Digitalization and Sports Sponsorship Strategy: A Review and Research Agenda

Background. The sports industry has been transformed through digitalization processes. One traditional area of sports marketing strategy that has changed significantly is sponsorship. Objectives. To reveal how digitalization has impacted sports sponsorship strategies according to the findings of academic articles in leading sports management journals. In light of the dramatic transformation of sports sponsorship in recent times, a new research agenda is proposed. Methods. One hundred eighty-nine articles from five high-impact sports journals were systematically selected and classified according to Jin’s (2017) categorization. An in-depth analysis of 23 articles related to digital media was performed and compared to Santomier’s (2008) literature review to understand the evolving academic discourse on the changing nature of sports sponsorship and propose a research agenda for the near future. Results. A research agenda is proposed to understand the new sponsorship dynamics in the digital landscape focused on the analysis made of the three studied categories: Sports and the internet, consumer behavior, and sports marketing strategy. Conclusion. The continuous evolution of digital technologies challenges academics and practitioners to keep pace with the impacts of digitalization in sports sponsorship, which requires a new research agenda to raise questions to be answered in future research.