Many sponsorship relationships have historically focussed on those sports that engage with the most people, or have the highest viewing figures. These sports are easy to guess and include soccer, basketball, cricket, golf and motor sports. However, there are a multitude of sports that are not as well-known that can provide better value for sponsors.
Value
Any business that sponsors a sports person or team is looking for exposure, and of course, value. In more mature sports, value can be hard to find, especially if operating on a lower budget. A sure way to increase value is to look at less well-known sports, and analyse the demographics of their audience. Using a scientific approach, a sport that better matches the sponsors’ key criteria can be found that should align more closely with the brands’ requirements.
A Loyal Fanbase
Smaller sports also have a significant advantage over mainstream sports, a dedicated, loyal and passionate fan base. Whilst the numbers may be less, the affinity of these supporters to their team can also create a stronger bond between sponsors and the fans – providing an improved return on recognition that would be almost impossible with mainstream sports at a similar sponsorship value.
Over the last ten years, we have slowly seen an increase in sponsorship values, for what were previously thought of as too small to attract sponsorships.
Women’s Football
A good example of a sports growth is women’s football. In 2013, sponsorship of the premier women’s football competition in England, the FA Super League, attracted a sponsorship value of £450,000 over five years. In 2019, a new deal was signed for three years at a cost of £10,000,000. This demonstrates that achieving widespread recognition, at a lower cost for sponsors, is possible, though those that are early adopters gain the most.
So, what are the niche sports you should be thinking about supporting now?
Whilst we don’t have a crystal ball, our team think the growth in e-sports is a long way from reaching its’ peak. Pre-pandemic, the 2019 British university e-sports championship had 3,500 players over 785 teams. Add this to the planned construction of e-sports specific stadia, and that a large proportion of these events are live streamed on Twitch, we predict the audience growth over the next five years could be exponential.
Sponsor Connect, a dedicated sports sponsorship platform, is designed to enable companies and individuals to easily and quickly find sponsorship opportunities across a wide range of sports. Sign up here, to begin optimising your sponsorship potential.
