Luxury brands are increasingly collaborating with women’s sport, a trend that we expect to continue in 2026.

Recent examples include Louis Vuitton becoming an official partner of Real Madrid’s women’s team; LVMH being a premium partner for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games; Off-White partnering with the WNBA team New York Liberty; and Paris Saint-German and its women’s team official partner Barbara Bui announcing a collaboration with New Era.

Luxury brands are recognising that women’s sport provides an increasingly attractive sponsorship proposition. We attribute this trend to the significant growth of women’s sports and the rising popularity of female athletes over the last few years.

In particular:

• Demographic – because women’s sports audiences differ from men’s, this creates a new demographic for brands to target, as well as a real opportunity to engage with these female audiences.

• Relatability – currently, female athletes are typically more accessible than their male counterparts, and fans feel that they are more relatable. Many female athletes have far higher engagement levels with fans on social media, even though they may have smaller audiences.

• Authentic storytelling – as a result of female athletes’ accessibility and relatability, there is an opportunity for more authentic storytelling. Narratives can feel more organic, which ultimately resonates more with consumers and allows brands to forge strong connections.   

• Growth – driven by the increase in women’s sports, there are important commercial opportunities for brands, including securing partnerships at more accessible price points. Brands also have a chance to be more involved and play a role in that growth. 

For those brands interested in women’s sport sponsorship, having a well-drafted contract is important. This ensures that a brand can fully benefit from rights delivered under the partnership, but also provides protection if things go wrong.

Some of the sponsorship agreement’s crucial areas include:

• Scope of rights – is it clear what rights the brand is paying for and when/how these will be delivered?

• Exclusivity – what product category exclusivity is being granted? Is it wide enough to prevent any rights being granted to competitors, but narrow enough to be enforceable?

• Intellectual property – what intellectual property is the brand able to use and what protections will be afforded? Are there adequate protections included for the use of the brand’s intellectual property

• Postponement/cancellation – does the contract address what happens if matches/events are postponed or cancelled and the rightsholder/athlete is unable to deliver certain rights?

• Morality – does the contract address reputational matters? Does it provide remedies if the rightsholder or any of the athletes engage in damaging conduct?

As women’s sport continues to grow, the value of these partnerships will only increase and the commercial arrangements will become more complex. Sponsorship agreements must be clearly drafted and contain robust provisions that protect both their investment and reputation as the women’s sport market matures.