CMOs look for better measurement to justify sports sponsorship spending

Sponsorships are considered one the most reliable ways for a brand to get in good with sports fans. But most marketers are in the dark about the real commercial impact of their partnerships with franchises, tournaments and broadcasters. The search for answers could help them justify more spending, or lead them further astray.

According to Forrester, 76% of U.S. consumer marketers who invested in a sports sponsorship in 2024 said they struggle to calculate the return on that investment (ROI). That’s despite 39% of CMOs saying they expect to increase sports sponsorship investments in 2025, while 28% are preparing their brand’s debut sports partnership this year — a reflection of live sports’ increasingly vital ability to connect brands with audiences in a fragmented media environment.

Sports sponsorships provide a “halo effect” for brand-building efforts, noted Forrester analyst Mike Proulx, so techniques like brand-lift studies are common while “hardcore ROI” measures are thinner on the ground. That isn’t stopping marketers looking for workarounds that get them closer to understanding the true impact of a partnership.

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