Basketball’s Multi-Million Dollar Sponsorship Market

The world of professional sports is awash with money. From the English Premier League securing TV rights in excess of £5.14 billion, to sports that rely even more heavily on sponsorship to continue to function, like F1, the commercial opportunities offered up by leading sports teams and personalities make this a big money business.

Basketball is no exception, and in the US, it already accounts for multiple millions in sponsorship deals each and every year. But now, with the sport’s popularity growing across much of Europe and elsewhere around the world, the market for sponsorship could be set to grow even stronger.

But how does the relationship between basketball and sponsors work, on both sides of the table, and does it represent an effective opportunity for some brands to raise awareness and reach new audiences as intended?

The Mutual Benefits of Basketball Sponsorship

The basketball sponsorship model is one that provides mutual benefits: both for the teams and players involved, as well as the sponsors. For individual basketball teams, sponsorship is a significant source of revenue, and one of the most effective ways they can maximise their commercial potential. Every element of a team’s name and image can be made available for sponsorship, from the arenas they play in right down to the shirts and shoes they wear.

Professional sports are heavily reliant on relationships with sponsors, and basketball is no exception. As audiences continue to grow worldwide, the high profile afforded by basketball sponsorship means this is becoming an even more important part of the marketing puzzle for major brands.

While the sports teams can leverage their brand assets for profit by attracting sponsors and advertisers into the fold, the sponsors themselves get the opportunity to reach out to targeted demographics of fans, not to mention raising their profile across the board. As a result, a multi-million dollar industry partnership has built up, leading to close working relationships between the commercial and sporting sides of any agreement.

While it’s clear that sponsorship is in the interests of the basketball teams concerned, how does it compare to other avenues available to marketers for generating awareness and strengthening their brand?

Sponsorship vs. Other Marketing Opportunities

In some sectors, it makes little sense to strike up a sponsorship arrangement. Aside from the vanity element of seeing your company name emblazoned across your team jerseys, there’s not much point in some companies locking up with sports. For example, if you’ve got a makeup manufacturer or a lawnmower company, chances are you’re not looking at the best fit for your marketing budget. But if you’re involved in sports, or in an industry that reaches out to the same audiences that watch basketball in their millions, it’s a much more reasonable fit.

Arguably the main distinction that sets sponsorship apart from other opportunities, aside from the credibility that comes with it, is the ability to reach mass global audiences. If you’re in a business that has a global customer base, this is one of the most effective ways to promote your brand and raise awareness of what you do. And specifically in the case of basketball, there are still high value sponsorship opportunities available at a comparatively more affordable level than in some other, more sponsor-competitive sports.

Why Casinos In Particular Are Circling

Casinos and sportsbooks are the prime example of companies that benefit specifically from a close relationship with sports. In the first place, there’s a huge demographic crossover between those who like sports and those who are likely to gamble, and the symbiosis between the two is clear across a number of sports. But there’s also the added benefits of mass exposure and brand positioning, two elements where basketball sponsorship has a clear edge over other forms of marketing. For example GVC Holding’s sports book bwin has recently sponsored 3 Spanish football teams, so who is to say they will not branch out into other business verticals and use their online casino labels such as PartyCasino for any future sporting sponsorships.

Basketball audiences around the world number in the millions, and many of those who regularly tune in do so with a burning passion for their team. When a casino or a sportsbook is associated so intrinsically with a particular team, their brand is promoted on a par with the team itself. It’s this linking that helps establish or build credibility around the sponsor brand, while the mass exposure of a global fan base ensures the brand message is getting in front of as many potential customers as possible.

Casinos are in the unique position of having a lot of money to spend, mass demographics, and a limited range of outlets for promotion. With sports like Formula 1 already bogged down in hugely expensive sponsorship deals, it’s no wonder casinos are now turning their attention increasingly to the sponsorship opportunities that still exist in sports like basketball.

Sponsorship is a two-way street. Sports teams are in business to make money, and many of their business models absolutely rely on success in the boardroom as much as their success on court. 

At the same time, sponsors need to identify promotional opportunities that are good value for money, buying mass exposure within key customer demographics. For gambling companies specifically, this is a tight fit - in no small part the reason the market for basketball sponsorship has blossomed into a multi-million dollar subset of the broader sports industry.