What I Learned From Jomboy Media's Upfront

👋 Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, a weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

MLB’s Postseason kicked off last week, and I spotted two new concepts I’d add to my playoff inventory for any sport.

First up, a fresh twist on locker room celebrations: The New York Mets positioned a camera above the action, giving fans a new angle of the festivities.

Typically, we see these moments at eye level, so this was a cool change. Plus, with a waterproof champagne-proof camera, you don’t have to worry about equipment getting destroyed.

You could tie this in with your airline partner and call it “Bird’s Eye View,” using it when the team clinches a playoff spot and after winning each round.

On the same day, SportsNet New York (SNY), the Mets’ regional network, shared footage from inside their production truck when the team clinched their playoff spot.

I love this kind of behind-the-scenes access, and the stacked creative—truck POV, broadcast footage, and photo overlay—worked perfectly for vertical formats.

For this, I’d look to target a mutual team and network partner, leveraging Instagram and TikTok’s collab tool for better reach.

Offer it at the clinch and once a round, paired with a fitting name like “Inside Look” for a vision brand, “Run It Back” for a fitness or running brand, or even “Postgame ReWine” for a wine brand, and you’ve got a solid sponsored content opportunity.

In Today’s Edition:

• Learnings From Jomboy Media’s Upfront ⚾️

• Talladega Nights With Stewart-Haas Racing 🍞

• LAFC Delivers A Fresh Trigger Promotion ⚽️ 

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
What I Learned From Jomboy Media's Upfront

If you’ve worked in partnerships long enough, it can start to feel transactional.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase “in the spirit of good partnership” used for requests that clearly weren’t. Once money is involved, there’s an ongoing tug-of-war between rights holders and brands over fan engagement.

Last month, I attended Jomboy Media’s first-ever Upfront—a sneak peek at the content and branded opportunities they’re planning for 2025. It was a great reminder of what true partnership looks like.

Seeing this creator-led sports media company thoughtfully work with brands to serve their community gave me a fresh perspective on how partnerships should really operate.

I left the event with a clear playbook on how to maximize value for all three key players: the rights holder, the brand, and the fans.

Mindset Shapes Reaction

Jomboy Media’s Approach: Jomboy Media treats sponsored content as an opportunity to entertain its audience.

When brainstorming brand integrations, “one of their favorite meetings”, the focus is on creating value through strong performance, asking questions like: “How do we get this seen?”, “How do we have fun with this?”, and “How do we make it natural while maximizing views?”

Take DraftKings, one of Jomboy Media’s longtime partners. They know DraftKings ads are everywhere, and the team takes pride in making sure their audience specifically sees their (JM’s) DraftKings ads.

They’ve had so much fun and success with it that they even post the ads directly to their social feeds.

Why It Matters: Fan reaction reflects the mindset going into sponcon ideation. If you think, “Ugh, we have to put ads in this,” fans will feel the same. They’ll notice the content isn’t its best, and worse, it won’t get the attention you want.

But if you see sponsored content as a chance to deliver creative entertainment, fans will celebrate it.

Take this example from the Atlanta Falcons: Last month, Freddie Falcon broke the Guinness World Record for the highest indoor rope swing drop. Turns out, this wasn’t just about the stunt—Freddie was wearing red Crocs, and fans noticed!

This is the creative mindset we need for sponsored content. Tap into what fans already love, and find clever, natural ways to integrate brands into the content.

Win-Win-Win

Jomboy Media’s Approach: COO Courtney Hirsch shared JM’s three core principles for brand collaboration:

1. Trust who we are

2. Community First

3. Partners go all in with us, so the community buys all the way in

Why It Matters: If you’re competing with your brand partners to “win” the sponsored content battle, you’ve already lost.

Trying to minimize logos, avoid visible tags, or prioritize logo slaps over genuine integrations sets you up for failure. The reality? We either win together (rights holders, brands, and fans) or lose together.

If the rightsholder limits branding or fails to connect the brand to the content clearly, their partners lose out on value. Ultimately, the rightsholder loses too, because partners are less likely to renew, which means less revenue for bigger, better content—and that hurts the fan experience.

On the flip side, if the brand “wins” by taking too much control of the content or overloading branding, it won’t perform well with fans. That hurts the rightsholder’s KPIs, the brand’s partnership value, and the fan experience.

Rightsholders need to produce fan-first content that matches audience expectations, and then align their brand partners with top-performing opportunities where natural integrations fit (through content, and or proper channel strategy).

Nurture Investment

Jomboy Media’s Approach: The JM team made it clear that when brands sign up with them, they don’t have to jump through hoops.

