Event Sponsorship Packages

I've spent the last few days reading through hundreds of pages of FIFA's contracts with host cities for the 2026 World Cup, and these agreements are some of the most lopsided I've ever seen. Host cities are spending more than $100 million (and providing huge tax breaks) to host games, yet FIFA gets to keep 100% of the revenue from media rights, ticket sales, sponsorships, concessions, parking, and more. Today's newsletter breaks down the details. READ: https://lnkd.in/eKEu4gZ9 #sports #sportsbiz #linkedinsports

👉Wanna speak World Cup business❓ Where is FIFA revenue coming from and how is distributed❓Interesting chart by Appeconomyinsights👇🏽 📺 TV Broadcasting ($5.3 billion, ~40%): FIFA’s largest stream by far. It sells the right to air the matches to networks region by region, and the bidding runs hot because few events deliver a global audience watching live, all at the same time. 🎟️ Hospitality & Ticketing ($3.6 billion, ~28%): Match tickets plus premium corporate packages, run through a FIFA-owned subsidiary so every dollar flows straight back to headquarters. 2026 is the first World Cup with dynamic, demand-based pricing, which sent the top end soaring (more on this in a minute). 🤝 Marketing & Sponsorship ($3.3 billion, ~25%): The deals brands like Coca-Cola, Visa, and Adidas pay to attach their name to the tournament, sold in tiers from global partners down to regional supporters. 🏷️ Licensing ($0.4 billion, ~3%): FIFA-branded merchandise, video games, and royalties on the FIFA name. ✅Where does the money go❓ 🏟️ Competitions & Events ($7.6 billion, ~58%): The largest line by far. This is the cost of staging the tournaments themselves: running the World Cup and FIFA’s other events, including the prize money paid to teams. 🌱 Development & Education ($3.9 billion, ~30%): The money FIFA puts back into the game. Through its FIFA Forward programme ($2.25 billion of it), FIFA funds all 211 member federations: pitches, youth programs, and grants in places the commercial market overlooks. 🏛️ Governance & Admin ($0.9 billion, ~7%): FIFA’s own running costs. Salaries, governance bodies, and the day-to-day expenses of operating the organization itself. 🏆The World Cup Prize money pool is $871 million for 2026, including $655 million allocated to performance, a 49% increase over Qatar, with the champion taking home $50 million and even the first team eliminated leaving with over $10 million. The expansion of the competition from 32 to 48 teams was the main reason behind the increase.

I get this email once per quarter: From: CEO Subject: FW: Sponsorship Opportunity "Should we do this do you think?" [followed by a pitch to sponsor a newsletter / conference / podcast / etc] I remember the first time I got an email like this, and I thought to myself: There must be a better way to answer this question than with my gut feel Here's how I answer it now: Step 1 - calculate a quantitative benchmark I use CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) If a podcast sponsorship costs $1,000/episode and reaches 500 people (0.5 x 1000), then the CPM is $2,000 I benchmark that against LinkedIn ads (I use our actual LinkedIn CPM from the last 90 days, but if you don't have that number then $50-$100 is a good bet for B2B) Step 2 - do a qualitative assessment (aka gut feel) Now I ask myself - is the $2000 CPM opportunity worth 20x what a LinkedIn ad impression is worth? Maybe... it depends on: -how much more engaged is this audience vs. a LinkedIn ads audience? -does my brand get a credibility boost from being associated with this "publisher" ? -is this audience better than a generic LinkedIn audience because they are more likely to be philosophically aligned with what our brand stands for? -does this audience fit my ICP better than an audience I can build with LinkedIn ads? etc... I frame the question back to the CEO the same way - to get his gut feel too Then, we decide together if it's worth taking a small bet on (decision on whether to scale usually comes later) #b2bmarketing

