Leaders Week 2025 reminded us that sport is no longer competing just within its own industry. The competition is Netflix, Amazon, Disney – and the worlds of fashion, gaming, music and lifestyle.
The conversations this year showed how clubs, brands and athletes are tearing up the old playbook and writing a new one built on growth, authenticity and creativity.
So, what stood out?
1. Partnerships have grown up
Forget cheque-book sponsorships and tick box exercises. True partnerships are now about mutual ambition and shared value.
When talking about their partnership with Revolut, Manchester City Women’s Charlotte O’Neill put it plainly: “We want to partner with brands who want to grow. It’s lovely to partner with a brand who can supercharge our fan experience.”
For Revolut, that means aligning with world-class associations on their mission to reach 100 million customers across 100 countries. Head of Growth Deborah Wajsbrot summed it up: “We’re not just building a finance app, we’re building a lifestyle app. This partnership is key to this.”
That ambition is real – Revolut are adding around a million new customers every 17 days, fuelled by a “never say no” mentality. No wonder Man City Women saw value in working with them.
Another crucial point from O’Neill: most of Manchester City Women’s partners are privately owned, entrepreneur-led companies. Why does that matter? They’re also disruptors. It allows them to be agile, fast-moving and open to testing. In today’s environment, that flexibility is gold dust.
And it’s not just City. Nick Brown, Director of Commercial Revenues at FIFA explained that they have introduced four verticals for sponsorship – Men’s International, Women’s International, Club and eSports – with Unilever’s Rexona becoming the first brand to leverage women’s football IP. For a company of Unilever’s scale, alignment and global reach were non-negotiable.
As Emily Heath, Global Brand Director, put it: “Badging exercises are dead. You can’t just turn up with your logo and nothing else. Everything we do has to be click-worthy, shareable, something people will take photos of.”
In 2025, the question is simple: how do we grow together?
2. Authenticity, or nothing
If there was one word that dominated the week, it was authenticity. Fans can smell a badging exercise a mile away.
James Foster from Hugo Boss, in his BOSS Level Branding session on the Main Stage, explained how the brand is redefining sponsorship with a fashion-first lens – turning athletes into ambassadors and sport into a lifestyle platform. It’s not about slapping a logo on a car; it’s about building cultural relevance that feels natural.
The Chicago Bulls are doing this brilliantly. A single rookie story they told reached 80 million people, proving that personality-driven storytelling lands hard. Tottenham Hotspur are doing it by letting James Maddison and teammates show who they really are on TikTok. Ferrari, meanwhile, are leaning into luxury scarcity while creating new cultural touchpoints, like their own “Clutch” bag – it’s a cool name, I know.
If it’s not real, fans won’t buy it.
3. Fan experience is everything
From the Minnesota Vikings to Birmingham City, Manchester City Women to Spurs, everyone is chasing the same prize: the best fan experience.
The Vikings built the world’s largest pivoting doors so the stadium literally opens up to the community. Birmingham City’s new owner Tom Wagner couldn’t have been clearer: “We’re not competing against other clubs, we’re competing against Meta, Amazon and Disney.”
Spurs dropped 96 TikToks in five days around their Europa League win, with 75% of them shot on mobile for speed. The Bulls stressed the importance of showing up in neighbourhoods, not just expecting fans to come to them. And the FIFA and Unilever partnership proved how scale and alignment can create activations that genuinely resonate.
The women’s game was another hot topic. Wagner was bullish, pointing out that franchise valuations in the US have rocketed from £1m to over £100m in the last 18 months. That’s fan growth and experience on a whole new scale – and he’s expecting it to come to the Women’s game in the UK.
In 2025, fan experience isn’t just matchday – it’s every touchpoint, every story, every shareable moment.
4. Data is the new transfer window
Clubs will happily drop £80m on a striker but hesitate to invest in fan data. That’s changing, and fast. Mercedes, PSG and others showed how they’re building a 360° view of fans through single sign-ons, cultural segmentation and AI-driven personalisation.
The stat that landed hardest: 81% of fans are likely to spend more if they received personalised content, but only 22% feel they actually do. That’s revenue left on the table.
And the analogy that stuck: King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne might look identical in a traditional CRM – same age bracket, same affluence, same family status — but let’s be honest, they couldn’t be more different. That’s why cultural and behavioural insights matter more than demographics alone.
Organisations like the Professional Fighters League are already capitalising, with loyalty schemes like PFL Rewards that acts as a data collection opportunity whilst providing value to the fan. Eurovision Sport are doing the same with a new app on the horizon designed to feel like the fan’s feed has been created just for them.
In 2025, your data insight team is as important as your top goal scorer (kind of).
5. Culture, creativity and agility win
Finally, the trend that underpinned everything: those who act like creators and startups are winning.
PSG and the ATP spoke about creating innovation cultures where testing is constant, ideas are celebrated, and “no failures, only learning” is the mantra. PSG even run an intrapreneur programme, inviting staff to pitch and experiment with new ideas.
Hugo Boss is fusing fashion with sport in unexpected ways. Ferrari are moving into lifestyle products to create more touch points with their iconic brand. The Bulls have collaborated with Off-White. Spurs treat TikTok like their playground – boasting the largest audience of any Premier League club on the platform.
The lesson? Sport doesn’t live in a silo anymore. It’s fashion, art, music, gaming, lifestyle. The brands and clubs who understand that, are already miles ahead.
Leaders Week 2025 made one thing clear: sport isn’t just about sport anymore.
Fans demand authenticity. Partners demand growth. Clubs demand data. And culture is the arena where it all collides.
The future of sports marketing won’t be written in sponsorship contracts – it’ll be written in the moments fans choose to share.
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