A period undie brand is sponsoring one of the UK’s most prestigious football clubs, a makeup company has signed up with Formula One and a shape wear business sponsors the US Olympic team.
Sports sponsorship is changing and women are at the heart of it.
The trend dares to challenge the eye-rolling trope — often pulled out — that women’s sports aren’t financially viable, while confidently posing the question; have sports companies, up until now, been looking for sponsors in the right places?
“I think we can still see sport through a really narrow and traditional lens,” said Sarah Styles, Director of the Victorian Office of Women in Sport and Recreation.
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“These partnerships that we’re seeing overseas, are seeing sport for what it actually is, which is a pathway to reach a hugely diverse audience and a huge number of female consumers.
“The research shows that female consumers influence 80-plus percent of purchasing decisions. So if you are a brand who is trying to reach decision-makers and reach a female market, at the moment in Australia, we’re still not seeing people realise ‘oh yeah, that means I should get involved with sport’.
“That connection point hasn’t been made yet here in Australia.”
There’s been an influx of women’s brands sponsoring women’s sports — period undie brand ModiBodi recently announced their partnership with West Ham FC as a kit sponsor, Charlotte Tilbury sponsors the F1 academy, Kim Kardashian’s shape wear juggernaut Skims has deals supporting the Team USA, WNBA, NBA, USA Basketball and League One Volleyball.
Luxury brand Coach partnered with the WNBA, Prada with the Chinese women’s football team, Louis Vuitton with Real Madrid Women’s, tampon company Sequel sponsors the Indiana Fever and Sephora the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA.
The list continues well beyond these examples.
Brands aren’t partnering with women’s sports as a feel good charity, or to reach some corporate social responsibility goal.
It’s simply business.
And it makes great business sense.
Research from the Victorian Office for Women in Sport and Recreation in 2023 found that sponsorships of women’s elite sporting properties outperformed men’s sport in brand awareness, brand consideration and customer conversion. It concluded that for every $1 invested in women’s sport delivered a company, on average, a $7.29 return in customer value.
“What that research found was when a brand aligns itself with a women’s sport, there is a far greater outcome in terms of brand awareness, there is a better outcome for brand consideration, and there is a better outcome for customer conversion,” Styles told foxsports.com.au.
“So if you have a brand that is looking for results, the evidence shows that aligning with women’s sport actually makes more sense.”
Just like sponsorships, the face of a sports fan is also changing. A global study from Wasserman Collective in 2024 found that 72 per cent of women worldwide identify as sports fans, with half of those women developing their fandom in the last five years. Importantly, 58 per cent of female sports fans are more likely to think positively of a brand that supports women’s sports, compared with just 38 per cent of men.
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Looking at that research it’s no wonder sponsors want to partner with women’s sports, and overseas, it’s having an impact. The recent NWSL Sponsorships Report from the US platform SponsorUnited shows that sponsorships of the national women’s soccer competition hit $US74 million in the 2024 season, that’s up 16 per cent from 2022, with 200 new brand partners. The successful Angel City FC led revenue generation with nearly $US20million, outperforming 15 MLS and 25 MLB teams in sponsorship revenue per game.
The research is there and across the world, leagues and sponsors are taking notice. But in Australia the sponsorship trend isn’t as strong.
If those in charge of sponsorships are so used to going to the typical brands associated with sport or, who have long associations with sport, is their lens allowing them to see the potential and possibility of women’s brands? Are they simply so used to seeing sports sponsorship look a certain way? And it’s not the way period undies, tampons, makeup or luxury handbags look.
“If we don’t understand how to present the opportunities to these brands, we’re going to continue to try to present these things in the way we always have, which is going to attract the brands that have always been aligned there,” said Styles.
“So we really need to think about how we’re talking about sport and how we’re presenting the opportunity and recognise that women’s sport is big business. Because if you purely think about it through the lens of inspiration, that’s not necessarily ticking the box of these sponsors. This is about how you show this is good value for money. How do you show this is good reach, this is going to hit a market.”
Angel City FC, co-founded by Hollywood star Natalie Portman, has generated nearly $US20million in sponsorships.Source: Getty Images
And more women in these positions within sport could be key.
“It is a fact of the industry though, that in Australia, there are far more women in the commercial partnership roles, as in they are the people who manage the relationships and manage those really well, than there are in the commercial sales roles, who are the ones out there trying to secure new partners,” Styles said.
“So if you are not a part of a company’s target market, if they’re perhaps not even on your radar, if you can’t speak to that company in a way that resonates with them, that is respectful for what they’re trying to bring to market, then it kind of makes sense that the opportunities aren’t coming together. That those companies aren’t seeing themselves as having a home in sport.
“More women in commercial sales roles is also key when we know P&L responsibility and demonstrating the ability to secure revenue is a key pathway to becoming a CEO.”
The current shift that’s seeing more women’s brands investing in women’s sports could just be the key to debunking the outdated jab that women’s sports aren’t financially viable.
That key could, in turn, also unlock another big issue, in seeing more women in leadership positions in sport.