Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

Gym equipment company Technogym has reached an agreement with the Football Association to be the official fitness equipment supplier for the England football squad during their participation in the UEFA European Championships 2012. The deal marks an on-going business relationship with the FA which included the supply during the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Technogym has supplied equipment to numerous national teams

for European Championships and the FIFA World Cup tournament in South Africa in 2010. Overall, Technogym supplied the equipment used by 16 of the 32 squads taking part in the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa.

ITV has agreed a new two-year deal with The Football Association for the broadcast rights to the pick of The FA Cup and England internationals, including home qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, from the 2012/13 to 2013/14 seasons.

As part of the new agreement with The FA, ITV1 will continue to broadcast the first pick of FA Cup games throughout the season from the 1st round to the final; as well as the third choice game pick in the 5th and 6th rounds and the fourth choice pick in the 3rd and 4th rounds. ITV1 will also have first choice of replays from the 3rd to 6th rounds. In total ITV will broadcast up to sixteen live games across each season in addition to comprehensive highlights from every round.

ITV will also continue to be the free-to-air home of England internationals including all home qualifying games for the FIFA 2014 World Cup and all home and away friendlies during the two year period. Away qualifiers are sold by opposition associations and therefore do not fall under this FA agreement.

The football season’s traditional curtain raiser, The FA Community Shield, will also return to free-to-air television in 2012 and 2013 under the new deal. ITV will also extend its commitment with The FA across the two seasons to encompass live coverage of six games from The FA Youth Cup on ITV4, including the semi-finals and final of the competition.

ITV Director of Television, Peter Fincham said: “The FA Cup and England internationals are events with huge resonance and appeal for our viewers. I’m delighted that we are extending our partnership with The FA and that ITV1 will continue to be the home of live football on free-to-air television.”

Stuart Turner, FA Group Commercial Director said: “We enjoy a great relationship with ITV and this extension to our agreement underlines that. Having The FA Cup and England alongside other ITV content such as the Champions League and World Cups shows that our football content holds its own in exalted company. It further confirms ITV’s position as the home of free-to-air live football.”

All broadcast rights across the new term are platform neutral and live matches, highlights and clips will be available on ITV.com and the ITV Player.

The Football Association announced last week that it has awarded its European broadcast rights for the 2012-2018 period to sports marketing agency Pitch International. The deal grants Pitch the exclusive right to distribute matches from FA competitions and home England internationals from the beginning of the 2012/13 season throughout Europe.

The agreement does not include England home qualification matches for the 2014-18 period, as these will be centrally marketed by UEFA.

The deal sees The Football Association extend its long-running relationship with Pitch International, The FA’s current partner in selected countries in Europe and Australasia alongside brokering The FA’s relationship with Middle Eastern broadcaster, Al-Jazeera. In addition, Pitch manages The FA’s footage archive and the technical and satellite requirements of The FA’s international broadcast partners.

The FA has added a new name to its sponsorship roster, with gaming and sports betting business William Hill becoming an Official Supporter to both England and The FA Cup. A two-and-a-half year deal has been agreed, running through to the end of The FA and FIFA World Cups in 2014.

There are three Official Supporter sponsorship packages for both England and The FA Cup, and William Hill has now filled the only vacant slot across both properties.

William Hill will benefit from a wide range of sponsorship rights, including advertising, hospitality and the ability to use exclusive England and FA Cup content and imagery to support promotional activities.

“We are delighted to have William Hill on board,” says Peter Daire, The FA’s Head of Sponsorship. “They have a strong track record in sports sponsorship and a considerable online and high-street presence that will enable us to strengthen our communication platforms for England and The FA Cup. In return, William Hill will benefit from an association with two of the highest-profile football sponsorship properties in the world.”

Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill, said: “We have been looking for sponsorship opportunities from which we can reward and engage with our customers for the events they most enjoy. This deal with The FA will help us to achieve our objectives of developing the prominence of our brand and increasing market share in all our business channels.

“Our ‘Official Betting Partner’ status of The FA Cup complements our existing partnership with the Scottish Football Association and our sponsorship of the Scottish Cup with which we are already extremely delighted and it becomes a welcome addition to our quality range of sponsorships within darts, snooker and racing.

Kristof Fahy, Chief Marketing Officer for William Hill, said: “This is an excellent deal for both parties and it gives us some very good opportunities to develop our brand across a wide variety of channels. The England and FA Cup branding and imagery will enable williamhill.com to promote its services and products that we can offer to our Casino, Games, Sportsbook, Bingo and Poker customers.”

