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Title Sponsorship The beginning of the 2016/17 season will see
the Premier League go without a title sponsor for
the first time since its inaugural season in 1992-3. The new
approach will result in the
competition simply being called The Premier League a move that
will make global
communication about the league homogenous. The benefits of
having a clean brand are
numerous and its effectiveness is proven by American leagues
such as the NFL and the NBA.
Firstly, the new broadcast rights cycle has seen BT Sport and
Sky pay 5.136bn for three
seasons, a 70% increase on the current deal. Once the
international rights are added into
this, it would not be inconceivable that this number could rise
to over 8bn. Within this
context, the 40 million per year the League receives from
Barclays becomes an even smaller
piece of the pie that is centrally distributed to the 20 Clubs.
Even a large increase in the
annual rights fee, once split amongst the Clubs looks like small
change compared to the
circa 80-90m minimum broadcast revenue guarantee that the side
finishing 20th will receive
from 2016-17 onwards.
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Secondly, in an environment where the Premier League clubs have
become much more
professional and sophisticated in the way they sell sponsorship,
finding categories open for
title sponsorship which dont have too many implications on clubs
existing partnerships
becomes increasingly challenging. Therefore it can argued that
in the current landscape the
only category which would slot in easily for title sponsorship
is the financial services one which
is currently in play.
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2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE
Finally, having a clean brand opens a number of
doors in terms for sponsorship opportunities for the
Premier League which allows them to make the
most of their intellectual property. One of the best
examples of this is the NFL whose lack of title
sponsorship means it can sign deals with FMCG
giants such as Pepsi. Given that the deal does not
give Pepsi exclusive pouring rights in all venues and
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instead provides the company with the ability to put the NFL
logo on the packs of its products
shows that it is mostly an IP driven deal, something which the
Premier League will surely be
looking to replicate with its new model.
In a sponsorship-driven age, the decision by the Premier League
to remove title sponsorship is
highly significant and likely to evoke debate about both the
health of the industry and that of
the Premier League. However, depending on how the inventory is
split into the different
packages and the demand for them in the marketplace, it is
possible to suggest that the
Premier League will be able to maintain a similar level of
sponsorship revenue. The global
popularity of the League makes the decision of having a clean
brand that much easier and
now that the Premier League has full control over its IP, there
is nothing to stop them fully
capitalising on the fantastic brand of football they have
built.
www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000
2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE
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www.octagon-uk.com | T: 020 7862 0000
2 Waterhouse Square, 140 Holborn London, UK EC1N 2AE
BY MINAL MODHA Senior Research Executive
Strategy & Insights
