GSIQ THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES · PART 2 OF 3

Written by Nicole Hollomon, Managing Partner, United States

The North American sports market is experiencing a particularly active period of property creation and reinvention.

TGL has tested a new prime-time golf format, the PWHL has built substantial momentum in attendance, and Unrivaled has successfully launched a differentiated 3-on-3 basketball property.

Each faces the same early-stage challenge that confronts every new league or event: how do you show that early interest can turn into durable value before you have much of a track record?

After 19 years building and leading research functions across governing bodies and sports organizations, I have reached a clear conclusion: the opening seasons are not merely a growth phase. They are also a limited opportunity to build the evidence base that later commercial decisions will depend on.

Properties that do this well enter future discussions about sponsorship, media, investment, and expansion with more than ambition. They have evidence. Without it, early enthusiasm may be easy to see but much harder to value.

Novelty creates an opportunity and a deadline

A new property begins with something every established property would like to recover: novelty.

Curiosity gets people to sample the product. Media outlets have a reason to pay attention. Sponsors may take meetings to get in early, stand apart from competitors, or secure favorable terms before the property grows.

TGL’s debut, for example, averaged 919,000 viewers on ESPN, with the audience exceeding 1 million at points during the broadcast. That was an encouraging signal – but it was also only a starting point.

A debut audience tells you people showed up once. It does not tell you whether they will come back, pay, subscribe, recommend the property, or still care two seasons later.

Novelty also fades. As a property moves beyond launch, stakeholders gradually stop asking, “What could this become?” and start asking, “What has it become?”.

Sponsors want to know what was delivered and how audiences responded. Media partners want evidence of repeatable viewership, audience composition, and room for growth. Investors want to know which early indicators are real and which were driven by launch attention. Host markets want to understand the local value created. Internal leaders need to know what is working, what is not, and where to allocate limited resources next.

At that point, vision alone is no longer enough. The property needs a baseline, a trend line, and defensible targets.

Some of that work cannot be recreated later. A property can estimate what happened during its first season, but it cannot go back and properly measure an audience, experience, or sponsor baseline that was never established.

The window is not only metaphorical. It is a data-collection deadline.

A launch number is not an evidence base

Emerging properties naturally want research that produces strong headlines. Launches need attention, and compelling statistics can help generate it.

But a launch announcement serves one purpose while an evidence base serves another. By the same token, an isolated number may describe the moment. But it rarely explains the business.

So, a large opening audience does not tell you how many people returned. A sold-out event does not indicate whether demand can support additional markets or higher prices. Strong social engagement does not automatically translate into sponsor value. A favorable fan survey does not tell an investor whether the property has reached the people most likely to watch, attend, spend, or advocate for it.

Early research should absolutely produce useful stories. Its larger purpose, though, is to create a consistent understanding of the audience, the product, and the value being delivered.

For most emerging properties, four areas should form the foundation.

01

Audience opportunity

The first question is not simply, “How many fans can we claim?”.

It is, “Which audiences are genuinely available to us, and which of them matter commercially?”

That means separating the theoretical market from the people who can realistically be reached, the people already showing interest, and the people demonstrating behaviors such as viewing, attending, purchasing, or recommending.

It also means understanding who those audiences are – not only demographically, but in terms of their motivations, media habits, spending behavior, category interests, and connections to adjacent sports or entertainment properties.

For a new property, audience composition can matter as much as audience size. A smaller but distinctive audience may offer sponsors and media partners something an established competitor cannot.

02

Product-market fit

Early attention tells you that people were willing to try the product. It does not tell you whether they will return.

Emerging properties need to understand what drives repeat interest:

• What attracted people in the first place?
• Which elements of the format are working?
• Does the live or broadcast experience feel meaningfully different?
• What makes people want to watch, attend, subscribe, or buy again?
• What is stopping interested consumers from taking the next step?
• Are pricing, scheduling, access, or product design suppressing demand?

This research should not exist only to reassure external stakeholders. It should improve the product itself.

The earlier a property can distinguish between curiosity and genuine attachment, the better positioned it is to invest in what will actually support growth.

03

Commercial delivery

Sponsors and commercial partners eventually want evidence of what they received, not just what the property hoped to deliver.

That evidence should go beyond logo exposure. Depending on the partnership, it may include visibility, awareness, sponsor attribution, brand fit, audience engagement, consideration, hospitality value, content performance, business-to-business opportunities, and other agreed objectives.

Not every outcome can be directly attributed to a sponsorship, especially in an inaugural season. The work needs to match the quality of the available data and avoid claiming causation where the evidence only supports association or directional movement.

Even so, an early-stage property can still define what success should look like, establish baseline measures, and document what was delivered.

That changes the renewal conversation. Instead of trading selective highlights and general enthusiasm, both sides can discuss performance against an agreed-upon framework and what should happen next.

04

Broader stakeholder value

A sports property can create value beyond its direct audience and commercial partnerships.

Depending on the model, that may include visitor spending, venue utilization, destination visibility, community participation, local business activity, or broader civic and cultural benefits.

These outcomes matter because they reach stakeholders who may not respond to a traditional marketing deck: tourism authorities, city governments, venue operators, economic-development organizations, and prospective host markets.

Economic-impact figures should always be handled carefully. Assumptions about visitor status, displacement, spending, and attribution can materially change the result. Inflated numbers may create a headline, but they can also damage credibility when reviewed by people who know how these studies work.

The goal is not to produce the biggest possible number. It is to produce a number that can survive scrutiny.

If you want to find out more about how research can give your property or event the best chance of prospering, please get in touch. 

contact@gsiq.com