From September 25 to October 15 and 16, the new sponsorship forum, the SPX Purpose League Summit, will debut in London at the Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford.
With the theme ‘The Business Case for Purpose’, the summit will explore how sponsorship can deliver measurable business, social and environmental returns – ‘purpose’.
The summit is organized by SponsorshipX and “purpose-led” sports marketing, advisory and investment company 17 Sport, and is the first two-day meeting of the Purpose League, the global initiative they founded in 2025.
Mark Harrison, founder of SponsorshipX, said: “Purpose can become one of the strongest growth drivers in sponsorship. In London, we are bringing together senior leaders to apply their expertise to community challenges and turn what they learn into stronger partnerships for business, sport and society. That’s why the Purpose League was created.”
Speakers include Guillaume Sabran and Filippo Veglio from UEFA, Thomas Bulitta from Lidl International, Dana O’Donovan from Deloitte and Richard Ames from the FA.
“Strategic sponsorship is recognized in the report as a financial lever able to direct funding towards grassroots participation, environmental restoration and inclusive community programs. The summit will aim to find out how to make this potential commercially credible and measurable,” say the organizers.
Citing the World Economic Forum’s report – Sports for People and Planet 2026 Report – the organizers highlight that sport generates $2.3 trillion annually, but physical inactivity, climate change and the loss of nature could put $517 billion of this income at risk by 2030 and $1.6 trillion by 2050.
Neill Duffy, CEO and co-founder of 17 Sport, said: “Sport is at an inflection point. If we continue to treat sponsorship as a ‘reach and rights’ exercise, we will miss the biggest opportunity. The next era of growth will be from organizations using partnerships to drive both impact and performance.”
“The SPX Purpose League is about supporting our industry and helping sponsorship evolve from a transactional model to one that builds resilience.”
The speaker offer is available at sponsorshipx.com/purposeleague-summit. Advance passes are available until September 30. Registrations are open to sponsorshipx.com/purposeleague-summit-passes.
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