Team Marketing, the renowned sports marketing agency and commercial rights holder of UEFA club competitions, has recently signed up Baller League. The new digital-focused six-a-side soccer competition is set to be Team's first post-UEFA client as the agency seeks to secure its future.
The agency plans to initially support Baller League’s sales efforts while considering a potential longer-term partnership with the competition. This move marks a significant shift for Team Marketing from a single-client model towards a broader platform strategy.
The addition of Baller League signifies a new era for Team Marketing. This comes six months after losing its UEFA contract for the 2027-33 cycle to US-based Relevent Sports agency. The contract awarded Relevent rights to sell sponsorship, broadcast, and licensing rights for top-tier UEFA Champions League, secondary Europa League, and third-tier Conference League competitions.
Team Marketing released statement:
“Naturally, we are disappointed, but we remain incredibly proud of the work we have done alongside UEFA over the past 35 years. While this marks the end of an era, it is not the end of our ambition. Our deep knowledge of European club football, our track record of success, and our unwavering commitment to excellence remain. We are excited about the future and confident in Team’s expertise.”
Team had been the global rights holder since 1992 when Champions league was created - an event that marked the start of modern-era pan-European competitions by UEFA. However, in 2022, UEFA split out its commercial rights in the US and hired Relevant Sports domestically breaking Team's monopoly over properties but retaining their rights in all other countries.
Expansion beyond football
In addition to its soccer marketing services, Team Marketing expanded its reach in 2023 with the launch of its T/Squared arm. This new division has played a significant advisory role on several occasions in the past year. Notably, it provided counsel to the Swiss Football League during their domestic rights tender process. Furthermore, T/Squared was instrumental in managing global media rights sales for prestigious tennis competitions such as the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup national teams competitions.
In February this year T/Squared also agreed on a new commercial partnership with esports organization Riot Games further expanding their portfolio beyond traditional sports. Baller league secured major domestic partnership rights with pay-TV heavyweight Sky earlier this year ahead of the competition’s UK launch. Under this deal, every match during the 2025 season was shown live on Sky Sports’ linear channels and its subscription OTT service Now from March 24 to June 12.
Baller League has previously conducted two seasons in Germany with backing from popular social media personalities like KSI and soccer legends such as Luis Figo and Ronaldinho. The UK season saw a new host of soccer legends, social media stars, and cultural icons manage the competing teams. The competition also acquired mobile network operator O2 as the headline sponsor for the league’s UK launch.
