Sportfive

Sportfive (stylized as SPORTFIVE) is a German based international sports marketing agency with offices around the world. The agency operates in sports consulting, partnership sales, marketing and sponsorship activation. Its headquarters are located in Hamburg, Germany. Sportfive employs around 1,200 people and markets over 30 different sports disciplines, including football, American football, baseball, basketball, esports & gaming, golf, handball and motorsport.[1] Since 2020, Sportfive has been part of US private equity firm H.I.G. Capital.

History

In 1987, UFA first secured the rights to broadcast Bundesliga games in a deal with German Football Association (DFB), as well as the rights to broadcast the Wimbledon Championships. This led to the development of the sports rights marketing business under UFA Sports.[2][3]

Business operations

Sportfive markets over 30 sports. In addition to football, these include predominantly American football, basketball, handball, motor sports like Formula One, golf, baseball and esports & gaming.[1] Other sports include cycling, endurance sports, field hockey, horse racing, rugby, sailing, swimming, surfing, table tennis, weightlifting and winter sports. The agency markets campaigns and endorsement agreements for a variety of clients in the sports sector, as well as representing individual international athletes. These include services for rights holders and companies, such as distribution strategies, internationalization, (virtual) A-boards and stadium advertising, jersey sponsorship, international media rights, athlete marketing, hospitality programs, travel services, creative sponsorship campaigns as well as digital services such as apps and product innovations. Further, the agency supports realization of those concepts with teams based at the respective club.[38][39][33] The agency is also a broker for sporting events such as Olympics & multi-sport events. For example, the Australian Commonwealth Games entered into a long-term partnership with Sportfive during the preparations for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.[40][41] Further, the agency also arranged for the Bank of America to become the presenting partner of the Boston Marathon in 2022.[42] In the field of Twenty20 cricket, Sportfive is involved as a marketing partner in the newly established 2025 cricket tournament, the International Masters League.[43][44] The agency works with various national and international brands and companies such as Trivago, Jeep, Nike, BMW, Emirates, Red Bull or Kellogg's and media companies such as Sky Group and DAZN.[45][46][47][23][48][49]

American Football

Sportfive supports the Kansas City Chiefs with their international strategy, asset development and commercial marketing such as expanding its presence and marketing in Germany.[50] The New York Jets have also partnered with Sportfive to support their market presence in the UK.[51]

Baseball

Sportfive works with the Los Angeles Dodgers and is responsible for finding a field presenting partner for the Dodgers Stadium and securing the first jersey partnership for Major League Baseball.[52][53]

Basketball

Football

Sportfive works with various national and international rights holders in football. These rights holders include football associations such as FIFA, UEFA and the Asian Football Confederation, as well as leagues such as the Premier League, the Bundesliga, the Serie A and the Barclays Women's Super League.[17][63] Sportfive cooperated or cooperates with more than 17 top football clubs in Germany such as FC Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC, 1. FC Union Berlin, FC Schalke 04, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, and Borussia Dortmund.[64][65][66][49][1] In Germany, the company was instrumental in brokering the naming rights for the HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg, the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, or the Signa Iduna Park in Dortmund.[67][68][69] Further, Sportfive is the overall marketer for more than 70 European football clubs,[1] including Paris Saint-Germain F.C.,Olympique Lyon and AS Monaco from the French Ligue 1,[70][71][63] Atalanta BC, U.C. Sampdoria and Juventus FC from Italy’s Serie A,[8][72] PAOK from the Super League Greece,[73] as well as English clubs such as Chelsea F.C., Liverpool F.C., Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City,[74][75][63] or Spanish clubs Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid CF.[76][49] There are also cooperations with national teams such as the United States men's national soccer team.[63] The cooperations may vary depending on the demand. VfB Stuttgart, for example, entered into a comprehensive partnership with Sportfive up to and including 2027/2028. Among other things, the agency is supposed to support VfB Stuttgart in its search for sponsors and in marketing the modernized stadium for UEFA Euro 2024.[77][17][78] Since 2010, Chelsea F.C. has been cooperating with Sportfive. This involves Sportfive marketing players from the first squad on behalf of Chelsea F.C. in Europe, as well as connecting them with larger and local brands as part of its own ambassador program.[79][74] In 2021, the agency facilitated the partnership between travel provider Trivago and Chelsea F.C.[80] In 2022, Sportfive enabled a jersey sponsorship for the Spanish club Atlético Madrid by the Cryptocurrency investment app Whalefin.[76] Previous clients were the Italian clubs Juventus F.C., Atalanta BC and U.C. Sampdoria.[8][72][81] One of Sportfive's largest projects is the marketing and provision of the official hospitality packages for the UEFA Euro 2024, for which the UEFA commissioned Hospitality Experience AG, a joint venture between Sportfive and Fortius AG.[82][83]

type	Subsidiary
location city	Hamburg
location country	Germany
founded	2001
key people	* Stefan Felsing (CEO), * Philipp Hasenbein (COO), * Robert Müller von Vultejus (CGO), * Christian Peters (CFO)
industry	Sports Marketing
services	Sports marketing sports events sports sponsorship
num employees	1,200
homepage	www.sportfive.com
owner	H.I.G. Capital (100%)

History

Business operations

American Football

Baseball

Basketball

Corporate structure

Subsidiaries

Build a Rocket

Bibliography

External links

References

Esports

Football

Formula 1

Handball

Golf

Build a Rocket