UEFA ink new sponsorship deals with PepsiCo, Enterprise and Unicredit
By Mark Baber
June 10 – UEFA has signed three new major sponsorship deals covering its European club competitions with PepsiCo, Enterprise Rent-a-car and Unicredit.
Football Marketing
Collective TV sales to boost Spanish clubs by extra €600m
By David Owen
June 7 – Spain’s La Liga may overhaul the Bundesliga as the second-highest revenue-generating football league by the season after next, as the long-awaited switch to a collective sales model for TV rights provides a substantial boost to broadcasting income.
Man Utd storm Twitter league for 14th week, Liverpool finish strong
By Paul Nicholson
June 5 – In the last week of the Premier League the Insideworldfootball twitter stats showed Manchester United yet again leading the table of most new followers over the week. Liverpool, who had a desperate end to the season, came in second, followed by Arsenal and Chelsea who were close together.
Turkish Lassa Tyres tread new path with FC Barcelona
By Mark Baber
June 4 – Barcelona has signed a wide-ranging partnership agreement with leading tyre brand Lassa, of Brisa (a joint venture of Turkey’s Sabancı Holding and Bridgestone) worth a reported €21.6 million ($24 million). As well as making Lassa the title sponsor of Barcelona’s indoor sports teams (Basketball, Handball, Futsal and Roller Hockey) which will be known by the name ‘FC Barcelona Lassa’ until 30 June 2019, the agreement sees the Turkey based company become an Official Partner of the Club and Lassa become the club’s official tyre.
Gracenote enters sports with $54m buy of data giants Infostrada and SportsDirect
By Paul Nicholson
June 3 – The sports data business has a new powerplaying corporate entrant in the form of world leading data and technology provider Gracenote, which has acquired Europe’s Infostrada Sports and Canada-based SportsDirect for $54 million.
Romania swaps Adidas for Joma in €5.4 million deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 1 – Romania’s football federation FRF has signed a kit deal worth up to €5.4 million with Spanish sports apparel producer Joma. The company will replace Adidas which started supplying kits to the Romanian federation in 1970.
NTV Plus poised to extend Russian Premier League pay TV deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 25 – Russian broadcaster NTV Plus has reportedly agreed the terms for extending its current broadcasting deal with Russia’s Premier League (RPL). The new contract is for a three-year period, and it is estimated to be worth at least RUB 5.6 billion (€101 million).
Delta lands first Gold Cup sponsorship
May 25 – This Summer’s Gold Cup, to be played in the US, has added another sponsor with Delta becoming the Official Airline. Last week CONCACAF announced Sprint as its official wireless provider.
PSG keeps up international brand push with new 16-language video game
By David Owen
May 22 – Paris Saint-Germain has opened a new front in its international brand-building initiative, launching a video game for mobile phones.
Man Utd prints off partnership extension with Epson
By David Owen
May 25 – Manchester United, the Premier League football club, which rounded off its season today with a goalless draw at Hull City, has extended its partnership with Epson, the Japanese printer manufacturer.
Man Utd announce Quakes date in California to complete US shakedown
May 22 – Manchester United have announced the Kabam Field at the California Memorial Stadium as the venue for their US pre-season tour against San Jose Earthquakes. The stadium is on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay area.
Liverpool to debut Gerrard’s last kit in last game, but keep fans waiting
May 21 – Premier League Liverpool are to unveil their third new kit for the final game of the season this Sunday against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium. But neither the club nor their new kit partner New Balance are giving away any preview of the design before the match kicks off.
Ibra’s PSG cooks up ‘dream’ deal with Swedish pizza brand
By David Owen
May 21 – Paris Saint-Germain have made a new move to exploit the presence of Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimović in their squad, agreeing a one-year regional sponsorship deal with Billys, a Swedish-produced pizza snack.
Benfica lands Emirates in three year shirt deal
By Mark Baber
May 20 – Under a year since Emirates became the official airline of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, a three-year shirt sponsorship deal has been agreed between the two parties, whereby Fly Emirates will be displayed on the team jersey until the end of the 2017/18 season.
Sprint cross line for fifth Gold Cup sponsorship
May 20 – Sprint has renewed its CONCACAF Gold Cup sponsorship as official US wireless provider. This is Sprint’s fifth consecutive Gold Cup, the first being in 2007.