MLB Sponsorship, Marketing Strategy ‘Bringing Baseball Into The Future’
Friday, October 28, 2022 at 12:04PM By Barry Janoff
October 28, 2022: With the 2022 World Series presented by Capital One underway, MLB finds itself in the national spotlight not just on the field with the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies, but also in the marketing and sponsorship landscape.
MLB secured 3,350 sponsorships this year — an 8% increase year-over-year — and its teams averaged 108 sponsorships each – more than the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLS, according to the just released MLB 2022 Marketing Partnerships Report from SponsorUnited.
In addition, the study found the Cincinnati Reds are the MLB team with the most sponsorships for the third year consecutive season; that Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels hitter/pitcher, led all players in endorsement deals; and that, driven by the 62 home run season of New York Yankees Aaron Judge, “Home run territory became a hot commodity for advertisers seeking clearer, more creative messaging.”
“MLB and its teams have continued to lean heavily into initiatives that provide brands with innovative ways to expand consumer reach,” Bob Lynch, SponsorUnited founder and CEO, said via the global sports and entertainment intelligence firm.
“The new streaming rights deal with Apple, virtual signage, teams further digitizing stadium signage and jersey patches (coming in 2023) are just a few of many examples of how they’re bringing baseball brand partnerships into the future.”
The league and its teams had an estimated $1.19 billion in sponsorship revenue this past season, according to research and consulting firm IEG, which said the biggest spenders were banks, beer, insurance technology, automotive, telecom, apparel, betting, lottery and gaming.
IEG said that puts MLB third behind the NFL ($1.8 billion) and NBA ($1.64 billion).
In March, Apple and MLB unveiled Friday Night Baseball, a weekly doubleheader with live pre- and post-game shows that will be available to people in eight countries exclusively on Apple TV+, the first live sports alliance for the platform.
Among other new, renewed and/or expanded MLB deals this past season, MLB signed a multi-year pact naming Capital One as the league's “official bank and credit card partner” and the presenting sponsor for the World Series.
In addition, Capita
l One became an official partner of Minor League Baseball and Little League Baseball and Softball.
Capital One replaced Bank of America, a MLB partner since 2004.
MasterCard, which has been an official MLB sponsor since 1997, remains a financial partner of MLB and MLB Advance Media.
One day after the Capital One pact, MLB signed a multi-year agreement naming Corona its “official cerveza” as a non-exclusive category partner.
Previously, MLB and Anheuser-Busch renewed their alliance for the next four years with Budweiser as the league’s co-exclusive beer sponsor.
MLB expanded its partnership with Google Cloud, which began in 2020, via a multi-year, strategic alliance intended to “scale, modernize, and amplify MLB’s media products and properties, such as MLB.TV and other media platforms.”
MLB added a new partner and a new marketing category, signing a multi-year deal naming Distill Brands its first “official vodka” in the U.S. and Canada.
"With their breadth of creativity and experience in the industry, DBI is a great addition to the MLB lineup of official sponsors," Noah Garden, MLB chief revenue officer, said at the time via the league.
Calling it a “major commitment to reaching baseball fans,” MLB signed a multi-platform alliance with American Dairy Queen that includes marketing, in-stadium and POP activation and naming DQ Blizzard Treat the “official treat” and the new Signature Stackburger the “official burger” of MLB.
As long-time official league partners, SponsorUnited said StubHub and New Era have representation in stadiums for each of the 30 MLB teams.
Following MLB’s decision in June allowing teams to seek CBD sponsorships, “CBD inquiries increased by nine times versus the month before,” according to SponsorUnited.
Earlier this month, calling it a “landmark partnership in baseball and sports,” MLB unveiled a multi-year partnership with Charlotte's Web Holdings, a market leader in hemp-derived CBD products, naming it the ‘“official CBD of Major League Baseball.”
MLB said the move makes it the “first major professional sports league to form a sponsorship agreement with a CBD company.”
MLB and Charlotte’s Web cited reports showing the U.S. CBD market topped $4.7 billion in total sales in 2021.
“We are excited about the possibilities this partnership offers as CBD becomes a more widely adopted part of the health and wellness regimen of our players and fans,” said Garden when the deal was signed.
The MLB 2022 Marketing Partnerships Report shows that top non-league partners, with more than ten deals across various teams, include State Farm, Coca-Cola, Progressive, Chick-fil-A and Toyota.
With 200 brand deals this year, the Reds were the most-sponsored MLB team, with sponsors that include Kroger, PNC Bank, altafiber and TriHealth.
The Yankees are No. 2 with approximately 170 deals, followed by the Boston Red Sox, with more than 150 sponsorships.
Ohtani had 17 brand endorsements in 2022, topping Judge’s 13, according to SponsorUnited.
He tripled his endorsement revenue — Ohtani earns abut $22 million, according to Forbes — via such alliances as Hugo Boss, Asics, Fanatics, Panini, Seiko, Topps, Oakley, Descente, Kowa, Mitsubishi Bank and Salesforce.
With FTX, Ohtani serves as a global ambassador and also has an investment stake in the cryptocurrency exchange firm.
“Shotime” also attracted 22 Japanese brands to Angel Stadium, the most of any MLB ballpark, according to the MLB 2022 Marketing Partnerships Report.
He appeared on the cover PlayStation’s MLB The Show 22, as well as GQ, Time and Sports Illustrated.
From 2021 to 2022, SponsorUnited said MLB saw an increase in demand for digital signage within its parks.
“Home run territory became a hot commodity for advertisers seeking clearer, more creative messaging through LED technology. The number of brands ‘going digital’ grew by 36% — led by the Food and Alcohol categories — while static signage decreased 23%.
“Digital ads in the mid-upper outfield grew by 53%, followed by ads on the video board at 14%.”
SponsorUnited said it tracks more than 700,000 sponsorships and endorsements across 200,000 brands,
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