Sponsoring brands are the real winners of Roland Garros 2025

Introduction

While you watched Alcaraz smash his backhands, Nike was counting millions. Every exchange at Roland Garros hides a ruthless economic war between sponsors who spend fortunes for a few seconds of brand visibility. Spoiler alert: they're not all winners. So, who's really getting rich on the clay courts and who's getting ripped off?

I. How much do the marks need to be visible on clay?

Let's start with the heavyweights.

Nike, a regular on marketing podiums, invests between 35 and 45 million euros per year just on its players involved in the quarter-finals. Not only to provide them with kits, but also to buy their image, their narrative, their presenceon screens around the world.

Wilson, which equips half of the World top 10 in rackets, injects 15 to 20 million euros into its partnerships.

Rolex, more selective, prefers the precision strategy: 5 to 7 million, but well placed, on players with high image value.

And that's just the direct contracts. Image rights, performance bonuses, co-branded products... That's already a lot. But it's nothing compared to what comes after. The real expense isn't seen on the court. It happens off camera, in what brands call the partnership activation In short: everything they must do to ensure that their presence is not just a logo lost in the red dust.

This includes:

• THE advertising campaigns TV and digital broadcasts during the tournament
• THE stands premium on the site
• THE PR/influence operations, with ambassadors who experience it live
• THE VIP boxes 5 figures a day, to make the name shine in front of the right customers

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Some brands, the most strategic, do not hesitate to multiply their initial investment by three to maximize their impact. Because in this game, it is not enough to be a sponsor: you have to establish yourself as a dominant presence. To be seen. To be commented on. To be recognized.

This isn't a gamble. It's a calculation.

II. Who really wins the bet in terms of visibility?

On screens in more than 220 countries, for two weeks, the players aren't the only ones battling it out. The brands are playing their own tournament. The goal: to maximize their spontaneous visibility, boost their brand equity and generate a maximum of media earned, without spending a single euro more on purchasing space.

Let's not beat around the bush: Nike is crushing the competition. Thanks to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, both in the final, the brand is said to have generated more than €65 million in media value. We're talking free exposure on kits, post-match interviews, slow-motion replays, replays on TikTok... All formats that fuel the brand visibility without ever having to take out their wallet. Opposite, Rolex, more discreet but ultra premium, intelligently positions itself on the right profiles: Alcaraz, Sinner, Zverev. Result? 12 million estimated visibility for an investment three times lower than that of Nike. This is what we call a well-targeted premium partnership. And what about Wilson, which has ensured an almost systematic presence on the rackets of 6 of the 8 quarter-finalists?

Result: 25 million euros media visibility. Not spectacular, but solid, especially in terms of territory of expression consolidated over the long term.

The further a player advances in the tournament, the higher the perceived value of their sponsors. A quarterfinal is already profitable. A final is a springboard. And a victory? It's the ultimate media boost.

Take Alcaraz: its presence in the final, coupled with its likeability and strong social media presence, is driving the numbers skyrocket. Nike garners more than just likes: it's consolidating a young, high-performing, and universal brand image. The same logic applies to Rolex, which takes advantage of the halo effect of sporting prestige to assert its positioning as a luxury and excellence brand.

What makes Roland-Garros strong is the emotional power of live When a player collapses on the clay court after a match point, it's not just a sporting moment. It's a live advertising spot for brands on their T-shirt, racket, and watch. And in an era where attention is fleeting, these moments crystallize brand preference.

Good timing is as important as hitting power.

III. Sports branding: when the field becomes a business lever

Let's be clear: sponsorship is no longer about "being seen." In this game, the logo is simply an entry ticket. Successful brands tell stories, connect, and transform the sporting moment into a brand moment. That's where sales follow.

Take Nike. It's not just two finalists wearing their clothes. It's a Roland-Garros 2025 collection designed as a global campaign. By the first week of the tournament, the range worn by Alcaraz and Sinner was already sold out in some markets. Why? Because Nike doesn't sell clothes. It sells an emotion aligned with the moment. It captures the intensity of the match, the player's energy, and transforms it into an immediate desire to buy. Online activation. Limited stock. Instant conversion..

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Another example: Lavazza. Less spectacular, but incredibly effective. A well-placed stand in the VIP village, influencers sharing their coffee experiences on Instagram, an organic range highlighted just as France discovered the tournament results. The result: increased awareness + a spike in product searches on Google + food/lifestyle press coverage. All this with a much smaller budget than a TV spot. That's the leverage effect of a well-thought-out activation.

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And Renault? We're in another dimension. The brand has transformed the Roland-Garros site into a showcase for its electric vehicles. With a physical presence, immersive videos, and AR experiences, it's more than a partnership; it's a strategic statement about innovation, sustainable mobility, and premium lifestyle. Roland-Garros has become a brand expression in its own right.

