Manchester United, once the world’s most valuable football brand valued at GBP1.4 billion in 2018, has experienced a notable decline in brand value, falling to fourth place in 2024 with a brand value of GBP1.2 billion. However, the club’s ambitious plan to construct the UK’s largest stadium presents an exciting opportunity for a powerful brand revival.

The proposed GBP2 billion stadium, characterised by innovative architecture including an iconic umbrella-inspired roof and striking 'trident' masts, represents far more than just infrastructural development.

Yet, the project’s success hinges upon astute financial management, particularly given Manchester United's existing debt obligations. Furthermore, meaningful community involvement and preserving the vibrant, authentic atmosphere treasured by supporters must remain priorities to ensure sustainable brand growth.

This stadium could serve as a transformative catalyst for Manchester United’s brand, significantly enhancing global visibility and appeal. The distinctive design elements will not only redefine matchday experiences but will also open extensive commercial avenues, notably through high-value naming rights and partnerships.

Our Brand Finance analysis reveals a critical challenge: Manchester United currently ranks ninth among the world's ten most valuable football brands in terms of perceived stadium quality, outperforming only Chelsea, another club actively pursuing stadium redevelopment. Moreover, prevailing perceptions amongst fans highlight dissatisfaction with club governance and off-pitch management practices. These are important issues that this project might also address.

If this is executed thoughtfully and delivered smoothly, this initiative has the potential to propel Manchester United back to the forefront of global sports branding. Beyond mere brand recovery, the stadium could ignite regional regeneration reminiscent of the impact seen during the London 2012 Olympics, positioning the club as the definitive icon of football’s global marketplace.

Brand Finance publishes extensive information on the brand value of Manchester United. As one of the world's most valuable football brands, Manchester United also features in the Brand Finance Football 50 annual report on the world's most valuable and strongest football brands.

The first Olympic Sponsor, Coca-Cola, has been associated with the Olympics since 1928, when a freighter delivered the U.S. Team and the Amsterdam event 1,000 cases of the beverage.

Vendors started setting-up shop around the Olympic Stadium and rowing course giving life to the very first Olympic sponsor.

Ever since, sponsors have become an integral part of supporting the Olympic movement.

The primary goal of sponsorship is to foster positive perceptions and behaviours among stakeholders more effectively and efficiently than conventional marketing methods.

This is typically achieved by reaching a targeted audience and aligning with the existing attributes of the rights-holder.

The specifics of how this works can vary significantly based on the brand, industry, sport or category, rights-holder, and the activation strategies involved. Ultimately, any partnership should aim to deliver a return on investment, often measured by short-term sales increases and long-term brand-building benefits.

The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme is the highest level of Olympic sponsorship. It grants exclusive global marketing rights for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Olympic teams worldwide to a select group of partners. In 2024, the programme includes 16 brands from various industries. Brand Finance has assessed the brand value and strength of these brands as part of our annual analysis (detailed in Figure 1).

When measuring the impact of Olympics sponsorship on these brands' strength and, ultimately, their brand value, data from Brand Finance’s 2023 Global Brand Equity Monitor study indicates that increased exposure, engagement opportunities, and media coverage enhance global familiarity. In other words, Olympics followers are significantly more familiar with these brands compared to non-followers.

The data also reveals an uplift in reputation among Olympics followers compared to non-followers, demonstrating the impact of sponsorship on public perceptions.

To measure financial effectiveness, you need to link these demonstrated stakeholder perception changes to financial gains for sponsors. Sponsorship impact modelling assesses brand KPIs to understand how partnership exposure influences stakeholders’ behaviours towards the brand to drive beneficial business outcomes.

This process involves analysing market research data to compare perception differences between exposed and non-exposed groups. Modelling the changes in business performance enables an understanding of the sponsorship’s return on investment.

The analysis can also be used to model the impacts on a brand's Brand Strength Index (BSI) to determine any uplift due to the partnership. This can then be applied to the Brand Valuation model to understand how much value has been locked up in the value of the brand as an asset – giving a comparison between the marketing efforts’ value in terms of both short-term sales activation and long-term brand building

Brand Finance Olympics Journal

Read our new report on the value of the Olympics brand.

From an ode to the gods to a multi-billion-dollar business, the Olympic Games have evolved over the years and so has the brand. In 2024, Brand Finance data indicates the Olympics brand has a value of USD11.4 billion.

Although considered a global brand, it originates in Greece, where the Olympics brand is nearly 5.5 time more valuable than the top 10 most valuable brands from Greece combined.

