Best Practice in Sponsorship

Players partnered with Heineken USA to create the "Heineken Silver Summer Party Series."
The Heineken Silver Summer Party Series activated at leagues and events across 30 locations in Chicago, embedding the brand directly into programming through post-game parties, on-site sampling, DJ activations and coordinated marketing. Heineken became a functional part of the league and event experience, which helped Players turn up the SOCIAL dial at leagues and events.

Over the course of the series, Players served more than 60,000 cans and bottles of Heineken Silver. Featured locations saw increased engagement on league nights, while Heineken gained access to the Players audience and enjoyed enhanced "product-in-hand" brand awareness for their overall marketing efforts in Chicagoland.

Trying to organize an entire organization to leverage a national sponsorship platform is no small task.  This can have tremendous benefit to clubs of all sizes and a significant ROI, if everyone had the same understanding of it.  While not the case, Justin has gone above and beyond to talk to every club he can about the benefits, to ensure they make an informed decision if being included is right for them.  It has a long way to go, however would already be dead without such leadership.

We have numerous sponsorships that give our participants unique discounts wearing their league shirts or mentioning Everplay! (:

We wanted to show our Superstars engaging with Prime in a funny way. To match its branding. We received input from Prime that it is one of their best partnerships and has been shared with Logan Paul! Due to the "energy and fun feels" (both videos can be place together )

LI-Kick entered into a year's long sponsorship with c4 energy drink creating the triple win of bringing distribution to a brand, delivering in-demand products to players and revenue to LI-Kick.  Among the wins;

-2,000 cans were passed out on site.
-Players selected as 'MVPs' received c4 branded gear.
-c4 improved the new player experience by providing party packs for free agent teams.
-LI-Kick players were featured on c4's Instagram feed, Instagram story and other marketing materials.

C4 and LI-Kick's  shared focus ensured the sponsorship felt additive to the experience, reinforcing trust with players while authentically serving the sponsor’s goals.

FXA Sports is committed to keeping players, of all levels, in the game and that commitment goes well beyond the final whistle. To support athlete recovery and injury prevention, FXA partnered with R2P (Rehab 2 Perform), a modern physical therapy practice helping active adults “perform for life.”

Throughout 2025, R2P activated the partnership by attending all major FXA tournaments with their fully equipped mobile recovery truck, offering on-site recovery services including air compression boots! This was a meaningful, hands-on experience that directly supported athletes when they needed it most.

All players, but especially soccer players, enjoyed this perk and even waited in line between games to give it a shot. Some stated that it was a total game changer to get through the long tournament days. It was a benefit for all, including FXA staff, to wake up the next day feeling refreshed and recovered with no sore muscles!

The ZOA partnership stands out as the best sponsorship in the region because it delivered measurable business impact. Helping move the brand from last to first in Midwest sales; showing that the activation strategy didn’t just create visibility, it directly drove trial, repeat purchase, and real market growth, which is exactly what elite sponsorships are supposed to do.

The Chicago Sport and Social Club (CSSC) sponsorship partnership with Diageo brands Casamigos and Captain Morgan in 2025 was a fully integrated partnership across three CSSC properties - CSSC, Big City Pickle, and Chicago Social Fitness. The annual partnership included onsite league, event, tournament, and facility activations, digital integration on websies, email, and social media communications, and over 200 samplings and activations at post-league and event bar partner on-premise accounts. The program also included numerous enhancements for CSSC and Big City Pickle participants including elevated co-branded equipment during play, elevated prizes for champions, and quality branded swag items to make the player experience more memorable and enjoyable, thanks to Casamigos and Captain Morgan. The partnership has been deemed a success by Diageo, resulting in a renewal of the program for 2026 after just the first 6 months.

Lexington Sports & Social Club partnered with professional soccer club Lexington Sporting Club in the Spring of 2025 to launch an innovative, fan-engagement–driven sponsorship that reimagined how recreational and professional sports audiences intersect. Rather than offering tickets as a traditional promotion, the partnership embedded Lexington Sporting Club tickets directly into league registration, seamlessly converting adult recreational players into professional fans at the point of purchase. This model intentionally merged participation and fandom, using shared facilities for our leagues and co-branded experiences like dedicated tailgates, a player ran fan club, and LexSSC specific sections of the stadium to create meaningful crossover between both audiences and promote a bigger sense of community. By aligning complementary customer bases, the partnership expanded our brand reach, strengthened community engagement, and provided a unique experience for our players to play at state of the art facilities without having to break the bank.