Marketers look to unconventional sports to move the needle for their brands

Best Buy, for example, signed up this winter as one of the principal sponsors of TGL, a televised simulator golf tournament. The new league, set to debut on ESPN (including ESPN+) from Jan. 7, also counts So-Fi and Samsung among its brand partners.

The big box brand isn’t a stranger to sports — it has a long-standing association with the NFL. But CMO Jennie Weber told Digiday that the niche league’s “intersection” of tech and sport provided the electronics retailer a particularly useful bridgehead into sporting audiences.

“Even though it is an unknown, it feels like the right place for us to show up and be part of what I think is going to be a cultural conversation,” she said. Weber declined to share financial details of the sponsorship deal.

Best Buy isn’t alone in seeking alternative routes to sports fans.

Wristwatch reselling platform Bezel, a sponsor of the New York Atlantics padel team, staged physical displays of watches at different games throughout the sport’s 2024 season. And last year Target released a limited-edition collection of pickleball products with tennis brand Prince, an early bid to court its growing, multigenerational audience.

Research consultancy Forrester predicts that one in five brands will focus on streaming sponsorships with emergent sports leagues in 2025. A 2024 survey conducted by the firm found that younger viewers were more interested in unconventional sports such as pickleball or padel. Pro Padel League sponsors currently include Adidas and Spanish brewer Estrella Damm.

20% of millennial and Generation Z adults said they were interested in watching Major League Pickleball, versus just 8% of Generation Xers. Accordingly, a Q3 survey of CMOs estimated 22% of American marketing executives already spending on sports, planned to advertise around MLP. 21% were considering Major League Cricket — not exactly a niche proposal in India, Australia or the U.K., but far less typical in the U.S. Both sports are shown on ESPN+ in the U.S.

In the U.K., interest in darts has Sky Sports reportedly fending off Netflix and Amazon to hold on to broadcast rights to the PDC World Darts Championship. According to The Telegraph, the chairman of the sport’s governing body, Barry Hearn, estimates the rights are worth £45 million ($57 million).

Though Forrester’s report suggested streaming ads would be the primary route for brands looking to activate around padel, pickleball or cricket, it’s not the only way.

Samsung’s TGL deal, for example, will put its products and tech front and center at the league’s custom-built So-Fi Stadium in Florida. The venue will host a 600 square foot LED video “wall” above its main entrance, according to a press release.

In each case, the marketers behind the sponsorships, collaborations or streaming ad spend are aiming to tether their brands to these sports as they grow. “I actually think it’s going to introduce [golf] to an entirely new generation,” said Best Buy’s Weber, referring to the TGL.

Relative to spending on the NFL or NBA, sports marketing activity staged adjacent to padel or pickleball involves significantly less investment.

“They’re clearly expanding and growing. But as an investment opportunity right now, it’s still fairly niche,’ said Alex Brown, head of sport and entertainment at EssenceMediacom. That said, it’s still a potentially effective method of reaching consumers, particularly for marketers seeking a “first mover advantage,” he noted.

The aim is to eventually be what Rolex and Wilson are to tennis, for pickleball, padel or simulator golf. “You could be there when it does start to grow,” Brown added.