Where’s the pride?

In the UK, university sport is often viewed as an extracurricular activity – a nice-to-have rather than a strategic asset. But in a globally competitive market, this mindset is costing British institutions more than they realise. While the US and other global peers invest heavily in sport as a lever for brand-building and community-shaping, many UK universities remain stuck on the sidelines.

Sport as a Brand Multiplier – globally proven, but locally underused.

Pictured: Michigan Stadium after a University of Michigan football game.

Consider the University of Michigan, where their “Go Blue” chant has morphed into a tagline and where their block ‘M’ is now globally recognised, cultivating a sense of community and pride among students and alumni alike.

Or Ohio State University, affectionately known as the Buckeyes, which offers coveted college football and basketball programmes with a distinctive logo and massive following – demonstrating the immense equity built up by their brand.

And who doesn’t get goosepimples at the amazing sight of 60,000 Virgina Tech students jumping up and down to the epic rock song ‘Enter The Sandman’ as their college football team enters the arena to face fierce local rivals West Virginia. Talk about putting on a show!

It’s evident that every time US institutions like these take to the field in competition; they amplify the university’s brand to millions.

Closer to home, Loughborough University – one of the real exceptions to the rule in the UK – has built its entire brand around sport and performance, showing what’s possible when sport is seen as central to a university’s identity. Little wonder they’ve won 43 BUCS titles in a row. In fact, they’re the only university ever to be BUCS Champions, so you could say everyone else has a lot of catching up to do!

The Student Perspective: Meeting the needs of the Values Generation

Research also indicates that a strong sports brand can influence university choice and student retention. A study by the University of Stirling found that universities associated with successful local football teams saw increased undergraduate admissions, highlighting the impact of sport on university appeal.

Further demographic studies show Gen Z and Alpha students crave community, purpose, and emotional connection. Research from BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) shows that 93.5% of students involved in sport feel a stronger sense of belonging, and 88.7% report better mental health. Yet many UK universities still underinvest in this area, despite growing and well-documented student wellbeing concerns.

When you start to consider the benefits however, this lack of action is somewhat baffling. For us, a strong sports proposition can be a unifying platform that meets many of the modern student’s psychological, emotional, and social needs – by addressing 5 key areas.

1. Combating loneliness and isolation: Team sports and group fitness create natural settings for social interaction, belonging, and camaraderie – aspects that are critical for students who have just left home for the first time and are navigating new environments and social circles.
2. Building inclusion and belonging: A well-rounded sports programme, including competitive, recreational, adaptive and intramural options, ensures that students of all backgrounds, abilities, and interests feel welcome and included. Crucially, sport becomes a leveller and a shared language across cultures and disciplines.
3. Supporting mental health and resilience: Physical activity is proven to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. If you can embed sport and movement into everyday student life it makes wellness proactive, rather than reactive.
4. Building confidence and leadership: Participation in sport helps students develop grit, discipline, and interpersonal skills – all of which are highly valued in life beyond university. Leadership roles in teams and clubs – either as players, coaches or volunteers – offer further development outside the lecture hall.
5. Digital fatigue and embodied experience: We’re dealing with digital natives after all! In an increasingly digital world, by contrast, sport offers real, tangible experience and presence. This is a balance that can be critical for Gen Z and Alpha students who inevitably spend much of their time online.

The Strategic Gap: Stuck on the opening page of the playbook

According to further BUCS data, while 95% of top-performing sports institutions have a clear sport and physical activity strategy, fewer than half of lower-ranked universities do. Sounds like a story of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. But in truth it’s a broader tale of failure to turn strategy into meaningful action. The prevalent trend is that sport remains siloed, disconnected from brand, reputation and student experience strategies – when in fact, it could be a powerful differentiator.

Indeed, despite BUCS’s continued efforts, many universities have yet to fully integrate sport into their core brand identity and strategic planning. But BUCS can only do so much on the resources it has…

Conclusion: From participation to pride

Sport is not just recreational – it’s reputational. Done right, it creates attraction, tribal belonging, brand fandom and lifelong affinity.

UK universities can no longer afford to leave their Sports strategy languishing in the locker. We believe that aligning sports initiatives with the university’s core values can genuinely create a cohesive brand experience that resonates with current and prospective students.

As the US examples prove, sport is not just recreational – it’s reputational. Done right, it creates attraction, tribal belonging, brand fandom and lifelong affinity.

It also builds a cohort of confident, connected students. If UK universities want to truly stand out on the global stage, they must look at sport not as a past-time or leisure activity, but as a crucial strategic asset.

As Paul Martin, Founding Partner and Executive Creative Director of Mammoth Education explains: “Sport builds tribes. Tribes build brands. And brands build loyalty that lasts a lifetime. This has been borne out with all the sports brands we’ve worked with historically, and we believe it’s high time UK Universities started to take sport more seriously by embedding it within their institutional-level reputation strategy.”

References:

1. A 2023 study found that the share of students reporting mental health difficulties increased from 6% to 16% between 2016/17 and 2022/23 according to Taso.org.uk.