Airwallex didn't just sponsor sports. It embedded itself into them. Here's how one fintech built one of the smartest sports marketing strategies we've seen. Most sports sponsorships are about visibility. Airwallex took a different approach. Instead of only putting its logo on jerseys, it turned sports organizations into customers. A few examples: 🏎️ McLaren Racing F1 → Cross-border payments → FX → Treasury management → Multi-currency accounts ⚽ Arsenal Football Club → Spend management → Corporate cards → Payment acceptance → Hospitality payments inside Emirates Stadium ⚾ San Francisco Giants → Payment processing → Billing → Expense management → Corporate cards 🏉 Blues Rugby → Cross-border payments → Travel expense management 🏉 Essendon FC → Spend management → Supplier payments → Corporate cards What makes this strategy so interesting is the sequence. Build credibility through a global sports brand. Integrate your products into the organization's operations. Expand the partnership over time. Activate it with storytelling and customer experiences. The sponsorship becomes much more than a marketing expense. It becomes a commercial partnership. And that's probably the biggest lesson. The best FinTech sports partnerships aren't measured by logo exposure anymore. They're measured by how deeply the technology becomes part of the club's day-to-day business. I broke down Airwallex's entire strategy across Formula 1, the Premier League, MLB, Super Rugby and the AFL in my latest deep dive article for FinTech In The Arena : https://lnkd.in/dYn-3m-g Which FinTech do you think currently has the strongest sports strategy?

Silent partners have their place. Sports sponsorship isn't one of them. A silent partner puts up the money, steps back, and lets others run the show. Too many brands act like silent partners in their sports sponsorship investments. Many brands give their sponsorships little more than basic administrative support. Signage goes up, free tickets get distributed, and leaders show up in the hospitality suite a few times a year. The sponsorship partner may check all the boxes and deliver what's promised, but there is no "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" dynamic. Sponsors in these situations are usually disappointed in the value and impact the relationship generates. The data tells the story. According to a WFA/Lumency study, for every dollar spent on rights fees, brands invest only 81 cents in activating the sponsorship. Nearly half of all sponsors aren't even clear what they're spending on activation. 9% of brands are spending 20 cents or less for every dollar of rights fees. Every CMO with any significant sports sponsorship investment needs to ask themselves: Are you spending beyond the deal itself? The sponsorship fee is the entry ticket, even if it provides some activation as part of the deal. Activation is where the value gets created. Content, experiences, media amplification, and community integration. That's the work. The logo on the Jumbotron is nice, but it's a thin slice of the full value opportunity. Who in your organization owns the sponsorship? Are they actively shaping the relationship or just doing the minimum required to support execution? Relationships don't deepen on autopilot. The best partnerships require continuous attention, and not just mid-level attention. Are you using the full breadth of what the sponsorship can offer? Most brands scratch the surface. Signage. Hospitality. Maybe some social content. Meanwhile, the partnership could be fueling demand generation, building your employer brand, enhancing customer experience, and driving executive visibility. If you're only leveraging what's in the contract, you're leaving enormous potential untouched. If you're not investing in activation, it's a donation, not a sponsorship.

76% of marketers can't prove ROI on their sports sponsorships. The market is set to double anyway. The global sports sponsorship market is projected to grow from £97 billion in 2023 to £190 billion by 2030. And three-quarters of sponsors can't prove what they're getting from the biggest line item in their marketing budget. This is the Emperor's New Clothes of sports business. On this week's The Attention Shift Podcast, Jo Redfern made the point that we're stuck in a loop where everyone's pretending the old metrics still work. Logo appearances. Time on screen. Impressions. These tell you nothing about whether anyone actually cared, bought anything, or remembered your brand. Most sponsorship deals are still built on passive logo placement. Pay money, get visibility, job done. Except visibility doesn't equal value anymore. What actually works? Look at what Maybelline did with Olivia Mahr at the New York Marathon. Natural. Authentic. Connected to the athlete's existing brand. Or Spotify's content-led approach with FC Barcelona - creating cultural moments through artist collaborations rather than just slapping a logo on a shirt. These aren't traditional sponsorships. They're partnerships where both sides understand the audience and create something worth paying attention to. Lee Radbourne put it well: The sponsorship market won't double because the current model works. It'll double if brands stop renting eyeballs and start building actual relationships through athletes and properties that genuinely connect. Full episode with Jo Redfern and Lee Radbourne is live now https://lnkd.in/eszKhjNJ

