Sport Brand Index

Methodology and data transparency

Sport Brand Index is a curated directory of businesses in the sports industry. This page explains how the data is gathered, reviewed and measured.

Quick summary

Listings come from public research, brand submissions and automated checks. Listings are free, and payment never affects placement.

How we collect and research data

Brands enter through public-source research and submitted suggestions. Official websites, social profiles, career pages and press releases are the main sources.

  • First-party claimsEmployee ranges, founding years and listing details are recorded from sources. A statement published by a brand is a first-party claim, not an audited fact.
  • Original summariesDescriptions are original, source-based summaries, not copied marketing text.
  • Geographic reachRegions describe assessed market reach. Without clear evidence of wider reach, the headquarters region is the fallback. Global requires expressly worldwide reach.
  • Not exhaustiveThe directory is not a complete or statistically representative sample of the industry.

How each record is structured

Each record is built from the same fields. This shows which are source-reported and which are our own judgment.

  • 28 fields per record12 essential and 16 extra fields. Some extra fields are held for research and are not shown on profiles.
  • Source-reportedRecorded from sources: Brand name, Website, Headquarters, Favicon, Profile logo, Social presence, Careers, Founded year, Online shop, Delivery locations, Employees range, Employees as of, Publicly listed, Stock ticker, Exchange, GPTW recognition / list, Recognition year, Sponsorships and Careers ATS / provider. A statement published by a brand stays a first-party claim.
  • Our assessmentOur own judgment from public sources: Industry / sector, Category, Sports served, Tier, Regions served, Short description and Target customer. These are tags for filtering, not certifications or quality rankings.
  • Workflow dates and evidenceInternal logged date and Last verified are workflow dates, not proof that every field is correct. Source links are kept per field group, not per label, and a full classification rubric is not yet documented.
  • Blank can mean different thingsPublicly listed, Stock ticker and Exchange apply only to listed companies, so a blank there means not listed, not missing. Online shop and Delivery locations are still being researched, so a blank there can mean not researched yet.

Verification, tools and review

Automated checks and manual review work together.

  • Source reviewRecords are inspected against sources and checked for duplicate or inconsistent entries.
  • Weekly link checksAutomated read-only checks cover website, careers and YouTube links every week. Repeated failures go to manual review. A failed or blocked check does not mean a business has closed.
  • AI assistanceAI tools help draft descriptions and translations and tag records. A person reviews records when they clash, not every AI output. AI output is not independent evidence.
  • Data cleaningData-cleaning tools help catch duplicates, fix formatting and keep category vocabularies consistent.

Completeness score

Each brand profile tracks up to 28 fields, split into two groups.

12 essential fields
  • Brand name
  • Website
  • Industry / sector
  • Category
  • Sports served
  • Tier
  • Headquarters
  • Regions served
  • Short description
  • Favicon
  • Internal logged date
  • Last verified
16 extra fields
  • Profile logo
  • Target customer
  • Social presence
  • Careers
  • Founded year
  • Online shop
  • Delivery locations
  • Employees range
  • Employees as of
  • Publicly listed
  • Stock ticker
  • Exchange
  • GPTW recognition / list
  • Recognition year
  • Sponsorships
  • Careers ATS / provider

Social presence counts once: at least one of LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube. Source URLs and review notes are not part of this completeness measure.

Published brands: data completeness

8 October 2026. 1186 brands.

Essential fields
99.1%14111 / 14232
Extra fields
23.1%4376 / 18976
Both groups
55.7%18487 / 33208

Filled fields, not an accuracy score. Social presence counts once. This snapshot counts every blank as missing and applies no N/A exclusions because no documented per-field exclusions were available. Only a reviewed, genuinely not-applicable field can be removed from a brand’s denominator. Figures are the average completion per brand.

Filled in is not the same as verified. A high completeness percentage shows that information is present, not that a third party has checked it.

How it is calculated

Mean completion = (100 / number of brands) × sum of (populated applicable fields / applicable fields).

Limitations and disclaimers

  • No endorsementA listing is not an endorsement, partnership or quality guarantee.
  • No quality rankingsCategories, tiers and sector labels are tags for filtering, not scores or ratings.
  • Evolving coverageCoverage varies by language and over time. Logged and Last verified are workflow dates, not proof that every field is correct.
  • Blank fieldsA blank means the data has not been added yet, not that the brand lacks that feature.

Updates and corrections

The directory grows through research rounds and review of flagged records. There is no fixed refresh schedule.

  • Spot an error?Use the "Let us know" link on any profile, or the Contact page.
  • Brand ownersSend updates or corrections through the Contact page. Changes are checked against source evidence before they are included.