With a friendly against Hungary just three weeks away, the FA is stepping up the search for a new main England sponsor after Nationwide formally confirmed they are no longer interested. The FA decided not to re-sign with the building society before the World Cup, gambling that success would lead to a better deal. Now the FA has had to lower its sights to a £5m a year deal over four seasons rather than the £10m it was hoping for.
With a friendly against Hungary just three weeks away, the FA is stepping up the search for a new main England sponsor after Nationwide formally confirmed they are no longer interested. The FA decided not to re-sign with the building society before the World Cup, gambling that success would lead to a better deal. Now the FA has had to lower its sights to a £5m a year deal over four seasons rather than the £10m it was hoping for.
The FA is still coping with the financial consequences of the collapse of Setanta a year ago, even though it has signed new broadcast deals with ITV, ESPN and BSkyB. EOn has agreed to sponsor the FA Cup for another season, but not to a longer deal.
Telecommunications and high technology companies look like the most likely sponsors, although Spanish bank Santander is another possibility. There have been discussions with Orange and O2 and BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Bing have also been mentioned as options.