Professional Football Sponsorships – How Much Do Teams Really Earn?
Professional Football Sponsorships – How Much Do Teams Really Earn?
How Much Do Teams Really Earn?
The world of football is one of the most lucrative sporting industries. With revenue being generated from ever-increasing sponsorship deals, kit deals, shirt deals, partnerships, etc., there is no doubt that sponsorships have injected significant amounts of cash into the industry as the decades went by. We will explore how sponsorships have altered the football industry into what it is today.
The current football landscape has evolved beyond what our imagination can comprehend. It is the most interesting time in football history, rich with risks, opportunities, and challenges in equal measures. While sponsorships have been a key contributor to the football industry’s revenues streams, the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic are noticeably in effect, impacting sponsorship exposure and effectiveness, which could mean a re-evaluation or even cessation of their commitments.
Despite this, however, the total sponsorship value across the top international football leagues—the Bundesliga, English Premier League, Eredivisie. La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A—is valued at more than €3.3 billion per annum, where front-of-shirt sponsorship represents a third of said figure. But where has this growth come from? And how exactly did it shape the industry to be what it is today? What it the benefit of being a betting partner sponsorship?
Origins Of Sponsorships In Football
The first instance of football sponsorship is widely thought to have originated in Uruguayan professional football during the 1950s, with the values attached to it also seeing exponential growth. Part of this is due to corporate interest, where the football industry is seen to be attractive from a sponsorship perspective thanks to the global popularity of the game and the impeccable power football has to (i) raise brand visibility (ii) create positive associations for the teams, players or leagues involved, and (iii) enhancing brand differentiation from their competitors within a saturated advertising landscape.
Football fans always want to be near the action, players and witness the most revealing camera angles across their selected broadcast medium. Along with the advancements in broadcast technology and media landscape, football fans around the world can now experience enhanced immersion through greater levels of experience and engagement. It is this newfound level of interaction given to football fans that have made sponsorship activation such a tantalising opportunity for big brands to appeal to fans in ways that deepen the relationship far beyond a logo impression.
Sponsorships In The Modern Era
The advent of social media, plus the presence of digitalisation and globalisation, have greatly changed the landscape of football sponsorship at the highest level by introducing exciting new strategic and commercial opportunities for football clubs, players, and corporate sponsors alike. As a result, top-level football sponsorship is one of the most competitive environments as sponsors and right-holders are constantly adapting to keep pace and take advantage of the changes to draw out their competitive advantage.
Not only that, what was once solely a sport meant to represent a nation’s ability on the international stage is now a truly global entertainment industry that includes all genders, nationalities, and demographics. With the major football leagues now broadcasting into 212 territories across the world, football is the most-watched sport globally except for certain parts of North America. In other parts of the world, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand have one of the highest rates of interest in football at a national level at 80 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively.
But on an international level, many fans still gravitate towards more renowned football events such as the UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, or the other larger leagues in Europe. It is, in fact, not unusual to see many major clubs in Europe having fan bases abroad in other continents as a result of globalisation. I.e., you are likely to see a child in Thailand wearing a Barcelona FC shirt.
Sponsorships are also more prolific in the modern era due to the development of existing media channels. As the sport of football becomes more accessible to more people at a lower cost on a global scale, the consumption habit of the sport changes accordingly as well.
Many football clubs transform themselves from simple sporting entities into leisure and media corporations, vying for the attention and leisure time of fans around the world. This dynamic creates valuable sponsorship opportunities for leading corporate brands.
The top global football leagues dominate the current sponsorship landscape. The English Premier League generates a whooping 832 million GBP per annum in front-of-shirt and kit sponsorship income, nearly doubling its closest rival La Liga at 436 million euros per annum.
The only downside to this is that the commercial power and relative on-field success is retained by only a small number of clubs, creating polarisation within these respective leagues—Real Madrid and Barcelona accounting for 80 per cent of the total shirt and kit value generated across La Liga, while the top six clubs in the Premier League account for a mind-boggling 83% of the total annual shirt and kit sponsorship value.
The financial might and marketability of the top clubs in the global leagues, plus the superior attraction for new opportunities, is the direct result of the globalisation and digitalisation of the way we view the sport.
How Much Do Football Clubs Make From Sponsorship Deals?
Talking about sponsorship deals, here is an idea of how lucrative the industry has become as we look at the multimillion-dollar sponsorships that have taken place over the years.
English Premier League champions Liverpool has the honours of being one of the first few clubs that started sponsoring brands on shirts and kits, with their very first sponsor being Hitachi, who signed a contract for three years way back in 1979.
Since then, they have had many more reputable sponsors such as Carlsberg, Mauritius, MG, and AXA. But their biggest sponsor since 2010 is Standard Chartered, where the club is receiving a massive 43 million GBP each season for having their logo on the Liverpool kit.
Liverpool is also earning a significant 36 million GBP from sports brand giants Adidas, netting an incredible 79 million GBP per season from sponsorship income.
English Premier League greats Arsenal are no slouches when it comes to sponsorship income re their 2014 sponsorship deal with Puma, where they were netting a solid 43 million pound sterling every season.
