My Top 10 Partnership Deals 2025

By Gary Linke

Now in its 6th year, the Gary Linke - AKA The Missing Linke – lists his own personal favourite new deals and brings some less notable alliances to the fore and looks to highlight some creative thinking.

If you feel that some higher profile deals have missed out then always a place for the Hill Dickenson’s (Everton stadium), the Barclays (Lords, Wimbledon and Hampden Park) and the Toyotas (ECB) to receive recognition in the awards calendar or on other people’s lists or in your comments on Linked In.

Gary’s Top 10 does not cover talent/influencer deals like Lewis Hamilton and Lululemon and partnership renewals and extensions such as O2 and England Rugby.

The Deals are listed in alphabetical order.

1) BrewDog and St Helens RFC - The “BrewDog Stadium” even more rebellious than “Totally Wicked”

Next season sees the start of a ten- year agreement whereby an independent Scottish Brewery (founded in 2007) has given the sport of Rugby League a lift in England.

BrewDog is now a major global brand and runs its own hotels and bars and will replace Totally Wicked (a Vaping brand) which was their stadium naming rights partner from 2017. The stadium also hosts Liverpool women’s football fixtures.

St Helens (Saints) are one of the most successful clubs in the Betfred Super League and their stadium was opened in 2012 with a capacity of 18,000. The brewdog deal includes kit sponsorship, community programmes and pouring rights (of course) and the refurbishment of a new bar in the South Stand

With BrewDog’s Sales Director being a Saints season ticket holder for the last 25 years I am sure he will keep prices down

2) Brooks and Cambridge United’s Front of Shirt – US high performance running shoe brand pairs up with the U’s.

Currently in SKY Bet EFL 2, Cambridge United have re-launched their brand, shot a 3 part documentary for the US market called “Cambridge: A United Story” and now have a front of shirt sponsor that is the envy of many.

I was alerted to this opportunity by the CEO, Alex Tunbridge and Head of Commercial, Neil Rowe. Alex was formerly the CEO at Stevenage FC and was a key player in their Burger King front of shirt. That deal received many rewards by cleverley activating the opportunity within the EA Sports FC game, formerley known as FIFA 20.

Through my collaboration with Dan Rooney, owner of Media Alive (MA), Brooks found the opportunity to enter English Football stood out especally with the likes of Wrexham AFC and Birmingham City attracting US interest and enjoying success following new ownership.

Cambridge University is known througout the world and with players running 10km to 12 km per game in a series of mainly short sprints, the link was made. Furthermore, the club has been the forefront of health and fitness and has established a new Run Club, powered by Brooks.

3) E.L.F Cosmetics and US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) - Presenting Partnership - Beauty Category putting skin into the women’s game

As the first beauty sponsor for the NSWL, E.L.F. have responded accordingly to the growth in Women’s Soccer in both attendances and viewership.

As for participation, by the age of 14, many girls drop out of playing sport (at twice the rate of boys) and according to research key factors are lack of access, social stigma and cost and also a lack of role models.

E.L.F. chose soccer as it offers a younger and more diverse fanbase and according to their CMO they want access to their eyes, lips and face.

The NSWL has found a new partner that empowers women, especially in the workplace and E.L.F has been at the forefront of creating opportunities for women. Billie Jean King Enterprises and FootballCo, through a media brand called INDIVISA that is dedicated to women’s soccer brokered the deal.

I remain hopeful that a challenger brand/on-line retailer in the UK in the beauty sector will invest significantly again in women’s football (Boots were an FA and Celtic Nations Partner back in 2019)

4) Mastercard and London City Lionesses- Partnership- Independence can be “Priceless”

Plenty of examples of financial services brands across women’s sport, including Visa, Barclays, Royal London and Metro Bank as well as the longest serving UEFA Champions League Partner, Mastercard who have the rights across the women’s equivalent.

What sets this apart is that Mastercard with all the benefits of a global competitionhave acted “local”. Mastercard were also behind the women’s sport “pop up” store called Style of our own (SOOO) that showcased independent brands ahead of the Women’s Euros and Women’s RWC last summer in Regent Street.

The London Lionesses, based in Bromley, were only founded in 2019 and have made history by being the first independent women’s team to be promoted to the Barclays Women’s Super League. The club is part of Kynisca Sports International which has a global network of women’s football clubs in the US and France.

Again, I remain hopeful that global giants follow Mastercard lead by investing in independent clubs. Two to mention are Glasgow City (Scotland’s most successful football club that's women owned and led) and Durham Women who are also and attractive proposition based on their stories and sheer tenacity to compete against the sister clubs of the men’s teams.

5) Pinterest and NY Liberty (WNBA) – Arena Partnership – Pinning down the first ever sports platform partner.

Pinterest users are known as “Pinners” and are at the forefront of social trends and culture and sport is playing a bigger part in that, especially US women’s basketball in terms of searches registered on the platform.

Using immersion, Pinterest convert NY Liberty’s arena and players into a stylish animated world that also includes their popular mascot, Ellie the Elephant.

These partnerships impact the brands and products that their users choose so a big coup for NY Liberty.

