If a company sponsors a football team, their stock price jumps on game day regardless of whether the team wins or loses.
SSRN · March 18, 2026 · 6274098
The Takeaway
While fans care about the score, the stock market only cares about eyes on the brand. The research shows that the 'attention premium' of having a logo on a jersey is so strong that the actual athletic performance of the team is irrelevant to the sponsor's shareholders.
From the abstract
This study examines whether matchdays in the new UEFA competition format for the 2024/2025 season are associated with a short-term market premium for shareholders of publicly listed companies sponsoring football clubs through brand and logo exposure on jerseys. An event-study approach was used; expected rates of return were determined based on the Fama-French five-factor model, followed by calculation of daily excess returns and their cumulative values in event windows surrounding the match day.