How We're Paid

For youth sports leagues, high school athletics, and nonprofit organizations selling sponsorships for their own programs, events, and teams, Zubie Five earns a flat 20% commission on the sponsorship revenue we close for your organization. That's the only way we make money from you. No retainer, no monthly fee, no setup cost, no minimum commitment, and nothing at all if we don't close anything.

Other programs, including motorsports, independent and pro teams, collegiate athletics, cities, and parks & recreation departments, are priced differently. See how those work below.

Our commission is a flat 20% of the sponsorship revenue we close, regardless of deal size.

The rate applies to the whole sponsorship, and it is the same for a $500 banner and a $25,000 title sponsorship. A $3,000 sponsorship is commissioned at 20% of $3,000, which is $600.

There's no seasonal minimum and no minimum on any individual sponsorship. Five outfield banners at $200 each is a program we'll build.

If you're not sure what you've got, our valuation tool is complimentary, and we'll walk through it with you.

• ✓Asset review and valuation
• ✓Package creation
• ✓Prospect research
• ✓Outreach and negotiation
• ✓Agreement preparation
• ✓Scheduling
• ✓Fulfillment coordination
• ✓Your end-of-season performance report

The 20% rate applies identically to new business and to every renewal season. There are no step-downs, no tiers to track, and nothing to recalculate when a sponsor grows or takes a season off. We're paid to grow your accounts, not to coast on them. If your organization renews a sponsor on your own without us, that's your deal, and we earn nothing on it.

Most of the leagues and athletic programs we work with don't have a sponsorship coordinator, not even a part-time one. That's exactly the gap we fill:

• We do the entire sales process, not just an introduction. Prospecting, pitching, negotiating, and closing businesses on your program's behalf. It isn't a tool you have to learn or a list you have to work yourself.
• A decade of corporate partnerships experience, working for you. Relationships and sales experience built across professional sports and community organizations, applied to your program instead of a pro franchise's.
• Full fulfillment management. We track every deliverable, document proof of what ran, and build the sponsor-facing report that makes renewal conversations easy. That work normally falls on a volunteer board member's already-full plate.
• You only pay when a sponsor's payment is actually collected. Not on signed paperwork, not a monthly fee, not a setup cost. If we don't deliver a paying sponsor, you owe nothing.

Want the wider picture on the pressures these programs are under? The State of Youth & High School Sports: Every Pressure Point, By Stakeholder →

Not on signatures. Not on promises. When a sponsor's payment lands in your account, you tell us, we invoice you, and you pay within 15 days. If a sponsor signs and never pays, you owe us nothing — and we'll help you chase it.

If a brand pays for a multi-year sponsorship in one lump sum up front, commission is due on the full amount at that time. If the brand pays year by year instead, commission is due each year, as that year is paid.

We don't ask for exclusivity. Work with us and keep doing everything else — your board members can still call their contacts, your parents can still bring in the orthodontist, you can keep using any other platform or service. If a sponsor comes to you through any channel that isn't us, you owe us nothing.

The only thing we ask is that we give you a written list of the businesses we're actively pitching on your behalf, updated monthly. Those are the ones we've earned. Everyone else in your market is yours.

Before we make a single call, we sit down and write out every business you already have a relationship with — current sponsors, anyone who supported you during the last season, and businesses owned by your board members. That list is attached to our agreement.

We don't approach anyone on it, and you owe us nothing on them. The one exception works in your favor: if you ask us to go get a bigger commitment from an existing sponsor, we're paid only on the increase.

Sometimes a brand initiates a sponsorship arrangement that includes several organizations — a regional program. That works differently from a standalone sponsorship, with its own pricing structure that we scope and agree on directly. We are never compensated by both an organization and its sponsor on the same deal. You'll always know in writing which structure applies before anything is signed.

• Commission is calculated on the gross sponsorship amount, before whatever you spend producing banners or jerseys. We estimate those costs during valuation so your net is never a surprise.
• Trade and in-kind deals earn us nothing. If a sponsor provides equipment or product instead of cash, we don't take a commission on it, and that holds even when the in-kind part is included in a larger deal that also has cash in it. Commission applies only to the cash portion of a sponsorship, so the "gross sponsorship amount" above means the cash amount. We'll still go get it for you.
• Payment by ACH or check. We don't accept card payments. You pay your invoice by bank transfer (ACH) or check.
• Your rate is written into your agreement before we make a single call on your behalf.
• Cancel anytime with 30 days' written notice, either side. No penalty.
• If we part ways, there's a 365-day window on new deals and renewals. For 365 days after termination, we're owed commission only on the specific businesses that appeared on your monthly prospect list — the ones we were actively pitching. Everyone else in your market is yours immediately, clear of any obligation.
• Ending the agreement doesn't erase commission already earned. On a multi-year sponsorship we sourced that isn't fully paid yet, we're still owed commission as each remaining payment comes in, whether or not the engagement is still active. This is separate from the 365-day window above, which covers new deals and renewals after termination.