Nearly half of EPL sponsored by gaming

[The Buzz]

Burnley FC of the English Premier League recently signed multi-million pound two-year deal with Asian online gaming operator Fun88. With the agreement, Burnley became the eighth team in the Premier League to be sponsored by online gambling.

Hull City, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Sunderland, Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers are the seven other teams carrying the logo's of online gambling operators.

From Gaming Intelligence:

Under the agreement, Fun88 will have their logo emblazoned on the club's home and away shirts beginning next season. The initial two-year deal, the first time the football club has attracted international interest, represents the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the Clarets' history.

“We are delighted and proud to have secured Fun88 as our shirt sponsors for the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons,” said Barry Kilby, Burnley FC Chairman. “This multi-million-pound deal is clear evidence of the global appeal of Burnley Football Club as a result of our Premier League status.

[TheGooner]

Interestingly, based on the performances of teams with gaming sponsors - it looks like a team performs poorly with gaming on their shirts?

Tottenham Hotspur (6th)
Sunderland (13th)
Wigan Athletic (14th)
West Ham United (15th)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (16th)
Hull City (17th)
Bolton Wanderers (18th)
Burnley (19th)

Only one side in the top half of the table?

Perhaps the players are playing too many late night slots at the sponsors ?

[quicksilver]

Interestingly, based on the performances of teams with gaming sponsors - it looks like a team performs poorly with gaming on their shirts?

Tottenham Hotspur (6th)
Sunderland (13th)
Wigan Athletic (14th)
West Ham United (15th)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (16th)
Hull City (17th)
Bolton Wanderers (18th)
Burnley (19th)

Only one side in the top half of the table?

Perhaps the players are playing too many late night slots at the sponsors ?

Aston Villa

[Renee]

We sponsored Aston Villa a few years back... I can't remember how they did back then.. I think it was in 2006... Can anyone remember?

[Betpartners]

Just to update TheGooners post

Tottenham are 4th and that means Champions League if the positions remain the same.

Might be something to be said for gambling advertising after all

[Spearmaster]

Aston Villa was sponsored by 32Red in the 2006-7 and 2007-8 seasons. Needless to say they comfortably stayed in the Premier League.

[TheGooner]

Aston Villa was sponsored by 32Red in the 2006-7 and 2007-8 seasons. Needless to say they comfortably stayed in the Premier League.

Villa are doing better this year though -now the players are staying off the slots !


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Betpartners, I've got the feeling that the race for 4th will go right down to the last game of the season - there are so many contenders.

[Betpartners]

Villa are doing better this year though -now the players are staying off the slots !


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Betpartners, I've got the feeling that the race for 4th will go right down to the last game of the season - there are so many contenders.

You may well be correct mate

But you know the very intruging thing about all this

The game between Tottenham and Arsenal in a few weeks could wreck one or the others chances in their respective chase for glory.

In fact we could cut each others throats by drawing

And to cap it all off if we beat Fulham for the FA Cup semi spot if my caluclations are correct would mean that the Spurs Arsenal game would be rescheduled and could end up being one of the last games to be played.

Not sure i could handle your mob winning the title at White Hart Lane for a thrid time.

And then there are many more scenarios seeing as we have Chelsea to visit us as well and away to Man Utd and decent results for us in at least one of the games could give you a huge boost.

That said when you lot play Man City you could give us a huge boost.

And to be honest i dont fear Villa or Liverpool, cannot see Liverpool getting 4th at all, not enough games left and they would need three teams to drop points and i dont see that.

Also i dont fear Villa, just dont think they have it when it comes to the crunch, no stats to back that up other than a gut feel, far too defensive a team when they play teams on their level.

But who the hell knows, we could end up 7th or 4th, we could end up with FA Cup and Champions League football, you could do the double of Champions League and League, you certainly have a solid chance in both.

All i can say mate is to date it has been one hell of a roller coaster season and i wish you luck, i no longer have that deep seated dislike of Wenger anymore, in fact kinda like the guy, he makes me laugh.

[fottv]

Sorry to but in on this Nourth Landan love in but I couldn't resist

And to be honest i dont fear Villa or Liverpool, cannot see Liverpool getting 4th at all, not enough games left and they would need three teams to drop points and i dont see that.

Also i dont fear Villa, just dont think they have it when it comes to the crunch, no stats to back that up other than a gut feel, far too defensive a team when they play teams on their level.

