The European sponsorship market achieved sales of 23.63 billion euros last year. This means a decrease of 23 percent compared to the previous year. This is evidenced by a study by the European Welfare Association (ESA) and the research agency Nielsen Sport.
According to the researchers, the decrease should be attributed to the impact of the crisis caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Music
In addition, the value of the European sponsorship market has fallen to its lowest level in ten years. Two years ago, a record sales of 30.69 billion euros were recorded.
The researchers pointed out that the sports sector has shown relatively strong resilience in facing the Corona sponsorship crisis when compared to activities in the world of music, entertainment or exhibitions.
The study said, “European sports sponsorship achieved sales of 18.42 billion euros last year.” “This was a 9 percent decrease compared to the previous year.”
However, this loss appears to be relatively limited compared to the downturn that had to be recorded in other sectors. After all, it had to be cut in half from € 10.43 billion to € 5.19 billion. Some sectors were hit hard. Sponsorship volumes in the music industry had to report a drop of between 60% and 70%.
The researchers suggest that signs of a recovery can be seen at the end of the year. Indeed, more contracts were signed during the last four months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year.
football
“Football also remained the main sponsorship market in Europe last year,” the report stated. “After all, football accounted for 49 percent of all contracts signed.”
It’s worth noting the second place, however, in games and esports, taking 12 percent of the total deal pool. This was undoubtedly due to the lockdown, which increased interest in these activities. Handball took third place, followed by basketball and rugby.
When looking at the national markets, Italy appears to be the hardest hit, down 33 percent, followed by France, where a 32 percent loss was reported. Other markets that experienced a sharp contraction were Ireland (26 percent), Spain (23 percent), Germany (22 percent) and the United Kingdom (20 percent). (wdm)
