Christina Gough
Research expert covering sports and video gaming
Sports sponsorship - statistics & facts
Professional sports is one of the most lucrative industries for sponsorships and brands. This is evidenced in the fact that the size of the sports sponsorship market worldwide exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2023 and is expected to almost double by 2030. One of the biggest regions for sports sponsorship is North America, which is home to some of the world's biggest sports leagues such as the NFL and the NBA. Indeed, the sponsorship revenue of the NFL stood at almost 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 alone. Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, the size of the European sports sponsorship market surpassed 20 billion euros in 2022.
The world's biggest sporting franchises
Given the commercial success of North America's sports leagues, it comes as no surprise that some of the most valuable sports teams worldwide were American franchises. At the top of the pile were the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, whose brand value in 2023 amounted to nine billion U.S. dollars. For comparison, the most valuable soccer brand in 2023 was Manchester City, with an estimated net worth of just over 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the National Basketball Association has seen its sponsorship revenue follow a similar upward trajectory to the NFL, reaching 1.66 billion U.S. dollars in the 2022/23 season.Global superstars
While it is generally teams and franchises that build up a brand and fan base, individual athletes have also become brands within themselves in recent years. The highest paid athlete worldwide in 2023/24 was soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. Although the majority of the Portuguese attacker's earnings came from his on-field exploits for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, he also earned 60 million U.S. dollars through endorsements with the likes of Nike, Tag Heuer, and his own CR7 brand. However, despite Ronaldo topping the ranking, it was basketball stars that made up almost 20 of the top 50 highest earners in that season. LeBron James, for example, earned almost two-thirds of his wealth through endorsements in the 2023/24 season, despite having one of the highest salaries in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers.Public opinion on sports sponsorship is mixed
Although sponsorship plays a significant role in the sports industry, public opinion on the matter is often divided. In the United States, a majority of respondents in a survey supported the idea of college athletes being able to profit from their names, images and likenesses in video games and jerseys, especially given that they are otherwise not paid for their on-field endeavors. However, there is often controversy surrounding which brands or industries should or should not be able to sponsor sports teams or leagues. In Great Britain, for example, almost 60 percent of soccer fans supported a ban on gambling companies being able to sponsor team jerseys. Given that many sports fans are young and impressionable, it appears that the sports sponsorship industry has a fine line to tread between profit and social responsibility.
