Sponsorships for soccer teams are undergoing big changes in Europe

BeSoccer 11 months ago |

Reading time: minutes

Sponsorships have long been an important part of just about any sport. BeSoccer

Sponsorships have long been an important part of just about any sport. While sports like soccer obviously make a lot of money from ticket sales, the teams themselves are handsomely compensated for selling advertising space on their shirts and gear.

In this article, we take a look at how sponsorships in soccer work and why a lot of big changes are expected in the general realm of sponsorships in Europe. Namely, this has to do with the legality of online casinos and sports betting companies.

Sports and advertising go hand in hand

Whenever you tune into a sports broadcast, you can expect to be inundated with all kinds of commercials and advertising. Some sports are even more ad-heavy than others. For instance, the whole American football (NFL) gameplay is full of breaks with many opportunities for advertisers to fill in the blanks. The same goes for the NHL with its frequent Power Breaks that are always sponsored by different companies that want to get their products and services out there.

With soccer, things are a little bit different. With every period lasting 45 minutes or so, there is actually zero advertising time being sold. Instead, the only way for advertisers to make money for broadcasts is by advertising on the field boards, during half-time, or through sponsorships.

Naturally, sponsorships are a major part of the equation with players having multiple logos on their shirts. These logos are displayed constantly during close-ups of player reactions and interactions.

In general, sponsorships for soccer teams are not cheap. Below, you will find some of the most well-known and expensive sponsorships in the history of soccer:

Nike sponsorship with Liverpool (£150.45 million)
Nike sponsorship with Barcelona (£540 million)
Puma sponsorship with Manchester City (£651.4 million)
Adidas sponsorship with Bayern Munich (£769.2 million)
Adidas sponsorship with Manchester United (£906 million)

As you can see, many of the biggest sponsorships in the sport come from world-famous clothing brands. Companies such as Nike, Puma, and Adidas have a tendency to sponsor soccer teams playing in various leagues, including the UK Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and Germany’s Bundesliga. Associating themselves with the best sports teams in the world also gives these brands more credibility as the brands that top athletes like to wear.

Gambling sponsorships are also common

While clothing brands are a natural fit for sports team sponsorships, there is no denying that sports betting also tends to go hand in hand with sports. Research shows that in English football, as much as 15.2% of all sponsorships are coming from the gambling sector. Other important fields include financial services (8.7%), airline and travel (6.5%), and food and drink (6.5%).

There are several reasons why the gambling sector is such a big sponsor of sports. In addition to having a lot to do with sports, sports betting companies are constantly trying to expand. In the best-case scenario, displaying your logo during a game could lead to an immediate influx of customers. The effect will probably not be as immediate with sectors like airline and travel.

Gambling sponsorships for soccer could be on thin ice

While most sports sponsorships will probably be around more or less forever, gambling sponsorships are a constant topic of debate. With several countries such as Finland changing their gambling laws and regulations, gambling sponsorships could take a hit in the coming years. While brands such as zimplerkasinot.net will continue to bring up new gambling websites, there is a chance that logos of such sites might end up disappearing from soccer fields.

In the UK, too, there is a bit of a gambling epidemic going on. Because of this, there could come a time when the government starts to crack down on gambling marketing.

Conclusion

They say that nothing lasts forever. This may very well be the case when it comes to gambling sponsorships and soccer. In Finland, the promotion of online gambling is already illegal. In this case, it is unlikely that any drastic changes will come about because the Nordic nation is starting to regulate. However, as time moves on, more international pressure could be put on gambling advertising, which could lead to some actions being taken.

We will continue to monitor this issue in the years to come.