NFL, NBA and MLB to draw $4bn from sponsors in 2020

An overview of sponsorship investment in the NFL, NBA and MLB between 2010 and 2020.

Two Circles expects sports sponsorship spend in North America – the world’s largest region – to rise 5.0% to $18.8bn this year, with the US accounting for 82.5% of the total at $15.5bn (a rise of 5.4%).

The financial services sector is the largest investor in sports sponsorship in the US ($5.3bn in 2019), followed by automotive ($2.4bn) and retail ($1.3bn). Telecoms ($1.0bn), energy ($0.9bn), technology ($0.7bn) and soft drinks ($0.7bn) brands are spending one billion dollars or just under per year.

Projections by WARC, based on data from IEG, show that sponsorship of the National Football League (NFL) is...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands