Our 4 Favorite Sports Partnership Activations of 2023 (so far)

Sponsorship activations keep getting bigger, bolder and more elaborate — here are four of our favourites from 2023 so far.

Four standout activations

Jordan Brand's immersive Parlor23 experience at NBA All-Star Weekend combined curated athlete storytelling, gaming and even wood-fired pizza in a nod to Michael Jordan's famous "Flu Game." Red Bull's 40,000-square-foot Energy Station returned to the Miami Grand Prix for a second year, complete with a themed taqueria honouring driver Sergio Pérez. At Wimbledon, Vodafone trialled 5G-powered GiveVision headsets, giving visually impaired fans a genuinely enhanced view of live matches for the first time. And Las Vegas's new $2.3 billion Sphere transformed into a giant basketball for NBA Summer League, showing off its 580,000-square-foot LED exterior.

As partnership activations grow more ambitious, managing the commercial complexity behind them — deliverables, reporting, renewal — becomes an increasingly important part of getting the return right.