Should major sports teams have shared brand sponsors across their men and women’s teams?

That's question that our Run X team have been exploring after Amy Hall and Charlie Farmer attended Women in Football's ‘Football for All’ event last night at Brighton & Hove Albion's AMEX Stadium.

Kelly Simmons OBE (former Director of the Women’s Professional Game at The FA and part of our Run team), Natalie Washington (Football v Transphobia) and Paul Mullen (COO at Brighton & Hove Albion) led an incredibly thought-provoking discussion, exploring the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community in the sport, while recognising how far inclusion has come and still has to go. 

One topic of conversation was around the sponsorships and partnerships in the women’s game, and the duality between whether brands and sponsors should buy into the whole club, or is it equally (or more) beneficial for purpose-driven brands to align themselves with the values embodies by women’s football.

And the data is interesting:

➡️ 68% of fans agree that it reflects well on brands who partner with sports organisations on initiatives that promote positive social change.

➡️ 72% of sports fans believe that ‘sponsoring women’s sport reflects well on sponsor brands’.

➡️ 80% of global buying decisions are influenced by women.

What do you think? Should clubs lean into authentically purpose-driven brands for the women’s team, or is it more powerful to have sponsors of the men’s game also sponsor the women?

If you’re a brand looking to invest in women’s football, reach out for strategy and activation support with our specialist women’s sport division Run X.