Are airlines who sponsor football clubs gaining anything from fans?
Starck, Alexandra (2026)
2026
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202601281905
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202601281905
Tiivistelmä
This research aims to see if airlines sponsoring football clubs in the Premier League are benefiting from it through fans choosing to fly with them. A big part of the research was to see how aware fans are of sponsoring airlines. It also investigates if loyalty towards a club affects airlines sponsoring rivalling clubs. The topic was chosen due to the author’s personal interests and thoughts about the topic.
The theoretical parts of the thesis are based on information about general sponsorships as well as airline sponsor data. As there are very little information and research about airline sponsorships a big portion of the theory is made up of conclusions made from other types of sponsorships.
The research was done with a quantitative survey which also included some qualitative questions. The survey was open for 21 days in November 2025. The main target was football fans, but anyone was welcome to answer, it gathered 61 responses mainly from people living in Finland.
The key findings were that football fans generally do not care about airline sponsors. They are aware of the most well-known ones, but some are unknown. They would not choose to fly with an airline solely because it is a sponsor but are instead looking for a good price, route and quality. Club loyalty does not affect the choice of airline as respondents didn’t care if an airline is sponsoring a rival club. Thus, airlines are not gaining significant revenue from their sponsorships.
The theoretical parts of the thesis are based on information about general sponsorships as well as airline sponsor data. As there are very little information and research about airline sponsorships a big portion of the theory is made up of conclusions made from other types of sponsorships.
The research was done with a quantitative survey which also included some qualitative questions. The survey was open for 21 days in November 2025. The main target was football fans, but anyone was welcome to answer, it gathered 61 responses mainly from people living in Finland.
The key findings were that football fans generally do not care about airline sponsors. They are aware of the most well-known ones, but some are unknown. They would not choose to fly with an airline solely because it is a sponsor but are instead looking for a good price, route and quality. Club loyalty does not affect the choice of airline as respondents didn’t care if an airline is sponsoring a rival club. Thus, airlines are not gaining significant revenue from their sponsorships.