As they put it, “Anyone who’s willing to be part of this, we’re gonna take care of them more than anyone.”

Why It Matters: It’s a great reminder that brands are paying customers, just like fans.

For fans, we aim to give them the best experience, whether they’re in the front row or the nosebleeds. Those experiences are different, but we strive to make each one the best it can be.

We should do the same for our brand partners. But, to be clear, there’s a big difference between overservicing and providing the best possible solutions.

Taking care of partners doesn’t mean giving them whatever they want. Boundaries will vary based on investment level, and not everything needs to be ultra-customized. What it does mean is being thoughtful and respectful of their investment, with the goal of everyone being excited about renewal.

Let’s avoid making partners feel silly for their requests or questions. Partnerships should be approachable, easy to understand, and focused on helping them reach their business goals.

The Takeaway

Whether you’re on the rightsholder side or the brand side, securing a sponsorship doesn’t guarantee the partnership will drive maximum value.

In fact, at last week’s Sponsorship Mastery Summit, I learned that the range of outcomes for sponsor performance in aiding awareness, favorability, and purchase intent can vary between 43% and 74%.

How we help brand partners show up determines how well partnerships work.

Jomboy Media shows us how it’s done right: by treating sponsored content as a creative opportunity, aligning brand integrations naturally, and making partnerships a win for everyone—rights holders, brands, and fans.

When we focus on community-first, thoughtful collaboration, we build stronger, more lasting relationships with our partners. And the best part? Everyone walks away excited for more.

Want to learn more about Jomboy Media? Click here to read my June interview with Courtney Hirsch, where we dive into how they renew 90% of their partners.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

Shout out to the Washington Wizards! Of all the sponsored Media Day and Training Camp logo lockups, theirs was my favorite—both for aesthetics and the perfect balance of partner logo size.

Stewart-Haas Racing brought back the Wonder Bread car for last week’s race at Talladega, recreating a scene from Talladega Nights. Iconic move.

Love the strategy behind the Detroit Red Wings x Greyson Clothiers merch collab. Greyson tapped into both the team’s and Dylan Larkin’s audiences to promote the capsule collection. Plus, they sweetened the deal with a ticket offer, giving fans early access to the fan shop activation and an exclusive Greyson x DRW Trucker Hat.

St. Louis City SC teamed up with TV host and cookbook author Adam Richman to highlight their amazing food at CITYPARK. Bonus points for pulling this off pregame on a derby day!

This trigger promotion framework adds a fun layer of engagement. LAFC and DoorDash's “Discount Goals” gives fans a percentage off their alcohol order based on the goal scorer’s jersey number. They even humorously addressed the obvious question: What happens when Denis Bouanga (No. 99) scores?

MLB’s Managerial Decisions concept, presented by Sage, is a perfect fit for a tech brand focused on accounting, finance, HR, and payroll. I love how it engages fans by letting them weigh in on each prompt.

And finally, sponcon names don’t get much better than this: the Kansas City Chiefs have a game recap show on YouTube called The Inside Scoop, presented by Tostitos.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Breaking The Mold: Chaj Arunasalam lays out why teams need to break out of their YouTube routines and lean into athlete and fan-led content to capture Gen Z’s attention.

Landostand: Love this idea for a crypto partnership! McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris teamed up with Silverstone for the 2025 British Grand Prix to host his first-ever Landostand, taking over Stowe Corner for prime fan views as he races down the Hangar Straight. The sold-out package included free merch, visits from Lando, fan packs, events, entertainment, and exclusive competitions.

Q4 Sports Marketing Data: Dominyck Bullard shares how to hit your Q4 growth and revenue targets with content that connects with high-value sports fans [via Power Play Newsletter].

Ramen On The Street: Curious about when to create a spinoff account for your brand? Check out Rachel Karten’s Link In Bio Newsletter, where she interviews Emely Alba, Senior TikTok Strategist at immi, about why they launched a separate account for their hit interview series.

Longer Shorts: Starting on October 15, you can upload YouTube Shorts up to three minutes long - a top requested feature by creators. Jack Appleby explains why this matters and how it should impact your vertical content strategy in the latest edition of Future Social.

MLS Goes Global: George Pyne breaks down how Major League Soccer’s new OneFootball partnership helps position the league to better understand fans' preferences and continue its international growth.

Five [Vy]Stars: Dr. Dan Kaufmann showcases how VyStar Credit Union is using its Orlando Magic partnership to create value for the brand and its members.

International Fan Strategy: It’s really interesting to see how NFL teams with matching international market rights are teaming up on activations to boost overall interest in the sport [via Sportico].