NFL fans go 3-for-3 in knowing sponsors

NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana, the Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt, Archie Manning and Papa John’s founder and CEO John Schnatter host a pizza-making demo at Super Bowl 50. Photo by: AP IMAGES

For the third year in a row, NFL fans knew who the league’s official partners were across the board.

At least that’s how it played out in every category measured in the NFL’s Sponsor Loyalty study, fielded annually since 2007 for SportsBusiness Journal/Daily by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment. It’s the league’s longest such streak in the 11-year history of our annual study. Only MLS, whose fans are a perfect 40-for-40 over the past four years, has had a longer streak.

The last time that more fans incorrectly thought that a non-sponsor was an official partner of the league was in 2014 when 21 percent of fans incorrectly thought that Ford was the league’s official car. That was 2 percentage points better than Chevrolet, which had been an NFL partner since 2001.

Since then, not only have the league’s partners come out on top in the minds of fans, but every one of those brands earned a higher recognition level this year than they did in 2014, further widening the gap between themselves and their competitors.

In fact, in the 11 NFL studies we’ve fielded, the league sponsor has topped its competitors 90 percent of the time (see chart below).

Among the 400 fans in this year’s study, Papa John’s (a partner since 2010), Visa (1995), Pepsi (2002), McDonald’s (2013) and Marriott (2011) each saw the brand’s highest overall recognition level in the history of the league’s survey. In hitting that high, Papa John’s was the league’s most-recognized partner for the second straight year.

Digging into specific fan bases, the data reveals that two-thirds of the survey’s avid fans knew who the NFL’s pizza maker is. Among that fan segment, that’s the highest level of awareness netted by any brand measured in the 16 surveys we’ve conducted during the past two years — two each for the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL, MLS, NASCAR, PGA Tour and NCAA.

In another comparison, the NFL currently boasts two of the most-recognized partnerships in sports, Papa John’s and Gatorade (see chart below).

Pepsi’s sponsorship of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, this year featuring Lady Gaga, has helped it top our study’s soft-drink category for the last several years. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

Methodology

For this project, Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, through its Turnkey Intelligence operation, conducted national consumer research surveys among a sample of more than 400 members of the Toluna online panel who were at least 18 years old.

Respondents were screened and analyzed based on their general avidity levels. Fans categorized as “avid” were those who responded “4” or “5” to the question “How big a fan are you of the NFL?,” claimed to “look up news, scores and standings several times a week or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 10 games per season” and “have a favorite team.” Fans categorized as “casual” responded “3” to the same initial question, then claimed to “look up news, scores and standings several times a month or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 3 games per season” and “have a favorite team.”

When asked to identify official sponsors, respondents selected from a field of companies and brands that was provided to them for each business sector. Only the top-scoring companies and brands are listed in the results published here. The percentage responses listed have been rounded. The margin of error for each survey is +/- 4.9 percentage points.

Turnkey works with more than 220 professional properties, leagues, brands and events around the world, including the NFL and all of its 32 clubs.