Australian sport is rife with the promotion of alcohol, junk food and gambling, with nearly three quarters of sports sponsored by a company that sells those products, a study shows.

An audit of the 53 sporting organisations that have received funding from the Australian Sports Commission indicated a pervasive level of influence by companies that sell "unhealthy" products.

Cricket topped the list with the unhealthy trinity of booze, betting and burgers comprising 27 per cent of its sponsors, including 19 fast food manufacturers, 10 alcohol companies and one gambling operator.

It was followed by rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules and football.

The report comes as the Western Sydney Wanderers announced a partnership with McDonald's to sell a special Wanderers meal in 88 stores across Western Sydney. It includes a quarter pounder, large soft drink, large fries and a six pack of chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce, amounting to 6480 kilojoules.

An 80-kilogram person would need to play 90 minutes of competitive football, then jog for 37 minutes, to burn off the kilojoules.

University of Sydney researcher Rona Macniven, who presented the research at a Sports Medicine Australia's conference on Wednesday, said the promotion of such products was incongruous with the health benefits that came from engaging the community in sport.

"At this time of year, watching the grand finals, they were really saturated with unhealthy product advertising," Ms Macniven said.

"It's a bit of a paradox, with sport being synonymous with health."

Across 413 websites, a total of 1975 sponsors were identified and 10 per cent of them were rated as "not health promoting".

Overall, 39 of the 53 organisations had at least one unhealthy sponsor.

Ms Macniven said her research, which was conducted during 2012 and the first half of 2013, demonstrated a need for regulatory guidelines to limit sponsorship and ensure it did not reach children.

Cricket Australia's website lists Coca-Cola, KFC, VB, Carlton Mid, Bet365 and Milo among its sponsors.

Its spokesman said sponsors provided critical financial support for the game and Cricket Australia encouraged the responsible consumption of alcohol through its "know when to declare" campaign.

"We believe that to simply ban alcohol sponsorship in sport is a simplistic approach to a complex societal issue," the spokesman said.

"Our research shows that it is better to engage with the reality that most fans enjoy a responsible drink than it is to turn them off with a prohibition message that they don't believe."

Cricket Australia had a range of programs to keep kids active and sponsors such as KFC helped make them happen, he said.

Carlton & United Brewery corporate affairs director Jeremy Griffith said classifying alcohol, junk food and gambling as "unhealthy" was a moralistic position and that none of them were harmful in moderation.

"The argument that sports sponsorship is driving consumption and under-age drinking is not backed by facts," Mr Griffith said.

"Overall, consumption is down and there are fewer under-aged drinkers.

"The primary influence of a kid's attitude to alcohol are their parents, it is not a logo on a jumper."

University of Wollongong researcher Bridget Kelly said studies had drawn a link between the marketing of unhealthy products and consumer behaviour, and children perceived the sponsors of their favourite sports as "cool".

The federal government needed to threaten regulation if the industry did not act responsibly, she said.

"Industry codes look good but dig below that and they're pretty useless," Dr Kelly said.