Do you actually know what your biggest sponsorship is worth?

Where most sponsorship fees really come from

Most rights holders set the fee by rolling forward. Last year's invoice becomes the anchor, inflation goes on top if the team is lucky, and a discount comes off when the brand pushes back. The trouble is that the anchor was rarely a valuation, just a number someone agreed years ago and carried forward. KORE found 81% of rights holders say data analysis plays only a moderate or minimal part in their sponsorship and activation decisions.

Brands have been heading the other way. The WFA's 2025 study of more than 40 brand owners, representing $8.2bn of sponsorship investment, found that valuation frameworks driven by media value or benchmarking are increasingly common. Undervalue a package and you leave money on the table every season; overvalue it and you lose the brand at renewal, often without being told why. And the two sides aren't hearing each other: Two Circles found 63% of brands say their property partners don't fully understand their objectives, and 75% of properties say the same about the brands they work with.

Why a 1% change matters so much

Getting the value right is the most powerful lever most rights holders never pull. McKinsey found that charging 1% more translates into an 8.7% increase in operating profit, assuming you don't lose volume. It works in reverse too. McKinsey's classic analysis showed that to make up for a 5% discount, volumes would have to rise by 18.7% just to stand still on profit. So every reflex discount is really a decision to work harder for less.

If the renewal is last year's number plus a bit, the brand assumes you haven't measured anything since.

The money is there. Two Circles estimates brands spent $250bn of their sponsorship and media budgets reaching audiences through sport. Sponsorship's share has fallen from 29% ten years ago to 19% today, and Two Circles expects a $30bn swing in annual spend from media into sponsorship. The WFA found brands now put 11% of their marketing budgets into sponsorship, and the share expecting cuts over the next two to three years has nearly halved, from 31% to 17%. Brands are feeling confident again; the question is whether your valuation reflects it.

What a sponsorship is really worth

A valuation you can defend has four parts. Audience comes first: who your fans are, how many and how engaged. It's also the part many rights holders undersell, because they can't describe their fans in any detail, and brands pay more for people they understand than for a crowd figure. Then exposure, meaning where the brand is seen and how often, across broadcast, digital and the venue. Then rights: the exclusivity, designations, IP and hospitality only you can grant. And activation: the content, data and fan access that turn a logo into results. Value each part, compare it with the market, then decide where to land.

Do it more than once a year, because the market moves faster than an annual review. Ampere Analysis found clubs in Europe's top five leagues had signed more than $1.1bn in new and renewed deals only three months into the 2025/26 season. A valuation set once a year can be out of date before it reaches the brand.