Behind the Sponsorship: The New Rules for Athlete Success (Part 2)

It's not just results (nor Instagram) anymore

Community leader, marquee athlete, and influencer. In Part 1 of this article, Carbs Fuel Founder and CEO, Gabe Multer, talked about his three types of athlete sponsorships. Now, we’re gonna look at the nitty and the gritty of those partnerships.

I’m not an expert in this field, hell I’m not even a full-time pro cyclist, my salary comes from freelancing writing too. However, I spend way too many hours thinking about this while out training. Then Gabe, well it’s a pretty integral part of his business, so I’d say between us, we make a decent team.

The problem with athlete sponsorship is that everyone thinks about how they work with an influencer and applies it to the other two athlete categories. They expect a direct ROI. They expect to measure X number of clicks, posts, or sales converted.

— Gabe Multer, ‘Behind the Sponsorship: What do Brands Want (Part 1)’

Activation is the keyword in sponsorship. It’s social media campaigns, photo shoots, meet and greets, events and so much more. It’s leveraging and implementing strategies to maximise the sponsorship agreement. Having a good activation plan defines whether the sponsorship is successful.

“A lot of athletes that reach out to us mainly expect support with products, but of course, there are paid athlete partnerships in the nutrition world too. Helmet wraps are becoming normalised, and that’s one place where nutrition sponsors are paying a lot of money.

However, remember that none of this is worth anything if it’s not followed up with an execution strategy...”

Helmet wraps. Made famous by Red Bull, and normalised by The Feed. They're now lucrative spots for athletes to sell sponsorship.

The Hybrid Athlete

When I talk to any partner, either current or potential, I always bring my writing into the equation. Yes, I’m a decent enough athlete, but my USP is almost certainly this side of things.

I asked Gabe exactly that: “Would you be more compelled to work with an athlete who also does something else.” By this, I mean an athlete who is also a podcaster, influencer, YouTuber, a guy with a dog (Hi, Alexey), or in my case, a writer.

It’s what Nikki Strickland of NICH Culture would call the “multi-hyphenated athlete”, and it seems to be the way the sport is going. There are few people getting contacts based on results alone these days.

“The hybrid athlete is a huge part of the conversation, and I think that’s the way these partnerships are going to go: great athletes that also have great media, PR, those sort of things.

For starters, it allows a brand to be lazy, and a lot of brands like that. If you have an athlete that is performing at the top level, but also has a podcast or a YouTube channel, and a ton of followers, there are so many opportunities to activate. Equally, on the other hand of the equation, I’d expect that person to be a lot more expensive.

This is when I have to start juggling ROI. I could sign an athlete that brings everything to the table, but it is more expensive, or I could sign somebody who doesn’t have all those extra things. If I sign an athlete that doesn’t have the extra parts, it’s on me as the brand to give them the tools, and work together on the activation.

For example, using random numbers, but say I was to pay you $5,000, Joe. We know we’re going to get X,Y, and Z. Maybe you write us a bunch of articles, or you pay a photographer buddy to do a photo shoot. Effectively, we can leave you alone all year and you would still deliver.

Then equally, I could pay an athlete $1,000 for the year and they don’t have to do all the other parts for themselves. In that relationship, I still have to spend $4,000 to get content made, edited and whatever.

I’m in the same place. I’ve still spent $5,000, but one has been more work.

Athlete photoshoots are a pretty standard clause in any contract.

It’s not always the money, it’s the time and headache too. We’re a relatively small brand and I have twenty other jobs alongside athlete partnerships. If I have an athlete who is easy to work with, provides me with the assets, and is taking the initiative with the relationship. Well, that’s heaven for me.

As a brand owner, I have to be flexible and understand the type of athlete and person that I’m working with. I cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach to every contract and relationship that I go into.

Gabe’s Tips:

There are going to be many types of people reading this article: athletes, brands, agents, and consumers. I asked Gabe what rubs him up the wrong way, and what potential athletes should be mindful of when emailing brands like his…

“We get a couple of sponsorship requests every day. I see every email that comes in and I’ll admit sometimes the entitlement of people annoys me. A lot of athletes make these sponsorship requests and the email is all about them. It sometimes feels like they’re saying: ‘I’m so great, you as the brand should be so lucky to work with me.’ That’s frustrating, because if you are so great, and I should be so lucky to work with you, then I’ll know that by looking at it. Instead, I want you to convince me why you’re excited to work with us and understand why you want to work with us at all.

We’ve grown a lot in the last year, but we’re still a relatively small business and have finite resources to be able to sponsor people. We could throw out discount codes, though I want to be reserved about this. Our product is already discounted, and where do I draw the line?

On the other hand, I’ve had athletes that I’ve found via Instagram, or on results sheets but I simply don’t know how to get in touch with them. It’s a shame, I think sometimes these people are doing themselves a disservice.”

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My Takeaways

Hours upon hours of my life are spent on this topic. It doesn’t just interest me because it forms a part of my job as a privateer, but it’s a world and industry I could see myself going into after my athletic career too.

My main takeaways from Gabe:

• There a three different types of athlete partnership

• No two relationships are the same - it’s not cookie-cutter

• ‘Multi-hyphenate’ or ‘hybrid’ athletes are only going to become more important

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You’ll be seeing many more articles in this style on my Substack. I’m going to write pieces that look at how different brands deal with sponsorship and the economics of racing away from the World Tour.

Equally, I don’t just want to cover cycling. If you have any contacts in skiing, triathlon, MTB, or ultra-running, please shout up. I think there’s plenty I could learn from those sports.

If you have any ideas or would like me to cover a specific brand or topic, don’t hesitate to drop me an email.

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This article is not paid, nor do I have any agreement with Carbs Fuel. Gabe is simply a good friend and I like what they’re doing. If you’d like to try their product, head over to The Feed.

• The Feed (US and Global)

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While you’re here…

I’ve added a paid subscription and a ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ link to this post. As the year progresses, I’m planning on building this blog and putting out articles which I’ve always wanted to write but for whatever reason, haven’t wanted to pitch.

Any money that I make from either my Substack or BMaC link will go straight back into supporting my 2025 racing project. I am planning on keeping all content on here free to view.

• https://www.buymeacoffee.com/joelaverick

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Project TAG, proudly partnering (both for my athletic and influencing ability) with…

• Pullwood Consulting

• ENVE Composites

• Castelli Cycling

• Panaracer Tyres

• Rudy Project