Happy Wednesday, and welcome back to the 39th weekly edition of Broken Marketing by Anvara, where we discuss marketing that breaks.

For those of you who are new here, we’re Nick and Andrei, the co-founders of Anvara. We’ve included you here because one way or another, we’re connected. We’re happy to have you as a part of the Anvara family.

Unrivaled tipped off its second season this week and, quietly, it’s starting to feel unavoidable.

In a little over a year, the league has expanded its teams, added marquee names like Paige Bueckers and Kelsey Plum, locked in more national broadcast windows with Turner, and signed a naming rights deal with Sephora. It just closed a Series B round that valued the league at $340 million, and last season alone, it brought in more than $20 million in sponsorship revenue.

That kind of momentum doesn’t come from hype. It comes from structure.

Unrivaled offers players equity and multiyear contracts that grow alongside the league itself. That decision looks especially smart right now as the WNBA works through tense collective bargaining negotiations around revenue sharing and long-term financial security. In that context, Unrivaled starts to look less like a supplemental league and more like a stable, long-term platform.

Brands are paying attention.

Sponsors like Samsung, PwC, Xfinity, and Maker’s Mark aren’t just buying airtime. They’re aligning with a league that invests heavily in player wellness, modern training facilities, and premium fan experiences. The Samsung-backed recovery spaces, expanded training areas, and upgraded hospitality aren’t small details. They create better content, better storytelling, and better moments for partners to activate around.

There’s also a longer play happening. By signing NIL deals with top college stars, Unrivaled is building a clean pipeline from college fandom to professional loyalty. That continuity is rare in sports, and it’s incredibly valuable for sponsors thinking beyond a single season or campaign.

All of this adds up to something bigger. Unrivaled is becoming a place where brands can grow alongside the league, rather than chase it.

Ohio State and Learfield are extending their multimedia rights partnership, and while the final dollar figure hasn’t been fully revealed, it’s already being positioned as the most lucrative MMR deal in college sports history. That headline will grab attention, but it misses the part that actually matters.

The real change is how the money gets made.

Instead of chasing the largest possible guaranteed payout, Ohio State agreed to a structure built around revenue sharing. That means both sides benefit when the partnership grows, and both sides feel the pressure when it doesn’t. It’s a model that rewards performance, creativity, and execution rather than just longevity.

For college sports, that’s a meaningful shift.

Athletic departments today are juggling NIL collectives, revenue-sharing caps, athlete services, legal compliance, and facility investments, all while being expected to operate like modern media companies. The traditional MMR model was designed for a simpler era, one where static signage, predictable inventory, and long-term guarantees were enough to get deals done. That model is starting to show its age.

Ohio State clearly recognized that reality. Instead of treating Learfield like a vendor whose job is to sell inventory, the school is treating it like an operating partner. The message is straightforward: don’t just move assets, help us grow the business.

That mindset changes behavior on both sides.

For Learfield, revenue sharing creates a reason to push beyond the usual sponsorship packages. It encourages experimentation with new inventory, deeper integrations, and partnerships that extend beyond the stadium. It also aligns naturally with NIL, where athlete-led brand deals can generate meaningful value without counting toward existing revenue-sharing caps.

For Ohio State, the upside is flexibility. The school gains room to introduce new lines of business, price assets more dynamically, and integrate athletes into commercial opportunities in a way that reflects how fans actually engage with college sports today.

Ohio State’s scale makes this especially important. As the highest-grossing sponsorship property in the country, its decisions tend to ripple outward. When a program of this size moves away from guaranteed checks and toward performance-based economics, it signals a broader shift in how college sports think about commercial partnerships.

This isn’t happening in isolation. Similar structures are already appearing at other major programs, but Ohio State embracing it helps legitimize the model. It stops feeling like an experiment and starts to look like the default.

College sports didn’t change overnight. But this deal shows where things are headed. The business is getting more complicated, the stakes are higher, and the old safety nets don’t make as much sense anymore.

The guaranteed check didn’t disappear. It just lost its spot in the starting lineup.

📊 WPP Media Sports Practice - WPP Media launched a dedicated sports practice focused on data-driven media buying, sponsorship strategy, and activation. As ad spend in sports continues to rise, this move reflects how brands are no longer comfortable buying sports inventory on instinct alone.

🎾 IBM x Wimbledon - IBM extended its 36-year partnership with Wimbledon, continuing to power the tournament’s digital platforms and AI-driven fan experiences. With engagement across Wimbledon’s digital properties up double digits last year, this partnership shows how technology sponsorships can deepen fan interaction and evolve quietly over decades.

⚾ Perfect Game Naming Rights Deal - Perfect Game executed its first-ever naming rights agreement, rebranding a youth sports complex in Missouri through a five-year deal with a local credit union. The deal highlights how youth sports are gaining attention as a long-term brand-building platform, while also showing how local venues can unlock meaningful sponsorship value through well-structured community partnerships.

Quote of the Week

“Every woman’s success should be an inspiration to another. We’re strongest when we cheer each other on.” - Serena Williams