How to attract a sponsor for your grassroots football team

If you’re involved with or own a football club, the chances are that you’ll be interested in knowing how to secure a sports team sponsorship. Having a sponsor can hold a number of benefits, including the ability to help a football club raise essential funds to go towards the cost of team kits, equipment or travel for away games in return for some advertisement. However, it’s not always clear what the best way of approaching potential football sponsors is, as well as how a sponsor would expect you to advertise their offerings once you’re successful in securing one.

If you haven’t handled something like this before, it can be a challenging and time consuming task. However, to help ease the pressure and speed up the process, we’ve created this guide on how to attract the right sponsorship for your football team. In this post, we’ll outline what a sponsor is and what they can do for a club, what the process of attracting and requesting a football sponsor involves, as well as some of the benefits this can have for your grassroots team.

Football sponsorship basics

At Avec Sport, we understand the necessity of having a sponsor or even a group of football club sponsors for your team, but also appreciate the difficulties that may come with attempting to secure one. That’s why we’re starting with the basics to give you an in-depth knowledge of 

this area, including what sponsorships are and why they’re needed by grassroots football clubs. 

What are sponsorships in sports?

Put simply, a sponsorship in football and for any sport in general is a business providing funds to a team to help them buy essential assets such as team kits, equipment, training facilities and even transport to and from matches. In return for this investment, the sponsor will receive extensive advertising across the club. For instance, this could be through the team kit, promotional banners, mentions in a newsletter or programme, as well as across the team’s website and social media platforms, and so on. This association can prove a great way for businesses to demonstrate good corporate social responsibility, boosting their reputation whilst also helping commercially by providing financial support to a grassroots club.

Why is sponsorship in football important?

Sponsorship is important for a football club as it can help to fund necessities to ensure the club can continue to run. If a club has to stop running due to lack of funds, this can limit the sporting opportunities in the area, put people out of jobs, and can mean that players will potentially have to travel long distances to find another club. As a result, not only does the sponsorship provide the means for your club and team to continue to operate and flourish, but having a dedicated sponsor can also add some credibility to your club by demonstrating a sense of professionalism.

Having this type of support from a business can help to take the financial strain off your shoulders, leaving more time for you to focus on performance, training and matches, rather than spending time worrying if the club has enough funds to continue running. While it’s important to note that a football sponsorship works both ways, as it gives a local or national business further exposure, while providing your grassroots team with motivation to perform and succeed. 

Tips on finding a football sponsor

There are a number of different ways in which you can attract companies looking to sponsor football teams and, provided that a substantial amount of effort has already been put into the success of a club, occasionally companies will approach you before you seek out your own football sponsorship. Unfortunately, while it may seem attractive to wait for companies already on the lookout to sponsor a football team, the longer you wait to be approached, the worse your financial situation could become without the help from an established football sponsorship deal. 

Due to the nature of sponsorship, most businesses are less likely to be actively searching to sponsor a football team as this partnership tends to work more in favour of the team than the business. Instead, we would recommend showing initiative and actively searching for football club sponsors to approach, while ensuring your team has a regular social media presence and professional website to help paint your club in the best light. In this scenario, you’ll be left with the power of choice, allowing you to find a sponsor closely aligning with your values and goals. 

How do I get companies to sponsor my team?

If you've decided to actively search for sports team sponsorship, we recommend starting by doing some research into the type of company you think would be a good fit for your football team. Questions to consider include: 

• Which companies align with your values? 
• Do they fit with the prestige of your club? 
• Are they experienced in sponsorship? 
• Are they financially viable? 

Following this initial research, the next step is to come up with a ‘target list’ of companies that you can approach about sponsorship. A good place to start is looking for new companies that are in need of exposure to help them build brand awareness, particularly if they are a local business. In this instance, the partnership would be more likely to be of equal benefit to both parties compared to if you approached a larger business. We would also recommend looking at competitor clubs and targeting their sponsors’ if you feel these would be a good fit for your club. 

PRO TIP: Perhaps approach companies in the health or fitness sector, as these will naturally align well with a sports team. You could even look at approaching local schools, colleges or universities as potential sponsors.

Once you’ve made a comprehensive list, narrow it down to the companies you feel would be the best fit and that you would be happy to promote through your club. It’s worth having a meeting about this with your team to ensure everyone is on the same page. Once you’re sure of this, you can begin working your way down the list. Be sure that you don’t waste your time contacting companies that aren’t in a financial position to support your club, which can be avoided by conducting research prior. Not only will this make your list far more qualified, but it 

will also give you a competitive edge against other clubs scouring for a sponsor as you’ll have greater insights into the company and be able to position your club better with their values. 

How do I appeal to a prospective sponsor?

Now you know what a sponsor is, why they’re important and how to choose a type of company, you’ll need to begin maximising your team’s appeal in accordance with these companies. From the colour of your team's kit to the location of your club, this can be done in many ways. To create the best impression of you and your team, we’d recommend considering the following:

• Are the colours of your team’s kit something that local residents have an affinity with? 
• Does your kit have a creative flair that will get you noticed among the rest?
• Is there enough space on your kit alongside your team crest to display a sponsorship logo clearly and boldly? 

PRO TIP: If space allows, you can even approach multiple football sponsors, proposing various price points for the size of the logo you’ll add to your kit and where this will be displayed. Having a kit that naturally draws people’s eye and perhaps even gets you noticed in the press is likely to have a large appeal to potential club sponsors.

