Creative & production services
Books and taxes for sports marketing agencies.
A sponsorship package sold to a regional brand, an athlete endorsement fee paid in installments, a game day activation budget, and hospitality tickets bought for a client. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September came in at $12,500. Football season kicked off, so game day activation budgets from three clients ran through your account this month, all real client costs against the management fee you actually kept.
- Sponsorship package, regional brandSponsorship commission income
- Client activation budgets x3Client activation budgets
- Game day staffing and signageClient pass-through costs
- Athlete endorsement installmentAthlete payments
- Hospitality tickets, client suiteClient pass-through costs
Why your books are different
Sports marketing agency books go wrong at the activation budget and the athlete payment.
A generalist sees a big deposit and calls it all revenue. Your business sells sponsorships on commission, manages athlete endorsement payments that flow through on someone else's behalf, and runs game day activation budgets that mostly belong to the client. When the books blend those, the top line lies.
-
1
A client's activation budget gets counted as agency revenue
When a client hands you $40,000 for game day staffing, signage, and hospitality and you keep a management fee, booking the full $40,000 as sales makes the business look far bigger than it is and overstates what is owed at tax time.
What we doBooks your management fee as income and activation costs as client pass-through expenses, so the top line reflects what you actually keep. -
2
An athlete endorsement payment looks like your own expense
Paying an athlete on a brand's behalf as part of managing an endorsement deal is a pass-through payment, not your own labor cost, and mixing it with your team's pay hides your real overhead.
What we doKeeps athlete endorsement payments in their own pass-through category, separate from your own staff and contractor pay. -
3
Sponsorship commission income gets confused with the full deal value
A $100,000 sponsorship deal that pays your agency a 20 percent commission is not $100,000 of your income, but treating the full deal value as revenue overstates the business and the tax owed.
What we doBooks only your commission as income, keeping the full sponsorship value separate as the client's or the team's deal, not yours. -
4
Hospitality tickets and suites look like entertainment spending
Buying tickets or a suite for a client's game day hospitality is a client-facing business cost tied to a specific activation, and general entertainment expense rules do not tell the whole story if it is not tracked that way.
What we doKeeps hospitality costs tied to the client and activation they were for, so the accountant can apply the right treatment. -
5
Seasonal cash flow gets mistaken for a slow business
Sports marketing work concentrates heavily around specific seasons, and a quiet month during the off-season can look like trouble when it is really just the calendar.
What we doTracks income against your own history so an expected seasonal dip reads as normal, not a warning sign.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a sports marketing agency.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Sponsorship commission incomeYour cut of a sponsorship deal, not the full deal value.
- Client activation budgetsFull budgets clients hand over for game day activations.
- Management fee incomeWhat you keep for coordinating an activation or endorsement deal.
- Creative and design feesCampaign creative billed apart from activation execution.
Money out
- Client pass-through costsStaffing, signage, and hospitality paid on a client's behalf.
- Athlete paymentsEndorsement payments made on a brand's behalf, tracked separately from your own team.
- Your own staff and contractorsYour team's pay, kept separate from client-side activation costs.
- InsuranceEvent and liability coverage for activations.
- Travel to games and eventsTravel for staff working game day activations.
What we watch for you
- Real revenue share
Your commissions and fees against total money moved, so client budgets never get mistaken for your income.
- Seasonal swing
How income moves with the sports calendar, tracked against your own history.
- Activation margin
What each activation actually nets after pass-through costs.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on your real fees, not client activation budgets, tracked monthly ahead of April.
Ask Gus
Things sports marketing agency owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
No, only your commission counts as your income. The full deal value belongs to the team or brand, not your books.
No, I book your management fee as income and the activation costs as pass-through expenses, so your real revenue stays accurate.
No, I track your numbers against your own history, so an expected seasonal dip reads as exactly that, not a warning sign.
The tax side
The tax side of a sports marketing agency.
Most of what goes wrong here is client and athlete pass-through money counted as agency revenue.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Contractor 1099s for game day helpAny freelancer or contractor not on payroll paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps the total current across game day and off-season work.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated sports agencies can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income when commissions are tracked apart from client budgets.
- Worker classification for event-day staffStaff who work your schedule and take direction on game day usually look like employees, not contractors, even if hired for a single event.
- Self-employment tax for solo ownersA one-person agency pays 15.3 percent self-employment tax on top of income tax, so the set-aside covers both, calculated only against your real commissions and fees.
Deductions sports marketing agencies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Event and liability insurance
- Travel to games and activations
- Creative and design software
- Continuing education courses
- Coworking or office rent
- Payment processor fees
- Client contract tools
- Marketing and self-promotion
- Accounting and legal fees
- Business association dues
- Computer and equipment upgrades
- Signage and branded materials
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A sports marketing agency's year, kept every month.
The sports calendar drives the year, from preseason deals to championship activations. Your books stay current no matter the season, and the return follows. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the game day contractor 1099 list is ready, and a monthly set-aside means April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, based on your real commissions and fees, not client activation budgets. The set-aside has covered it since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and how the season's sponsorship and activation income has moved since January.
- October
Before peak season
Fall sports drive the busiest activation stretch of the year. Gus looks at equipment worth buying and moves worth making before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for sports marketing agencies. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions sports marketing agency owners ask first.
Does the full value of a sponsorship deal count as my agency's revenue?
No, only your commission or fee counts as income. Gus keeps the full deal value separate since it belongs to the team or brand, not your business.
I manage athlete endorsement payments on a brand's behalf. Does that count as my expense?
It stays in its own pass-through category, separate from your team's pay, so your real overhead and your client's endorsement costs are both clear.
My income is heavily seasonal around the sports calendar. Will that confuse my numbers?
No, Gus tracks your income against your own history, so an expected seasonal swing reads as normal rather than a red flag.
I bought hospitality tickets and a suite for a client's activation. How does that get handled?
Gus keeps hospitality costs tied to the client and activation they were for, so the accountant can apply the right tax treatment.
My books have never separated client budgets from my own commission income. Can Gus fix that?
Yes. Send what you have, even a year of client budgets mixed with your own commissions. Gus separates the two within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever