Although clubs from the F.A. Barclaycard Premiership now represent 3 of the European Top 5 earners from jersey sponsorship income, the recent ‘Jersey Sponsorship of European Football Clubs 2001/2002’ report from SPORT+MARKT AG revealed that, the German 1. Bundesliga remains the most lucrative market overall for this form of sponsoring. Although the average price paid annually to clubs from top divisions of the 6 markets studied rose by more than 1/4 , a total of 12 (from 18) Bundesliga clubs generate higher revenues from selling the advertising space on their football shirts. Despite the fact that big improvements were made in both the Premiership and the French Division 1, neither were able to push more than 7 clubs beyond the €2,842,217 average – the same number as the Italian Serie A.

With 4 clubs achieving the same feat in the Dutch Eredivisie, the Spanish Primera División participants are in severe danger of being left behind. Despite their spending power in the transfer market and even success on the pitch, Spanish clubs appear to remain remarkably reliant on income from broadcast rights. An average revenue from jersey sponsors of only slightly more than €1 mio. across the 16 (from 20) top flight clubs that do carry such advertising, was less than half of that of the next lowest (the Netherlands) league and only 1 (C.F. Valencia) managed to cross the international average.

The strength of the figures from Germany, therefore lies rather in the relative balance across the 18 clubs and indeed, the lowest value to be found for jersey sponsorship in the 1. Bundesliga was actually high enough to have achieved a second placed ranking in Spain! Although, F.C. Bayern Munich, as the country’s most successful club are able to command a higher sum than their competitors, the rest of the clubs in Germany appear to be able to exploit the dynamic rather than get left behind. The ranking of the leagues according to their individual averages, sees the F.A. Barclaycard Premier League pushed into 2nd place by a clear €1 mio.

The point that the Serie A appears to have stagnated is due to the lack of a substantial ‘Midfield’ in the Italian league in terms of financial might. The decentralised marketing of TV rights from the domestic game, has meant that the more popular/successful clubs enjoy a disproportionally high media presence compared to their Seria A counterparts and this discrepancy continues consequently through to the value placed in each club by their sponsors – more media visibility naturally generates higher awareness, etc. Thus unless one of the top clubs renegotiates their sponsorship contract, any changes will have little bearing on the overall average value.

A glance across the industry sectors involved in jersey sponsorship also reveals a number of developments over the course of the past season, most notably, away from the traditional areas of beer and cars. Taking all six top divisions together, 29 of the clubs feature advertising by companies from the banking/financial services field, compared to 25 last year, continuing a steady growth noticed over previous years. By contrast, last year’s boom industry, telecommunications saw a generally disappointing 12 month period reflected in their activity within football. A mere 9 clubs carry the logos of such companies on their football shirts in the current season, whereas this number had peaked last season at 17. Such a swing is particularly noticeable in view of the fact that only a relatively small proportion of contracts expire from season to season. Nevertheless, between Vodafone (Manchester United) and Siemens Mobile Phones (S.S. Lazio and Girondins de Bordeaux) in particular, the branch still occupies a number of the highest profile advertising spaces in European football.

The ‘Jersey Sponsorship of European Football Clubs 2001/2002’ has just been completed and is available from SPORT+MARKT AG.

For further details, please contact:

SPORT+MARKT AG
Andrew Walsh Tel.: 0049 (0)221 430 73-176
Senior Account Manager Fax: 0049 (0) 221 430 73-161
E-Mail: Andrew.Walsh@sportundmarkt.de