Shirt Sponsorship

[The Prisoner]

Having accepted that I will never quite make it as a pro footballer -what with being too old, too unfit and frankly crap - I am considering sponsoring the shirts of some half decent team to boost my ego! I live in Cheshire (exile!) and have been offered a Unibond League 1 team for £3.5k (2 below Conference North/South). Anyone any idea as to what you would pay for teams in each league? I read an article in a national recently that showed the lowest Prem teams were £800k (Hull/Stoke I think) whilst AIG were paying Man U £8m per season (which I guess is going on barack's credit card!)

[cmonurz]

I hope you get some response to this Mr P. This is one of those quite interesting threads that very few probably no much about.

But wouldn't you rather spunk £3.5k on a holiday to Vegas?

[Sun Tzu]

I'd guess it would be quite hard to draw comparisons.

Is this a business thing or just a personal whim ?

Why not ring a few other club's up and ask them ? You might even get a better deal if they see you are genuine and have the cash to invest.

What does the money get you ? If you are doing this as a business exercise I'd compare it to what the money would buy you elsewhere (ie taking out press ads, running a fancy day out for customers etc), factor in a bit for the ego element and then see if it stands up as worth while.

Hope you do it, I'm sure it would be a lot of fun to be involved like that at a club for a season - if i thappens let us know which club and keep us posted on progress. There has to be a book in there somewhere !!!!

[Terminal Boardom]

My pub team need some new kit

Go for it. It would be interesting to hear how the project goes.

[Mr Optimist]

My local team, Colwyn Bay FC, are in Unibond Division 1 and last year they put a local charity on their shirts, Ty Gobaith, a children's hospice, foregoing sponsorship money in the process.

So, I have had a dig around to see if any articles mentioned how much income they have passed up to sponsor Ty Gobaith, but not found anything so far but will ask around as that will give you a good idea of the "going rate" for sponsorship at this level and part of the world.

Reason for doing it is to raise the profile of Ty Gobaith and CBFC also in the process.

I know someone locally, a neighbour, who does talk to the club directors and has worked as FD for a lower league club as well so may be able to tell me more.

Could always join me and the other member(s) of the Colwyn Bay Royals going to watch "the Seagulls" and sponsor CBFC, I know they would probably name a stand after you for doing so...!

[Harry Carry]

Can't Reading FC have additional sponsorship on their shirts again after their relegation back to the Championship?

[AF1]

Can't Reading FC have additional sponsorship on their shirts again after their relegation back to the Championship?

christ you're dull

[soggy biscuit]

Maybe the government could advertise their new recycling campaign on Chelsea's shirt with the keeping your bottle / not throwing things away type slogans on the front

[Terminal Boardom]

Maybe the government could advertise their new recycling campaign on Chelsea's shirt with the keeping your bottle / not throwing things away type slogans on the front

Alternatively, why not have an image of a big black dude screaming "It's a fucking disgrace" on the shirts?

[Row Z Royal]

Maybe the government could advertise their new recycling campaign on Chelsea's shirt with the keeping your bottle / not throwing things away type slogans on the front

Alternatively, why not have an image of a big black dude screaming "It's a fucking disgrace" on the shirts?

Now that's hilarious.

[Harry Carry]

Not sure how this thread got on the subject of Chelsea again, but I think I've made a valid point there.

[Ian Royal]

Don't know anything useful, but I do know that if I win the Euro Millions I've got a new plan to spend some money.

Reading FC shirts, sponsored by "Ian Royal"

[Ian Royal]

Not sure how this thread got on the subject of Chelsea again, but I think I've made a valid point there.

Not sure how it got on the subject of Reading. Mong.

[Harry Carry]

Not sure how this thread got on the subject of Chelsea again, but I think I've made a valid point there.

Not sure how it got on the subject of Reading. Mong.

Because the guy was looking to sponsor someone. Seeing as his budget won't allow him to sponsor a football league club properly. I was suggesting additional shirt sponsorship which is allowed in the 3 lower tiers of the Football league.

[Kevin Doyles Right Foot]

Can't Reading FC have additional sponsorship on their shirts again after their relegation back to the Championship?

Yes

[Seal]

Here's a hierarchy for you (in current economic market)

Man U - £15m
Rest of big 4 £10m+
Top half Prem - £2-5m
Mid Prem - £1-2m
Lower Prem - <£1m
Championship Promotion chases £250-500k
Rest of championship £100-200k
League 1 <£100k
League 2 / Conf - <£50k

Price you've been quoted feels about right. To be honest at that level it's more of a benevolent gesture anyway

[The Prisoner]

To take some of the points above.....Vegas rocks! went last year. Colwyn Bay is just down the road from me (Chester) - think they are in the same league as the club I was talking to? (Warrington Town) I don't know why I want to sponsor a club - I just am an egotist probably who wants his company name on some shirts! I also think it is half decent publicity in the local paper, and would like to help a team that might need the cash (my accountant tells me it is tax deductable too, so I can play jiggery pokery with my profits!)

I read that Bristol Rovers raffled local business at 1k a pop to have their names on the shirts. They raised 96k and the commercial team reckoned that was far more than they would have got normally.

From what I can see it is £1m+ for the prem, £100k+ for the championship, £50k + for league 1 and £25k + for league 2. Non league seems to be in the £1-2k to £15k area depending on which league in the structure.

[Seal]

Well, Man U went even higher than we thought. They were in the market for £15m per season, just secured a deal with Aon for £20m per season for 4 years. They'll be happy with that increase in this market.

Man U are an anomaly in the UK market mind, so expect the other values to remain pretty similar.

In terms of your aspirations - £3.5k for some exposure in the local press / area represents good value (if you equate it to the cost of placing ads in the paper - what we call in the trade media value). Therefore you could probably justify it at that price as a business investment...even if it is really an ego trip....