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The Football Association has signed a new shirt deal with Nike. No doubt it is good business for them, but it will prove costly for England fans as they face the prospect of three different shirts in as many years. Fans will have to decide whether to pay £50 for a new shirt every season which, of course, costs a fraction of that to produce offshore. Some fans have only recently bought the present kit.
Simon Hines, the editor of Sponsorship Today, assesses the recent sponsorship deal between Chevrolet and Manchester United:
So why has the new deal broken previous records by such a high margin? The first point to look at is the starting date. By the time the sponsorship starts in earnest in 2014, it will have been four years since the Aon deal was signed, so it is not an overnight doubling. Rights values for major properties are now growing at a rate well ahead of inflation.
Liverpool’s shirt sponsors, Standard Chartered Bank, have been accused by US regulators of sanctions busting deals on behalf of the Iranians. The allegations are denied by the Bank, but there is a real risk of their US licence being revoked. This would pose serious difficulties for them as much as their income comes from facilitating trade deals. In the meantime, 16 per cent has been wiped off the value of their shares.
Kendal Town football club have signed an unusual sponsorship deal that requires players to wear crocheted black beards with sideburns and red beanie hats in pre-match warm-ups. Local firm Rosetta makes off-the-wall giftwear. The beards are a big seller in the US and it is hoped that this success will be replicated in the UK.
The beards come in a variety of colours, including grey.
The ability of Manchester United to attract increasingly lucrative sponsorship deals is demonstrated by their new shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet. Their current deal with US insurer Aon, admittedly over a four year period, is worth £80m. The new deal which will start from the 2014-15 season is reported to be worth $600m over seven years. They are the club’s fifth shirt sponsor.
Sunderland AFC have secured a unique African sponsorship deal with Invest in Africa. The team will wear the logo of the not-for-profit organisation on their shirts for the next two years. Tullow Oil, Africa’s largest independent oil company, is the founding partner in an initiative which seeks to promote fresh investment in the continent.
According to a new report from International Marketing Reports, overall primary shirt sponsorship deals have a greater value in the English Premiership, but averaged by club, the Germans just edge it.
For the 2010/11 season, total shirt sponsorship for the Premier League amounted to €128m whereas Bundesliga clubs achieved €121m. However, given that the Premiership has two more clubs, the average deal value was €6.4m compared with €6.72m in Germany.
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is likely to bid for Umbro, the UK-based football brand that sponsors the England team kit. The discount sportswear chain owned a 30 per cent stake in Umbro before Nike took it private.
Nike bought Umbro in 2007 for £285m in an effort to increase its football revenues, but results were disappointing. Revenues were $276m in 2006 but $224m last year. Analysts believe that Nike will struggle to get back what it paid.
Kidderminster Harriers have signed a new shirt deal with tool hire firm Hire-It! based on the Worcester Road. The firm will replace OGL Computer on the front of the shirt until the end of the 2013-14 season after a five figure deal was secured.
A great fuss has been made about a local authority sponsorship of Tranmere Rovers which requires them to wear ‘Wirral’ on their shirts. In fact the sponsorship dates back to 1989 and enables the club to undertake various activities in the community. Nevertheless, various rent a quotes have been wheeled out to portray this as a great injustice to taxpayers.