Aims: To examine the nature and extent of direct alcohol industry sponsorship of sportspeople, and its association with drinking.

Methods: A purposive sample of participants (n = 1279) from various sporting codes were asked whether they personally, their team, or club, received free and/or discounted alcohol or funding from the alcohol industry (e.g., pub, brewery, wholesaler); how much they received, and whether they felt they should drink their sponsor’s product and/or at the sponsor’s premises. Drinking behaviour was assessed with the AUDIT questionnaire.

Findings: Direct alcohol industry sponsorship of sportspeople was reported by 47.8% of the sample. Of those sponsored, 46.7% reported receiving free and/or discounted alcohol products. In multivariate models, those receiving sponsorship at the individual, team and club level, had AUDIT scores that were, on average, 2.4 points higher (95% confidence interval: 0.70, 4.09) than those who received no sponsorship. Receiving free and/or discounted alcohol (adjusted beta = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.01, 1.88), and feeling that they should go to the sponsor’s pub/club to drink (adjusted beta = 1.91, 95% CI: 0.85, 2.98) were also associated with higher AUDIT scores.

Conclusions: Direct alcohol industry sponsorship of sportspeople is associated with hazardous drinking after adjustment for a range of potential confounders. Sports administration bodies should consider the health and ethical risks of accepting alcohol industry sponsorship.