Good Morning,

This Week in Sponsorship is Scout’s free weekly wrap-up of the latest deals in Australian sponsorship. Check out previous articles, or sign up if you were forwarded this email.

30th April 2025  

Top announcements: 

😺 Geelong Cats announced a new partnership with rideshare service DiDi as the Official Member Partner for the next two years.

Scout Intel: The partnership is Didi’s second deal of the quarter, also partnering with Hawthorn. Uber has long been the market leader in the category, and remains a large ad spender, but has no active sponsorships (Australian Open until 2022, and NZ Rugby until 2024). Didi therefore now owns sponsorship in the category - will Uber respond?

🦅 Hawthorn Football Club welcomed MA Services Group as its official cleaning and security partner.

Scout Intel: MA Services has been one of the most active sponsors in recent months. The company was a Major Partner of Collingwood Football Club in 2024, but has switched tack to become the Official Partner of several teams in 2025: Melbourne Demons, Brisbane Lions, Essendon and now Hawthorn. The result is fewer opportunities for Facilities Management partners - will this drive tension in the category?

🏟️ Manuka Oval will be rebranded in AFL/W matches as the Corroboree Group Manuka Oval in a new naming rights agreement between GWS Giants and ACT Government. Corroboree Group is a majority Indigenous-owned and operated collective of organisations with a strong presence in the Canberra region, using the partnership to highlight their work in the local community.

Scout Intel: Corroboree Group is not typical of other venue naming rights sponsors, which skew towards Banking and Insurance brands, making up almost half of all investment into top tier venue partnerships (Suncorp Stadium, CommBank Stadium, Qudos Bank Arena, Allianz Stadium, AAMI Park, RAC Arena, to name a few). Venues are often seen as high exposure, lower risk assets, well-suited to categories where trust is key.

Note that while deals were announced in the last week, several of these partnerships have been visible on Club websites, and so captured by Scout, for over a month. Stay ahead of the news with Scout Platform - reach out to learn more.

Want more from Scout?

💻 Scout Platform provides full access to over 6,200 sponsorship deals across 80 categories. Reach out to Mark or Alex to learn more.

📊 Scout Pro provides subscribers with exclusive newsletter articles and insights reports.

Sign up to Scout Pro now to receive the May insights report, featuring the latest trends, brands and categories to watch, and easy-to-digest overviews on the sponsorship landscape (e.g. Top Categories matrix for AFL landscape below):

Deals from this week 

NEW/EXPIRED

🎽 "The GWS Giants and the ACT Government are proud to announce a new landmark partnership with Corroboree Group, as the new naming rights partner for their home ground in the Nation’s capital. The new naming rights agreement will see the venue rebranded to Corroboree Group Manuka Oval across AFL and AFLW for the next three years."

🎽 "Geelong Cats is pleased to announce a new partnership with rideshare service DiDi, arriving at the Club as the Official Member Partner for the next two years."

🎽 "Collingwood Magpies and TaylorMade Golf have teed up a perfect partnership with the golf equipment brand joining the black and white family for the next two years."

🎽 "Hawthorn Hawks is delighted to welcome MA Services Group as its official cleaning and security partner."

🏉 "CoachMate has partnered with NZ Rugby League to make coaching, teaching and learning rugby league fun and easy for everyone."

🏉 "Welcome to the Penrith Panthers family Oxen Sports 🖤❤️💛💚" 

RENEWALS/UPGRADES

🏉 "Continuing an exceptional partnership, the Cronulla Sharks are delighted to announce Classic Sportswear will remain the club's exclusive apparel supplier until at least the end of the 2030 season 🤝"

🏉 "South Sydney Rabbitohs are excited to announce that Spirit Group Australia have renewed and uplifted their partnership to become our official signage partner for the 2025 season! Spirit is an Indigenous owned group of brands delivering consulting, creative, digital, print, merchandise and events services."

🏅 "JCDecaux renews partnership with the New Zealand Olympic Team through to 2028."

🏐 "We're proud to extend our partnership with Jones Radiology, who will continue to be the preferred provider of medical imaging for our Adelaide Thunderbirds for 2025."

Feature a partnership

Want to make sure your latest sponsorship is featured? Let us know here for a shoutout in our weekly wrap-up and a chance at a feature in Deal of the Week.

Partnership Opportunities

Want to promote your current partnership opportunities? Reach out for a chat.

Are you hiring? Get in touch with our partner business, Talent Economy.

Partner with industry experts, Talent Economy, to unearth top talent across the Aussie media, sport, entertainment and marketing sectors. Head to talenteconomy.com.au, follow on LinkedIn or email [email protected].