Hi there,

Welcome to the Scout Newsletter, an exploration into the data behind the Australian Sport and Sponsorship Landscape.

This week we dive into the AU/NZ sports apparel market, and the contrasting sponsorship strategies of its biggest brands.

Enjoy!

The Scouting Report

Key Insights

• Sportswear is a unique sponsorship category, given its low vacancy, and high degree of competitive tension, with 28 unique apparel brands.

• Sponsorship strategies vary significantly by brand, from premiumisation (e.g. Adidas x All Blacks) to league-wide exclusivity (e.g. Nike x BBL) to spreading across multiple sports/teams.

• Sponsorship share of voice by month can vary up to 10 x - important for brands in planning sponsorship activity, or their next deal.

Context

Following recent deals from ISC (Hawthorn), iAthletic (Basketball Australia) and Valour (Giants Netball), we deep-dive on sportswear sponsorships in Australia and NZ.

A low vacancy category

The sportswear category is intrinsically linked with sponsorship, given each team needs an apparel supplier. It is therefore the category with the lowest vacancy rate (i.e. % teams or leagues without a sponsor).

Opportunities to enter the landscape are therefore relatively scarce, particularly as merchandising requirements typically demand longer term deals – ISC’s renewal with Hawthorn extends to 2028, and Nike signed a decade-long deal with Football Australia this year.

Other categories with low vacancy include Ent & Leisure (e.g. local venues) at 31% vacancy, Professional Services (34%), and Restaurants (35%). Teams without a sponsor in these categories would be well-placed to prioritise, given their high supply, and ability to play on competitive tension in the category.

A highly competitive category

Unlike many categories in Australia, sportswear is highly fragmented, with 28 sportswear brands across the apparel of Australia’s top teams.

Only Nike and Adidas have more than 10% share of sponsorship spend, creating high competition.

Sponsorship strategies vary by brand

Premiumisation underpins Adidas’ strategy. Despite only having two deals, Adidas is the AU/NZ sponsorship market leader in sportswear. This is driven by their All Blacks partnership – a Tier 1 partnership with a global property, which has a commercial program worth over 113M NZD.

League-wide lock-ups drive category exclusivity for Nike in Big Bash, Champion in NBL, Cotton On in AFLW, and iAthletic in WNBL (see Market Map below). Despite high clutter elsewhere in the category, these League lock-ups mean that fans are only exposed to one apparel brand, with no competitors.

Multi-code strategies provide an effective way to reach fans of multiple sports, e.g. ASICS sponsor Australia’s Cricket, Rugby and Netball teams to reach those fans both domestically and internationally.

Multi-club portfolios offer similar benefits, e.g. ISC has four deals across four different sports – an effective way to maximise unique reach relative to spend.

One-stop strategies tend to suit challenger brands, with 10 brands having only one sponsorship, offering a cost-effective presence in the professional sports landscape.

Sponsorship share by season

Adidas’ leadership in sponsorship share peaks with Rugby interest in October, softening in the summer months. A summer code partnership would help balance their portfolio, albeit their Indian Cricket Team partnership will help deliver this in 2024/25 as the teams tour Australia.

Nike has the highest sponsor share of voice in December, driven by its Big Bash and Football partnerships. Despite also sponsoring two of the top AFL Clubs by sponsorship revenue (Swans and Pies), its share of the sponsorship market is weaker during winter. Nike might especially focus leverage efforts on its winter code partnerships, or look to future opportunities within the winter sports.

Puma’s profile is almost the inverse, with a strong presence in AFL, Rugby League and Netball, but lower share in summer. This had been a challenge for New Balance too, before its sponsorship of the AO from January 2024, leading the category in that month.

New Balance now has 10 x more share of the sponsorship market in its highest vs lowest month. This can be used for planning sponsorship activity, or considering their next deal; while for existing sponsor teams, demonstrating a year-round presence is likely to be key.

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