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Wonga is to end its shirt sponsorship at Blackpool after five years. The Championship strugglers may not find it easy to attract a new sponsor.
The payday lending sector has been hit hard by a tightening of regulations, although, as a market leader Wonga is expected to survive while other firms cease trading. Its sponsorship of Newcastle United will continue, although its name is being removed from children’s kits.
West Ham’s sponsors Alpari have gone bust after turmoil in the foreign exchange markets following a change of policy on the Swiss franc. They sponsored both the shirts and one of the main stands in a deal worth £3m a year.
Sports Direct have produced an interesting set of graphics which show just how big the variation is in the value of Premier League kit sponsorships (although five clubs have managed to keep the details quiet). They also provide information on European and international kit deals.
Shirt sponsorship deals in the Premier League have increased to a record £191m in 2014-15. For example, Hull City recently concluded a deal with 12BETuk which is worth a seven figure sum and is the largest in the club’s history.
However, only six clubs have deals worth more than £10m and the other fourteen clubs have raised a combined sum that is less than that of Manchester United. Placed in the context of overall Premier Legaue revenues, the global sum is a relatively small one, although still a valuable source of revenue.
Charlton Athletic have announced that the University of Greenwich is to be the club’s new kit sponsor. The club plays in the London Borough of Greenwich and there are thought to be possible synergies with its Academy operation. It can’t, however, be a big money spinner.
Charlton are not the first club to have a university on their shirts as Conference side Lincoln City was sponsored by the University of Lincoln for two years.
Rangers have concluded a three year shirt sponsorship deal with online casino group 32Red. The company has previously sponsored Aston Villa and Swansea City.
32Red chief executive Ed Ware said ‘This is not a punt. It is an educated investment.’ Rangers were ‘on the comeback trail.’
Everton has today confirmed an extension to its shirt sponsorship with Chang in a deal that could be worth in excess of £16 million – the most lucrative in the Club’s 136-year history.
The deal, which gets underway at the start of next season, runs for three years until the end of the 2016/17 campaign and remains the longest-running shirt sponsorship in the Barclays Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a lucrative five-year sponsorship deal with AIA from the start of next season. The insurance services provider, which is Asia’s largest insurer, linked up with Spurs at the start of the 2013/14 season as their cup shirt partner, and will become principal global partner from the start of the next campaign.
AIA’s logo will appear on the front of Tottenham’s shirts in all competitions until 2019. The size of the deal has not been disclosed, but it is thought to be significantly more than the £12m a year mentioned in some initial reports.
West Bromwich Albion shirt sponsor, Zoopla, has warned the club to axe Nicolas Anelka or risk their lucrative shirt deal being scrapped.
Zoopla, a property and house prices website company, has delivered an ultimatum to Albion by threatening to pull out of its contract if Anelka plays in the Premier League game against Everton at the Hawthorns on Monday night.
Anelka is under investigation by the Football Association and facing a potentially lengthy suspension after his controversial ‘quenelle’ goal celebration that has been described as anti-Semitic by Jewish organisations.
Paris Saint-Germain have officially announced their sponsorship deal with the Qatar Tourism Authority which will net the Ligue 1 champions up to €200 million a year. Mooted last season, the agreement was publicly confirmed on Tuesday making PSG the first club to be sponsored by a state.
Income from the deal, which will reportedly be retroactively paid back to 2012, is said to increase incrementally year-on-year through to a reported maximum €200m come 2016.