That is confident talk for a Spurs fan, it will probably go down to the last game of the season and your team will all end up being so scared they sh*t themselves again like they did against Arsenal

I don't think you can rule out Liverpool or Villa, Spurs have got Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea plus an away trip to Sunderland all of which I can see you losing and you won't finsih 4th if you drop 12 points, beside if you do somehow get 4th then there will only end up with 3 English Teams in next seasons champions league

I reckon it will be decided on goal differnce between Liverpool, Villa and Man Citeh, Spurs will end up with and FA Cup runners up

"A week is a long time in football"


Also quite interesting about the shirt sponsors, 188bet are really going for it, has TheGooner or anybody else worked with these or know much about their affilaite offering?

[Renee]

I guess then maybe it was only a month we sponsored them... but I thought it was much longer: http://connection.ebscohost.com/cont...D61DDE1.ehctc1

[Betpartners]

Sorry to but in on this Nourth Landan love in but I couldn't resist



That is confident talk for a Spurs fan, it will probably go down to the last game of the season and your team will all end up being so scared they sh*t themselves again like they did against Arsenal

I don't think you can rule out Liverpool or Villa, Spurs have got Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea plus an away trip to Sunderland all of which I can see you losing and you won't finsih 4th if you drop 12 points, beside if you do somehow get 4th then there will only end up with 3 English Teams in next seasons champions league

I reckon it will be decided on goal differnce between Liverpool, Villa and Man Citeh, Spurs will end up with and FA Cup runners up

"A week is a long time in football"


Also quite interesting about the shirt sponsors, 188bet are really going for it, has TheGooner or anybody else worked with these or know much about their affilaite offering?

Be interesting to know who you support to get a better understanding of your comments.

Sorry but Liverpool are out of it, no way that Man City, Villa and Spurs will drop enough points to let them in, simply not enough games left with them and anyway i think Man Utd at the weekend will confirm that.

No point addressing your other opinions because they lack substance, wheres that smiley, oh here it is

188bet i do work with them, they mail the stats to you weekly, not the best but ok for me considering , never had any issues with them and to be honest their odds are some of the best and until such a time that they do anything wrong i like to offer their odds to my visitors.

Also not really that bothered if i dont make a single penny off them, they are there primarily for their odds.

Also i have turned against Pinnacle, they have just as good odds and have done nothing wrong that i know of were players are concerned but am totally fed up with their lack of communication and if i am brutally frank am nervous of their stability.

Hope that helps and good luck with whoever you support

[Spearmaster]

I guess then maybe it was only a month we sponsored them... but I thought it was much longer: http://connection.ebscohost.com/cont...D61DDE1.ehctc1

Looks like gtcasino were an associate sponsor for the remainder of the 2004-2005 season... possibly longer. 32Red's kit sponsorship didn't take place until mid-2006.

http://mobile.avfc.co.uk/page/News/0...698267,00.html

[nitro]

If 1/2 - 2/3 of EPL teams are sponsored by bookmakers you'll create an image that bookmakers control sport which will make them an enemy for your average sports fan. It's hard to assess the effect on the bottom line but there will be one for sure.

Associating a casino like 32red with a football team isn't a good move because given that in the US 1% of the population controls 90% of the wealth or so and it is similar many other countries and goes in this direction everywhere this is the most attractive target audience and despite the short term effects it will create the wrong image because this kind of people don't like to associate themselves with beer drinking prolls.

[universal4]

If 1/2 - 2/3 of EPL teams are sponsored by bookmakers you'll create an image that bookmakers control sport which will make them an enemy for your average sports fan. It's hard to assess the effect on the bottom line but there will be one for sure.

That is an extremly good point.

What steps if any do the sponsors take to reduce the appearance of a conflict of interest?

What kinds of businesses are the remaining sponsors?

Rick
Universal4

[Spearmaster]

If 1/2 - 2/3 of EPL teams are sponsored by bookmakers you'll create an image that bookmakers control sport which will make them an enemy for your average sports fan. It's hard to assess the effect on the bottom line but there will be one for sure.

If you're talking about the US market, I might agree with you - but in Europe and Asia, they don't care. Only the Big4 are holding out and they will capitulate soon enough - ManU almost took Mansion's money before deciding to reject it in favor of AIG.

Associating a casino like 32red with a football team isn't a good move because given that in the US 1% of the population controls 90% of the wealth or so and it is similar many other countries and goes in this direction everywhere this is the most attractive target audience and despite the short term effects it will create the wrong image because this kind of people don't like to associate themselves with beer drinking prolls.

Huh?

I think 32Red themselves are over the moon with the value returned on their sponsorship of Aston Villa's kit for two years. Plus I doubt even 1% of the US population watches English Premier League - by contrast, the majority of TVs throughout Southeast Asia and China are tuned in to Premier League matches when they are taking place.

Actually, make that *vast* majority - as in 90%.

The US market is closed to online operators anyhow, for all intents and purposes. I don't think anyone's paying too much attention to the perceptions of the US audience at the moment.

