The winner takes it all: Robin and David on the luxurification of sport

In this bonus episode of The Luxury Society Podcast, Robin Swithinbank and David Sadigh, Founder and CEO of DLG, examine the luxurification of sport and what a summer of football, tennis and athletics reveals about where the relationship between luxury brands and sport is heading next.

With FIFA set to announce revenues of between $13 and $15 billion from this World Cup, luxury brands largely bypassed official sponsorship channels in favour of player-centric activations, airport arrivals as de facto catwalks and the extraordinary reach of athlete social media. From Rolex's five-decade tennis strategy to Erling Haaland's taxidermy raccoon moment, the pair explore the science of matching brand values to athlete personality, the growing power of padel, and why the biggest risk in sports sponsorship is following everyone else into the same territory.

Tune in for:

• Why luxury brands won the World Cup even without official sponsorship, and what that means for the future of sports marketing
• How Rolex signed Jannik Sinner at 18 and ranked 75 in the world, and what it reveals about the patience behind the best brand-athlete partnerships
• Which emerging sports still represent untapped territory for luxury brands

Brought to you by DLG, in partnership with The 1916 Company. 

The 1916 Company is reshaping the world of collectible watches and fine jewelry, uniting a global community through trusted expertise, editorial excellence, and client-first experiences. With more than 20 boutiques and Collector's Lounges worldwide, the company bridges new and pre-owned markets across collectible watches, fine jewelry, and designer handbags, supported by dedicated advisors, expert watchmakers, and seasoned journalists. As majority investor in independent manufacture De Bethune, The 1916 Company holds a singular position at the intersection of retail, editorial, and community. 

www.the1916company.com 

Produced by Juliet Fallowfield, Fallow, Field & Mason 2026

Transcript

Speaker 9: [00:00:00] This episode of The Luxury Society Podcast is brought to you by The 1916 Company. What started as a family jeweler in Philadelphia in 1916 has grown into a highly regarded international business. Today, The 1916 Company has 25 locations across the United States, Asia, and Switzerland, as well as a powerful e-commerce site.

Now recognized as an authorized retailer of the world's finest watches and jewelry and a global leader in pre-owned, it continues a conversation about how collectors buy, sell, and trade that's been going since 1916. Find them at the1916company.com. 

Robin Swithinbank: Hello, hello. Welcome back to The Luxury Society Podcast, a podcast created by Digital Luxury Group to unravel the intricacies of the global luxury business.

I'm your host, Robin Swithunbank, and in the house style, I'm pleased as ever to be joined by my co-host, Digital Luxury Group's founder and CEO, David Sadigh. [00:01:00] David, hello, how are you?

David Sadigh: Excellent. Excited about this podcast.

As always

Robin Swithinbank: it's been coming to us for a while, this one, hasn't it? We, w- well, it's the bonus. So let's just sort of do a quick bit of background. we're gearing up, or should that be gearing down, for a summer vacation, which will commence, for me at least, without delay.

This coming weekend,this is the last episode of Season 3 of the Luxury Society Podcast, which we always dub a bonus episode, which might just be a disguise for the fact it's just you and me this week, David. Let's hope no one feels shortchanged. we were talking about what to talk about on this episode, and it didn't take long for us to conclude that, it's been a mesmerizing summer of sport, hasn't it?

So it had to be the luxurification of sport, a subject close to your heart as well, I'm sure

David Sadigh: I mean, absolutely, crazy, year for sport and, very interesting, cultural moment also for luxury and sports. Maybe the next step would be luxury brands investing even more directly into the business of sports.

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, we'll see you. When we kicked off the second half of the season five weeks ago, summer, it felt young, and the populations of both our home countries were still laboring under the belief the World Cup might just [00:02:00] come home, which as we now know, it did only if you're Spanish, to the exclusion and great disappointment of you Swiss and we English, among others.

as seems to be increasingly the case with these things, talk of the football so often took a back seat behind considerations of politics, considerations of economics, for which read FIFA's apparently insatiable appetite for profit. not of course to mention Mr. Trump's, what should we call them, interventions.

let's leave it at that. FIFA made $7.6 billion from Qatar, but analysts are expecting that it will announce revenues of between 13 and 15 billion from this World Cup, which... I just wanted to contextualize actually that before our mouths open too wide. we might remember that, even that pales next to gambling revenues, which at an estimated $50 billion in bets placed would make this World Cup the biggest gambling event of all time, which is a bit sobering.

