New technology scored big for sports licensing this year while a number of trends—including outdoor sports returning to fashion and new Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) deals taking shape—influenced licensors and licensees alike. As the industry makes plans for 2023, we’re taking a look back at some of the most significant sports stories from the past 12 months.

NFTs Gain Traction

NFTs may have declined in value, but they gained currency in professional and collegiate sports.

The 2019 deal between Dapper Labs and the National Basketball Association (NBA) expanded this year to include Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Football League (NFL), along with their respective players’ unions.

While the initial agreements focused on combined in-game video highlights, they have since expanded to include entire team rosters. In the case of MLB that’s 720 players,  statistics are updated daily throughout the season with each NFT having a rarity level—core, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary. It also brought a new wave of developers into the licensing fold, including Dapper Labs (NBA and NFL), Paris-based Sorare (MLB), and Sweet (NHL).

Image is Everything

NIL efforts began with a rush of deals following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2021 that NCAA restrictions on “education-related benefits” for college athletes violated antitrust law and expanded rapidly this year.

For the most part, much of the action focused on promotional programs with licensing playing a lesser role. That’s because collegiate athletes have relatively short careers and deals are subject to the transfer portal that allows players to switch schools, potentially derailing agreements.

Yet several licensees decided the risk was worth the potential reward. Artificial intelligence (AI) software developer KeyWise AI paired with Laguna, CA high school football player Bella Rasmussen (who this fall became the first female player to score two touchdowns in a game) to introduce a new app that analyzes typing patterns on smartphone keyboards to help users recognize when they could use extra support for mental health.

Foco, meanwhile, developed bobbleheads inspired by basketball players at the University of North Carolina to mark the school’s surprise run in March in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. And high-end custom suit supplier Reveal Suits signed licensing pacts for the Villanova University and University of Michigan football teams that require players to post a minimum of six times each year on social media.

The Great Outdoors

Several outdoor sports, benefitting from newfound interest during the pandemic, came into play for licensing in 2022. Many of them (including golf and soccer) weren’t new to licensing, but made significant new inroads. And pickleball (which can also be played indoors) was a new entrant in licensing this year.

In the case of pickleball—a nearly 57-year-old mash-up of ping pong, tennis, and badminton played on a court roughly half the size of a tennis court—participation grew 11.5% annually starting in 2016 but surged 40% between 2019 and 2021 to reach 4.8 million players.

Golf boasted 24.8 million players in 2020, up 2% from 2019 and marking the sport’s largest net increase in 17 years. The number of players rose to 25.1 million in 2021 and while the sport had well-established licensing programs, its increase in popularity brought in new brands. Perry Ellis International, for example, brought the 122-year-old Farah fashion brand into golf for the first time under a licensing agreement with Worldwide Golf Brands.

And soccer expanded licensing on several fronts. The U.S. Soccer Federation signed a multi-year agreement, building on four years of partnership to keep Legends as the provider for all U.S. Soccer Store experiences both online and at in-person events. And FIFA, which has several licensing agreements, is expected to exceed its $4.6 billion revenue forecast for the recent Men’s World Cup, which enjoyed global popularity.