Sports teams, sports venues, and individual athletes are hot commodities these days, aren’t they? Just look around you. Stadiums are named for businesses, every sports team has an “official something or other,” and many professional athletes are spending more time making commercials than practicing.
I’m a bit saddened by it all, to be honest. I guess I was born a few decades too early to cash in on this partnership/endorser bandwagon. These days, partnership opportunities go beyond venues and pro athletes, extending to college students, as well. Many college athletes – predominantly in football – currently enjoy pretty hefty NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) earnings. Shedeur Sanders, quarterback at Colorado and son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion, leads the pack with an NIL valuation of approximately $5.4 million. Georgia’s Carson Beck and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, each get about $2 million. Arch Manning, Texas backup quarterback (back up, mind you) earns over $3 million.
Perhaps there’s a bit of revisionist history in this, but I like to think that back when I was a kicker on the Auburn University football team, I could have been a celebrity sports endorser. I imagine a video that shows me kicking one of those critical, game-winning field goals. I have a big smile on my face as I enthusiastically extol the virtues of my Nike footwear, my Gatorade, or the company that insures my luxurious Jeep Wagoneer. Then, I come back to earth and, instead, get back to work.
For this reason, I did take a bit of a personal interest in a recent American Banker article dedicated to sports partnerships. Here is how that article begins: “According to Amerant Bancorp Chairman and CEO Jerry Plush, the company had an "identity crisis" when he arrived in February 2021.”1
Now, these partnerships between sports properties and businesses are certainly nothing new, but they seem to have really grown in momentum lately. Banks are certainly well known players in the sports partnership arena. Just look at the names of some of the nation’s largest venues: US Bank Stadium, Bank of America Stadium, Citi Field, Chase Center, to name just a handful. In an April 2024 report, Sponsor United, a firm that provides sports marketing data and insights, said financial brands have steadily come to dominate the stadium naming rights segment, accounting for about 35% of all deals. And this trend shows no sign of slowing. Just two months ago, Huntington Bancshares of Columbus, Ohio, struck a deal to put its name on the Cleveland Browns' stadium. And in Herndon, Virginia, Northwest Federal Credit Union is now putting its name on the Washington Commanders' stadium.
For larger banks with larger budgets, the sky’s the limit. “While the $10.4 billion-asset Amerant hasn't yet established a football partnership,” says the article, “it's well represented in Major League Baseball, with ties to both the Tampa Rays and Miami Marlins. Amerant is also the official bank of the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat. Amerant owns naming rights to the NHL’s Florida Panthers home venue and serves as the Panthers' official bank. And it just recently added the Fort Lauderdale United FC – South Florida's only professional women's soccer team – to its already deep bench as official bank.” Needless to say, Amerant has pretty much all of the major sports covered. So, what are some of the benefits that Amerant is probably reaping?
Increased brand visibility: By partnering with a popular sports team or venue, your bank benefits from significantly increased exposure. These partnerships often provide signage, branding opportunities, and event sponsorships that can reach thousands of fans, both in-stadium and via media coverage.
Community engagement: Partnerships like these enable your bank to engage with the local community and establish itself as a local presence. Sponsorships often include community events, fan experiences, and charitable initiatives, which can foster goodwill and align your bank with community values. This is particularly important in community banking, where trust and local relationships are essential.
Customer acquisition opportunities: As a team or venue sponsor, you have unique opportunities to promote your products and services to fans through, for instance, offering special financial products, discounts, or promotions to fans and/or season ticket holders.
Association with successful brands: Partnering with successful brands brings a “halo effect” to yours. It signals to potential customers that your bank is a trusted partner of a successful organization, which is reassuring to customers and potential customers.
Expanding market reach: These partnerships can expand a bank’s footprint, providing an entrée into a new market. In Amerant’s case, for example, the bank’s partnership aligns with its goal of building its brand in Tampa and South Florida.
All of this sounds pretty pricey, doesn’t it? True. But that doesn’t mean there are no opportunities for smaller banks. Yes, purchasing the naming rights for a venue that holds about 80,000 fans, or signing an endorsement deal with a super high-profile college quarterback might be just slightly out of the reach of most community banks (to say the least), but that doesn’t preclude a bank from dipping its toe into a sports team (or athlete) partnership.
Consider influencer marketing. Influencer marketing has become a critical component of social media marketing campaigns and that trend is likely to continue. You can see it in the numbers; the spend on influencers is growing from $10.24 billion in 2021 to an expected $84.89 billion in 2028. Why? A few years back, the NCAA decided that Division 1, 2, and 3 student athletes could use their name, image, and likeness to make money. And now, businesses are finding that they can create a partnership with a well-respected local college athlete for a fairly reasonable sum.
So, while there are a host of reasons why community banks should pursue a sports partnerships strategy, the one that resonates most strongly with me is what Plush says in just seven words: “It demonstrates a commitment to the community.”
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1American Banker. How sports became central to this Florida bank’s identity. November 5, 2024