While coronavirus may have put a dampener on many of this year’s major sporting events, the route of the Tour de France – 3,483 kilometres spread across swathes of the French countryside – rendered the world’s most famous men's multiple stage bicycle race relatively impervious to Covid-19 social distancing.

With most of the world at home, viewing figures of the annual televised event were higher, too, despite the 107th edition of the race having been postponed for the first time since World War II. An estimated one billion viewers worldwide tuned in to watch Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, the 21-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider, achieve a sensational time trial victory to La Planche des Belles Filles, putting him in the lead with an unbeatable 59-seconds lead.

While the delighted Pogacar said: “It’s unbelievable. It’s really crazy to be the winner of the Tour de France; this is just the top of the top,” he wasn’t the only one revelling in the victory. The leadership at Emirates Airline, sponsors of the victorious UAE Team Emirates since 2017, must have shared that moment of pure elation as they saw the exceptional victory unfurl, with the airline’s logo broadcast around the globe and viewed by millions of people.

“The UAE Team Emirates’ stunning victory at Tour de France, the world’s most prestigious cycling race, is a historic milestone for the UAE on the global sporting stage; This tremendous achievement strengthens the already deep relationship between the UAE and the sport of cycling, and will inspire a new generation of cyclists worldwide,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO of Emirates Group said in a series of tweets.

It’s yet another marketing coup for the airline that also sponsors leading teams in football, rugby, tennis, motorsport, golf, horseracing, baseball, cricket and sailing – a far cry from its first lone tie-up in 1987 when it lent its support to a powerboat race in Dubai.

It’s another example of the might and ambition of Brand UAE, a small desert country known around the world thanks to its formidable publicity machine; joining hands with the world’s elite athletes and sports entities is a big part of its drive to promote the emirates around the world.

“Two major sports sponsorship deals that particularly stand out are Etihad’s sponsorship of Manchester City FC and Emirates’ sponsorship of Arsenal FC,” says Dave McCann, partner at RISE, a leading regional sports, culture and entertainment sponsorship agency. At the time of signature, the Etihad Airways deal was valued at $462 million and the Emirates deal at $257.6m.

Other notable sponsorships by UAE businesses include DP World’s backing of the European Tour and Ian Poulter (golf), including the naming rights to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. “Etihad’s recent naming rights for the sponsorship of Yas Island Arena, Emirates’ global sponsorship of Formula 1, Dubai Duty Free’s sponsorship of horse racing events and the Irish Open golf tournament are all examples of big sponsorship deals by UAE companies,” adds McCann.

“There is a trend in UAE companies to take naming rights sponsorships when acquiring sponsorship rights. These are generally bigger deals financially, but also provide a much stronger association with the rights holder, which seems to be a major strategy of UAE businesses in order to expand their global recognition. Naming rights is growing in this region and has the unique capability of putting a brand at the centre of the fan experience, as well as turning their brand into a destination. The power of this kind of engagement is unquestionable.”

UAE Team Emirates CEO Mauro Gianetti told Arabian Business at the end of 2019 that the team has generated $400m returns for its sponsors, who invest just a fraction of that amount.

“In general, all our sponsors, and the main sponsors world tour teams like ours, [generate] an average of, at a minimum, 5 to 10 euros for each [euro] spent,” he said.

That’s not a bad return on investment; with the latest victory at the Tour de France this figure is likely to have increased substantially. While the victory celebrations amongst Team UAE Cycling may have continued for several days before the demands of elite-level training beckoned once more, the implications for what it means for the airline will unquestionably last longer.

Industry insight

Ben Faber is a regional director at CSM, a global brand and marketing company that oversees the communications for UAE Team Emirates.

“The global sports industry has grown year on year over the past two or three decades and the UAE is no different in that respect,” says Faber. “A relatively small market, it punches well above its weight in terms of sports sponsorship. Emirates in particular has used sport for many years as a way of brand building in supporting the growth of their brand, aligning partnerships with sport with flight routes.”

That early model – the airline entered into its first sports sponsorship in 1998 – was very much the blueprint for UAE sports sponsorship for many years, which has grown from a ‘chairman’s whim’ to become a highly sophisticated, strategic and complex business worth billions of dollars annually.

“At this level, every partnership is bespoke and the most successful ones are doing it for clearly identified strategic reasons. Sponsorships can start from the most basic – such as driving awareness of the brand through global sports audiences - to more complex ones,” he explains.

In addition to running the communications for the UAE cycling team, CSM, whose clients include HSBC and Mubadala, builds sponsorship programs that include customer acquisition, rewards programs, employee engagement, loyalty schemes and more.

“In the case of UAE Team Emirates, it is unquestionably a global platform. In Covid times TV audiences are higher than normal. A sport like cycling can offer fantastic opportunities if you are trying to engage and reward customers, from cycling with athletes to hospitality experiences, prizes and incentives. Airlines, for example, can link these to loyalty programs for their most loyal customers. Ultimately a partnership such as the one between Emirates and UAE Team Emirates will give the sponsor a huge range of assets, from merchandise, to access to talent, memorable experiences and more.”

In turn, a professional team needs a revenue stream in order to operate as a top-tier player. The highest earners in pro-cycling, such as Peter Sagan of Team Bora-Hansgrohe, are estimated to take home around €5.5m. While Pogacar has not commanded anywhere near that figure to date, his recent victory will doubtless see him command a higher wage in addition to the $642,000 prize money he received for his Tour de France win.

Return on investment

Whereas sports sponsorship in its nascent era may have relied on little more than a handshake and a straightforward contract, today it is a highly complex industry.

“A majority of the sponsors we represent are very structured in terms of their return on investment (ROI) matrices,” says Steve Bainbridge, partner and head of sports & events management at Al Tamimi & Company, the first regional law firm to open a specialised sports law practice. “In fact, some sponsorship deals that may initially appear to be the least rigorous in terms of tangible returns can have periodic reporting and review with levers that allow for adjusted payments and/or additional benefits that can be triggered depending on performance, whether that be measured in product sales, footfall, social media traffic, etc.”

The company represents rights holders, government entities, and corporate sponsors as well as a number of sports governing bodies, clubs and athletes.

“We advise on a range of issues and this can mean anything from stadium naming rights deals to club jersey sponsorships or title sponsor agreements for major tournaments or community events and many points in between. Obvious headline issues include the deal value and duration but with respect to sponsorship deals we find the greatest impact is moving much more towards partnership and integration of goals.”

It is clear that global sponsorship is on the up and up, a billion-dollar business that is inexorably linked to the world of sport. It is almost inconceivable to any sports fan today to imagine an event without a visual cacophony of logos jostling for prime position, but a hunger for innovation also underpins the million-dollar marketing and sponsorship budgets of big businesses.

“Sport continues to grow across its traditional forms but also in new ventures,” notes James Leeman, the CEO and founder of branding agency, Leeman Consult.

“In the last 20 years, e-sports has become one of the largest growing global sports with an estimated total viewership expected to grow at a 9 percent between 2019 and 2023, up from 454m in 2019 to 646m in 2023.

Sponsorship is the biggest source of revenue. Innovation to provide exposure in this could become the best way for a brand to see their required ROI.

We cannot move away from our traditions too quickly though and, as the UAE and its brands and supporting companies continue to invest in sport in its purest forms, there are small but relevant changes in their ROI with correct brand alignment, innovation and social responsibility coming to forefront.”