Here’s who said what… Alongside the continued growth of other women’s sport, this means we are set to see even more female athletes become household names. Therefore, we are likely to see a continued rise of player power from individuals who embrace their own digital platforms to increase visibility which will, in turn, increase their […]
Here’s who said what…
Alongside the continued growth of other women’s sport, this means we are set to see even more female athletes become household names. Therefore, we are likely to see a continued rise of player power from individuals who embrace their own digital platforms to increase visibility which will, in turn, increase their influence in the world of sport and beyond.
Who would have predicted in 2024 that an American woman would become the most-followed rugby union player on social media, and she’d play for Bristol Bears. Ilona Maher is a phenomenon. Eight months away from a home Women’s Rugby World Cup with the opening match at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland and the final at Allianz Stadium, and ticket sales in excess of 200,000, 2025 is destined to be the year of women’s rugby.
While the men’s Lions grapple with the challenge of engaging the next generation of sports fans, the Women’s Rugby World Cup is poised to steal the spotlight.
Jenny Mitton – Managing Partner and Women’s Sport Lead, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment
One of the most exciting events in 2025 will be the inaugural Olympic Esports Games, organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and hosted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The NBA’s ‘Dunk the Halls’ alternate stream hosted on Christmas Day was a great example of this. This trend reflects a shift toward blending mass reach with meaningful, individualised connections to drive deeper fan engagement with a global audience.
We partner with some of the best athletes in the world and recognise the pressure they face to perform, often at the cost of their mental health, which is why we’ve made a commitment to ensure the continuation of sponsorships with Powerade for athletes who need time away. We hope to see athletes prioritised across other industry brands and partnerships in 2025.
At the start of every calendar year, thought leaders across various industries publish LinkedIn articles with their views on what the immediate future holds. I, on the other hand, find it far easier to hide behind the predictions of those who subscribe to this newsletter and others who I’ve been fortunate enough to interview in recent years.
So, as well as making resolutions I definitely won’t have abandoned by February and attempting to jog off two weeks’ worth of Cadbury Heroes, readers will be glad to hear I’ve also spent the first week of 2025 pestering the sports marketing community for their expectations for the year ahead.
In 2025, women’s sport will continue to evolve as a strategic focus for sponsorship and marketing, with brands leaning into the growing visibility of female role models to drive deeper impact. Research shows that two-thirds of girls were inspired to be more active following the recent Olympics, reinforcing the critical role of representation in shaping behaviours. At Rexona, we’ve seen how elevating female role models helps young women envision themselves in sport. In 2024, we spotlighted players at the Fifa U20s Women’s World Cup, amplifying their stories through social media to inspire the next generation.
Max Hamilton – Executive Commercial Director, DP World Tour
By not just showing up at major tournaments but spotlighting inspirational role models at all levels – whether they are elite-level athletes, tomorrow’s stars, coaches, or parents – brands will showcase their genuine commitment to the continued growth of women’s sport and build greater affinity with fans.
Seeing a sense of purpose behind the sport is also a key area of focus for us. We invest heavily in programmes to support athletes in areas such as mental wellbeing, physical performance, financial health, and we want to explore meaningfully to show an impact beyond the court. Our new brand coming up in 2025 will encompass both entertainment and purpose, but with the players always at the heart of the action.
Nikki Doucet – Chief Executive, Women’s Professional Leagues Limited
Ellie Kildunne is among a growing number of women’s rugby stars who are influential both on and off the pitch
The sport’s accessibility and social nature make it a natural platform to build a community around and a fertile business development environment. Partnering with high-profile local influencers can help bridge the gap between the global brand and local audience. The padel court is where fans, celebrities, pros, and business meet to share the same passion for the sport – a unique global phenomenon that we have not seen on the consumer side of a sport for decades.
Sport sponsorships will continue to be crucial for brands aiming to boost their visibility and engagement, effectively connecting with passionate and younger audiences in meaningful ways.
2025 will be the year player power in women’s sport comes to the fore.
