Formula 1 sponsorship tops $2billion for the first time

Formula 1 has become a sponsorship juggernaut in recent years and new, independent research has shown that over $2billion was earned in 2024 with only the NFL now bringing in more revenue on an annual basis.

A report from SponsorUnited shows that F1 and its teams generated $2.04billion last year, more than a number of established American sports leagues that had previously led the way in terms of sponsorship money.

The NBA, MLB and NHL all brought in less, with only the $2.5billion from the NFL topping F1’s own figure – although the ways in which the two championships reached their respective totals could not be more different.

Across the series, the SponsorUnited report lists the collective F1 teams as averaging over $6million apiece, some eight times more than the average revenue the NFL produces from its own partnerships.

“A few years ago, people said the world was going crazy when the Dallas Cowboys were valued at $4billion,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently told the Financial Times.

“Now they’re worth $10bn and everybody says, how crazy is that? If teams are successful, the sport prospers, and the bottom line grows, higher valuations are justified. In Formula 1, it’s justified by peer group valuations, revenue multiples, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) multiples, sustainable growth, and predictable income.

“Sponsorship contracts are generally three to 10 years. TV contracts, the same. You have great predictability, which you don’t always get in a conventional business. The attraction changed when Liberty bought the sport. Bernie [Ecclestone] led the sport for more than 40 years and made it big. But when it changed hands, the new owners pushed it up to completely new levels — the American way of looking at sports from an entertainment perspective.”

It is unsurprising that Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are the highest earning teams in terms of sponsorship, while the report also breaks down which sectors are now involved in F1 partnerships – wit the technology category accounting for over $500million of partnership income across the 10 teams.

It also shows the most expensive sponsorship assets for a team, with the airbox and sidepod advertising positions worth upwards of $5million for the bigger names on the grid.