HOW THE OLYMPICS STACK UP

In terms of brand value, the Olympics are in the same league as other sporting giants. The English Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, according to the British Council, broadcast to 188 countries. Brand Finance values the English Premier League at USD9.9 billion (Figure 1) based on the 20 component clubs in 2024, which is nearly as valuable as the Olympic brand. The only sports league more valuable is the NFL at USD24.0 billion based on the sum of all 32 of the NFL franchise teams.

The Olympics’ brand value is especially impressive considering the games are played out over just over 2 weeks every couple of years, compared to leagues that play over half the year, every year. For instance, when compared to the NBA, whose 30 teams brand value equal to USD8.9 billion, the Olympics is still a more valuable brand.

Following the abbreviated and delayed Tokyo Olympics 2020, Paris 2024 made a grand entrance, giving a big boost to the brand – a 37% increase in value from 2021, when it was valued at USD8.3 billion. This surge in value can be attributed to growing broadcasting deals, more stable sponsorship revenue, and post pandemic hopes of normality (Figure 2).

HOW THE OLYMPICS BRAND VALUE IS DERIVED

Brands have value because they drive financial benefits to companies by positively influencing different stakeholder groups. The Olympics brand influences the success of the IOC and NOCs across their various revenue generating activities, primarily broadcasting, sponsorship, and ticketing. Brand Finance’s valuation of the Olympics uses the royalty relief methodology and applies a hypothetical royalty rate to the different revenue generating aspects of the Olympics: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The valuation is calculated as the net present value of this stream of royalties that the brand is expected to deliver across each of these revenue streams into the future.

Although the IOC’s revenue is concentrated in Olympic years as broadcasting rights are sold, broadcasting rights are the largest driver of revenue and Olympic brand value (Figure 3). The 2024 brand value growth is bolstered by these lucrative agreements, for instance, the reported USD1.5 billion deal the IOC secured with Warner Bros Discovery for broadcasting rights to the games from 2018 – 2024, now renewed through 2032 and expanded to include EBU. The redistribution of the broadcast revenues to NOCs is an important driver of investment into infrastructure and athlete performance within nations.

Sponsorship is the second major contributor to the value of the Olympic brand, representing USD4.9 billion of brand value (Figure 4). Since 2017, the revenue from sponsorship has expanded not only in size but also in terms of positively impacting financial performance during non-Olympic years.

This has resulted in a significant boost in overall IOC income and further contributed to the growth of the Olympics brand value.

In exchange for a substantial financial commitment, sponsors expect to receive extensive global brand awareness and exposure, as well as the opportunity to build up their own brands by leveraging the positive perceptions associated with the Olympics brand. The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme is a global sponsorship programme managed by the IOC which grants its members global marketing rights to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Olympic teams around the world. TOP is the highest level of Olympic Sponsorship. Some of these partners also provide essential services and products to the host games such as timekeeping (Omega) or Cybersecurity (Atos). IOC revenue from the TOP programme in the year of the 2020 Tokyo games was USD800 million. See a full analysis of TOP sponshorship investments and returns on page 17.

However, NOCs are also entitled to negotiate individual brand deals where they need not share any of the relevant sponsorship income brought in. This has been the most lucrative revenue generating stream for NOCs. This highlights the importance of local and national sponsors in supporting the Olympic movement at the country level, where funding is crucial to developing and supporting athletes. Local sponsorship is also a way to mitigate large discrepancies that also arise from country to country when it comes to sponsorship revenue – for instance, the USA was rewarded 11 time more than the UK in 2024.

Ticketing is the smallest of the revenue generators for the IOC, contributing USD200 million in brand value. The Olympics ticketing strategy generally prioritises accessibility over profit, aligning with the Olympic spirit of unity and global participation. On the eve of the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, out of 10 million tickets offered, more than one million remained unsold. While potentially limiting immediate revenue gains, this approach has likely contributed to the long-term strength of Olympics brand through greater opportunity for fans to interact and familiarise themselves with the brand.

Brand Finance data indicates a continued upward trajectory for the strength and value of the Olympics brand. It is likely additional revenue, sponsorship, and brand value records will be broken at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

Brand Finance Olympics Journal

Read our new report on the value of the Olympics brand.

What IS the objective of sponsorship?

