For the last 15 years, Barclays has used the global popularity of Premier League football to "gain footing in new markets," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Next month, its reign as title sponsor ends, "a reflection of the league’s growing ambitions and the bank’s shrinking ones." Barclays’ strategy has "changed dramatically" in the three years since it last renewed the $57M-per-year sponsorship. About £20B ($28.5B) of profit "has been wiped out by misconduct charges over the last five years, and its plans for global dominance have retrenched." Since '14 Barclays "has withdrawn from its European retail operations" in Spain, Italy and Portugal, and in March announced plans to leave Asia and Africa, regions where the Premier League counts "some of its most avid fans." As well as turning away from seven Asian countries, Barclays is looking for a buyer for a 62% stake in Barclays Africa. The "focus for now is on core business" in the U.K. and the U.S. It has "also pulled back from other high-profile sponsorships, including tennis’s World Tour Finals." Barclays Global Head of Sponsorships Nathan Homer said, "The thing you pay the big money for -- which is to put your name on the top -- no longer was relevant for us as a business." To "capitalize on its own popularity, the league has decided to forgo a title sponsor entirely." Like the NFL, the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, the Premier League will "instead try to add sponsors in each of seven categories." Nike has become the official ball sponsor, Electronic Arts is the sports technology partner, and the league is "close to naming an official beer." Barclays will stay on as the official bank. Homer: "It couldn’t have suited us better." Homer said that Barclays got "more than an advertising boost." The deal required the league to use the bank for all of its financial transactions, "which have increased significantly in number and value over the years." Fourteen of the league’s 20 teams also bank with Barclays, "giving the lender access to millionaire players, coaches and deep-pocketed owners" (BLOOMBERG, 4/12).
