European Football Club Shirt Sponsorship Deals Break Record Mark

A study revealed that European football clubs have "broken the €500M ($649M) mark for shirt sponsorship deals for the first time," according to Arne Richter of the DPA. The study, conducted by sport marketing company Sport+Markt, showed that Europe's top football leagues have generated a total of €522M ($677M) "through shirt sponsorship deals." The 20 EPL clubs lead the way with deals worth a total of €148.7M ($193M). The EPL is followed by the German Bundesliga (€119.8M/$155.5M), Italian Serie A (€82.8M/$107.4M), Spanish La Liga (€78.7M/$102M), French Ligue 1 (€52.3M/$67.9M) and Dutch Eredivisie (€39.8M/$51.6M). Sport+Markt Consultant Philipp Kupfer said, "Breaking the €500M mark shows that shirt sponsorships are a premium communication tool. Especially during times of crises, companies count on such a premium tool to reach their customers." The number also shows that football in Europe is a "two-tier society." The top five clubs FC Barcelona, ManU, Liverpool FC, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich earn €126M ($163.5M) with their shirt deals, which equals more than 20% in revenue of shirt sponsorship deals from all 116 top-flight clubs in the study. The financial sector is the biggest investor in shirt sponsorships in Europe with a total spending of €111.5M ($144.7M). The industry with "the biggest increase is the automobile industry," which doubled its investment to €40M ($51.9M). In Germany, the "biggest investors are energy companies," which spend €39M ($50.6) on shirt sponsorships (DPA, 10/8).