How to Value a Sponsorship Asset

To value a sponsorship asset, work out the minimum it must earn to cover what it costs you, check what comparable assets sell for, estimate the audience it reaches, then adjust for intangibles such as exclusivity and for what it is worth to the particular sponsor. That gives you a valuation. The price you quote can be different, and should be one you can explain line by line to a sponsor's finance team.

This guide is part of our series on how to write a sponsorship proposal.

What does valuing a sponsorship asset mean?

It means putting a defensible figure on one sellable right, such as a perimeter board, a match sponsorship or a stadium name, before you pitch it. Valuation is what the evidence says it is worth. Price is what you ask, which may differ depending on the buyer and the market.

Start with a complete list of what you can sell: our guide to sponsorship inventory covers building one.

What are the main ways to value a sponsorship asset?

There are five common approaches, and none is enough on its own. Kim Skildum-Reid of Power Sponsorship puts it plainly: there is no formula, only a methodology (Power Sponsorship).

Use them in order: the floor protects you, comparables and reach set a range, and intangibles and sponsor value decide where you land in it.

How do you work out the minimum you should accept?

Add up everything the asset costs you to deliver, sell and service, then multiply by three. That is the baseline fee Power Sponsorship recommends, and it sets a "red line" at two times those costs, below which the deal is probably not worth doing (Power Sponsorship).

The same source suggests budgeting servicing at 10% of delivery plus sale costs for a first calculation, and notes that the 3x floor roughly matches rights holders' policies of keeping sponsorship costs to 30 to 35% of the fee (Power Sponsorship).

England Rugby's Sponsorship and Partnership Toolkit lists the costs to include (England Rugby):

• Production of perimeter boards and kit branding.
• Tickets, which its illustration costs at £10 each, multiplied by the number provided.
• Hospitality, illustrated at £20 a head.
• Staff time to service the deal.
• The opportunity cost of complimentary tickets, which you can no longer sell.

The toolkit is also clear that cost is a floor, not a price. Sponsorship has a commercial value and should be priced on that value (England Rugby).

How do you use comparable deals?

Find what similar assets sell for at clubs of a similar level, crowd and media profile, then place your own asset within that range. England Rugby describes benchmarking against other clubs, using press releases, trade publications and your own network, as the most effective way to identify a price (England Rugby).

Some clubs publish their prices, which makes them useful comparables:

Both football clubs charge production separately, recovering a hard cost openly. North Ferriby doubles the rental for a board twice the length, a simple size rule. Dragons states the audience behind its price: up to 8,500 spectators a game, about 500,000 annual visitors, and exposure in match photography and TV (Dragons RFC).

These are different sports and levels, so compare like with like: level, crowd, TV coverage and position. Your own past deals become the best comparables, which is why AFL Club Help recommends keeping records of them (AFL Club Help). For quick rules of thumb on the overall ask, see "How much should you ask a sponsor for?" in our sponsorship proposal guide.

How do you value reach and exposure?

Estimate how many people see the asset, then work out what it would cost to reach them through advertising, usually as a cost per thousand people reached (CPM). England Rugby's toolkit says tangible assets such as kit branding, tickets and hospitality are valued using advertising and media industry rate cards on that basis (England Rugby).

Use reach as a check, not as the price. Advertising value equivalency (AVE), which counts exposure as bought media, has been rejected by the measurement industry's Barcelona Principles since 2010, and versions 2.0 and 3.0 state that "AVEs are not the value of communication" (Barcelona Principles). Power Sponsorship likewise argues media equivalency is not a sound basis for pricing (Power Sponsorship).

Measuring exposure after the deal is a separate job, covered in our guide to sponsorship ROI.

How do you value intangibles like exclusivity and access?

Rate each intangible, write down why, and let the rating move your figure within the range. England Rugby describes giving intangibles such as association and reputation a qualitative rating that influences the final fee (England Rugby).

Steven Falk, a former Manchester United marketing director, writing in 2014, argued the traditional media-value approach ignores intangibles. He listed exclusivity, on-pitch success, strength of following, media prominence, "glamour" and brand strength as value drivers (iSportConnect).

