What sponsorship in sport really delivers

A club signs a new sponsor. Everyone is excited, the logo goes on the shirt or the boarding, the deal gets plenty of coverage. But a year later the sponsor wonders: is this actually delivering anything?

Sound familiar? Then you're probably missing the full picture.

Gemba has measured sponsorship effects for 15 years and analysed 215,000 data points. Their research shows that sponsorship works differently than many clubs and companies think. Here are the key insights.

It doesn't start with reach, it starts with the fan

A club with a huge but barely engaged audience gets less out of a sponsorship deal than a smaller club with highly engaged fans. Fans who receive the newsletter or use the app, for example, recognise a sponsor up to 4x more often than a random spectator.

For clubs this means: your value doesn't just sit in stadium capacity or viewing figures, but above all in how well you know and reach your fanbase. For companies: don't just look at the size of a fanbase, look at engagement.

Sponsorship needs time

In the first year almost nobody knows the sponsor. Around year 2 brand awareness starts to rise, and only around year 5 do fans seriously start considering the brand for purchase.

A sponsor who concludes after one or two years that it isn't working may never have given the deal a real chance. Clubs should therefore make clear upfront: sponsorship is a multi-year investment, not a campaign of a few months.

But not endlessly the same

Working together for a long time doesn't mean doing the same thing for years on end. After around 10 years the effect flattens out. The sponsor becomes part of the furniture, without the same impact. That's exactly where clubs have a job to do: have the conversation in time about how to make the partnership valuable again. Think of different activations or deeper access to fans.

Women's sport: less noise, stronger bond

Women's sport offers opportunities too. On broad brand awareness, men's sport wins through scale and media attention. Among the most engaged fans that gap nearly disappears, while women's sport scores almost 2x as well on purchase consideration. Less noise, less competition and a stronger bond with fans. Interesting for companies with a smaller budget, and for clubs wanting to position their women's team more strongly commercially.

The sector makes a difference

The sector matters too. Betting companies and car brands are recognised quickly; insurers, banks and business services need more activation to make the link with the club. A board pitch-side simply isn't enough there.

The common thread

Sponsorship doesn't work because you're visible, but because value is created. For fans, or for the sponsor itself.

For clubs: help sponsors find value by having conversations that go further than stadium visits or the price of a sponsor board.

For companies: look beyond a big logo. Audience, engagement, activation and above all patience ultimately determine whether sponsorship really delivers value.