Prestige branding deals usher in sport’s luxury era

On the afternoon of Sunday March 16, the chequered flag waved British racing driver Lando Norris and his McLaren across the finish line in the first race of a new Formula 1 season. For the sport’s 750mn fans, it was a winning moment witnessed hundreds of times. Only this time it was different: Norris hadn’t won the Australian Grand Prix; he had won the Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix.

This year, for the first time, the naming rights for every race in the F1 calendar have been sold by F1’s owner, Liberty Media. In Australia, those went to the Parisian fashion house as part of a deal with its parent company, the French luxury conglomerate LVMH. Other race sponsors this season include sister LVMH brands Tag Heuer and Moët & Chandon as part of the same deal, worth $1bn over 10 years.

For some, this luxury-themed F1 season has ushered in a new era in which elite-level televised sports with global followings have become more than convenient platforms for luxury brands to reach new customers.

“If, by definition, a luxury item is non-essential but highly desirable, and very associated with exclusivity, high price points and status signalling, then yes, some sport has become a luxury product,” says Angus Buchanan, chief executive of London-based The Sports Consultancy.

In recent years, ticket prices for the world’s leading sports events have risen significantly. In England’s Premier League, the cheapest season ticket at Arsenal for the 2025-26 season is £1,127, up 5 per cent from the previous year, after a 10 per cent rise the year before. The most expensive season ticket for next season will be for Fulham, at £3,084. At Silverstone last weekend, for the Qatar Airways British Grand Prix, one official VIP package was selling for £4,420 per person.

Nicholas Biebuyck, heritage director at Tag Heuer, says LVMH’s F1 deal had a clear motivation: “Formula 1 wants to elevate its brand’s perception to be a luxury brand, and who better to help them with that than the most valuable luxury conglomerate in the world, LVMH?”

Watch brands paved the way for the so-called luxurification of sport. Tag Heuer, or Heuer as it was, became the first non-automotive brand to partner with an F1 team when it sponsored Ferrari in 1971. Omega has been official timekeeper for the Olympic Games on 31 occasions since 1932. And Rolex began its association with golf in 1967 when it signed a deal with US player Arnold Palmer.

“Some of the watch brands have been the longest sponsors in sport,” says Buchanan. “Rolex, for example, has been at [UK tennis championship] Wimbledon since 1978. Rolex enhanced the credibility of the sport and the event, but brand transfer works both ways. It’s reciprocal.”

Biebuyck points to an inbuilt advantage. “Watch brands are the Trojan horse in sports, because we have the opportunity to be there through timekeeping,” he says. “And once we’re there, you can see other brands [beyond watches] wanting to come in and piggyback.

“They don’t have the storytelling, because they don’t have timekeeping, but they do help elevate the franchise even further. When a sport doesn’t have that, you can see the perception of that property as a brand and as a luxury asset diminish.”

Players, clubs and sports competitions come to us to elevate their brand

The view from inside the ropes appears to be the same. “Rolex is a very important part of tennis,” says Roger Federer, eight-time Wimbledon singles champion and a Rolex ambassador. “When people think about Rolex, they see Wimbledon, and when people think about Wimbledon, they see Rolex. Both elevate one another.”

Among contemporary examples of a luxury brand’s capacity to elevate a sport, few rank alongside Hublot’s investment in football. In 2006, the Swiss watchmaker became the first luxury brand to enter the world’s most popular sport by sponsoring the Swiss national team. Today, it sponsors the Fifa World Cup and Uefa men’s and women’s tournaments.

It also counts Kylian Mbappé, who won the World Cup with France in 2018, among its ambassadors, and on July 27, its signature fourth official boards will appear on the touchline during the final of the women’s Euros.

These deals appear to have transformed the brand, which is thought to have increased its revenues by around 10 times since its first football partnership. Hublot was sold to LVMH in 2008 for a reported €450mn.

Hublot may also have transformed football — and tennis, golf and athletics, in which it has also invested, albeit to lesser degrees. The company’s current chief executive, Julien Tornare, seems to think so. “Maybe they wouldn’t be able to sell seats at the same prices because they wouldn’t have the same environment,” he says, referring to sports events. “If their sponsors are only banks, insurance and telecommunications companies, it’s less glamorous.”

Tornare says his brand’s investment in sport over two decades means the shoe is now on the other foot. “Players, clubs and sports competitions come to us to elevate their brand,” he says. “They want to be part of the luxury world. We never had that until a few years ago.”

Buchanan, whose agency brokers deals between sports and brands, sees the balance tipping, too. “If I’ve got two offers, and one is from a luxury brand but for less money, the sports event or team will often go for the lower value offer from the much more prestigious brand, because they are very aware of how that makes their brand appear in the marketplace,” he says. “The credibility and the prestige an event gets from that brand is extremely valuable.”

But not everyone sees the pendulum swinging as hard. Karine Szegedi, Swiss fashion and luxury head at consultancy Deloitte and co-author of its annual Swiss watch industry report, says luxury brands still have more to gain from sport than the other way round. “People are so passionate about sport and that’s still why brands invest,” she says. “People buy luxury because of emotion, and sport creates emotions you can’t find elsewhere.”

The luxury profile increasingly attributed to elite televised sport may also have a sociopolitical impact. Cases of emerging nations attracting big sports events allied to luxury brands are now too numerous to count. Buchanan points to the Beijing Olympics of 2008 as being crucial to China’s standing on the world stage as one example.

More recently, states with apparently limitless sovereign wealth funds, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have used sport to attract investment and soften their image.

“For certain, for any growing economy or market, the prestige of hosting high-level sports events is essential to the way you nation brand-build,” says Buchanan. “And swimming alongside that are the luxury brands who feed the same instincts at a consumer level.”

Away from geopolitics, some sports appear to have recognised the longevity in luxury brands as a template for their future success. “We see sports wanting to become brands in their own right,” says Tag Heuer’s Biebuyck. “They can see that having a brand gives them a level of solidarity, protection and insulation that just being a franchise doesn’t.”

For some, the transformation has already taken place. “The line between athletic excellence and luxury branding has become completely blurred,” says Robertino Altieri, chief executive of online watch retailer WatchGuys.com. “These relationships don’t just enhance a brand; they elevate the sport itself into a luxury product.”

But with ticket prices soaring as clubs, leagues and international events look to recruit top talent and lure in big-spending luxury brands and spectators looking for high-end experiences, there is concern the luxurification of some sports will put them out of reach of the ordinary fan. “Sport is both non-essential, high price point and therefore luxury, and also essential [to fans],” says Buchanan.

“Sport must cater for the needs of both of those audiences, and not turn into a pure luxury product that abuses the loyalty of fans to the extent they feel alienated by it.”