Cricket club sponsorship

Cricket sponsorship in the UK has a distinctive character. Matches last for hours rather than ninety minutes, spectators sit and chat rather than rushing off, and the clubhouse is often busy from the first ball to well after stumps. For a sponsor, that means more time in front of people and a better chance of being noticed, remembered and talked about.

The audience is also broad. Many clubs run several senior teams alongside junior and women's sections, so on a busy weekend the ground can host players of every age, their families and members who simply come for the atmosphere. Local businesses such as estate agents, solicitors, accountants, builders, garages, pubs, cafés and farm shops often find that this mix closely matches their own customers.

The length of the cricket season is one of your strongest selling points. A sponsor's board or sightscreen branding will be seen at home matches across several months, often with multiple teams playing on the same ground each weekend. When you describe your offer, explain how many home fixtures you play across all teams in a typical season, and how the clubhouse is used on match days and in between.

You can also show that the relationship continues beyond the summer. Winter nets, indoor sessions, annual dinners and presentation evenings all give a sponsor further chances to be involved. A business that sponsors your winter nets, for example, keeps its name in front of players and parents during months when many other sports clubs are quiet, and that continuity helps when the conversation turns to renewal.

Three or four clear tiers usually work better than a long list of individual items. A main club partner package might combine the sightscreens, prominent boundary boards, first team shirt branding, clubhouse branding, social media mentions and an invitation to the annual dinner. A second tier could cover a boundary board, a team's training wear and regular social posts, while a community tier might be a single board, a scorebook sponsorship or support for one junior age group.

Festivals and tours can be sold as separate packages, since they bring a concentrated audience over a day or a weekend and give a sponsor something specific to talk about. Give every package a clear price that reflects what it costs the club to deliver and what local businesses can realistically spend. Our guide on how to write a sponsorship proposal explains how to present these packages clearly.

The best cricket sponsorships often run for many years, because both sides get to know each other well. Invite your sponsors to matches, festivals and the annual dinner, thank them publicly in your social posts and newsletters, and make sure their boards are clean, straight and well placed.

At the end of each season, send a brief summary of what was delivered, with photos and links. Raise renewal before the winter so that new kit or boards can be ordered in good time for the next summer. For more on keeping sponsors engaged, see our guide to sports club sponsorship.