But 48 nations, 104 matches, 308 goals, but this time around, in the absence of Hublot, no hard luxury brand sponsors, although Louis Vuitton's trophy trunk did just sneak in there right at the [00:03:00] end. The dust's settling, David. Do you think FIFA missed a trick?

David Sadigh: not sure. I think that, FIFA is, building a bit, what, uh, Liberty Media has done with Formula One is a new growth, financial cash machine. It was already a very profitable organization, quite secret. but it seems that, now everything has been made, including the new announcement, about like Morocco, Portugal, and Spain two thousand and thirty with,more than 100 games, if I'm not mistaken.

many of them taking place, around. So, everything seems to be made to generate even more eyeballs, even more money and, even more surprises

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, there's talk of 62 teams as opposed to the 48 this time, which was already an increase from, what, 32 last time. So yeah, the event is definitely growing. to, to me, I think it probably did miss a trick, not only because the US is the world's largest market for luxury, obviously this is very much a global event, but for me it bucks the trend of the luxurification of sport.

I picked up a Bain report, which had been put out last month, which says that the [00:04:00] luxurification of sport is still very much gathering pace. Bain suggested that over 80% of the luxury market's value is now represented by brands that have sponsored a sport experience in the past 12 months. Now, that's not to say that sports marketing is an essential for any and every brand, but it does point to sport as a growth driver, at least in cultural relevance.

And again, I should say that Bain were quick to add that the focus for luxury brands in sport is still mostly on building cultural credibility and saliency rather than on sales growth. But, 80%, that's a high figure. Does that surprise you?

David Sadigh: No, it is indeed a very high figure. Now, what I found quite fascinating is the fact that all the focus or the attention used to be like on the sponsoring of the teams themselves. And what we realize is that, more and more brands are focused on the athletes, and that, the money seems to be, much more,let's say, better invested, on athletes than, on brand.

And if you look at the type of pairing, and we have seen that, we spoke about it during the Paris Olympic game. [00:05:00] But if you see right now the type of cocktail of like celebrities, musician, soccer players, et cetera, hanging around, all of them with fancy handbags, all of them with fancy watches, you can really feel that, basically the World Cup, the Olympics, Wimbledon are becoming a bit the new défilé, the new fashion show

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, I think that's probably right. I mean, I was left with the question really of whether, FIFA or the luxury sector were-- felt the pain more of the absence of luxury brands on the official list of sponsors, and I think that,I'm inclined to conclude that it was FIFA. FIFA was left looking pretty mean, pretty greedy, or maybe that's meaner and greedier than ever, shall we say.

luxury brands pivoted away from in-stadium activity and as you say, towards, uh, let's call them player-centric activations. The World Cup was-- Well, it became an object lesson in bypassing those official sponsorship channels. I was, sort of endlessly entertained really by the airport arrivals turning into de facto catwalks.

Dior, Chanel, Hermes, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, they were all capitalizing. and you [00:06:00] may have spotted that LOEWE dressed the Spain national team, which was a bet that more than paid off. But, we can't get away from the most iconic luxury fashion image of the World Cup, which for me was, Erling Haaland stepping off the plane home to Norway carrying that taxidermy raccoon, clutching a whiskey bottle.

and of course, he had a Dolce & Gabbana Sicily tote swinging from his shoulder as well. That image, by the way, is running at more than 10 million likes on his Instagram alone, so a hugely effective piece of,sponsorship, and very clever indeed.

David Sadigh: When you look at the audience of the soccer player, it's really insane, huh? I just checked Ronaldo sits, near 671 million people. So it means that you have basically a percentage of the world humanity that is following Ronaldo on Instagram. Messi is more than-- has more than 500 million followers.

And, as you said, Alain seems to be growing, quite fast. You just told me before it took, nearly two million followers in just a matter of days, right?

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah. about 10 days ago, his Instagram, posted a celebratory [00:07:00] message saying, "60 million followers. Thanks ever so much, guys." And, 10 days later he's at 72 million. So he's, he's picking them up at, around a million a day, which is extraordinary. And most of them will be in the US as well, where Haaland has had a huge impact.

Absolutely massive. Actually, when I was researching this earlier this afternoon, I discovered that the two of the three most liked posts on Instagram ever were Messi with the World Cup after Qatar 2022, 74 million likes or something like that is the record. So football is a hugely, effective vehicle for brands.

no question.

