What’s in Store – NFL Sponsorship Stats That Could Impact the 2023-2024 Season

Before you dive in, if you are interested in sport sponsorship, check out these titles in our “sponsorship for sports” series:

• Resource Page for Sport and Athlete Sponsorship
• How to Write a Sports Sponsorship Proposal
• Why is Sponsorship Important in Sport?
• The Definitive Guide to Sports Fan Engagement
• The Rise of Insurance Companies in Sports Sponsorship
• The Advantages and Disadvantages of  Alcohol in Sport Sponsorship

Football season is one we all fervently look forward to. While fans wait to see who will be traded to which teams and what the lineups will look like, I await the kinds of sponsorship opportunities that will affect the landscape of the NFL.

Sports sponsorship is by far the most high-profile and lucrative type of cash sponsorship, and some of its effects trickle down into other sponsorship areas. That’s why I want to take a closer look at the sponsorship trends and data emerging from the NFL that can influence next season. 

5 Sponsorship Stats Driving the NFL 

NFL Sponsorship Revenue Continues to Grow 

If you had to guess which major sports organization had the healthiest uptick in sponsorship between 2022 and 2023, which would you guess?

Okay, so it’s sort of a spoiler considering the title of this article, but the answer is the NFL. According to a Sportico article from February 2023, which is right when the 2022-2023 season wrapped, sponsorship in the NFL increased in the 2022 season by four percent.

That might not sound like a lot but considering the $1.88 billion value of sponsorships in the industry, I’d say it’s plenty!  

In fact, the increase is 15 percent ahead of the NBA’s rate of sponsorship growth. 

If the trend continues upward–with data to suggest it will–the NFL could continue to distance itself from other sports leagues by growing its sponsorship revenue into the 2023-2024 season. 

NFL Team Sponsorship Also Hit Record Numbers

The NFL as a whole is a sponsorship juggernaut, but there exist more sponsorship opportunities outside of directly working with the league.

For example, brands can align themselves with individual teams, something that has happened in increasingly high numbers.

A January 2023 report from TVTechnology with data cited from SponsorUnited found that NFL team sponsorship for the 2022-2023 season totaled $2.05 billion. That’s an increase of 14 percent from the 2021-2022 season. 

It’s not always the teams with the biggest winning records who get the most sponsorship deals. The Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that made it to the playoffs but was eliminated early on, had more than 170 sponsorship deals this last season.

That’s followed by the Dallas Cowboys with more than 140 sponsorships, the Buffalo Bills with more than 135 sponsorships, the Indianapolis Colts with 125 sponsorships, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with more than 120 sponsorship deals.

Of course, companies carefully study a team’s reputation and performance before deciding to align with them for the season, but that decision happens long before the teams get out on the gridiron.  

The NFL Had a Lot of Sports Betting Sponsorships in 2022 

In 2022, the sponsorship categories spotlighted across sports ran the gamut. According to Sportico, here are the 10 the NFL focused on:

• Technology
• Lottery, betting, and gaming
• Beer
• Telecom
• Insurance
• Soft drinks
• Banks
• Automotive
• Medical
• Investment services

The NBA’s top sponsorship vertical in 2022 was technology, but after that, it largely diverges from the NFL. The other four sponsorship categories the NBA focused on were cryptocurrency, banks, telecom, and apparel/equipment.

The MLB went in yet another sponsorship direction, with their top five focuses being banks, beer, insurance, automotive, and technology.

If we focus solely on those top five categories, the NFL was the only sports division to go after the gaming and betting sphere.

Although the most money went into technology sponsorships ($395 million), the NFL shelled out $260 million for gaming and betting sponsors. 

That’s followed by $211 million for beer sponsors, $163 million for telecom sponsors, $133 million for insurance sponsors, $127 million for soft drink sponsors, $108 million for bank sponsors, $100 million for automotive sponsors, $99 million for medical sponsors, and $71 million for investment services. 

The NFL currently pairs with FanDuel, DraftKings, and Caesars for sports betting, with 21 of the 32 NFL teams involved with sports betting sponsorships. 

That brings me to my next point…

The NFL Has Expanded Its Gambling Sponsorships

With so much of its sponsorship dollars going into sports betting and gaming, it makes sense that the sports league would try to maximize this potential as much as possible. 

The NFL only recently announced a Global Markets Program designed to increase its engagement, sales, and marketing overseas. A June 2023 article from Gaming Today reports that NFL teams that are part of the Global Markets Program can work with gambling sponsors in the country in which they’re assigned.

