Year In Review: Marketing Partnerships Across North American Sports 2024
The 2023–24 sports sponsorship season showcased remarkable growth and transformation, redefining the landscape across major pro sports and college athletics. From innovative brand strategies to a surge in new sponsorship deals, the past year has solidified sports sponsorships as a critical avenue for connecting with passionate and engaged audiences. Our 2024 Year in Review report examines the trends, categories, and brands that drove this dynamic growth, offering a comprehensive look at how sponsorships continue to evolve in an increasingly competitive and data-driven marketplace.
Methodology:
This report offers an in-depth analysis of brand sponsorships across major pro and collegiate sports for the most recently completed season, encompassing more than 9,000 brands, 20,000 deals, and 220 properties. Regarding collegiate sports: The official start of the Power Four conferences was in July 2024; however, the SPND data in this report is from the 2023–24 season, when it was still the Power 5 conferences.
In addition to traditional sponsorship deals, the total number of team deals could also include individual brands that are part of a parent company portfolio; deals signed at the league level (but that include team signage); and/or sponsorship deals signed through third-party agencies. In cases where a parent company secures a sponsorship deal and provides exposure for multiple sub-brands, the exposure of each sub-brand is counted as a separate, individual deal.
Sponsorship pricing data is from SponsorUnited's recently launched SPND product and reflects the most recently completed season for the league. SponsorUnited’s SPND product estimates sponsorship deal pricing using a proprietary algorithm, which combines AI technology with multiple data sources, continually refining estimates based on new inputs. The SponsorUnited model integrates all platform-tracked marketing assets, rights holder characteristics, market and category trends, and over $13.3 billion in actual sponsorship deal transactions.
Sponsorship data was gathered from multiple sources, including observed brand placements in-game and during broadcasts, team websites, and official announcements. Social data was collected using SponsorUnited's proprietary social media tracking metrics and compiled from property or person-controlled accounts on Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), TikTok, and LinkedIn.
The 2024 Year in Review was jointly authored by SponsorUnited's Marketing, Business Intelligence, and Analytics teams, using data from October 1st, 2021 to December 7th, 2024. Data for this report was sourced from the SponsorUnited SaaS platform, which tracks and analyzes sponsorship activity across all major pro and collegiate sports teams.
About SponsorUnited:
Launched in 2018, SponsorUnited is the leading global sports and entertainment intelligence platform, delivering actionable data and insights to build stronger marketing partnerships. We provide unrivaled knowledge across the sponsorship and media landscape so our clients can make impactful decisions that drive business.
With over 403,000 brands, 2.2 million deals, and 21.1 million data points across sports, entertainment, media, and talent, our SaaS platform enables brands, rights holders, and agencies to partner more effectively. By delivering real-time trends, on-demand research, and the most comprehensive data available, we connect the entire sponsorship ecosystem and are rewriting the partnership playbook.