The underlying objective of sponsorship is to create positive perceptions and behaviours among stakeholders in a more effective and efficient way than would be possible with normal marketing tools. Generally this is achieved by accessing a targeted audience and aligning with the existing attributes of the rights-holder. Exactly how this functions varies considerably depending on the brand, industry, sport/category, rights-holder, and activations. Ultimately any partnership should deliver a return on investment, which is usually considered in terms of short-term sales boost and long-term brand building benefits.

The effect of partnership activations

When measuring partnerships, it's important to remember that the focus leans more towards brand building and delivering long-term benefits. Standard Chartered’s partnership with Liverpool Football Club stands as one of the longest-running collaborations in the English Premier League. The partnership commenced in 2010, and in the years since Liverpool FC have won trophies in all of the competitions they have competed in. The collaboration between Standard Chartered and Liverpool FC extended beyond mere branding on jerseys to encompass various collaborative initiatives, including community programmes, charity events, and digital campaigns.

The first objective of the partnership will be to use the massive exposure of the football club to boost awareness and familiarity in key markets. According to Brand Finance’s 2024 Global Brand Equity Monitor study, followers of football are considerably more familiar with and more likely to consider the Standard Chartered brand compared to non-followers. (Figure 1).

This market research does not exclusively target respondents who have reported being exposed to or engaged with specific partnerships. Instead, it assumes exposure among followers of the sport in general. While this approach provides a conservative view of the impact, it is evident that the partnerships are delivering benefits to the brand.

The Brand Finance research covers 42 markets, over 100,000 respondents and 5,000 brands, and so is unique in its breadth of coverage, allowing a unique view into brand strength, and by extension sponsorships, around the world.

As well as benefiting the sponsor’s brand funnel, the partnership between Standard Chartered and Liverpool FC has significantly enhanced their overall reputation. Among football fans, 16% rated the partnership a 10 for reputation, compared to only 12% among non-fans. Additionally, a smaller proportion of fans (28%) rated it a 5 or below, in contrast to 37% among non-fans. (Figure 2).

Both emotional and functional brand attributes metrics see improvements among the football followers. Even attributes that are not directly communicated through the partnership can see strong benefits in the perceptions of those likely to have been exposed to the partnership, such as ‘data security’, ‘excellent website & apps’, and ‘offers fair rates & fees’. (Figure 3).

Combining this with analysis of the channels which sports fans have used to engage with the sport can also allow tactical recommendations into how to optimise effectiveness. For example, Brand Finance’s research shows that Chinese sports fans are significantly more likely than UK fans to engage with teams and players on social media, and buy brands associated with the sport. (Figure 4).

Brand Finance has conducted research into the effectiveness of brand sponsorships, including that of AT&T, a leading US telecom company. The research emphasized the significance of aligning brand interests with the target audience. With 24% of the US population describing themselves as interested in basketball, AT&T have capitalized on the sponsorship potential of the NBA.

AT&T’s NBA Partnerships

In recent years, AT&T has developed numerous partnerships with the NBA, including Title sponsorships, stadium naming rights, and several individual agreements with teams such as the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs.

In 2019, AT&T inked a multiyear sponsorship deal with the NBA and WNBA, securing the official 5G Innovation partner role, with an estimated annual value of USD30 million. This sponsorship is dedicated to enhancing and expanding fan-centric experiences, whether within the venue or from the comfort of home. Additionally, AT&T's sponsorship with the San Antonio Spurs extended to include the team's stadium, formerly known as the AT&T Center from 2006 to 2023, at a reported cost of USD41 million.

These sponsorships indicate that AT&T has a strong presence in the NBA as well as its commitment to further developing its partnership to attract more fans to the game.

Impact on Brand Perception

The impact of a sponsorship relies on its ability to shape consumer behavior and attitudes. AT&T's partnership with the NBA has a favorable influence on both the functional and emotional aspects of the brand. The goal is to not only boost purchase intent but also foster customer loyalty. Especially among basketball fans in the US, AT&T is notably regarded as a much more modern brand, because of its ability to highlight cutting edge connectivity and digital experiences.

Financial Returns

While developing brand attributes may be a goal, the ultimate financial return on investment from sponsorship comes through influencing customer behavior.

With over 90% brand awareness rates in the US, AT&T's strategy is centered on converting this high awareness into consideration and usage. US basketball fans are more inclined to consider and use AT&T compared to non-fans, and the sponsorship significantly boosts conversion rates at each stage of the customer journey."

AT&T’s brand is used by 33% of the US population, but this rises to 44% in US basketball fans. Although this high-level analysis cannot attribute this additional usage directly to sponsorship activities, the value of the additional user base among basketball fans amounts to approximately $12 Billion per year for AT&T, illustrating the potential value of sponsorship activities.

