The Scottish Premier League is “looking for a new sponsor after the Clydesdale Bank announced that it was ending its deal,” according to Kenny MacDonald of the SCOTTISH SUN. The bank “will finish their six-year relationship ... at the end of next season.” Clydesdale Bank reportedly “had an option to extend their deal until 2014 but decided not to do so.” SPL CEO Neil Doncaster: "It's quite unusual to be given 18 months' warning that a sponsor is intending to end their relationship but that is very helpful. It gives us time to investigate the market” (SCOTTISH SUN, 11/17). A Clydesdale Bank spokesperson said, “We think it has gone better than we might have believed at the outset. The exposure that Scottish football receives is still extremely high. But these things have a natural shelf-life.” Doncaster insisted that the ending of the Clydesdale Bank deal “was nothing to do with any lack of success in the arrangement.” Doncaster: “My understanding is that Clydesdale Bank feels the sponsorship has been pretty good for them. Six years is quite a long time for any one sponsor, and now they want a change in direction.” In London, Graham Spiers notes some will view the news “as another nail in the coffin” of the SPL, but “in fact, it might not be so bleak.” There is “some evidence that Clydesdale Bank’s six years as principal sponsor of the Scottish Premier League has been a success” (LONDON TIMES, 11/17). But in Scotland, Stewart Fisher writes the news “represented another blow to the prestige and financial well-being of the league.” The deal with Clydesdale Bank reportedly was worth US$3.15M a year since ’07 (HERALD SCOTLAND, 11/17).
