Sports sponsorship: why a logo on a jersey is no longer enough
A logo on a jersey is the best-known form of sports sponsorship. It is also the most fragile. When the match ends, the logo fades from people's minds as quickly as it leaves the screen. What remains is whatever the brand brought to life around the partnership.
A growing market, but a concentrated one
In 2025, the French sports partnership market reached €1.78 billion, spread across around 4,000 contracts, according to the Nielsen Sports and Sporsora study published in March 2026. Football alone captures 40% of the money, ahead of motorsport (17%) and rugby (almost 10%).
The market is also highly concentrated: 8% of contracts account for nearly 80% of total value. Most partnerships are worth less than €1 million a year. In other words, most brands are not buying massive national exposure. They are buying a relationship, and it is up to them to make it pay off.
The real issue: activation
In our industry, activation means everything a brand invests beyond the rights fee to bring a partnership to life: content, experiences, on-the-ground operations, programmes for fans or employees.
Figures from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), with Lumency, speak for themselves. The global average is 0.81 of activation spend for every 1 spent on rights. Only 18% of sponsors invest at least as much in activation as in rights. And 9% spend 20 cents or less.
A partnership without activation is an expensive billboard. An activated partnership is a story the public can live.
The weak spot: measurement
Another blind spot is measurement. According to the WFA (December 2025), less than 1% of sponsorship budgets goes into measuring results. Yet almost three quarters of practitioners say proving return on investment is their biggest challenge.
When results are measured, the focus is mostly on awareness (84%) and consideration (65%). Commercial impact is measured far less often. As a result, many partnerships are renewed or dropped on gut feeling.
What we recommend
- Start from the objective, not the asset. Local awareness, image, recruitment, sales: each objective calls for a different partnership.
- Plan the activation budget from day one, alongside the rights fee, not with whatever is left over.
- Design the partnership as an exchange of value. The right question: what does this association create that neither the brand nor the athlete could have produced alone?
- Set your indicators before signing, and ring-fence part of the budget for measurement.
A logo gives you visibility. A strategy, the right connection and well-designed activation create value. That is exactly where we come in.
Preparing a sports partnership? Let's talk.
Sources
Read next
Sport in Guadeloupe: a playing field brands underestimate
Champions, a historic cycling tour, the Route du Rhum… and declining grassroots sport: where brands have a role to play.
8 questions to ask before sponsoring an athlete
Objectives, audience, contract type, activation, measurement: a brand's checklist before signing.