Ever seen a rightsholder publicly show what their sponsorship achieved? Neither had I until I landed on Fnatic’s website. A week ago, while building my esports post, I came across their site and instead of the usual sponsor logos or partner links, they show case studies. Take BMW’s “United in Rivalry” campaign, for example: a 39% lift in awareness, 84% boost in brand perception, and it even became the No.1 reason fans chose BMW as their preferred car. 🚙 Now that’s refreshing transparency. It struck me because you don’t usually see football clubs, golf tournaments, or racing teams doing this, yet an esports team has been doing it for years. Those ROI numbers usually live deep inside sales decks or post-campaign PDFs that never see the light of day. 🧑🏻💻 That thought came back to me last week while I was sitting at Sid Lee Sport’s office, listening to the Unofficial Partner Podcast recording with GSIQ – as Charlie Dundas, Rory Natkiel, and Rebecca Martin discussed the need for an effectiveness revolution in sponsorship. The panel didn’t mince words: sponsorship has an evidence problem. 📌 Compared to advertising, there’s still a lack of rigorous proof, shared benchmarks, or consistent ROI models. But that’s starting to change. They spoke about Barclays’ model on how they don’t just look at “brand love,” but also measure commercial uplift, customer profitability, and community impact. 🏦 They discussed econometric modeling – a fancy term, yes, but one that’s helping brands finally quantify sponsorship’s role alongside TV, digital, and retail media. Hearing that conversation in person felt like a full-circle moment because what Fnatic is doing – showing tangible, public-facing results – is exactly where the industry should be headed. 🎮 This new era of sponsorship will be defined by transparency, where rightsholders don’t just sell space, they sell proof. At Luscid, that’s something we strongly believe in too, as every day we're helping brands see what potential reach and engagement could look like before they invest, giving them the data to make informed, confident decisions. Because the more trust brands have in the numbers, the more they’ll invest and the more they invest, the smarter and more sustainable this industry becomes. #sportsmarketing #sportssponsorship #sportsbiz

Last year, during the Miami Grand Prix, an exec saw my LinkedIn post about sponsoring an F1 driver, and a new business opportunity was born. This little moment proved one thing: a solid LinkedIn strategy can turn a one-off motorsport activation into something much bigger. Because, let’s be real, too many sponsorships burn bright for a weekend and then fizzle out like flat champagne. But with LinkedIn? You can keep the conversation and the ROI alive long after the checkered flag waves. Here's how to do it: 1/ Extend the lifespan of your activation. Most activations last about as long as a pit stop. (Quick, impressive, but gone in a flash.) Instead, keep the momentum going by posting behind-the-scenes stories, lessons learned, and even a few bloopers from race day. Let people feel like they're part of the action; who doesn’t love a good paddock anecdote? 2/ Reach the Right Audience LinkedIn isn’t just another social media platform. It’s like the VIP suite of the internet. Full of decision-makers, industry pros, and the people who actually hold the budgets. So, instead of just hyping your sponsorship to fans, target the folks who can turn your motorsport ROI from “meh” to “whoa.” Think of it as skipping the long line and heading straight for the F1 paddock lounge. 3/ Show Your Community Side Activations aren’t just about slapping your logo on a fast car. (I mean, it looks cool too, but still.) Use your LinkedIn posts to highlight the deeper work: how your sponsorship supports grassroots programs, championing diversity, or connects with fans meaningfully. And invite people to chime in. 4/ Flex Your Creativity F1 sponsorships aren’t just billboards with wheels anymore. Got a cool gamified campaign? A wild digital activation? Talk about it! Use LinkedIn to show off how your brand isn’t just riding along; it’s original. (Bonus points if you throw in a pun. People love a good pun.) 5/ Show the Receipts (a.k.a. Prove the ROI) You know what every exec loves? Data. So, share the wins! Post engagement stats, media hits, or even fan feedback. Make it crystal clear that your activation didn’t just look cool; it worked. Because at the end of the day, people want proof that your sponsorship is more than just a “fast and furious” fling. Motorsport activations shouldn’t disappear like tire smoke once the race is over. With a thoughtful LinkedIn strategy, you can keep the excitement alive, impress key decision-makers, and show the world that you’re not just a sponsor. You’re an active member. So, go ahead. Post that behind-the-scenes photo, share the lessons you learned, and flex a little. And who knows? Your next business deal might be just a scroll away.