This is a significant change, as the partnerships the NFL teams could engage in before were limited to the league. If a team wants to expand beyond the NFL’s roster of gaming and gambling sponsors internationally, they can.

It’s an especially advantageous position for the San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, and Atlanta Falcons. Why is that? The teams play in states that outlaw sports betting, prohibiting them from partaking in the NFL’s gambling and sports betting sponsorships. 

Now those teams could expand internationally, enjoying the same sponsorships that other NFL teams do on their home turf. However, the eligibility period for this kind of sponsorship expansion doesn’t occur until 2024, so time will tell what the teams do. 

NFL teams may stick to their global markets program roster, which is as follows:

• United Kingdom: San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chicago Bears
• Switzerland: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs
• Spain: Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears
• Republic of Ireland: Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars
• New Zealand: Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams
• Mexico: San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Rams, Las Vegas Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, and Arizona Cardinals
• Ghana: Philadelphia Eagles
• Germany: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Carolina Panthers, and Atlanta Falcons
• France: New Orleans Saints
• China: Los Angeles Rams
• Canada: Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings
• Brazil: Miami Dolphins
• Austria: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs
• Australia: Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams

PepsiCo Spent the Most Money as a Sponsor in the NFL in 2022 

Although soft drinks didn’t even rank in the top five of the NFL’s biggest sponsorship categories, its top sponsor continues to be PepsiCo, notes Sportico. 

This is hardly surprising, considering PepsiCo’s affiliation with the NFL dates back almost four decades. PepsiCo has always penned deals with the NFL to continue their arrangement for years at a time, with eight-year deals not unheard of. 

In April 2022, the two partners negotiated terms again. According to CNBC, the sponsorship grants premium NFL rights for PepsiCo brands like Tostitos and Frito Lay. The company’s Gatorade products will continue to appear on the benches, with a pre-workout product partnership between NFL and Pepsi.

Interestingly, PepsiCo agreed to give up the rights to the Super Bowl halftime show, one of the most-watched moments on television every year. 

Although the 2023-2024 season has yet to begin, we got to see a sample of this change earlier in 2023 during the Super Bowl. Apple Music sponsored the halftime event, which featured Rihanna. 

The deal paid off. Apple Music generated $21.5 million in brand exposure, says Sports Pro Media. 

Getting back to Pepsi, you might wonder how much the latest deal between it and the NFL is valued, but it wasn’t divulged. The last 10 years of partnership between the snack and soda juggernaut and the NFL was worth at least $2 billion. 

However, this one might be valued less because it’s missing the halftime show.

By the way, the other major sponsors for the NFL are as follows:

• Anheuser-Busch InBev
• Verizon
• Microsoft
• Caesars
• Amazon
• Nike
• Cisco
• Apple
• Molson Coors

Where Might Sponsorship Be Heading for the NFL?

Now that we’ve looked at the data, in which directions might sponsorship go as the 2023-2024 NFL season gets underway? Here are a few predictions.

More International Sponsors

Earlier, I discussed how some NFL teams are seeking to pursue international sponsorships because their own states prohibit sports betting and gambling. 

However, I see international sponsors possibly growing outside of the sports betting niche. The NFL had a series of overseas games during its 2022-2023 season that attracted viewership despite being on at odd hours. 

While international games have been part of the NFL for more than a decade, brand experience agency Imagination notes that 2022 was one of the most successful years for this venture yet, breaking viewership and attendance records. 

The NFL will catch on, and so the number of sponsors from over the pond could balloon in response to this outpouring of attention.  

Non Digital Sponsorship Could Grow

As the NFL has moved to streaming, much like every other major brand, it introduces another platform for sponsorship arrangements. Deals could emerge for nondigital assets and activations, either exclusively or among the NFL’s current roster of partners looking to expand their arrangements and craft a more meaningful, lucrative sponsorship deal. 

Greater Opportunities for Alcohol Sponsors 

The NFL dropped its liquor ad ban in 2017, reports Ad Age, yet you still traditionally see beer brands as the most prominent sponsors. Perhaps the 2023-2024 season will be the one where wine, rum, tequila, and other spirits get a bigger slice of the pie. 

Conclusion 

The NFL is a global leader in sports and sponsorship. It’s attracted decades-long sponsorship deals worth billions of dollars overall and continues to inspire smaller sports sponsors with its decisions. 

As a major mover and shaker, it’s worth watching to see what it will do next!