Is the Messi effect at play? His impact on Inter Miami and MLS overall has been well documented since he joined the league last season. Jen Cramer, EVP of partnership marketing at MLS, said Messi is just one of a few reasons why the league is seeing growth across the board.

“I’ve been here quite a while, but I’ve never seen this type of partnership activation,” she told Marketing Brew. “A lot of it is because people are starting to recognize the impact that soccer has, and how desirable the fan base is.”

Juggling sponsors

League partnership revenue was up by 17% from 2022 to 2023, per MLS, and individual club sponsorship revenue increased 15% so far this year compared to last. LA Galaxy announced today that it’s partnering with Vevo to have players curate programming for the music video network.

The MLS partner roster includes some of the usual suspects in sports sponsorships, like auto, beer, and insurance companies, Cramer said.

• Audi, along with MLS and sports media platform the Players’ Tribune, just announced the return of its sponsored content series Celebrating Impact, which supports players’ work off the field with donations to their nonprofits of choice; this year, Audi is doubling its donations from $20,000 to $40,000 per month.
• In the alcohol category, Diageo’s Captain Morgan sponsors MLS in the US, and beer company Asahi is a sponsor in Canada, where three MLS clubs are based.
• Other sponsors include Adidas, EA Sports, Celsius, AT&T, Allstate, and BodyArmor.

Off the bench

There are also MLS sponsors from some more unexpected industries: Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar became an MLS sponsor in 2022, as did food-delivery service DoorDash (also a sponsor of NWSL team Angel City FC).

Soccer is a fairly “uncluttered environment” compared to some other sports (looking at you, pickleball), which is part of the appeal for brands, Cramer said. MLS’s audience demographic breakdown is another draw, she said: Seventy-one percent of MLS fans are Gen Zers or millennials, according to Cramer, and 30% are Hispanic.

“We have an audience that’s young, they’re multicultural, they’re tech savvy,” she said. “Marketers are really drawn to that.”

Zoom out

Outside of sponsorships, merchandise sold via the league’s online store jumped 44% year over year, and interest in season tickets has also been on the rise.

• As of Feb. 13, about a week before the start of the MLS season, season ticket sales were up 15% from the same period last year.
• Revenue from season tickets was up 25%.
• Almost all (83%) of the league’s 29 teams were ahead of their 2023 pace when it came to season ticket sales. This is the first season since 2016 during which MLS didn’t add an expansion team.

“At the end of the day, for us it’s really about growing the sport of soccer in North America,” Cramer said.

This article was initially published by Marketing Brew.