why...
Where do you get your data? A guide to credible sponsorship measurement

Where do you get your data? A guide to credible sponsorship measurement

Nov 14, 2025 |

When it comes to sponsorship measurement, rights holders and agencies have one thing in common: each of them has a vested interest in presenting your sponsorship in the best possible light. That doesn’t necessarily make the data wrong, but it does mean brands must scrutinise how that data is sourced, interpreted, and presented. In an industry where “success” is easily...
Data driven sposnsorship