With the completion of the takeover of loss-making Blue Square by Betfair, the search for a new sponsor for the Football Conference is on. Indeed, the Football League does not have a headline sponsor for next season. Undoubtedly a sponsor will be found in both cases: the real question is how much they are prepared to pay.
With the completion of the takeover of loss-making Blue Square by Betfair, the search for a new sponsor for the Football Conference is on. Indeed, the Football League does not have a headline sponsor for next season. Undoubtedly a sponsor will be found in both cases: the real question is how much they are prepared to pay.
A spokesman for the Football Conference said it was ‘talking’ to a number of possible sponsors for next season, but would not disclose specific names. Brian Lee, chairman of the Football Conference, said ‘Blue Square Bet has been a tremendous partner for six long seasons and we knew that they were likely to end their contract with us at the end of this current one.’
One possible issue a new sponsor has to contend with is the dilution in live coverage of Football Conference matches. Broadcaster Premier Sports TV is showing 30 Football Conference matches this season, available on the Sky platform. However, this was dwarfed by the 65 matches shown by Setanta before it fell into administration in 2009.
What is in effect the fifth division is highly competitive as is shown by the tightness of the promotion race this year. Although some promoted teams, such as Crawley and Stevenage, forge on to League 1, others find themselves struggling in the lower reaches of League 2.
Nevertheless, there is substantial pressure to secure promotion (and to avoid going further down the non-league system). One-third of Conference managers have been sacked this year, Steve King at Macclesfield being the latest. But then three-quarters of Championship managers have left their clubs.