It’s the rule today: brands that activate win hearts, not just eyes.

IV. Everyone Wins? No. Who Fails and Why?

There are those who sign a contract, put their logo on a cap or a tarpaulin, and... wait for it to fall.

Result: zero impact. Zero engagement. Zero memories. It's the passive sponsorship syndrome: believing that a presence is enough to create preference. But in a world saturated with messages, a logo alone is no longer worth anything. An invisible logo remains a wasted budget. Sometimes, it's the alignment that doesn't work. An overly technical brand on a player who's too discreet. A luxury product poorly integrated into the tournament universe. A message disconnected from the public's reality.

These are thousands of euros invested in a field where the brand has nothing to say.

Good sponsorship is a balance:

• Between brand values ​​and player profile
• Between target audience and activation channels
• Between media time and communication time

When one of these parameters is incorrectly set, the machine seizes up. And the ROI falls flat.

There are also the followers. Brands that sponsor because others do. Because "you have to be there," because "it shows." They arrive without a real strategy, without storytelling, without a media plan. And they're surprised not to see results. But sponsorship isn't a fad. It's a tool. And like any tool, if misused, it becomes ineffective.

We saw it this year: some brands, although well-positioned among high-performing players, went completely under the radar. Why?

=> No on-site activation

=> No speaking on social networks

=> No press relay or digital campaign

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In short: they played on presence. Not performance.

The winners aren't those with the biggest budgets. They're those who captured the moment, told a story, and connected with the audience. Because on clay, as in marketing, it's not the strongest who wins. It's the one who plays smart.

V. Sponsoring brands are the real winners of Roland-Garros 2025

We suspected it, and the numbers confirm it: the real winners of Roland-Garros didn't all pass through the central box. Some were in the VIP stands, others in the marketing offices in Portland or Geneva. These are the brands that were able to transform the tournament into a lever for performance, preference, and attendance. And in this unofficial ranking, based not on points but on impressions, certain brands dominate the table.

It's hard to beat Nike this year. Two finalists, a sold-out Paris 2025 line, media coverage estimated at over €65 million, and a massive presence across all channels.

Mass effect + athletic performance = marketing jackpot.

But this is no accident. It's the combination of smart casting, coherent branding, and meticulous activation.

Nike doesn't sponsor to be visible. Nike sponsors to occupy the field, both literally and figuratively.

Rolex is pulling out all the stops. With a luxury + excellence + precision positioning perfectly aligned with the tempo of high-level tennis, the watch brand has capitalized on the performance of Alcaraz, Sinner and Zverev, for visibility with very high added value.

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Wilson, for his part, played the volume card = an essential technical benchmark. Not spectacular, but omnipresent. Head chose the same path.

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Asics, finally, continues to gain ground. Less glamorous than Nike, but with strong profiles like Djokovic, Sinner, and Musetti, it has consolidated its performance legitimacy and strengthened its visibility among the public.

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What these brands have in common isn't the size of their budgets. It's the clarity of their strategy and the quality of their execution. This is where sports branding becomes a weapon for growth.

On clay, the real tournament of brands is played on the intelligence of execution.

Conclusion

On clay, it's not just the balls that bounce, but the marks too, provided they play their game intelligently.

Sports sponsorship isn't an expense; it's a powerful lever, capable of transforming simple visibility into real business value. But be careful: being visible is no longer enough. The brand must be impactful, relevant, and, above all, activated.

Roland-Garros 2025 proves it: winning brands are those that don't just show up. They become essential. They capitalize on sporting performance to create a powerful narrative, aligned with their values.

In short, standing out in this ultra-competitive tournament requires more than a logo. It requires a strategy, storytelling, and masterful activation.

This is the real game to win.

Bonus: Roland-Garros, what is it in the world of sports sponsorship?

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Roland-Garros is a bit like the French chic of the Grand Slam. Yes, there's Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open... But Paris has that little something extra.

While the US Open is going all out on the show and digital, and Wimbledon is banking on classic British style, Roland-Garros is thrilling luxury and sports brands with a perfect mix of prestige and modernity.

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To give you an idea:

• More than 500 million viewers in 220 countries
• An audience particularly concentrated in Europe and France, an ultra-strategic territory for many brands.

A quick comparison to get a good idea of ​​what's going on:

And outside of tennis? Consider the Tour de France, which is a hit in Europe thanks to its heritage image, or F1, the global star of luxury and speed. Roland-Garros is this blend of class, performance, and emotion that hits the mark.

So why are brands still doing so well?

Because this is where prestige meets visibility. This is where top-level players boost brand power. This is where we focus on a classy event, not just noise.

In short, if you want sponsorship that makes sense, Roland-Garros is clearly a playground not to be missed.

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