Field Notes | 01.2026
Welcome to Field Notes: our monthly insights report built from recurring patterns we’ve seen across 100+ conversations with brands, rights holders, investors, and agencies.
The theme we’ve noticed leading into 2026: The sponsorship landscape is changing more than it has in the last decade.
Brands are shifting sponsorship dollars, not in a dramatic “we’re taking a pause on sports” way, more in a quiet, spreadsheet-led reshuffle that is changing what gets funded and what gets sunset.
The Era of the Internal Business Case
A recurring signal recently has been that sponsorship is being increasingly scrutinized inside organizations more often, even when the partnership is long-standing. When a deal (and associated activation budgets) cannot be explained in plain language to finance, it becomes the easiest line item to move, reduce, or reframe.
From Big Logos to Useful Access
We heard more interest in rights that unlock something practical, such as customer access, partner platforms, or measurable engagement, rather than pure visibility. That shift is pulling spend away from “one big badge” thinking and toward assets that can be activated repeatedly across the year.
Stickiness Is Becoming a Strategy, Not a Byproduct
A relevant industry read this month highlighted that some sponsors stay put longer than others, and the reasons are telling. The stickiest relationships tend to be the ones where the sponsor is embedded in how the property operates, communicates, or serves its audience, which makes the spend harder to replace and harder to cut.
Shorter Commitments, More Optionality
Brands are increasingly uncomfortable locking into multi-year packages without clear escape hatches. That is nudging dollars toward shorter terms, performance-linked structures, and agreements that can flex by market, channel, or moment, rather than one fixed global plan.
Portfolio Thinking Is Spreading Beyond the Biggest Brands
What used to be a habit of the largest global sponsors is now showing up in mid-sized organizations too. Instead of asking “what should we sponsor,” the question is becoming “what should we stop sponsoring so we can fund the few things that actually move the needle.”
Implications:
For brands: Flexibility works best when it is built in, not retrofitted. Shorter terms, modular structures, and deals that can be explained simply inside the business will travel further.
For rights holders: How you fit into a sponsor’s business is starting to matter more than how big your logo is. Repeatable, year-round utility is becoming harder to replace than pure reach.