I've been trying for months to write about sports and the presidential election in a way more meaningful than properties promoting voter registration. However, polarization is so extreme that whenever national politics are mentioned, silence prevails. Another approach: Which, if any, industry-specific issues should influence voting? Most we talked to still opted for silence or anonymity. ...
Jeff Garrant of Potassium Sports: “Which candidate will push [federal] NIL legislation? That needs to be resolved in the next four years, and it will impact the entire industry.”
“Trump weaponized sports then, and I don’t ever want to see that again," said a longtime agency head at a World Series pregame soiree earlier this week.
Also noted by industry cognoscenti: For anyone with a side in the PGA Tour/LIV Golf squabble, Trump is squarely in the LIV camp, having hosted its tourneys at his properties.
On a more contentious issue: “Trump has said he will ban transgender athletes from competing,” said a top exec at one of the largest legacy sports agencies. “That [transgender] issue is coming up in his ads, so it matters.”
Words of wisdom: “Education isn’t something you can finish” -- Isaac Asimov.
Playfly’s consulting arm gaining ground with FIFA World Cup cities, sponsors
Like many in the business, I'm still trying to gain focus on 4-year-old Playfly’s multiple offerings across marketing disciplines. Still, I can report that some 15 months after agency vets Michael Neuman and Dan Parise were hired to lead a new consulting practice, it has some intriguing clients. Playfly says more than 30.
At a time when every agency and many brands are looking at the newly expanded (32 to 48 teams) 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup as something that could dwarf even the Olympics in significance, it’s the consulting group’s progress within that event that’s impressive. Playfly and its clients are markedly closemouthed on client specifics here, but I'm told more than half of the 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are receiving “strategic, planning and commercial development” consulting from Playfly.
Additionally, two of FIFA’s largest and most venerable corporate sponsors are receiving counsel. Underlying all that is a sturdy and pedigreed group of soccer marketers, including Playfly Consulting co-head John Kristick (on the 2026 World Cup Bid Committee) and Jay Neuhaus (FIFA), along with Alan Rothenberg and Randy Bernstein and Todd Parker -- all of whom worked on the U.S. committee for the 1994 World Cup, the last one in the U.S.
“We’ve built a lot of credibility within that community, which helps enormously," said Kristick. “Still, I like to remind people that the 2026 World Cup will be about as similar to the 1994 World Cup as that one was to the 1966 World Cup.”
Within Playfly’s Brand Consulting division, the dozen or so clients include Fiserv and Fiji Airways. The Commercial Strategy and Valuation practice counts 20 clients, notably the NYRA, Pirates, Predators and Twins.
There’s also a charter to create IP in-house. First out of the chute: the Coretta Scott King Classic women’s basketball tournament in January at Newark’s Prudential Center, with Baylor, Maryland, Texas and UCLA in January.
“We’ve gotten a good handle on monetizing Playfly’s existing infrastructure and how to work with brands while remaining property agnostic," said Neuman. “There’s still a vast majority of brands making sponsorship and media investments without a sports marketing agency.” Neuman added that the unit is looking to broaden its live production, experiential and other fan engagement offerings through hiring or acquisition.
Breeders’ Cup renews Longines deal, has record 12 title sponsors for races
The 41st running of the Breeders’ Cup is this weekend at Del Mar outside San Diego, and the property has renewed Longines, its largest sponsor , for an additional six years.
The Swiss watchmaker, a Breeders’ Cup corporate patron since 2014, will continue with its “official timekeeper” and “official watch” designations and will title-sponsor three races. On-site activation includes pop-up retail and signage, to go along with units in the NBC telecast.
Breeders’ Cup SVP/Corporate Partnerships Heather Higgins said new deals from the likes of bootmaker Lucchese and Japanese video game publisher Cygames helped push sponsorship revenue growth to between 7% and 8%. A record 12 of the 14 stakes races will bear sponsor names, she noted, adding that average sponsor tenure is around 10 years.
Reflecting a trend across sports, this year’s Breeders’ Cup will include additional premium hospitality, with more planned for next year’s event, including a champagne garden and a PNC-sponsored Patio and Trophy Lounge.
JMI Sports is the outside sales agency for the Breeders’ Cup.
Speed reads
- Looking to expand its business within the financial services sector, Innovative Partnerships Group hired Todd Marksberry as executive adviser. Marksberry has 30 years within the credit-union sector, the last nine as president/CEO of Canvas Credit Union in Colorado.
- Klutch Sports Group is expanding its property representation business and will be working with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, reports SBJ's Chris Smith. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but MSE President of New Media and Enterprises Zach Leonsis said Klutch will work with MSE to drive sponsorship revenue and new deals as MSE looks to reinvent Capital One Arena.
- Gatorade signed its first men’s college basketball NIL deal with Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, who is a preseason All-American ahead of what is likely his lone year in Durham, reports SBJ's Austin Karp.
- The first year of the expanded 12-team CFP has further stoked interest among advertisers in college sports, with media companies such as Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and Paramount all seeing brands lock in advertising deals for multiple years, writes SBJ's Mollie Cahillane.
- SBJ's Abe Madkour in his Forum this week writes the number of brands using college IP in their football creatives "seems to be at an all-time high and demonstrates how valuable these brands see their affiliation" with college sports. Madkour: "There is Old Dominion Freight Line’s creative with a dozen-plus mascots in full get-ups; Allstate has a spot featuring West Virginia marks; Marriott pushes its NCAA activation around its Fairfield Inn brand as the weekend stay of the college faithful; and ESPN’s Chris Fowler voices over Dos Equis’ College Football Playoff work. That is just a small sample -- there are many more -- and this is exactly the promotion and activation properties covet."
- The NHL revolutionized its approach to in-game advertising two years ago when it introduced digitally enhanced dasherboards, and with the tech now in its third season of deployment, the league and its clubs are taking advantage of new functionality to enable sponsors to own specific moments during games, reports SBJ's Alex Silverman.
- Little Caesars’ multiyear deal to become the NFL’s official pizza sponsor has proved to be effective for the Detroit-based pizza chain, as it leverages the league’s massive fan base to boost sales across the country and expand brand awareness, notes SBJ's Irving Mejia-Hilario.
- USA Fencing signed Azza Fencing to a five-year deal to make it the official fencing shoe of the national governing body, reports SBJ's Rachel Axon.
- Tablo TV, the E.W. Scripps Company’s TV/streaming recording device, is aligning with NASCAR driver Ryan Ellis for a sponsorship deal that starts at this year’s championship weekend and lasts through 2025, reports SBJ's Adam Stern.
- Shield Lockers, a leading locker manufacturer, is working with Colorado to create 15 officially licensed, limited-release versions of Deion Sanders’ locker, notes SBJ's Ben Portnoy.