Shirt sponsorship income for six of the top European football leagues amounted to a total of €687M ($778M), a 20% increase compared to €570M from the ’13-14 season, according to a report by Repucom. The European Football Jersey report also showed that shirt sponsorship for the English Premier League and La Liga has risen by more than 30% this season. The report credits a significant amount of the EPL’s 36% rise in jersey sponsorship income to ManU’s $70M per year deal with Chevrolet. La Liga (+30%), Serie A (+21%), Ligue 1 (+13%) and the Bundesliga (+9%) all saw increases in sponsorship income. Repucom President of Global Strategy Glenn Lovett told SBD Global a large factor contributing to the increase is the rise of digital and social media. “There are a lot more people in the world who have access to [digital and social media] content," Lovett said. "And that’s attractive to sponsors. Sponsors, particularly global sponsors, are after reach. And football in Europe is increasingly providing better and better global reach.” The report shows that the Dutch Eredivisie was the only league that saw a decrease, with a 5% drop and income of €42M ($47M) for the ‘14-15 season. Lovett said heavy competition from the larger European leagues was a reason for the drop. “If you look at the elite -- the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A -- they continue to attract the audiences, which actually makes it difficult and more competitive for other leagues in Europe,” Lovett said. “I think the Netherlands is probably suffering a little bit from that competition as more brands get attracted to the top leagues in particular.”
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: The Repucom report revealed that the UAE and Qatar are the leaders when it comes to foreign sponsors, with UAE and Qatar-based companies investing around €160M ($181M) in shirt deals for the current season. Lovett said the draw for companies in the Middle East is about more than just a financial or commercial return on investments. “In the Middle East in particular, there’s this notion of a sort of prestige and brand building,” Lovett said. “For those countries, being associated with global football provides more benefit than just purely financial or commercial reasons. It’s linked to tourism, social and health benefits and the prestige of actually being associated with something really global as well.” German companies invested €112M ($127M), followed by the U.S., a new top-three investor with close to €82M ($93M). Lovett said last year’s World Cup in Brazil was a contributing factor to the U.S.’s rise in European shirt sponsorships. The report revealed that La Liga is No. 1 in percentage of income from foreign companies with 86% of its revenue from shirt sponsorships coming from outside of Spain. The EPL was third with 75%, Ligue 1 followed with 68% and Serie A with 47%. The Bundesliga and Eredivisie placed on the bottom of the table with income from foreign shirt sponsorship totaling 24% and 19%, respectively, due to the two leagues’ strong domestic shirt sponsorships. Lovett attributed the restrictions on foreign ownership in the Bundesliga and the openness to investment and franchise ownership in the EPL as factors contributing to the significant gap in foreign and domestic shirt sponsors between the two leagues.
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| Source: Repucom |
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| Source: Repucom |
