Empty floodlit football stadium at night

LEVELUP®

Empowering ambitious sports clubs to drive incremental commercial opportunities.

Your challenge

The cost of commercial inaction.

Estimated annual cost per club

£820k–£1.05m

That's what the average League One club is leaving on the table every season — by under-using sponsorship inventory, digital assets and the venue itself outside of matchday.

£9.1m

Avg. annual revenue (League One club)

19–22%

Commercial share of revenue

1–2 senior players' wages

Equivalent to

A risk few clubs can afford to continue.

Figures are illustrative estimates built from Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance (2023/24), Sentinel Sports Group pyramid data (2024/25) and Arthur D. Little's commercial football analysis. Conservative estimates of foregone opportunity, not revenue forecasts. Individual circumstances will materially affect achievable upside.

Our solution

Help your club to LevelUP®

LevelUP® is a fractional commercial team for ambitious clubs. We shape and grow the full commercial ecosystem — building incremental, long-term revenue streams in collaboration with your existing staff.

"Senior-level experience, for less than the cost of an FTE."

The LevelUP promise

Our experience

30+ years across the sports industry

We've worked inside and with clubs of every size, alongside some of the most renowned brands and rights holders in the UK.

DAZN
adidas
Nissan
Heineken
Liverpool FC
Sussex Cricket
Dafabet
Focus Group
Trading Post Coffee

A trusted approach

A multi-phased approach, delivered to your needs.

01

Commercial Assessment

Analyse the commercial potential of your club.

02

Commercial Development

Develop a roadmap of incremental opportunities.

03

Commercial Activation

Support the delivery of an implementable action plan.

Commercial Assessment

Phase 1 — Free of charge

Commercial Assessment

We benchmark your sponsorship and ticketing performance against the league above and below, identify the gaps in your inventory and hand you a strategy with implementable actions.

  • Sponsorship asset audit & competitor benchmarking
  • Ticketing & membership volume vs. inventory analysis
  • New inventory + packaging valuation

Output

Commercial strategy with implementable actions

Commercial Development

Phase 2 — Monthly retainer

Commercial Development

A defined longer-term roadmap and ongoing senior support. Venue infrastructure, digital & data ecosystem, average matchday spend per head — reviewed and optimised.

  • Venue infrastructure: EPOS, access control, space maximisation
  • Digital & data: CRM, MarComms, owned & operated channels
  • Match day Revenue: Matchday average spend per head optimisation
  • Sponsorship: Revised positioning + creation of new sponsorship packages to maximise appeal for new verticals
  • Sponsorship: Optimise digital sponsorship asset portfolio

Output

Senior level experience for less than the cost of an FTE

Commercial Activation

Phase 3 — Project fee

Commercial Activation

Hands-on delivery to bring sponsor and venue propositions to life. Often structured as a percentage of sponsorship fee or partnership fee. No club outlay until the right solution is in place or subsidised by sponsorship fees.

  • Bespoke content concepts & unique sponsor messaging
  • Access to player talent for commercial usage
  • Production: shoot, edit & distribute

Output

Project-based collaboration delivered to scope

Why us

Senior-level experience, delivering elite results.

Damian Smyth

Co-Founder

  • Multiple years working with sponsors, rights holders & media owners
  • Rights optimisation from both sponsor & rights-holder perspectives
  • Expert in partnership acquisition, delivery & retention
  • Pioneer in team management, optimisation & asset generation

Sam Graham

Co-Founder

  • Multiple years working with sponsors, rights holders & media owners
  • Venue revenue: hospitality, ticketing, retail, non-matchday
  • Expert in MarComms (owned, earned, paid)
  • Pioneer in team management, optimisation & asset generation

All we need from you

Send us your existing sales materials, an outline of your sponsor & ticketing setup and current ticket volumes. We'll come back with a free commercial assessment.

Don't be a club that gets left behind.