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Advantages and disadvantages of sports sponsorship
By Riccardo Tafà| Posted July 20, 2025 | In Sponsorship
By Riccardo Tafà| Posted July 20, 2025 | In Sponsorship
Advantages and disadvantages of sports sponsorship
If you’re a sports marketing enthusiast, a quick browse of the internet is enough to come across a rather strange question: “what advantages and disadvantages of sports sponsorship? ?” In short, what sponsorship benefitscan I expect from my sports marketing program?
Luckily, at RTR Sports Marketing we’re here to advise on these issues, as well as things that might not work so well. Here are some of our initial thoughts….
Pros and cons of sports sponsorship
We get it, if you’re trying to understand if sports sponsorship is the right path for you and you’ll want to know what the pros and cons really are.
Before getting into the details, if you have any doubts about the benefits of sponsorship in sports, it’s best to contact a sports marketing agency – they can guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have.
Advantages of sponsorship in sports and sponsorship benefits
Sports sponsorship is a lucrative industry around the world – so it’s only natural that there are many benefits you can reap when you enter this arena.
Sports sponsorship is truly a 360° marketing tool, and can enable content marketing, digital media, B2B programs, PR, hospitality and much more. The passion ignited by riders (in MotoGP), or by teams, or athletes in other sports, cannot be matched – and often their audiences and fans have long-standing and deep-rooted allegiances. If you can find a sports team or individual worth sponsoring that matches your brand ethos, be prepared to see all the advantages of sponsorship in sport and the benefits of sponsorship bear real fruit.
Sponsorship provides a strong sales boost, better brand positioning and higher brand awareness. On top of that, sponsorship is also a very powerful weapon in your social media storytelling strategy (think of the great work done by Etihad in the Premier League, or Repsol in MotoGP). In short, the benefits are plentiful – and all of these can come together to achieve real ROI for your brand,
Disadvantages of sponsorship in sports
Okay, we’ve talked about the positives of a successful sports sponsorship campaign and the bountiful benefits of sponsorship – but what about the downsides of sponsorship in sports?
In reality, as long as you prepare carefully, plan in advance, and activate your sponsorship plan the right way, there is very little to lose. You have to know your budget and what will allow you to achieve it, and that teams or drivers/athletes may get better rates from one season to the next – that shouldn’t be too much of a burden.
Are there any downsides to sponsorship in sports? The answer is no, as long as the team or athlete you are associated with is not involved in a scandal or embarrassing situation. We’ve covered this before: what if the athlete or team we sponsor is caught doping? What if in the middle of a match or race, your team’s behavior is embarrassing? Head over to our article here if you want to know more about how to handle it.
What sport should I use for my sponsorship campaign?
As experts on the advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship in sport, we can recommend the highly lucrative world of MotoGP as a great place to start. MotoGP sponsorship means multiple races per year, hundreds of thousands of viewers and an international reputation for high-quality racing. Before we even get into B2B, hospitality and digital activation opportunities are already available. Invest in MotoGP and you’ll be well protected from any problems you might encounter elsewhere. After all, there are many types of sponsorship in sports, such as Formula E Sponsorship.
Benefits of working with a reputable sports marketing agency
Since 1995 RTR Sports Marketing has been a leading sports marketing agency with a core business in MotoGP, one of the most effective sports to enter if you want to invest in sports sponsorship.
If you’re unsure about your next steps, you might want to have a chat with one of our consultants. We’d be happy to discuss all the benefits and risks involved in sports sponsorship.
We can answer your curiosity and we are willing, given specific objectives and a budget (marketing and/or commercial), to study specific sponsorship programs capable of achieving your objectives.
We are confident that the benefits of sports sponsorship will become apparent. If you’d like to discuss the ups and downs of sponsorship more, get in touch – we’d be delighted!
Read more about Sponsorship Activation.
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Riccardo Tafà
Managing Director for RTR Sports, Riccardo graduated in law at the University of Bologna. He began his career in London in PR, then started working in two and four-wheelers. A brief move to Monaco followed before returning to Italy. There he founded RTR, first a consulting firm and then a sports marketing company which, eventually, he moved back to London.
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Read MoreWhy choose RTR Sports Marketing
In an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
Save time and money
When first approaching a motorsport sponsorship project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Motorsport is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
The right information, the right choice
Motorsport is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the beating heart
Activations are the real heart of motorsport sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Objective measurements for a certain return
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
Sit back, relax, we’ll take care of it
We have been involved in motorsport sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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