Sports marketers had a banner year in 2014, as the Premier League nailed down its reputation as the most marketable football league and major int'l events like the World Cup and the Olympics raked in sponsorship millions. FIFA scored with the World Cup, but the football organization was stung at year's end by scandals that saw some top sponsors walk away. Here are the top deals that grabbed our attention in '14.
Kit Deals: Adidas-ManU; Puma-Arsenal
Coming off one of its worst seasons in decades, ManU signed the largest kit deal in EPL history this past summer. The Red Devils agreed to a 10-year, $1.3B kit deal with adidas. The deal guarantees the club at least $128M a year for the next 10 years, which is more than triple the $40M Nike paid annually for the team’s previous kit deal. The deal is worth more than double the $53M, eight-year contract under which adidas makes and sells Real Madrid shirts. The kit deal follows a seven-year, $600M shirt sponsorship deal that ManU signed with Chevrolet and took effect this season. League rival Arsenal also dropped Nike for a German rival. The London-based club signed a five-year, $249M kit deal with Puma in January and ended a 20-year cooperation with Nike.
Emirates Drops FIFA
Dubai-based Emirates airline became the first major FIFA sponsor to end its relationship with the governing body amid corruption accusations surrounding high-ranking FIFA executive committee members. The airline said that it would end its sponsorship deal at the end of ’14. Emirates did not say how much the contract was worth or where it would redeploy the spending. Emirates Group VP Gary Chapman said that he was not involved in the Emirates-FIFA negotiations, but understood the decision to end ties was a mix of discomfort with FIFA and changing commercial priorities. Media reports suggested that Sony also plans to not renew its contract with FIFA, which ends on Dec. 31. However, no official decision has been made yet.
Rio Hits Targets/PyeongChang Struggles
Rio 2016 Olympics organizers said that they would beat their sponsorship target by $20M this year. Rio Games CCO Renato Ciuchini said that agreements with 19 sponsors valued at $800M will have been completed this year, taking sponsorship income for the Games to $1B, which represents 85% of the total needed from commercial backers. Ciuchini said that the success of the FIFA World Cup helped the Rio organizers. He said that seven deals were signed in the 30 days after the World Cup. While the Rio Summer Games are surpassing expectations, organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games struggle to bring in partners. Organizers announced partnerships with telecom firm KT Corp. and Youngone Outdoor in early July. However, since then it has become quiet. After the Board of Audit & Inspection began an inspection of the organizing committee in May, committee President Kim Jin-Sun was reportedly forced to resign amid accusations he was involved in illegally borrowing money from banks after failing to raise operational funds from Olympic sponsors. Kim was replaced by South Korean businessman Cho Yang-ho.
Naming Rights For Real Madrid’s Bernabéu
One of the most iconic football stadiums in Europe, Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu, will receive a corporate sponsor that will help finance the planned renovation and modernization of the venue. In October, Real Madrid agreed to a strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Int’l Petroleum Investment Company. Real President Florentino Pérez was captured saying, “We are going to put IPIC Bernabéu or whatever they want ... or CEPSA Bernabéu [Spanish energy company CEPSA is owned by IPIC]." The stadium overhaul will cost more than $500M and its completion is scheduled for ‘17. Both parties agreed not to disclose the length or value of the deal. Besides the potential naming-rights deal for the Bernabéu, the agreement includes setting up Real museums and expanding the club’s global footprint of football schools, as well as creating content for digital-media platforms.
World Cup/Olympics Ad Campaigns
Advertising and marketing campaigns from official and non-official sponsors caused uproar, admiration and concern during the 2014 Sochi Games and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Official sponsors of both events spent large fees to have exclusivity; however, it largely was non-official sponsors with their more aggressive strategies that made headlines. During the World Cup, headphones brand Beats by Dre supplied several players with its products and produced a TV ad featuring several of the tournament’s top players, disregarding Panasonic, which was the event's official electronics partner. Nike’s #RiskEverything campaign also scored big despite the fact that adidas has been the World Cup’s long-term partner in the athletics brand category. The same was true for the Olympics, where non-official brand Red Bull, which sponsors several top winter sports athletes, fought official sponsor Coca-Cola in terms of brand awareness and affiliation. Both the IOC and FIFA have tried to protect the exclusivity of their official partners by establishing tougher rules and forcing host countries to pass stricter legislation.