Towards the end of the year, we’ll also see the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games further amplify this momentum, providing an ideal platform for sponsors to leverage a variety of sports and enhance their brand’s presence and engagement with a diverse global audience.
The global growth in consumer popularity of padel is nothing short of extraordinary and celebrity adoption is super-charging the sport’s profile. From a sponsorship perspective, we expect some big players to start investing in the sport at both an amateur and professional level. Padel can give brands the perfect balance of “Think Global, Act Local” by not only endorsing global properties and players, but also by building communities around padel in key local markets.
I am sure others will look for opportunities to innovate and work with figures from women’s sport throughout this year and beyond which should set new benchmarks. The higher engagement rates from female athletes with fans is attractive to everyone and it means that this generation of players have the power in their hands and the world at their feet.
The WSL’s new broadcast deal puts more power in the hands of its players
Robbie Henchman – President of Global Partnerships, IMG
Rexona has become a prominent sponsor of women’s soccer in recent years
This is a train that isn’t stopping. My money’s on a fifth consecutive year where the BBC Sports Personality of the Year is a woman, and this time from rugby union.
Julie Morris – Head of Commercial Development and Media, NBA
Could this summer mark the moment when women’s rugby eclipses the men’s game? I think so.
We sell partnerships for both larger (The Ryder Cup, The Rolex Series) and mid-size/smaller events, and we’re finding that brands are increasingly drawn to the larger, higher profile events that have tried and tested ROI, even if they cost more. I expect this to continue, with a shrinking pool for the smaller/emerging properties. There will still be appetite for “test and learn” type deals, but these will need flexible contract terms to get sign off.
Guy Martin – Head of Sponsorships Europe, Visa
On the one hand, there are new ‘true sport’ formats like padel and Hyrox that are creating hyper-engaged participation-based communities. On the other are the more cultural or technology-led platforms, such as Baller League or TGL, that are focused on driving traditional content consumption metrics, albeit with audiences that sit outside of the legacy sport’s core.
“Me and Gronk gonna put together NBA vs NFL.” Are Shaq’s tongue in cheek words from the Logan Paul vs Mike Tyson exhibition a precursor of what’s to come? We hope not but, as sport strives to engage new audiences, we seem to be in a dual age of innovation.
In 2025 we believe there will be pressure to continue to market sport as entertainment, without losing its essence. Fans want insight, so social media will remain key to showing the athletes on and off court, creating a direct connection between player and audience. We want to show more authenticity: what their interests are, who their team is, how they dress, how they decompress…and how they react to success and defeat in a genuine, unfiltered way.
Adam Butters – Head of Strategy, Octagon UK & FRUKT
I anticipate other brands adopting this approach: evolving their strategies to maintain momentum beyond flagship events like the Uefa Women’s Euros 2025, focusing on initiatives that deliver meaningful, year-round impact.
@espnringside #gronk #shaq #boxing #paultyson 🥊 Paul vs. Tyson is now availabke to watch globally on @Netflix ♬ original sound – espnringside
In 2025, I’d expect to see an evolution that nails the balance between the two and provides a long-term investment opportunity with real cultural cut through.
Then there’s the phenomenon that is Ilona Maher. Rugby’s most-followed player globally is set to take the field this summer. Can one athlete shift the narrative of an entire sport? Messi and Ronaldo did, and Ilona, with her ability to connect on a deeply personal level with fans, might just do the same.
Sarah Swanson – Chief Brand Officer, WTA Ventures
The women’s game boasts stars who are not only talented but also culturally influential, resonating with diverse fans across intersectional passions. Take Ellie Kildunne, known for her 5022 fashion collective, Holly Aitchison, a Clinique ambassador, and Portia Woodman, famously dubbed “faster than a Porsche” by none other than Snoop Dogg.
