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Jersey Sponsorship Disparity
Widening In English Premier League |
Jersey-sponsorship revenue for English Premiership clubs for the ’04-05 season is down to $80.6M from $83.4M last season, but jersey revenue is up from $425.3M to $438.5M across the six elite European leagues in England, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, according to a Sport + Markt AG report cited by BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Ryan Mills. The report indicated that there “is a widening gap between the income generated by bigger and smaller” Premiership clubs, as the top five jersey deals averaged $17M compared to $953,000 for the bottom five. Sport + Markt Account Dir Oliver Butler said in a statement: “This is disappointing not only as it bucks the upward advertising trend in the U.K., but also since the new domestic TV deal gives greater exposure than ever before. Football sponsorship still doesn’t enjoy the same level of research and evaluation as other marketing disciplines, and as long as that is the case it will continue to be undersold.” The report found that sponsors on average are paying $6.5M for jersey sponsorship of German Bundesliga clubs, $4.77M for Italian Serie A clubs and $4M for Premiership clubs. The report also noted a “shift away from telecommunications companies in favor of financial services” as jersey sponsors. Telecom companies now sponsor 12 clubs in the six leagues, down from 19 two years ago. Financial services companies sponsor 29 clubs, up from 23 in ’02 (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 11/30).
