What semipro soccer sponsorship costs in the United States

Nobody publishes a price index for semipro soccer sponsorship, so most brands guess. This article uses what clubs themselves publish: rate cards and sponsorship decks posted by USL League Two, UPSL and youth clubs. The numbers are theirs, the reading is ours.

The short answer

A sleeve or a shared banner starts around $1,000 a season. Back of jersey runs from about $3,000 at a UPSL club to $10,000 and more where the club has a large academy. Front of jersey, the one asset most clubs sell only once, runs from $10,000 to $15,000 at UPSL and NPSL level and reaches $25,000 to $50,000 at USL League Two clubs that bundle their youth kits into the deal. Field signage at youth level is $1,000 to $2,000 a year, often sold for several years at once. Everything below that, from a few hundred dollars up, buys a name on one team's jersey or a mention on social media.

What clubs publish, asset by asset

• Sleeve and entry tiers. City SC, a Southern California youth club with a UPSL men's team and about 4,500 members, prices its sleeve at $1,000, back of jersey at $3,000 and a title package at $10,000; each tier adds newsletter, social and event exposure (source: City SC UPSL sponsor opportunities). FC Buffalo, which runs a USL League Two and a USL W League side, sells packages starting at about $100, from a "tank of gas" tier up to a banner at its home field with season tickets and social tags (source: FC Buffalo store).
• Back of jersey. Foro Soccer Club in Florida prices its back-of-jersey package at $10,000 per season and its front-of-jersey package at $15,000, both with a field banner, social campaign, livestream logo and weekly email (source: Foro Soccer Club sponsorship deck).
• Front of jersey with academy. Shark Coast FC, a USL League Two club with elite youth teams, lists a $50,000 title sponsorship that puts the brand on every competitive kit from youth to USL2, and a $25,000 back-of-jersey package. The club attaches estimated annual impressions, roughly 400,000 to 590,000 for the title tier (source: Shark Coast FC, partner with us).
• Field banners at youth level. Recreational and youth clubs typically price a field banner at $1,000 to $2,000 per year and prefer multi-year terms, with team jersey sponsorships at $250 to $500 (example rate card: youth club rate card).

What moves the price

1. The academy. The single biggest driver. A USL League Two first team plays 12 to 14 matches in ten weeks; its academy plays all year in front of hundreds of families every weekend. When the kit sponsor covers every age group, the brand is buying the families, not the summer team. That is why the same asset costs $3,000 at one club and $25,000 at another.
2. Exclusivity. Most clubs sell one sponsor per category. Where a bank, a car dealer or a beverage company already holds a category, that category is closed at any price. Ask before you budget.
3. Term. Clubs prefer multi-year deals for signage and jerseys, and price them accordingly. A three-year banner is often cheaper per year than a one-year banner.
4. Proof and production. Some clubs produce the banner, most expect the sponsor to. A price that includes production and a photo of the placement live is worth more than one that does not.
5. Who is selling. At most clubs one person sells sponsorship part time, and unsold inventory near the start of the season is negotiable. The published price is the opening position.

What a brand should compare against

The right benchmark is not other sponsorships; it is what the same money buys elsewhere in the same market. A season of field signage and a back-of-jersey placement at a club whose academy draws Hispanic families every weekend costs less than most local media schedules, and it comes with exclusivity in the category and a physical presence at the match.

Read more: The Latino sports fan economy in numbers

For the club side of the same question, see how clubs should price their inventory.

Buying across many clubs

A regional or national brand does not want to negotiate ten rate cards. A sales house represents the open inventory of many clubs under one contract: each club keeps its price floor and approves every sponsor, the brand gets category exclusivity across markets and one invoice, and proof of activation comes back through one channel. That is how HRM works.

Plan a multi-club buy with HRM