Editor’s note: This article was written by Josh Carpenter and first appeared in Sports Business Journal, the industry’s leading source of sports business news, events and data.

LIV Golf plays its penultimate domestic event this week outside Chicago, and sponsors are increasingly trickling in for teams in the second-year league. To date, seven brands have aligned themselves with four teams, and LIV itself has signed various league-level agreements.

The most recent pact is between apparel brand Extracurricular and arguably one of LIV’s most well-known teams in Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces. Extracurricular was founded by former TravisMathew CEO Chris Rosaasen, and Johnson was seen wearing the brand for the first time at the Masters earlier this year.

The sides recently announced the teamwide deal, which will run through the end of the 2024 season. Financial terms were not disclosed. All four players will be outfitted with Extracurricular apparel, and the company is rolling out a branded fitness line in January. Additionally, team scripting will be announced by Extracurricular prior to each event, and fans will be able to purchase the items on-site.

Rosaasen first attended a LIV Golf event in Portland in the summer of 2022, the league’s first tournament in the U.S. An early skeptic of LIV, he came away impressed.

“The way the venue was laid out, the format, they had a kiosk there selling team apparel and there was a line of people going in there, and it was sold out,” Rosaasen said. “You’ve never been able to associate yourself with a team.”

Rosaasen had a previous connection with Johnson, and when the two-time major winner’s longtime apparel deal with Adidas ended in February, he turned to Rosaasen.

“I see a huge opportunity for other apparel sponsors coming in [with the team concept],” Rosaasen said. “I see the future of team golf going a long way.”

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Johnson said his team’s deal with Extracurricular, as well as other LIV sponsorships, is a sign that brands are warming to the idea of aligning with the league.

“Obviously right at the beginning, I think the media and with everything going on, the way they were portraying everything, wrongly, I think that probably scared off a lot of sponsors,” Johnson said. “But things have gotten way better. Sponsors are coming on board and wanting to be a part of it.”

The 4Aces feature four players and caddies and are led by GM David Cornwell, a longtime sports attorney.

Majesticks GC, comprising Sam Horsfield, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood, is another of the more built-out LIV teams and has signed three sponsorships to date.

The deals are with apparel company Redvanly and Seamless Digital, which puts digital billboards on players’ bags. The Majesticks’ first sponsorship, with crypto exchange OKX, was in the process of being signed on June 6 when the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LIV and Saudi Arabia’s PIF was being announced. The sides eventually announced the crypto partnership on June 21.

“To us that was a really strong indication that they were believers in the product,” Majesticks GM James Dunkley said. “It’s good reassurance for all of us.”

In addition to sponsorships, the Majesticks offered fans their own hospitality experience at the LIV London event this summer, the first team to do so. Fans got behind-the-scenes access to players, including player-caddie radio feeds they could access throughout the competition rounds.

The Majesticks have two major sources of revenue: partnerships and prize money, which both go directly to the team rather than players, Dunkley said. The team has six executives on staff filling roles from a head of social media all the way to a GM.

“The money we get from there we use to invest in different parts of the business,” Dunkley said. “Whether that’s recruiting players down the line, building our database, engaging with our fans via social content.”

While most sponsorships are on the team side, LIV has other deals on the league level. LIV signed Utah-based shipping company EasyPost as its first official sponsor early this year, while Asia-based hotel company Resorts World Sentosa sponsored its event in Singapore in April.

Advertisers have also bought time on league broadcasts through The CW, such as Jeep Wagoneer, which has had creative positioned atop LIV’s on-screen scoring pylon.

LIV treated last year as a beta season, and now with more data available, conversations with potential partners are heating up, said Monica Fee, senior vice president and global head of partnerships.

“From a sponsorship standpoint, it’s a lot of education,” Fee said. “But we’re here to be additive in the sport of golf, to usher in a new generation of fans.”

While LIV franchises are able to sell sponsorships on their own, Fee’s team also consults with them, shares creative material and helps with lead generation. Currently, Fee’s sponsorship group meets every other week with each of the 12 LIV franchises.

Without revealing specifics, Fee said LIV is negotiating deal terms on “a few” new partnerships at the league level.

LIV plays its next-to-last U.S. event of the season this week at Rich Harvest Farms near Chicago. After adding a signature “Watering Hole” — a stadium-like hole featuring bars — at its event in Australia earlier this year, LIV is doing the same thing for the Chicago event at the par-3 17th. LIV expects its biggest U.S. crowds of the season this week.