Universal, the other kit sponsors in the top 10 are:

Man U - Insurance (AIA, next year Aon)
Arsenal - Airline (Emirates)
Chelsea - Consumer brand (Samsung)
Tottenham - Mansion
Man City - Airline (Etihad)
Liverpool - Beer (Carlsberg, next year Standard Chartered Bank)
Aston Villa - Charity (Acorns)
Everton - Beer (Chang from Thailand, one of the longest kit sponsorships this decade)
Birmingham - investment (F&C)
Fulham - Consumer brand (LG)

All but the investment firm can afford the big bucks to compete with the bookmakers. And Mansion is the only gambling sponsor in the top 10 at the moment and they've made a complete hash of their advertising money, though 188bet is now also the official betting partner of Chelsea and Liverpool, while Betfred used to be Man U's official betting partner. Arsenal are the only Big4 team to have stayed completely away from gambling sponsorship of any sort.

[Betpartners]

There will never be an image that bookmakers control the Premiership even if they were sponsoring ALL 20 teams and signed 15 year contracts.

Why?

Because sponsorship money pales in to insignificance when it comes to TV money.

It is TV money and TV money alone that has had such a huge impact on the Premiership.

Supporters of the English Premiership teams know this full well and no matter how many teams are sponsored or boards around the ground are full up with gambling advertisement will change that perception.

Maybe that perception exists in the US, i dont know, but certainly not in the UK

[Spearmaster]

There will never be an image that bookmakers control the Premiership even if they were sponsoring ALL 20 teams and signed 15 year contracts.

Why?

Because sponsorship money pales in to insignificance when it comes to TV money.

It is TV money and TV money alone that has had such a huge impact on the Premiership.

Supporters of the English Premiership teams know this full well and no matter how many teams are sponsored or boards around the ground are full up with gambling advertisement will change that perception.

Maybe that perception exists in the US, i dont know, but certainly not in the UK

Good point. The international TV rights for the EPL far outstrip any TV rights for any other sporting series or single event in the world.

I believe the figure is about 30 million pounds for each team in the Premiership? By comparison, kit sponsorships are at best a few million pounds/year for the Big4.

Hell, some individual players' image rights are worth more than the teams' kit sponsorships...


Update - just in:

The Premier League's sale of its overseas broadcasting rights for 2010 to 2013 will raise about £1.4bn, more than double the previous level and a leap of £13m per club, per year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...a-1925462.html

[TheGooner]

I follow the financial side of things quite closely, as it's becoming a major debate within England and also amongst UEFA as they try to reign in spending and make clubs more self-sufficent - rather than relying on rich owners or a succession of poorly funded takeovers.

Recently I picked up the Deloites report on the "money league" - the financial report for top 20 clubs.

Revenue (in Euros)

1 Real Madrid 401.4

2 FC Barcelona 365.9
3 Manchester United 327.0
4 Bayern Munich 289.5
5 Arsenal 263.0
6 Chelsea 242.3
7 Liverpool 217.0
8 Juventus 203.2

9 Internazionale 196.5
10 AC Milan 196.5

11 Hamburger SV 146.7
12 AS Roma 146.4
13 Olympique Lyonnais 139.6
14 Olympique de Marseille 133.2
15 Tottenham Hotspur 132.7
16 Schalke 04 124.5
17 Werder Bremen 114.7
18 Borussia Dortmund 103.5
19 Manchester City 102.2

20 Newcastle United 101.0

--------------------------------------

Here is how it breaks down for Arsenal :
- total 263.0 m:
- Matchday revenue 117.5m euros
- Broadcasting revenue 89.0m euros
- Commerical revenue (incl. sponsors) 56.5m euros.

So you can see that sponsorship is a percentage of commerical - and all up commerical is only 20% of total.

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Regarding the appropriateness of betting sites as sponsors - in Europe sports betting is not considered deviant, subversive, or illegal (although several nations are trying to restrict access to local organisations - which is a slightly different subject) and it really isn't any different to seeing a bank or an airline involved.

Indeed, could could easily be argued that having a sports betting sponsor is far more commerically relevant than other corporate sponsors.

[universal4]

Interesting points.....

Thanks for the clarification guys...

Rick
Universal4

[fottv]

Be interesting to know who you support to get a better understanding of your comments.

Well, Betpartners I'm a Newcastle fan, but it was my boyfriend who wrote that post, he is the football "expert" I do the coding and all the work on the site.

For reference he is a Liverpool fan so if I am on here hotly debating footballing issues that will be my boyfriend, and he says "there is still time for Spurs to choke"

Oh and thanks for the advice on 188bet, I might give them a go.