Not only do you need to look the part, but you must also act it. When approaching a company to sponsor your team, we recommend that you have a formal sponsorship package prepared that looks professional and demonstrates the key areas that a company can get involved with the club and for what price. By packaging your offers, you’re offering a variety of options to a company to handpick what will be beneficial to them with regards to their budget. This enables them to clearly see which options they have available and how this will align with their goals. 

We would also recommend being transparent on pricing throughout the process. To work out a suitable price, do your research and calculate a realistic price point based on the advertising opportunities you’re offering, impressions (how many people will see the ads you offer) and the length of time the sponsorship will run for. Opportunities to outline in your package include: 

• Company logo on your team jersey
• Company logos displayed on your team website
• Company logos displayed elsewhere on your team kit
• Size of company logos on team kit
• Company logos on all club printed collateral 
• Company logos displayed beside the pitch in banner form 
• Company logos on your social media channels / regular social posting about the company
• Booth, box or special seating at your club
• Inclusion in any club events
• Sponsored giveaways

 While it’s important to show all the ways you can benefit a company through their sponsorship, when creating a sponsorship package, one tip is to keep at the forefront of your mind what your club’s primary needs are from the sponsor.

Advice on approaching a football sponsor

Before you go to ask for a sponsorship, you’ll need to be prepared to answer all the questions your prospective sponsor may have. To do this, you’ll need to have revised your package so you’re able to talk confidently about this and have written a comprehensive sponsorship letter.

How do you ask for sponsorship?

Firstly, you’ll need to have your shiny new sponsorship package mentioned above to hand and be confident enough to talk your prospective sponsor through the main points. This will need to be accompanied by a sponsorship letter, which should provide an introduction to your team, outline the benefits of sponsorship in football as an advertising investment and finish by appealing to them to become your sponsors.

How do I write a sponsorship letter?

When writing your letter, it’s important to keep in mind that the personality of your club should shine through. Try to avoid a formal tone and instead work on making it personable. In addition to this, it’s vitally important to have a sole point of contact for sponsorship, so that the company knows exactly who they’re talking to and can build a rapport. 

This isn’t to say that all sponsorship responsibilities should fall on this person, but as sponsorship is a sales negotiation at heart, it’s recommended to have one 'spokesperson’ that is savvy on the costs and ready to promote your proposition and negotiate well with a company. The letter should be addressed by this person. There are a number of other points you will need to consider when writing each part of the letter, which can be summed up into the following format:

• Introduction - this should outline the club, the story behind how it all started, the impact the club has on the local community, how it helps youth (if a youth team) and provides opportunities in sports and all of the good work that it does. Introduce the team, their age ranges, why they love being part of the club and what makes yours different from other football clubs. 
• Opportunity - Next, dive straight into the potential of the opportunity you’re offering. Tell them the size of your following, how many people attend matches, how many players do you have on the squad, do you have investment from any other big players in the community that would encourage others to get involved? If you’ve had a sponsor in the past, detail all the ways your partnership benefited them and how you could exceed this for the particular company you’re writing to. 
• Why this sponsor? - Then, you’ll need to discuss their company. For this, we recommend including the reason why you’ve chosen to approach them in particular,

Why you feel that your club and their business are a good fit for each other, making sure you mention their business goals, challenges and any shared values.

• Closing statement - To close, be sure to ask them directly for a football sponsorship and tell them why it’s an excellent opportunity for them to do so. Give them the package you’ve made and detail the options you think would be best for their business and why. 

PRO TIP: Don’t leave the closing statement open to interpretation, be clear on what you want from them and provide a strong call-to-action to get in touch with you, fill out a form to begin the process, invite them in for a meeting on a particular date or however else you may wish to begin the partnership.  

The benefits of sponsoring a football team

Throughout your communications with your potential football sponsor, you must be transparent about the benefits of sponsoring your team, making sure you clearly outline what’s in it for them. This can be done by creating a comprehensive sponsorship package as discussed above that outlines exactly what you need from a sponsor and why it will help their company, as well as your club. You should be 100% certain on what you want from a sponsor and then propose it to them in a way that demonstrates exactly what they can expect to gain from such a partnership. 

This will then enable the company to see what you’re offering in terms of exposure, advertising and support for their business. Here are just some of the ways that sponsoring a football team can be beneficial to a company, which you should be sure to highlight in your sponsorship letter: 

• Wider brand awareness
• Demonstrates personality around the brand and its products / services
• If the team and business are both local, it shows local pride and an interest in the success of the community 
• If the team is outside of the business’s operating area, this opens up new geographical areas to market to
• Can be to market a particular product or service to align with current campaigns 
• Intrigue interest and drive more traffic to a company’s website
• It’s a low cost alternative to many other forms of advertising and marketing
• Sports teams provide a positive contribution to the local community, so it’s a great CSR opportunity to show your support
• As a lot of grassroots teams are non-profit groups, it could also benefit companies in terms of tax incentives

Ready to get yourself a football sponsor? 

Don’t be afraid of asking, you may be told no, but as long as you’re determined and don’t give up at the first hurdle, you’ll be sure to succeed. Make sure you put in the necessary groundwork to take a proposition to a company that looks and feels professional and convince them this is something they will want to become part of. 

Unfortunately, at Avec Sport, we’re unable to sponsor teams due to the nature of what we do. However, we’re able to help and support you with all your football sponsorship needs. We can work with you and your sponsor to decide where on your kit you can feature logos and help you create a kit that truly represents your club and your sponsor. Register for an account at Avec Sport today and begin building your team kit.