David Sadigh: Do you think that we are going to see more of the Roger Federer and On Running playbook, happening? Like basically those soccer player at some point, instead of just taking money from sponsor, willing to invest more directly into, luxury/fashion brands?

Robin Swithinbank: Inevitably. I mean, you take... let's take M- Messi and Ronaldo out of the equation for a moment, given their age. By and large, footballers are pretty much cooked by the time they're 35. they're, certainly at the top level, they are invariably enormously wealthy. They've got, [00:08:00] 35 years of useful activity at least left in the locker.

what would they do if,if they weren't to invest in business, to invest in brands, and to, to leverage the profiles that they've generated on the pitch, for off-the-pitch value? And it's, I think we're gonna see more and more of that, no question.

David Sadigh: It's interesting because Adidas was obviously like the, most visible brand, during the final. but the reality is that, when you look at social media, you see more the brands being carried and wor-worn by the, the players, than the sponsors, visible on the jersey. so it raises, I think, very interesting question on the overall equation of like, how do you as a luxury brand, need to build your sponsorship, sports sponsorship strategy?

What should be the mix between potential team sponsoring and celebrities? Is it directly like sports celebrities? Is it also trying to leverage on all those people that are attending the sports celebrities and, ensuring, the, that the visibility is like, extremely high? yeah, I think there are a lot of like pieces moving.

Robin Swithinbank: and sometimes of [00:09:00] course it's both. I mean, take Carlos Alcaraz popping up at the World Cup final wearing a Rolex Daytona. that is, that is a, a beautiful moment as far as, marketing department's concerned. The Rolex team must have been absolutely delighted with that. no coincidence you might say.

I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff happening behind the scenes to make sure that the, the right people are in the right place at the right time. look, enough of the World Cup. moving on, what other luxury triggers have you observed in sport this year, this summer?

David Sadigh: probably, Zverev. Zverev that, has been like, joining, Jacob & Co. And Jacob & Co. being probably one of the only few brand that we mentioned at a couple of occasion on this podcast that is able to generate a level of engagement on social-- across social media platform at the level of Rolex while being Jacob & Co.

So I think it's kind of impressive. And obviously the playbook, we know that, obviously Zverev, has been, challenged from a reputation standpoint, it hasn't been like that easy. So probably, this, helped, more, let's say a maverick, type of brand to, capitalize on the player.

[00:10:00] but I found it quite interesting to see that, basically, even brands that are not necessarily into the world of tennis start being as visible as possible. Uh,and I think it's part of the overall evolution that you and I have been discussing on this podcast for a while

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, definitely. I mean, goodness, I'd love to talk about tennis and Wimbledon in particular. I should probably declare,that my wife works for All England. in the interest of journalistic integrity, I'll put my hand up at this point. But, I was certainly struck afresh this year at just how effectively the event operates as a palette for luxury brands to paint their stories on.

And again, as we're saying, not just on the field of play, but it's like a 360-degree platform. Yes, it covers the Royal Box, it covers Centre Court, it covers corporate hospitality, and this sort of relentless conveyor belt of celebrity appearances, whether, as you say, they're from the worlds of film or music or indeed sport or anyone else.

I can only see-- Or looking at the current trajectory, I can only see Wimbledon's value to luxury brands as being on the up. would you say the same? But I think that's an obvious question in a way. I mean, the question becomes how high do you think it can go? How powerful can these, these top-level sports, [00:11:00] become, when it comes to positioning luxury brands?

David Sadigh: Because people are more and more interested about, health, longevity, because of, this, trend on,physical experiences that we have been discussing. the overall let's say motivation, across, social media, of trying to, practice more sport, but also following more sports and, getting more intimate with the players.

I don't see any ceiling, honestly. I think it's just the beginning, and there are like-- we have seen that with, UFC, for example. It started as a niche, sport. now you can see a trend with Brazilian jujitsu and other type of martial arts being more and more practiced, across several countries.

You can see brands starting to invest as well into UFC. So it's not only a question of Formula One, tennis or soccer becoming more popular, it's also about, new emerging sports. Think about padel that we discussed a few times, and we remember Audemars Piguet signing and Rolex as well, some padel players.