Brand Usage is a vital metric in the brand funnel because it represents customer loyalty, long-term value, and word-of-mouth marketing – critical factors that drive brand equity and ultimately success. AT&T has prioritized improving its usage amongst users through a basketball sponsorship strategy. This commitment is evident in AT&T's active involvement and significant investment in NBA sponsorships, which has yielded a relatively higher usage level amongst US basketball followers (44.0%) compared to other significant US telecoms brands, T-Mobile (38.8%), and Verizon (35.7%).

Conclusion

In conclusion, evaluating sponsorship effectiveness should always go beyond just tracking media exposure. Consumer behavior is the key indicator. AT&T's collaboration with the NBA serves as a prime illustration of how sponsorship can be financially lucrative and deeply resonate with the intended consumer demographic.

What are the objectives of sponsorship?

The underlying objective of sponsorship is to create positive perceptions and behaviours among stakeholders in a more effective & efficient way than would be possible with normal marketing tools. Generally this is achieved by accessing a targeted audience and aligning with the existing attributes of the rights-holder. Exactly how this functions varies considerably depending on the brand, industry, sport/category, rights-holder, and activations.

Ultimately any partnership should deliver a return on investment, which is usually considered in terms of short-term sales boost and long-term brand building benefits. The key difference for B2B brands vs B2C brands is that B2B brands tend to operate further down the brand funnel; more of the target market is likely aware of the competing players trying to solve a business problem, and the challenge is to improve consideration, usage and loyalty. This means that B2B partnerships should play a role in imparting the attributes of the rights-holders onto the brand – whether these are prestige, heritage, innovation, community engagement or even perceptions on customer service.

The effect of partnership activations

When measuring B2B partnerships we need to remember that the focus is more slanted towards brand building, and delivering long-term benefits. B2C brands can more easily target consumers to directly influence immediate purchase decisions - for example Guinness’ partnership with the Six Nations Rugby tournament targets a recognised audience, whilst also providing the stout on tap at all stadiums and therefore having a direct effect on sales. Whereas Mastercard’s partnership with the UEFA Champions League is designed to enhance their brand image through aligning their brand with “the most prestigious competition in European football”. This improvement to brand attributes will influence B2B decision makers’ consideration of the brand, ultimately leading to improved customer acquisition or retention.

Brand Finance’s 2023 Global Brand Equity Monitor study shows Mastercard’s near 30-year partnership with UEFA Champions League has had a positive impact on their overall reputation. 33% of football fans rating it a 10 for reputation, vs 27% of non-fans, but also only 10% of fans rating it a 5 or below compared to 20% among non-fans.

Brand Finance found that consideration of the Mastercard brand had an uplift of 6% among football fans. This market research is not showing respondents who have reported being exposed to / engaged with the particular partnerships, but assumes exposure among followers of the sport in general; this gives a conservative view of the impact, but we can see that the partnerships are nonetheless delivering benefits to the brand.

The next stage of measuring effectiveness is to connect these brand benefits to financial advantages for the sponsors – delivered through higher customer acquisition & retention, market share or price premiums. Brand Finance uses this methodology to calculate the financial return on investment for partners operating in any industry and engaging with rightsholders from a wide range of categories.

Other Objectives for Sponsors

Sponsorship objectives should be defined by the business strategy – for some B2B brands the focus is at the top of the funnel, on brand awareness. Recently, we have seen Saudi oil company Aramco (looking to build a global brand) and software provider TeamViewer (targeting growth following increased relevance due to the rise in remote working) delve into the world of motorsports with their partnerships with F1 and Mercedes AMG Petronas, respectively.

In 2022, sports was a key topic that brought the concept of Soft Power into the public consciousness, and further spread the idea that nations might use sport intentionally to build influence and reputation.

The year started with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic games – which saw media discussion about human rights in China and diplomatic boycotts from some western nations – and finished with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This brought one of the world’s biggest sporting events to an Arab nation for the first time, for an undoubtedly exciting tournament, but also greater scrutiny of regional differences in the rights of citizens and migrant workers. 2022 brought into public conversation the importance and influence of sport, and whether it can and should be shared with countries that have different values, allowing them to piggyback on the good vibes that sporting mega-events can bring.

It is obvious that sport is a topic that cannot be ignored – globally 47% of respondents to the GSPI research study are interested in sports, behind only Cinema/Film and Travel/Foreign Cultures (both 50%); and it claims a wider audience than many other key Soft Power factors such as business, science, politics, environment, and technology.