Exclusivity has no reliable percentage rule: price it from the categories you give up and the buyers you turn away. The buyer pool also changes. Premier League clubs agreed in 2023 to remove gambling sponsors from the front of matchday shirts from 2026-27. At the time, eight clubs had such sponsors, worth a collective £60m a year, while sleeves and perimeter boards remained open to them (Osborne Clarke). When a rule removes a category of buyer, value has to be rebuilt around who can still buy.

Finally, ask what the deal is worth to the sponsor's own business. AFL Club Help suggests asking what the sponsor sells, how much its customers spend a year and how long they stay (AFL Club Help). The same package can be worth different amounts to different sponsors (Power Sponsorship).

What does a valuation look like in practice?

Hypothetical example: a 10m perimeter board at a fictional non-league football club averaging 1,200 fans over 23 home league matches. All costs, attendances and the CPM are invented for illustration.

The figure clears the floor, sits in the lower half of the comparables because the crowd is smaller than Eastleigh's 2024-25 average of 2,209 (Eastleigh FC) or the up to 8,500 Dragons cites, and costs are about 27% of the fee, below the 30 to 35% cap. An offer of £550 is above the red line, so the club could accept it in return for something such as a two-year term.

Should you price each asset separately or as a package?

Value each asset separately, but quote the sponsor one package fee. England Rugby advises a single fee rather than pricing each benefit, and if a sponsor removes benefits, re-pricing the whole package without revealing item costs (England Rugby).

The toolkit also suggests a base fee plus a performance bonus, for example tied to league position, and says a lower offer can be worth accepting if the sponsor brings extra value, such as ticket buyers or social reach (England Rugby). Rate-card layout is a topic for a separate guide.

What are the common valuation mistakes?

Most come from leaning on one method:

1. Pricing on cost alone. You give away the commercial value.
2. Copying a rival's price. Without a like-for-like match, a comparable is just a number.
3. Selling media value as worth. The measurement industry says AVEs are not the value of communication, so a sponsor's finance team can challenge the figure.
4. Forgetting opportunity cost. Every complimentary ticket is one you cannot sell.
5. Never revaluing. Value is what a willing buyer agrees to pay, and that moves. Everton's new stadium naming rights went to law firm Hill Dickinson in May 2025, reported at about £6m a year plus add-ons. An earlier exclusive option held by Alisher Usmanov's USM had reportedly valued the rights at £30m, before the club ended ties with Usmanov in 2022 (Sportcal). Revalue each season.

How Sportworks helps

Valuing and pricing stay with you. Once the price is set, the pitch has to make it feel justified, and that is where Sportworks.io, the AI platform for sports commercial teams, comes in.

• Designs puts the prospect's logo on the exact asset you have valued, such as the board, kit, LED or signage, using mockups built from your own inventory photos with set logo placements, matching colour, sizing and perspective. See our guide to sponsorship mockups.
• Studio and Video show the activation that makes the asset worth more to that sponsor, as branded visuals and short clips.
• Decks builds a personalised deck for each brand, with visuals, inventory and the pricing you have set, and exports to PPTX or PDF.
• Deck tracking gives you open notifications, dwell time and a slide-by-slide heatmap, so you can see whether a prospect lingered on the investment slide (deck tracking guide).
• Scale pitches a valued asset to a whole industry in one run, with a personalised pitch for every prospect.

MK Dons' Chief Commercial Officer says: "It lets us show a prospect exactly what their brand looks like on our inventory before they've even signed." Sportworks reports, from its client data, 10x faster production, 50% lower cost, 3x more conversions and an average payback of under 30 days from first use (Sportworks customers).

FAQ

Is media value the same as what an asset is worth?

No. The Barcelona Principles state that AVEs are not the value of communication, so use reach as a check, not as the price.

How often should you revalue sponsorship assets?

Every season, and whenever crowds, TV coverage or sponsorship rules change.

How much should exclusivity add to the price?

There is no reliable rule. Price it from the categories you give up and the number of buyers you turn away.

Can you accept less than your valuation?

Yes, if the sponsor brings extra value such as ticket buyers or social reach, as England Rugby suggests. Do not go below your red line of twice your costs.

Pitch the asset at the price it deserves

Book a 30-minute demo to see your own inventory, with a prospect's brand on it, in a personalised deck. Or see pricing.