Brad Ross – Vice President, Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing and Partnerships, The Coca-Cola Company
Female athletes in the UK will be seen as some of the most influential figures in the world of sports in 2025 due to sustained coverage of women’s sport throughout the year which includes high-profile summer international tournaments – the Uefa Women’s European Championship and Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Josh Walker – Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Sports Innovation Lab
Take my beloved Arsenal. Are they a football club or actually a retro fashion brand that just happens to have a football team or two? Joking aside, the battle to win the hearts and minds of future fans will increasingly have less to do with what happens on the pitch, and more what these institutions stand for and how they behave off it.
Elysa Hubbard – Senior Marketing Manager, Six Nations Rugby
I expect brands to be increasingly risk averse with their partnerships, given the macro-economic landscape remains uncertain. This will lead to a “less is more” mantra with fewer but deeper partnerships per brand and budget holders demanding a more holistic approach to deliver for the top and bottom of the marketing funnel. Consolidation also makes budgeting and measurement easier for squeezed in-house marketing teams.
Women’s football, in particular, is experiencing unprecedented growth with an expanding fanbase across Europe. With the Women’s Champions League and Women’s Euro leading the charge in 2025, this trend is expected to accelerate even further. This is also being seen across motorsports, with F1 continuing to innovate and attract new audiences from outside its traditional base, and therefore presenting new options to brands.
Henry Nash – Executive Strategy Director, House 337
A prediction or just a desperate wish, let’s see. But as our beloved sports become more and more predictable on the pitch thanks to science and data with teams and athletes increasingly all trying to beat each other playing the same game (OK, Bazball aside), we’ll see many trying to win off the pitch by investing in their brands more seriously.
2025 HAS to be the year of women’s rugby. Not only is the most followed rugby player ever, Ilona Maher, set to debut for Bristol Bears in the PWR (cue a couple of matches already moved to the 27,000-capacity Ashton Gate in anticipation!), but the Guinness Women’s Six Nations should be the most exciting championship yet, and an epic curtain-raiser to Rugby World Cup 2025. I’m backing two of our nations to be in that final on the 27th September. A re-run of Super Saturday on 26th April anyone?!
Emily Heath – Global Brand Director, Rexona
I’m also confident we will see the Ilona effect spread even further, providing confidence and supercharging other game-changing heroes to use their platforms to showcase their personalities and drive new fans to the game. Watch this space and get ready to be entertained!
Connected TV will be a huge battleground for sports advertisers. Brands face mounting pressure to deliver personalised messaging during live sports, but they must do so in a market where major leagues carry skyrocketing media rights costs and emerging leagues are flooding FAST channels and other channel slots.
In 2025, brands will increasingly seek to create ‘must-see’ moments leveraging customisation to deliver personalised audience experiences at scale. I believe we’ll see growth in brand integrations through tailored engagement opportunities, such as personalised game streams and alternate content presentations.
We already recognise the potential of providing players with more power, which is why our new broadcast deal for the Barclays Women’s Super League will provide them with access to content, and we are always thinking of new ways to put players at the forefront of what we are doing across the leagues we oversee.
This event holds significant importance for both parties. For the IOC, it presents an opportunity to establish a foothold in the rapidly growing world of esports, transforming this new venture into a valuable addition to their portfolio. For KSA, it marks a pivotal step toward positioning itself as a contender to host future Summer Olympics – a strategic move likely to be the first of many.
Ricardo Fort – Founder, Sport by Fort Consulting
Like a rose growing from concrete, the game’s resilience together with the groundwork that’s been laid by some very passionate and committed people, means the sport’s strength and beauty is emerging together with an equally passionate, younger and more female fanbase. Expect the home World Cup to propel the England team into the same orbit that women’s football started on ten years ago, ready, waiting and deserving of its own ‘Euros’ moment’.
Lisa Parfitt – Co-Founder, The Space Between
How players use this newfound profile to drive awareness and their value will be fascinating to see and equally as fascinating will be how brands, clubs or even leagues collaborate with them.
In our nearly 100 years in sports partnerships, we’ve learned the value of co-creating with athletes for authenticity. At Paris 2024, we saw broadcast lines blur and social platforms win over the attention of younger generations, with athletes as the focus. Sports consumption will evolve, but athletes will always be the heart of sport and fandom.
