As it has become increasingly important in the sports world for organizations to try to raise capital, sponsorship has become more significant. As a result, the sports associations receive the financial assets they need from the companies and in exchange, the companies receive exposure in return for example. There has been a discussion as to whether this exposure really affects companies and whether it is really possible to measure its effect.

The purpose of the study is to identify how companies proceed when evaluating the effect of sponsorship and what their goals and requirements are for the sports clubs or sporting events they sponsor. The study will also identify whether there are certain factors that affect companies when choosing a sports organization that they choose to sponsor. The essay is limited in such a way that the sponsorship will be seen from the companies' perspective and not take into account how the sponsorship object views this marketing tool. Another limitation is that the study will only deal with companies that sponsor sports organizations or sporting events because sport is something that represents unique values. These unique values are explained in the essay. A qualitative research strategy has been applied in the form of qualitative semi-structured interviews. To analyze the phenomenon, the theoretical frame of reference consists of the A-ERIC model, the SMART-model and Brand Equity.

Evaluating the effect of sponsorship proved to be complex for companies. Although companies set clear goals and used different evaluation models, it could only be measured to a certain extent. There was a small difference between the companies' goals and requirements with sponsorship, where some focused more on the sports organizations taking social responsibility, like the companies themselves. Others claimed that relationship building within the sports network was of the utmost importance. One factor in choosing a sports organization was that some companies wanted to feel an added value with the sponsorship, and some wanted a local connection to the sports association.