However, interest can vary widely – football (soccer) is the most popular sport globally, with 75% of Thai respondents claiming to follow, ahead of 73% of Brazilians; it leads in most markets, however some major population centres have other favourites – India (cricket), China (basketball), and USA (American Football).

Sport can also build relationships between nations, and although it shares causation with other values and historic factors, playing the same sport is shown to have strong correlation with familiarity and perceived influence of a nation.

For example, South Africa, winners of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, rank 7th in Familiarity and 16th in influence among New Zealanders, compared to 28th and 31th respectively among the global sample. The same follows for India, which scores strongly for Influence among respondents in the Caribbean compared to non-cricket playing nations, with a significant difference visible even between Caribbean nations which are members of the West Indies Cricket Team and those that are not.

Although it is clear that sport has exposure to huge audiences around the world, it is not a direct driver of a nation’s Soft Power. The attribute “leaders in sport” is not a driver of Reputation or Influence.

The high exposure of sporting events mean that they act primarily as a platform from which other values and attributes can be showcased – such as “sustainable cities and transport” (a strong driver of reputation) or Culture & Heritage attributes (“arts and entertainment” is a key driver of Influence).

However, linked directly to exposure and media content is the insight that “a country whose affairs I follow closely” is strongly correlated to Influence, showing how mega-events that bring a lot of attention can cause a boost in Influence in this manner.

Returning to the biggest sporting Soft Power story of the past year, the Qatar 2022 World Cup, we see that the nation has improved on many dimensions. While all GCC nations increased Soft Power performance this year, Qatar leaps forward to the 25th place on Reputation (+5 ranks) and to the 14th place on Influence (+7 ranks) while other GCC nations gain less.

It should be noted that the research was conducted before the World Cup, while much of western media was suggesting an exercise in ‘sportwashing’, criticising FIFA for corruption in awarding the hosting to Qatar, and raising issues around conditions and treatment of migrant workers who had built the stadiums and infrastructure.

Following the excitement of the football on show, and the praise for a well-run and welcoming tournament in the small nation, it is likely that the scores will rise even further next year.

The issues raised and influence gained will not necessarily endure if the platform is not used to communicate the values of the nation, however, ownership in European football (Paris Saint Germain, and a bid for Manchester United) and a global sports broadcasting network (beIN Sports) suggest Qatar is focused on sport as a key lever for boosting Soft Power on an on-going basis.

The lesson for countries, cities, regions, royal families, or tech leaders looking to boost their reputation through ownership or engagement in sports is that sport alone is not going to deliver the desired influence, but it will highlight the existing attributes and values that can impact the perceptions and decisions of a wide range of stakeholders, and ultimately build Soft Power.

Global Soft Power Index 2023

Explore the findings of the world's most comprehensive research study on perceptions of nation brands, presented in a downloadable report and an interactive dashboard.

• The Golden State Warriors is the most valuable NBA brand (brand value US$712 million) 

• The Los Angeles Lakers is the second most valuable NBA brand (brand value US$693 million)

• The New York Knicks (brand value US$332 million) is third

View the full Brand Finance NBA report here 

Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy, today reveals that the Golden State Warriors have the most valuable brand in the NBA with a value of US$712 million.

The San Francisco-based team have become the world’s most valuable basketball brand after winning their seventh championship earlier this year - four of which have been won since 2015.

Brand Finance has individually valued every NBA team, the first time that a brand valuation has been publicly applied to NBA teams in accordance with international standards. 

In second place, with a US$693 million brand value, is the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers have an extremely loyal and large fanbase, has invested heavily in marketing and merchandising opportunities, and is associated with a range of global superstars from Magic Johnson and Lebron James, to the late Kobe Bryant.

The New York Knicks (brand value US$332 million)is in 3^rd place. However, the Knicks also have the largest following with 13% of NBA fans stating the Knicks are their favourite team.

The Chicago Bulls (brand value US$332 million)and the Boston Celtics (brand value US$331 million)are in 4^th and 5^th place, respectively.

Hugo Hensley, Brand Finance Head of Sports Services, said: 

“The Brand Finance NBA Rankings demonstrate that success on the court is important but investing in marketing and merchandising whilst proactively engaging with fans is vital for brand success.

Strong brands can help maintain revenue for teams whether performing well on the court or not, ensuring long term sustainability and ultimately increasing their chances of success.”

ENDS