Recently, the North London club inked a 56 million pound sterling shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates Airline for five years long, featuring the Emirates name on Arsenal’s kit and the shirts of their squad. Arsenal will be receiving 56 million pound sterling per season, making that a whopping 280 million pound sterling during their partnership.
Adding to that, the Gunners received 86 million pound sterling in sponsorship revenue last season.
Being one of the most popular football clubs in the German Bundesliga and in the world, the club has come a long way since its humble beginnings from its first sponsorship deal with Adidas back in 1965, where Adidas were given an 8.33 per cent holding of the club.
As the years went by and the club grew in size, Bayern has since had multiple sponsorship deals with different brands such as Allianz, Adidas, and Deutsche Telekom, netting them 47 million euros per season from the telecommunications giant. Bayern also earned an additional 125 million euros last season in other deals on top of these sponsorship deals.
But the biggest deal that Bayern has penned to date is its sponsorship deal with Adidas in 2015, which was valued at a staggering 1.07 billion euros. Other than that, Bayern also has other sponsorship deals with Allianz which nets them a steady 9 million euros per season.
With many lucrative sponsorships under its belt, Bayern’s pockets are surely deep enough to tide them over for the foreseeable future.
French side Paris-Saint Germain signed its first sponsorship deal with Adidas as kit manufacturer back in 1986 which lasted through to 1989, and since their first foray into the world of sponsorship deals, PSG is now reported to be earning an estimated 148 million euros through sponsorships—a significant amount to support its players for competition.
After signing on Nike at the end of the Adidas partnership, Nike extended the partnership with PSG in 2013 to continue it through to the 2021-22 campaign, paying PSG a notable 95 million euros per season. Adding on to their sponsorship portfolio is Air Jordan, which in itself is worth around 80 million euros per season.
Currently PSG are in the middle of a sponsorship deal with Accor Live Limitless, estimated to be worth around 79 million euros. There is no doubt with this diversity of sponsors under PSG, that will make this one of the biggest endorsement deals going into 2022.
Juventus is one of the most successful and historically rich football clubs in Italy, where its most prominent sponsorship deals include that of Italian lottery house Lotto from 2000 to 2003, followed by Nike from 2003 until 2015, receiving 45 million euros per season.
Currently, Juventus has renewed its agreement with the Jeep brand for the duration of this season and following seasons from now until 2024, netting the Bianconeri 55 million euros per season.
Juventus’keen eye for sponsorship deals has certainly been paying off as they are now valued by Forbes to be worth around a mouth-watering 1.95 billion euros.
Not only do Real Madrid perform well on the pitch, but off the pitch in securing sponsorship deals too. After being first sponsored by Parmalat, they have gone on to attract other notable brands such as Teka, Siemens, Bwin, and many more in retrospect; with Middle Eastern airline, giants Fly Emirates being their biggest sponsor, paying Los Blancos a sum of 84.1 million euros per year in the Spanish League. However, the agreement is due to expire during the following season.
But Real are not without options as the club has other sponsorships in the form of Adidas, Audi, Nivea Men, and Mahou, with Adidas being their second highest paying sponsor of 36 million euros per year for their kit sponsorship.
Having all these sponsorship deals in hand, Real Madrid is estimated to be worth 3.4 billion euros by 2022, thanks in part to the trustworthy reputation they have built up over the years, making it the most valuable club in the world.
Having been one of the most successful clubs of the century on and off the pitch, FC Barca have generated up to 80 million euros in revenue last season.
You might think the football giants to be crazy for turning down a sponsorship opportunity, but they eventually relented and made their first big-scale sponsorship with the non-profit organisation UNICEF, netting the club a monumental 1.5 million euros per year. Once Barcelona tasted the sweet fruits of sponsorship, they opened their arms to other renowned brands like Qatar Airways, Qatar Foundation, Nike, and Rakuten. Their most lucrative kit sponsor is Nike, which pays them 39 million euros per year.
Their current sponsor, Japanese commercial giant Rakuten, contributes around 65 million euros per year, making this sponsorship agreement between Rakuten and Barcelona one of the biggest endorsement deals in 2022.
English Premier League side Manchester City should not come as a surprise as most of their sponsors hail from the Arabic world, among some of their sponsors being Nissan, Etisalat, Visit Abu Dhabi, and Etihad Airways.
Their deals include an 18 million pound sterling sponsorship relationship with a visiting company based in Abu Dhabi, along with another 18 million pound sterling per season kit sponsorship agreement with Nike.
And as recently as the 2019-20 season, Manchester City has earned roughly 336 million pound sterling in sponsorship deals, stacking their riches on more riches.
The Lucrative World Of Sponsorships
From humble beginnings to a multimillion dollar industry poised to grow in scale and stature, sponsorships have become an integral aspect of the world of professional football, as globalisation and the digitalisation of media channels have changed the way fans from around the world view this sport. As an international influence, i8.BET Online Casino is also actively involved in the global football scene as a sponsor.
With a newfound level of engagement and accessibility given to fans, present are also newfound opportunities to capitalise financially on the ever growing landscape of a professional football scene that is poised to keep growing in the years to come.
