For decades, sports sponsorship largely revolved around a small group of household names.
Brands competed to work with the biggest footballers, Olympians and global superstars, while thousands of talented athletes outside that elite circle received little or no commercial support.
Trevor Twamley, founder and CEO of Sport Endorse, believes that model is changing.
Speaking to Bio-Synergy founder Daniel Herman on the Make It Happen Mindset podcast, Trevor explained how technology, social media and artificial intelligence are opening sponsorship to a far broader and more diverse generation of athletes.
His ambition is simple but significant: to make it faster, easier and more affordable for brands and athletes to find one another.
From the back of a beer mat to a global platform
Like many great business ideas, Sport Endorse began with a conversation in a pub.
Trevor and co-founder Declan sketched out the concept for a two-sided marketplace on the back of a beer mat. At the time, they could not afford to build the technology, so they started by learning the business from the ground up.
Their first major opportunity came when they were introduced to an Irish boxer competing at Madison Square Garden. Within weeks, they had sold sponsorship across his shorts, the canvas and the venue’s television screens, with sponsors even announced by Michael Buffer.
The success attracted around 100 athletes looking for representation. It also confirmed something Trevor had already suspected: there was enormous demand from talented sportspeople who lacked access to traditional sponsorship opportunities.
Sport Endorse initially operated more like a conventional agency, but the long-term goal was always to build scalable technology.
When the pandemic brought much of the sporting world to a standstill, the team used the opportunity to accelerate development of the platform. Today, it connects more than 12,000 athletes across approximately 280 disciplines with brands around the world.
Supporting the other 97%
Major sports agencies naturally focus on athletes capable of generating the biggest fees. Superstars such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Rory McIlroy require dedicated management, but they represent only a tiny proportion of the sporting population.
Trevor is particularly passionate about the other 97%: Olympians relying on grants, emerging competitors, student athletes and people from less commercially prominent sports.
A local athlete with 3,000 engaged followers may never secure a multimillion-pound endorsement, but a smaller partnership could help them pay for equipment, travel, nutrition or recovery support.
That same athlete might also be more valuable to the right brand than a celebrity with millions of disengaged followers.
Technology makes these smaller partnerships commercially viable. Rather than manually managing one athlete at a time, Sport Endorse enables brands to find and book multiple relevant athletes across different locations, sports and audience types.
The platform is multi-market, multi-currency and multi-language, giving brands access to talent far beyond their immediate network.
Why followers are only part of the story
A large following can open the door, but it does not guarantee an effective campaign.
Trevor recalled a brand selecting talent from a group of ten people. The athlete who stood out had the fewest followers but created the strongest content.
That example highlights one of the biggest changes in modern sponsorship: brands are looking beyond audience size.
They increasingly want athletes who can communicate, tell stories and produce content that feels believable. A technically brilliant athlete is not automatically a natural content creator, while someone from a relatively niche sport may have a deeply engaged community and a compelling personal story.
Authenticity is crucial. Audiences can usually tell when an athlete is promoting something purely because they have been paid.
The strongest partnerships have a genuine connection. The athlete already uses the product, shares the brand’s values or has a personal reason for supporting its mission.
As Trevor puts it, athletes should look at what they eat, wear and genuinely care about. That is where the best brand matches are usually found.
There is a brand for every athlete
Not every sponsorship needs to involve a global sportswear company.
Trevor believes there is a relevant brand for virtually every athlete, whether they compete in football, rugby, athletics, arm wrestling, skateboarding, surfing, HYROX, CrossFit or camogie.
The opportunity often sits within the athlete’s individual interests and story rather than simply their chosen sport.
An athlete who has overcome mental-health challenges may be the ideal ambassador for a wellbeing campaign. Someone with a strong local following could help a growing business establish credibility within a particular town or community.
This presents a major opportunity for smaller brands. They may not be able to compete with multinational sponsorship budgets, but they can start locally, test different sports and build relationships with emerging athletes before those athletes become household names.
A well-chosen micro-campaign can deliver far more relevance than an expensive but poorly matched celebrity partnership.
Don’t expect the athlete to do everything
Signing an athlete is only the beginning.
Trevor warns that brands cannot pay a talent fee, sit back and expect results to appear. The partnership needs creative direction, professional content, public relations and promotional investment behind it.
The right measurements will depend on the campaign’s objectives. Some brands want direct sales, while others are focused on awareness, audience growth or content creation.
Either way, the goals should be agreed from the outset and results measured accordingly.
For smaller businesses, Trevor recommends taking “baby steps”: test a campaign, monitor the results and adjust the approach. If something is not working after a few months, try a different athlete, audience or sporting category.
Women’s sport is creating new commercial opportunities
The growth of women’s sport is also reshaping sponsorship.
Sport Endorse has seen male and female athletes receive equal fees for comparable campaigns. Trevor also believes female athletes are frequently stronger storytellers and communicators, investing more time in their applications and content.
That matters because modern partnerships require more than sporting performance. Brands want personalities who can communicate their values, connect with an audience and bring a campaign to life.
As coverage and audiences for women’s sport continue to grow, the commercial opportunity should grow with them.
AI can accelerate the process—but people still matter
Artificial intelligence is already helping Sport Endorse operate internationally.
AI has enabled the platform to introduce multiple languages far faster than would previously have been possible. It can also help athletes write their profiles and will increasingly support brands in building campaigns and identifying suitable talent from a given brief and budget.
The long-term vision is for a brand to enter its objectives and budget before receiving a recommended campaign and shortlist of athletes.
However, AI does not remove the need for human judgement. Relationships, authenticity and shared values remain at the heart of a successful partnership. Technology makes the introduction easier; people make the relationship work.
The mindset behind the business
Despite the platform’s progress, Trevor is open about the less glamorous side of entrepreneurship.
Building Sport Endorse has been a humbling experience involving long hours, difficult decisions, fundraising and plenty of rejection. His philosophy is that every ten “nos” may produce one “yes”—or even half a yes.
Resilience is therefore essential.
Founders must be prepared to work hard, listen, remain curious and accept that they will experience failures as well as wins. They also need to love what they are trying to build, because that sense of purpose carries them through the difficult days.
Trevor’s approach to wellbeing is equally straightforward. He trains in the gym five or six times a week because it keeps him focused, but he also values family life, football and the occasional pint.
As he neatly puts it: “Everything in moderation—including moderation.”
What does it mean to make it happen?
For Trevor, making it happen is not about waiting for one defining moment.
It means getting up each day and doing the work—whether that is going to the gym, making the call, closing the sale or taking another small step towards a bigger goal.
Sport Endorse began as an idea on a beer mat. Its next target is to connect 100,000 athletes and brands, with opportunities to take the technology into new markets and potentially beyond sport.
The scale of the ambition may have changed, but the principle remains the same: keep working, keep learning and keep moving forward.
