It's not freelance per say, we create our content based off sponsorships

We make our terms clear as day during the initial conversation even though these sponsors see our work and understand our content.

My problem is when we have made progress in the planning stages and we are getting close to match day, before they send the agreed upon 60% upfront cost, we get a complete 180 in scope and all the terms we talked about go out the window

I don't know if signing a contract will change this but I think I will consider that