2026 World IP Day: How Intellectual Property rights give life and an attractive narrative to immaterial sport assets

2026 World IP Day: IP and Sports - Ready, Set, Innovate

How Intellectual Property rights give life and an attractive narrative to immaterial sport assets

Creativity, innovation and Intellectual Property (IP) are the key in the Sports environment to create attractive value for customers and to being distinctive in a market monopolised by big brands and sport entities.

In fact, Intellectual property rights not only reinforce and potentiate the quality and technical properties of the products, but they can add a compelling story and serve as a seal of differentiation and originality, which is crucial for attracting potential customers and investors. These rights have the power to transform passive immaterial assets, to assets with their own personality which can provide alternatives sources of revenue to clubs and creative designers.

Below we explore different compelling stories that show the impact of IP, that can be replicated by small or modest sport institutions boost their business and strategies.

Design and originality investment makes reward: when folklore and originality boost product attractiveness

Kit sales are traditionally driven by the most successful sports clubs, leaving little room for the modest ones or those pertaining to lower leagues. However, a new trend is transforming this logic, instead of selling just a shirt, many sports clubs are now selling them as real fashion items.

A notable example can be found in Italian football clubs such as Venezia FC in 2021 and following years. By carefully designing their jerseys designs making use of the folklore and the historical heritage of the city of Venice, they turned a local football kit to a fashion asset that was desired even from non-fans from all around the glove. It resulted on the collections selling out after a few months. This is an example on how modern sport institutions do not necessarily need the back up of multinational companies to create attractive value. Investing on local artists and models, an intelligent use of social media promotion and protecting their creations through IP rights can result on a better revenue for the institutions.

How IP rights protect your creations: the iconic Champions League ball case

From next season, an historical change is expected in the Champions League football competition.  In fact, UEFA will switch its official competition ball supplier from Adidas to Nike. 

This change mean that the iconic star ball pattern of the Champions League (which has been used during the last 25 editions of the competition) will be replaced. The reason is that Adidas keeps the ownership of the pattern and therefore, the new collaboration between Nike and UEFA will require a new ball design to be introduced. This case clearly shows a real case where IP rights can protect creations and the monopoly over a certain creation, showing the path to small designers and artists an effective legal tool to protect their designs.

The creation of a narrative for sport spaces and buildings

This mindset is also applicable to sportive spaces and buildings, and the creation of new forms of exploitation and revenue. Stadiums have traditionally been seen simply as large structures for playing sport on weekends, but nowadays they are undergoing a deep transformation, and they are gaining own personality. Stadiums and other infrastructure are not anymore just a passive asset, but becoming active assets in the commercial ecosystem of a sports club.

A recent example is the new Roig Arena, a registered trademark and naming of the Stadium of Valencia basketball club, which is not only promoted as the stadium of the basketball team, but also a reference centre for events, business activities and local gastronomy. It is even being considered as a space for traditional events such as?

In conclusion, these are examples on how Intellectual Property can develop and draw new narratives for immaterial assets and potentiate them creating a new and attractive narrative. These narratives can be enjoyed by small sports associations, local organisations, independent artists and athletes. Intellectual Property is not just a legal tool but also a strategic lever: it allows them to tell their unique story, protect their creativity, and build a distinctive brand in a competitive landscape. In this field where emotions and the identity feeling are the basic pilar, IP provides a bridge of union to a market success.