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Evolving sponsorship strategies will be permanent fixtures


In the sports industry, almost all competition has come to a screeching halt due to COVID-19. Fans everywhere are waiting with bated breath for the return of their beloved teams and leagues. Optimistically, we may have many sports fighting for viewers’ eyes this summer. NASCAR was back with seven races in eleven days during the second half of May. Tennis is set to return in late June and mid-July with the Credit One Bank Invitational and World TeamTennis. The NHL and NBA are also predicted to return in July.

When the sports world does resume play, there will be changes that will create a new normal. One aspect that will inevitably change is the role of sponsorships. Some sponsorship changes will be temporary while others may be long-lasting. 

One short-term change is that early sponsorship and ad placement during games will be relatively more expensive than in years past, despite media spend in the industry being down due to COVID-19. There is tremendous pent-up demand for sports, as proven by this past NFL draft and ESPN’s recent documentary “The Last Dance” being the most viewed draft in history and most watched sports documentary in ESPN’s archives. This pent-up demand is changing the dynamic of sports viewership. Traditionally, the end of games has had the most viewers with most tuning in to watch the 4th quarter of an NBA or NFL game or the 3rd period or 9th inning of an NHL or MLB game. However, right now, the most viewership is occurring during the start of games. Fans are tuning into the start of games to quench their desire for sport. Viewership has now been seen to decrease as the game goes on as viewers who were not traditional fans of the sport stop watching as they lose interest. International leagues are experiencing the consequences of this new viewer behavior. The Australian Football League has seen their viewership spike at the start of the match and decrease as the game goes on.

Long-term, there will be more opportunities for sponsorship. When sports do resume, it is likely there will be no fans in attendance, or relatively few, to abide by social distancing rules. Teams and leagues can make up for this lost revenue by covering empty seats and turning them into signage for new brand sponsors. Teams can continue to do this as audiences begin to trickle back into stadiums over time to make the most of empty sections and seats. Esports has been increasing their sponsorship opportunities too by having in-game sponsorship banners in League of Legends. This new dynamic branding can change appearance throughout a match and can appear in multiple locations across a map. This new increased sponsorship will be a permanent change in the esports industry.

As seen by the popularity of “The Last Dance,” consumers crave more access to players and more authenticity. So, rather than broadcasts piping in fake crowd reactions during games, more players will be miked up to provide viewers with authentic, real-time audio. Whether it be trash-talking or play-calling, more access to players will be a long-lasting change in sports. Imagine if we had audio of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird jawing back and forth during their famed Dream Team scrimmages. This is what that new audio will bring, and the brand sponsor to create that access for viewers will benefit greatly.

With the possibility of many leagues returning in the coming months, it will be interesting to see how brand sponsorships will play out.

Kevin Nathanson is a graduate of Columbia’s Master’s in Sports Management program and will be at Wasserman Media Group this summer on their Brands and Properties team.