In October 2022, SponsorUnited published an interesting insight regarding sponsorship of women’s sports events. They claim:
“Sponsorships with women grew 20% year-over-year across the major US sports (LPGA, NWSL, WNBA, WTA), top European soccer leagues (Women’s Super League and Liga F), and Big Bash League, AFL, NRL Telstra Premiership, Netball Superleague, Suncorp Super Netball and World Netball.”
“Women’s golf outnumbers all other women’s sports for brand deals With 940 brand deals in 2022, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) saw a 30% increase in deals from the previous year and an 18% increase in new brand partnerships.
Notable partnerships include Coca-Cola, Rolex and Epson. The LPGA held a 17-deal lead over the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which had 923 deals in 2022, followed by the National Women’s Soccer League, which had 496 deals.”
Unsurprisingly, two significant sponsorship agreements have been signed within two weeks. One such sponsorship deal is between AIG and The R&A.
AIG extended its title sponsorship of the AIG Women’s Open through 2030. For 2023, the AIG Women’s prize fund will increase by 23% to $9 million.
The second good news is that John Deere has also extended its sponsorship cooperation with the Ladies European Tour.
John Deere & Ladies European Tour
John Deere and the Ladies European Tour (LET) have extended their longstanding relationship with an upgraded 3-year partner agreement.
The renewal will elevate the partnership with increased support services and additional investment into the Tour.
John Deere will provide the LET with agronomy and consultation services and equipment optimization to ensure the best available services are delivered to the LET players, Tour venues, and tournaments.
John Deere and the LET have been partners since 2007, and this renewal means that John Deere will continue to be the designated Golf Course Machinery partner of the Tour.
The announcement was made on the eve of a brand new 1-million-euro tournament. La Sella Open at the award-winning La Sella Golf Resort & Spa in Denia, Alicante, Spain, where John Deere equipment was used to prepare and maintain the tournament course.
My comments
I would like to encourage brands/marketers – to follow the example of John Deere & AIG & Rolex – to support major women’s golf tournaments. They are profitable investments and good for growing the game too.
Don’t forget women control or influence 85% of consumer spending. Techcrunch says
“American women control more than $10 trillion in assets (an amount expected to triple over the next decade), driven by a steady upswing in workforce participation, education and wage growth.”