English football faces losses of up to £50M ($76M) if England fails "to qualify for next summer’s World Cup finals," according to Alex Miller of the London DAILY MAIL.
Such "is the economic importance of making it to Brazil" that the FA has been "warned of a commercial ‘disaster’ if Roy Hodgson’s stuttering side become the first England team in 20 years to fail to qualify for a World Cup."
The lost income "would be made up of forfeited prize-money" (up to £25M ($38M) for winning the event, but more realistically around £15M ($23M) if they survive the group phase), low shirt and merchandise sales and damaging declines in sponsorship cash. Brand Rapport Sports Marketing Dir Nigel Currie said, "Not qualifying for the World Cup would be nothing short of a disaster." The FA makes more than £50M a year "from sponsorship deals that run in four-year World Cup cycles." Contracts with Vauxhall, Mars, Carlsberg, Lucozade, Nivea and Marks and Spencer "expire at the end of the World Cup." Failure to reach Brazil "would make renewal negotiations harder and marketing insiders estimate a dip in future values" of between 10-20%, or £5M-£10M ($7.6M-$15.2M) on those deals alone (DAILY MAIL, 6/1).
