Billions of people around the world follow sports. For example, football (or soccer) alone has up to 4 billion of them, cricket – 2.5 billion, basketball – 2.4 billion. But having an active fan base is not enough. The main challenge that sports leagues and individual teams face is monetizing, fan engagement and sponsorship activation – the strategic process of leveraging a sponsorship to create engaging, impactful, and multi-channel brand experiences for a target audience. 

Sports leagues and teams typically generate revenue from several sources, the largest of which is media rights. For example, in 2024 the NBA secured a landmark deal with the Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video worth around $75 billion. Additional income comes from merchandise and licensing, as well as ticket sales for live games. As an active player in the e-commerce space with 20+ years of experience, NFQ is well-aware of all the challenges brands – including sports brands and teams – face when it comes to scaling sales and ensuring a seamless purchasing experience.

It is important to note that despite having all these revenue streams, not all sports are profitable. That’s why leagues and federations are constantly looking for new ways to improve their monetization models. The implementation of various digital solutions has proved to be one of the best ways to achieve this goal.

At NFQ, we start working on sports-related projects with a single principle in mind: the main competition with other leagues and forms of entertainment is for the audience’s attention. To win it, the fan experience must be seamless, functional, and personalised. That’s why, in every project with our partners, we primarily focus on improving it as much as possible.

In 2024, we started our partnership with Euroleague Basketball to create a unified, multilingual digital experience across their website and EuroLeague TV platform, resulting in improved fan engagement, better sponsor visibility, and significant audience growth through enhanced streaming capabilities and personalized content delivery. The next-level experience available to fans of all major teams, including Bayern Munich, Fenerbahçe, Barcelona, and others was delivered thanks to close cooperation with the top decision-makers of Euroleague, including CEO Paulius Motiejūnas.

In 2025, NFQ partnered with a major international sports organisation to deliver a unified digital platform that streamlined the coordination of hundreds of events per season across multiple countries.

We do this by focusing on:

• Data analytics. To unlock new and valuable commercial opportunities, it is essential to connect and optimize all of the digital touchpoints and develop fan-experience-led marketing strategies.
• Inventory management. Digital tools allow leagues to reduce their reliance on media partnerships, but instead develop their streaming platforms and digital content management systems, keeping a portion of revenue streams. 
• Fan data and marketing. A centralized customer data platform is a must. Single sign-on and the fandom engine resolve disparate and disconnected data from multiple 3rd parties, keeping the audience more engaged.
• Ticketing systems and e-commerce. Merchandising has the potential to generate substantial revenue streams. It is essential to build user-friendly e-commerce platforms that would ensure a modern omnichannel buyer experience.

We work with trusted partners such as Cortex, WSC, Shopify, and IMG. While we have experience with these and many other solutions, our real value lies in optimising whatever stack is already in place.

Here’s how we create impact for sports leagues and organisations:

• Orchestration – integrating multiple third-party tools into a single managed stack, ensuring they work together seamlessly, reducing total cost of ownership, and avoiding vendor lock-in.
• Optimisation – fine-tuning existing systems and workflows to cut duplication, streamline processes, and reduce operating costs – making sure the tech stack supports the actual business case rather than the other way around.
• Customisation & branding – building tailored solutions that let clubs and leagues stand out with fan-facing features, sponsorship activation, and personalisation that off-the-shelf products can’t provide (or only at very high cost).

Our experience comes from over two decades of delivering complex projects across demanding sectors such as aviation, logistics, and government. With strong data analytics, coding, and UI development skills, we help sports organisations capture and keep the attention of their fan base.

And while many are still debating AI, we’re already putting it into practice for major leagues and clubs – from content automation and fan segmentation to AI-driven stats agents that transform operations.

Modern sports are no longer just a passion project. They represent a high-growth, high-return industry where new technology, format innovation, and revenue diversification open up constant opportunities. Our team is here to help you develop the digital tools that will enable you to capitalise on them.