The smartest money at this World Cup isn’t buying this World Cup. It bought the cycle. Look at the deal structures. Lenovo, Lay’s, Unilever, Bank of America — they didnt look at a one and done sponsorship for this tournament, but rights running through the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil negotiated into the men’s 2026 packages from day one. That’s the tell. And it’s the lesson. This World Cup is a commercial masterclass: sponsorship inventory sold out before kickoff — a first in tournament history — at a record $2.8B. US viewership running at double the 2022 tournament. Now let’s run the women’s math: → The 2023 Women’s World Cup drew 2B viewers — up from 1.12B in 2019. Demand nearly doubled in one cycle. → Brazil 2027 is the first Women’s World Cup ever staged in South America. In arguably the most football-obsessed country on earth. → Kickoff is roughly a year out. The brand launched in January. The runway is open — and shortening. So with 12 months to go, here’s how marketers should be mobilizing: 1. Buy now. Scarcity math doesn’t wait for your fiscal year. Every prior cycle, the brands that entered early paid the uncorrected price. And with Netflix having the worldwide exclusive rights to the women’s tournament you can bet premium is the only price point. 2. Build for the cycle, not the month. The 2026 winners built year-round platforms, not 40-day campaigns. The Brazil planning conversations inside strategic CMO offices have already started. 3. Treat Brazil as a culture play. Host-nation passion is the multiplier. The brands that show up inside Brazilian football culture will outperform the ones that show up beside it, especially important for global brands. 4. Fund the creator layer. This World Cup generated tens of billions of views on YouTube alone before the knockout rounds. The second screen isn’t second anymore. Plan accordingly and start following creators like Melissa Ortiz OLY, Eduarda ‘Duda’ Pavão, Lauren Markwith, Darian Jenkins, Celine Dept and more. 5. Measure it like the media and influence it generates. If your Women’s World Cup line sits in the CSR budget, you’ve already mispriced it. This is the intersection of global scale x community engagement. The men’s tournament didn’t prove soccer — or football — works for brands. Everyone knew that. It proved the playbook. Brazil is where the smart sports investment runs it next — at an entry price that still doesn’t reflect the overall value of the audience in our opinion. The commercial limit does not exist. 👇 One year out: is the Brazil WWC in your 2027 plans yet? 📸 | Scenes from yesterday’s Round of 16 Brazil v. Norway match.

After more than 15 years working in Sports Management and Sponsorship, here are some hard-earned lessons that aren’t taught in any book: ⬇️ 🤝 🏀 ⚽ ⬇️ 1. Engage the entire company. Sponsorship only works when everyone in the sponsoring company is involved and motivated. If it’s just the boss’s thing, it will never reach its full potential. 2. Sponsorship is a tool, not a miracle. If you don’t use it strategically and consistently, it won’t deliver results. 3. Digital, social, and storytelling come first. Today, impact and brand exposure alone are no longer enough; the real power lies in engaging content and meaningful stories. 4. People matter as much as data. Trust and relationships between the property and the sponsor are often just as crucial as the raw numbers. 5. Creativity is key. There are thousands of properties and sponsors. To truly create memorable experiences for fans and achieve the company’s objectives, you need to be highly creative. Sponsorship is about connection, consistency, creativity, and creating memories that last, not just logos on a banner. What unconventional key would you add in today’s sports sponsorship landscape❓ 📸 A photo from my younger days, during UCAM Murcia CB´s Eurocup season (I’m the guy on the left 😉) #Sport #SportSponsorship