So I think the overall world of sport is in fact growing, not just [00:12:00] vertically, but also horizontally

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, I think you're right. And the challenge, I suppose, becomes for brands to find the players who best espouse their values, and this is becoming a bit of a science in its own right. it's interesting actually, just to go back to the example of Wimbledon and of tennis, Jannik Sinner's relationship with Rolex.

I had a quick dig into that after the final this year, and discovered that, he was signed in, I think it was 2020. He was 18 years old, and he was ranked number 75 in the world. Now, you might look at that from the outside l- and suggest that's luck playing its part, but of course, with Rolex, Rolex doesn't leave much down to luck, and, it's absolutely not luck.

Rolex has been in tennis for five decades. It's got people on the inside. sorry, that's not nearly as invidious as I'm making it sound. But they employ a former pro who knows the game, knows the circuit, knows the players, knows their families, knows the teams, and so on. And it's their job to spot not just the talent, because heaven knows there's a lot of talent out there in every sport, but it's about personality, it's about character, it's about mindset.

And of course, to Rolex, it's important that [00:13:00] the testamonies, as they call their ambassadors, win. But it's much more important, I'd suggest, if not essential, that they manage themselves in a way that, as the marketers would say, align with the values of the brand

David Sadigh: they have a bit of a competitive advantage because as you exactly pointed out, not only they know sport inside out, but also their chief marketing officer, Arnaud Bert, is a former, one of the best, tennis player from the previous generation. So I think that, it probably helped in understanding the dynamics, making sure you spot also the player, knowing the agent, knowing the academy, et cetera.

Now, one thing that I found quite interesting, I don't know if you watch Netflix, on the last few weeks, but obviously you also probably,saw more of those like,documentaries around sport popping up, and especially around soccer. So obviously Netflix is I think adding oil into the fire because as everyone gets excited for the World Cup, suddenly, and on the French version of Netflix, we had Raymond Domenech and the bus story undercover documentary of what really happened in the bus when [00:14:00] France decided not to get out of the bus during one of the former World Cup.

And my guess is that probably in the UK it was different type of documentary that was like trying to be built. So to go back to your initial question, which I think is very interesting, it's not just that those sports are like growing by themselves in an organic manner. It seems that you have major large media powerhouses that are like really increasing the number of eyeballs, keeping the momentum, building teasers a-ahead of the events, trying to do probably like a, a debrief.

You have the betting platform as well with like major activity around the betting platform, people in companies trying to place bets on sports and soccer and this and that. So yes, it seems that, we are into something that is, going to become even more intricated, between sports brand and athletes.

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, I, that's true, and we can sit here, can't we, and suggest that the future is rosy for those brands that want to integrate themselves into the world of sport, but it, there are pitf- there have to be pitfalls. what would you [00:15:00] see as the potential, for things to go wrong and that brands should be aware of as they head into the space?

David Sadigh: the, the first element is, when everyone is, using one playbook, it becomes really difficult for the others to follow, especially when the leader is, investing a lot. So when you have brands such as, Louis Vuitton, for example, or Gucci now, trying also to enter Formula One and Rolex that has, fully captured, I would say the tennis,most of the tennis tournament.

I think it becomes really difficult for other brands to come and, to be able to build real visibility and attribution, because at the end of the day, it's not only a question of visibility, it's a question of attribution. Will people remember that my brand really stand for tennis? will they just think that this was yet another,Rolex or another Mercedes,ad?

And, when everyone is, heading into one direction, the question can be, is it not better when you have, smaller budget to adopt a radically different strategy and try not to imitate the [00:16:00] big guys?

Robin Swithinbank: I think it's very difficult, and I think that,there are clear examples of brands that have got it wrong in the past. and I think that, there are, there's very little unexplored territory for sports brands these days. I think that's why at the beginning of this year we saw a rush of brands going to padel, as you mentioned just now, because in theory, on paper, that brand represents, the right values.

the players are fit and healthy and disciplined and often, very attractive. but at the same time, there's no guarantee that padel will prove to be a massive success. Yes, I think if I were a betting man, I would say it will be a success, but it is, it's a new playbook padel, even if some of the ways in which the brands will integrate themselves into the sport are taken from existing playbooks.

but, I think that the lack of unexplored territory means that brands, if there are pitfalls, it's that they're likely to, to go into spaces, into areas, and to perhaps work with sports people who, are, seem a risk and do prove to be a risk and take the brand into the wrong direction. So I think, I mean, there, there aren't hundreds of examples of that having happened in the past.

one that occurs to me suddenly, I [00:17:00] suppose, is from about 15 years ago. In 2010, I think AP signed Rory McIlroy and, Anthony Kim, US golfer Anthony Kim on-- I think the, the announcement was made on the same day. Rory McIlroy, of course, left AP and went to Omega, presumably for a bigger payday. Anthony Kim disappeared and became the subject of much fascination for all the wrong reasons because he became a total recluse.