Nationwide Building Society will not be renewing their sponsorship of the England team. “I can confirm that Nationwide Building Society will not be renewing its England team sponsorship with The Football Association after the current agreement expires at the end of July 2010,” Nationwide’s head of sponsorship, Chris Hull told the Press Association.

“Nationwide has been involved with football sponsorship for over a decade and after a fruitful 11-year relationship with The Football Association, the organisation is currently re-focusing its marketing priorities.

“As the world’s largest building society, we will continue to invest in our unique brand position and build on our mutuality and customer credentials. We thank The FA and wish them and the England teams well in all future activities.”

An FA statement said: “The FA and Nationwide have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship over the past last 11 years. We would like to publicly thank Nationwide for their unstinting support during this time and wish them well in the future.”

Jonathan Hill, who recently left his job as FA group commercial director, has resurfaced as COO at sports rights agency Kentaro. Hill, who was the architect of a number of the FA’s big brand partnerships, starts his new job in the New Year. Philipp Grothe, joint chief executive of Kentaro, says Hill’s appointment is a “real coup” for the firm, adding that his experience of developing commercial programmes at the FA and Wembley Stadium will benefit the business.

Fast food retailer McDonald’s signed a new £10 million four-year sponsorship deal with the Football Association on Monday. The deal, which is an extension of an existing deal, will see the partners support around 200,000 coaches and 400,000 volunteers through local FA networks.

Commenting on the deal, FA chief executive Ian Watmore said: “I am delighted we have secured McDonald’s support for another four years and am confident that the investment and focus on driving up standards in English grassroots football will have a positive impact on young players, the coaches, the parents and ultimately the national game.”

The new deal will seek to ensure 75% of youth clubs attain FA Charter Standard status – which will help to deliver 150 Charter Standard Leagues before 2015. McDonald’s also continues as presenting partner of the Community Shield.

As expected, the Football Association has signed a sponsorship deal with Mars which will see the chocolate company become an official supporter of the English team. At the same time, Mars has also signed up to become the official confectionery supplier for Wembley Stadium from August 2010 to July 2014, underlining the new synergy between the FA and Wembley sponsorship strategies. As part of its on-the-ground activation, Mars will also take part in the FA’s Get into Football campaign, which is aimed at lapsed male footballers over the age of 18.

The Football Association and Wembley Stadium have completed the integration of their marketing departments. As a result of the reorganisation, head of sponsorship across the two bodies will be Peter Daire – who is already head of sponsorship at the FA. He will report to Jonathan Hill – whose role as FA commercial director also expands to encompass activities at Wembley.

Until now, Wembley’s commercial activities have been run at arm’s length to those of the FA. However the departure of Wembley commercial director Jonathan Gregory to run England’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup has smoothed the way for closer co-operation. The hope is that Wembley’s sponsorship sales will benefit from being handled in tandem with the FA’s strategy.

With the 2008/09 football season coming to a close next week, a number of leading FA Premiership clubs are now well into negotiations for new sponsorship contracts. 

Manchester United and Tottenham both need new sponsors before the start of next season. But elsewhere the talks are focused more on the price and scope of contract renewal.

At Chelsea, for example, the priority is getting a better price from incumbent sponsor Samsung (whose deal runs out at the end of the 2009/2010 season). Although the West London club is yet to win the Champions League and has not won the Premiership since 2005/06, it is reported to be seeking parity with Manchester United on sponsor prices.

Currently, Samsung pays £10 million a year for Chelsea compared to the £18 million that AIG forked out for United. The club’s commercial management is said to have pitched for a much higher sum for the period commencing 2010/2011. However Samsung is yet to show any desire to increase its investment. If it fails to do so by the end of June, then Chelsea are free to go to the open market.

Meanwhile, the big talking point at Liverpool is whether shirt sponsor Carlsberg will want naming rights to the new stadium which the club is hoping to build when the current downturn is over. Although Carlsberg was close to ending its sponsorship of Liverpool a couple of years ago, there is talk of naming the new stadium Carlsberg Anfield.

Away from the rumour-mill, this week actually saw someone sign a deal. In a first for the FAPL, online betting firm 188Bet will sponsor both Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic from the start of next season. “We were looking for a unique opportunity to mark 188Bet’s first major foray in the UK market and feel the collaborative engagement with Bolton and Wigan Athletic will help us grow our brand,” explained 188Bet CEO Andy Scott.