Hollis Sponsorship Bulletin

West Bromwich Albion unveiled Bodog, one of the world’s largest online gaming brands, as its new official club sponsor for the next two seasons earlier this week.
Bodog Europe, the official licensee of the Bodog brand for online gaming in Europe, will officially become club sponsors from July 1 and will have additional high-profile branding at The Hawthorns. The gaming brand will also become the club’s official betting partner.
Patrik Selin, CEO of Bodog Europe, said: “In choosing a sponsorship partner we were looking for a club with a genuine team spirit and we are delighted to have found that in West Bromwich Albion.  In the social media era a sponsorship should be about backing the investment with a return commitment to the club and the fans and we are looking forward to working closely with all parties.”

West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest sported the same sponsor this weekend when bookmaker Victor Chandler took up the one-off opportunity to sponsor the Football League Champion side. West Bromwich Albion is in its second season without a shirt sponsor and is attempting to woo partners with single or multiple game deals.

After flagging up the idea of single-match sponsorships a couple of weeks ago, West Bromwich Albion succeeded in getting betting firm Blue Square on board for last night’s live televised match versus Queens Park Rangers.

Blue Square got in touch with the club after it heard about the match-by-match sponsorship proposal. “We have had considerable interest in this unique shirt sponsorship venture and we’re delighted that Blue Square has become the first company to join forces with us,” said West Brom finance director Mark Jenkins. “We will be making a little piece of history with Blue Square and are very much looking forward to working closely with them for this game.”

One of the more interesting developments in the sponsorship sector this year has been the trend towards short-term partnerships. The classic case in point has been Brawn GP’s decision to sign deals on a race by race basis during the course of its Championship-winning F1 season. Now, Championship football side West Bromwich Albion has been given permission by The Football League to sell shirt sponsorship packages on a match-by-match basis.

West Brom was not allowed to do this last year when it was in the Premiership. But having dropped down a league the rules have changed in its favour. Commenting on the news,  club finance director Mark Jenkins said West Brom hopes to sign deals for its next three televised fixtures. “The first business to take advantage of this unique opportunity could make a little piece of footballing history,” said Jenkins.

In an ideal scenario, West Brom would like a full season sponsor – but so far has been unable to secure the right deal. So the fixture-by-fixture approach is seen as a useful stopgap – with values likely to be boosted by TV exposure.