Sports sponsorship’s sustainability commitment waning – study

The survey of brands, rights-holders, agencies, suppliers and service providers across sport, the arts, culture and entertainment found that nearly three-quarters of respondents believe it is still important for potential partners to have a sustainability policy in place.

However, the proportion of those who do not believe it is important increased by 5% since last year across all sectors – and by a high of 7% in sport. It is the second successive year that a decline has been reported.

Across all industries, the number of organisations predicting that sustainability policies will become a more important factor in identifying future partners fell by 6.3%.

Spanning the three main sectors of sports, arts and entertainment, there was also a year-on-year fall in the proportion of organisations that had several or multiple sustainability initiatives implemented.

The survey also found that those in the arts and culture sector were more likely to undertake due diligence around environmental sustainability when selecting a partner than entertainment and sports.

Just under half applied due diligence overall, with the figure being slightly higher among brands (56%) and highest among rights-holders (59%).

On a positive note, the percentage of organisations without any sustainability initiatives fell to 12%.

“This is a highly significant piece of research by ESA, highlighting a growing shift in sponsor priorities away from exclusively environmental objectives – a trend that aligns with observations across other sectors of the sports industry,” said Mike Laflin, Chief Executive & Founder of Global Sustainable Sport.

“This shift may stem from an increasing recognition that environmental initiatives represent just one element within a broader framework of sustainability goals.

“This perspective is further supported by the overall rise in sustainability-related activities. While environmental sustainability remains a key consideration for sponsors, it is now likely integrated into a more comprehensive set of sustainability objectives, as emphasised by Global Sustainable Sport’s Seven Sustainable Pillars of Sport.”

Sophie Morris, ESA Chair, added: “ESA’s annual Sustainability research reflects our wider ESA Trends data that shows the importance of ESG factors in sponsorship. Whilst the environmental sustainability factor remains dominant, its importance appears to have dropped slightly and is being caught up by the social factor as social causes and EDI become more important.

“This is a hugely important piece of research that helps sponsorship professionals understand the expectations of their partners and I’d like to thank everyone in ESA’s community who contributes to our research.”

Image: Liam McKay on Unsplash