He's returned, actually. He's playing on LIV Golf, the LIV Golf tour at the moment, although of course that's not gonna last long as it's gonna die next year,by the, or the end of this year by the looks of things. So it's, it's not a one-size-fits-all playbook, that's for sure, and I think brands got to be really aware to make sure that they find a sports person,whose value set totally aligns with theirs, whose profile aligns with theirs, and whose, who becomes culturally relevant to them.

And that is, it's something quite easy to say, but I think it's a quite a difficult sauce to brew.

David Sadigh: there is a famous sentence, that Jacques Séguéla, the, the famous advertising, professional mentioned saying that, "Si à cinquante ans t'as pas de Rolex, t'as raté ta vie." If by the age of 50 you don't have a Rolex, you probably ruined your [00:18:00] life or missed 

your

life. And, this can also be a good lesson for a young, tennis professional because basically, if by 18 you don't have a sports contract with Rolex, you probably missed it.

Look at it. Jannik Sinner got signed by Rolex at 18, right? Joao Fonseca, the phenomenal Brazilian p- player, got signed again at 18, and Alcaraz as well got signed by 18. So, I think it goes back to a point before, is that not only the category is locked, but also even the new potential entrant to the category are going to get signed when they are, like, probably 16, 17 years old.

that's going to happen

Robin Swithinbank: Yeah, I think you're right. really interesting. it's funny, I was just thinking as you were speaking there about other areas that haven't been explored, and clearly it's not gonna be demolition derbies or wrestling.

Although it's interesting you mentioned UFC and brands moving into UFC. That, is a very high-profile sport, even while the values of it are not necessarily aligned to luxury brands in an obvious sense, but there will be some disruptors that want to go into that space. I don't think anyone's gonna be going to darts anytime [00:19:00] soon.

May- maybe that's more of a pity. And the one that sort of sticks out for me every time that the World Championship come around in May is snooker, which I know is a sport that is not at all well known outside the UK, bit of Canada, but actually i- in the Far East, snooker is becoming massive, and we've had Chinese world champions now.

and snooker sits right in the middle of the spectrum in terms of its profile and its personality and how poten- the potential for luxury is. but its popularity is rising rapidly, particularly in China, and I'm not sure how much longer that will be an outlier. that's a sort of a, that's half a prediction.

I'm not quite putting my name to it, but I think there might be something there at some point for somebody. But,

David Sadigh: I cannot, help much on, on snooker. I would be probably better at advising on padel, but as far as padel is concerned, I'm pretty sure that we are going to see more brands entering the category, signing athletes, organizing tournaments, and you are going to see more and more branded padel courts.

there were already like some Lacoste padel court being branded and other brands getting into the

Robin Swithinbank: Keith in New York, for [00:20:00] example. Yeah

David Sadigh: yeah, and I think it's just the beginning

Robin Swithinbank: Yep, I agree. Look, David, we are running out of time, so I think it's pretty much, safe to conclude that these events have become, the nexus of sport, business, luxury lifestyle, culture, and there's a huge amount of potential there. So no doubts, not least, given our interest.

we'll-- This is a subject we'll return to at some point. let's blow the final whistle on this one. forgive me, it's been a season of two halves. I'll stop it now. as ever, my friend, it's been a joy. It's been good speaking with you.

David Sadigh: A great pleasure. Thank you everyone, and, thank you Robin

Robin Swithinbank: And so that concludes season three of The Luxury Society Podcast. Our thanks to everyone who's helped get it out to air, to our sponsor, The 1916 Company, and to you for listening. Do go back and check out past episodes over the summer, and before you know it, we'll be back, depending on your seasonal naming preferences, in the autumn or the fall with another round of interviews and analysis from the sharpest minds in luxury.

I've been your host, Robin Swithinbank

David Sadigh: And I've been your co-host, David Seddiqi

Robin Swithinbank: And this has been the Luxury Society Podcast, brought to you by Digital Luxury Group, [00:21:00] available on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Have a great summer