When it comes to delivering the highest return on investment, the Philadelphia Phillies come out on top of the 29 teams ranked in the LERMA/ Sports Sponsorship Ranker. The new proprietary benchmarking tool is designed to help brands evaluate the relative value of sports sponsorship investments.
The inaugural edition ranks all the U.S.-based Major League Baseball teams based on their strength as sponsorship partners. Rather than focusing on wins and losses, the ranker evaluates teams through a brand investment lens, analyzing factors such as media efficiency, fan affinity, and team trajectory.
According to the rankings, despite their slow start on the field, the Phillies are the most efficient media buy in baseball, with a composite score of 82. The Dodgers follow closely at 80 and benefit from their strong fanbase, both in-stadium and on-screen. The Tigers, tied with the Dodgers, are backed by their strong reach. New York (scored 78) and Boston (scored 74) follow in spots 4 & 5.
The MLB Sports Sponsorship Ranker is the first release in a broader initiative from LERMA/ that will introduce similar rankings across major professional leagues throughout the year.
“It felt a little crazy to us that, with all the data capabilities in our industry today, evaluating sports deals still felt like the Wild West for so many of our clients. We developed the Sports Sponsorship Ranker to give brands a clearer bird’s-eye view of the sponsorship landscape, starting with MLB.” said Jon Lee, Principal at LERMA/.
The LERMA/ Sports Sponsorship Ranker evaluates teams across three core dimensions:
- Media Efficiency – the relative cost of local media exposure, measured through estimated CPM.
- Fan Affinity – indicators of fan engagement and audience scale, including All-Star voting, franchise value, social media following, video views, and ticket sales.
- Team Trajectory – indicators of momentum and media visibility, including betting market expectations and media coverage trends.
The Sports Sponsorship Ranker was developed for CMOs, partnership teams, and brand marketers evaluating sports sponsorship investments.
All 29 U.S.-based MLB teams are included in the ranking. The Toronto Blue Jays were excluded because the model focuses on U.S. media markets and sponsorship economics.
While the ranking highlights teams that currently offer strong combinations of exposure and efficiency, LERMA/ emphasizes that sponsorship alignment and outcomes ultimately depend on each brand’s strategy, audience targets, and activation plans.
Brands seeking a more tailored evaluation can work with LERMA/’s partnerships team to conduct a Partnership Valuation Audit, which assesses potential sponsorship opportunities based on a brand’s unique objectives and investment level.
The LERMA/ Sports Sponsorship Ranker is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with any professional sports league. This ranking is based on available market data and LERMA/’s proprietary modeling. It is designed as a directional benchmarking tool for brand marketers and should not be used as a measure of team value.
LERMA/ plans to publish updated editions of the Sports Sponsorship Ranker annually before the start of each season and expand the model to cover additional professional leagues in the future.The full ranking and methodology can be viewed at: lermasports.com