6) Quaker Oats and Team GB- Partnership - “Fuelling Team GB in winter and summer.”

Oats are very healthy and Team GB provides a very strong association for the competitive breakfast cereal market that is being increasingly regulated and has seen the likes of Kellogg’s and Weetabix invest heavily in football as the nation’s favourite sport.

With porridge having a natural fit with the winter Olympics (Milano 2026) and with Team GB now a major force in the Summer Olympics (LA 2028), the 4 -year partnership will provide a healthy marketing programme.

The activation is likely to involve in-store on-pack promotion and consumer education on the health benefits of porridge in terms of both general lifestyles and for training purposes e.g. post-training recovery.

Quaker Oats is still the UK market leader in hot cereals and it a sound strategy to partner with Team GB as they will be able to run with the same packaging across the UK in a major team property that brings the nations together (another example is the British and Irish Lions in Rugby).

7) ResMed and the British and Irish Lions Tour - Official Partner- Tackling sleep on a dream tour for players and fans.

Sleep is recognised as having a major role in people’s performance at work especially. The likes of Dreams and Benson Beds and Sealy mattresses have also used sport partnerships to set the example to us all and encouraged people to replace their beds and mattresses at regular intervals.

ResMed is active in 140 countries and claims to add another dimension as technology and data is increasingly used to help elite sports people and the rest of us sleep at night. The deal certainly helps create a new category within a big part of people’s everyday lives.

The long-haul flights and time difference of a Lions tour make sleep difficult besides the adrenalin and stress on matchdays and everyone needs to be educated on the latest techniques, medication, diet recommendations as well as the bed you sleep in.

A modern-day tour has become even more about the fan experience these days and a partnership such as this brings the fans even closer together with the players who have had to adapt to a new sleeping pattern very quickly.

8) Sports Illustrated and Tottenham Hotspur FC - Fan Experience Stand Sponsor- The first of the Collectives is just the ticket

Like many I thought how can a magazine publication/brand afford a 12- year partnership with Spurs?

Answer is that the first partner of the four partners being sought under “The Collective” proposition is primarily a secondary ticket company (resale) that is utilising a well- established iconic sports brand under license from Authentic brands.

Sports Illustrated tickets turnover is expected to be $500m US in 2026 and aims to that to be over a billion dollars within 3 years.

In the US, they have also bought the naming rights to New Yorks Red Bull Stadium which is reported to be worth over $100m over 13 years and they are taking over the primary ticket rights from Ticketmaster.

With Tottenham Hotspur offering Football, NFL, Boxing, Concerts and the F1 Drive experience the club is taking advantage of their event portfolio. With the absence of a stadium naming rights partner, the commercial partnership team is now pursuing 3 other partners to complete The Collective.

As the inaugural partner, Sports Illustrated Tickets not only gets access to the East Stand for display and fan engagement purposes but also will be branding a dedicated hospitality space with a 3,000 capacity for all events.

I anticipate that this partnership will evolve whereby more ticket inventory will be made available across events as Tottenham Hotspur and Sports Illustrated look at adding more events whereby they become the joint promoter.

9) Spud Bros and Preston North End- Front of Shirt – Jackets are required.

Great local story here when two brothers that have taken over from their Dad to create a fantastic business and then have invested in their local club. Jacob and Harley, the owners of Spud Bros are both proud “Prestonians.”

It is a story that surely will resonate with many sports fans and brings a new meaning to “home grown” and the chants of “he’s one of our own”.

The brand has been an internet sensation (over 4.8 million followers on Tik Tok) as their posts went viral and turned them into social media stars. Their appeal is not just in the UK with collaborations with Mr Beast and Will Smith as well as an opening of an Express Store in Soho. I reckon 5th Avenue might be next.

You can guess what the first two thousand fans that purchased the new home shirt received? That day they only served non-paying customers heading over to the SpudBros tram. They now have a bigger tram.

10) Uber Eats and Premier League Darts - Partnership- “When you’ve done enough” but more to come.

As this is a partnership I have brokered I guess some allowances can be made for it to be given a place in the Top 10 and I can include some results…

The connection between the Thursday Nights viewing audience watching the Darts and the event goers packing out seventeen packed indoor arenas with a food delivery brand is pretty solid.

Supported by James Bryan, who leads, Uber Eats Northern UK, the account management team that directly work with their restaurant partners on the ground activated the partnership in key regions.

The PDC provided access to the players and the restaurants welcomed them with open arms to “dine-in” with their regular customers including other sporting celebrities.

With Premier League Darts events being held throughout in the UK (plus Ireland, Holland and Germany) the rest of Uber Eats UK followed James’s lead. The partnership will be even bigger and better in 2026 with more visibility to the audience watching at home.

Gary Linke has consistently delivered partnership deals in his 25 years at the sharp end of the sports business across naming rights, event and team partnerships and licensing agreements.

In May 2025 the front of shirt sponsorship of “Who Gives A Crap” with Lewes FC won Best Sponsorship at the Football Business Awards. You can contact him via TheMissingLinke.com