Brand ROI hangs over every sponsorship deal. Fair enough. It’s a business transaction.

But the best sponsors ask something else, too: What value can we bring to this property beyond the money?

The value can take different forms: expertise, services, new audiences, new markets or new ways into the sport.

It’s an easy premise to accept with younger leagues like the NWSL, UFL or PWHL. Sponsors can help build the very audiences those properties hope to reach.

It’s also easy to see in B2B sponsorships, where cloud technology, cybersecurity or logistics companies can lend their actual business expertise to the property.

The harder test is everyone else. And an even harder one is whether the idea holds when the property is already the biggest in North America.

Let’s test it against the NFL.

The NFL remains undefeated in finding new ways to grow. Its latest frontiers: new countries, new screens and new players.

And sponsors are helping fuel all three.

PROOF #1: The NFL goes global. Sponsors go with it.

Nine international games across four continents and seven countries is the........

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