Using Location Data to Gauge the Efficacy of MLB Stadium Sponsorships

June 26, 2018

Naming rights at sports stadiums have traditionally been a coveted—albeit, expensive—investment for major brands. With baseball season in full swing, and marketers beginning to demand more from their sponsorships of sports teams, Gravy Analytics leveraged foot traffic to examine whether the sponsorship investments made by brands at popular baseball stadiums around the U.S. are worth it.

Using location data, Gravy analyzed visits to baseball stadiums in the U.S. during April of this year, looking to see how baseball fans compare and whether the brands that sponsor each stadium are capturing the attention of the right customers. For ease of comparison, Gravy indexed all stadiums against Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York.

“MLB sponsorship spending topped $892 million last season,” says Gravy Analytics CEO and Founder Jeff White. “It made me wonder if these brands’ investments are really moving the needle in awareness, influence, and future sales.”

Looking at stadium sponsorships at top baseball stadiums across the country, White and his team found that companies from just a handful of industries—alcohol brands, automotive brands, and financial services firms—represent an outsized portion of major stadium sponsors.

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