Home » Global Sports Sponsorship To Hit $65 Billion In 2019 (As Telstra Threatens To Walk On $15M NRL Deal)

3 May, 2019

Global Sports Sponsorship To Hit $65 Billion In 2019 (As Telstra Threatens To Walk On $15M NRL Deal)

A new report has found that global sports sponsorship is set to hit a whopping $65 billion by the end of the year.

The report by British sports marketing agency Two Circles found that brands wanting to hitch a ride with top sporting teams would increase four per cent this year alone.

It found that finance companies and banks, airlines and the gambling sector continued to be sport’s biggest financial backers.

However, the Two Circles report warned that the way brands and sports teams interacted hadn’t changed that much in the past two decades, despite the way many fans now interacted with their teams and the myriad of new medias and technologies they now used.

Two Circles CEO Gareth Balch commented: “Most rights-holders continue to package and sell sponsorship just as they did 20 years ago – offering brand exposure through linear (TV) broadcast coverage as the main benefit for brands.

“Rights-holders are adapting and we predict a sports sponsorship correction By embracing the power of digital and data to create sponsorship assets that better satisfy the objectives of brands, rights-holders will realise the true value of their sponsorship businesses.”

Meanwhile, in more sports marketing news, Nine’s The Sydney Morning Herald is today reporting that the NRL’s chief naming sponsor, Telstra, had threatened to tear up its $15 million a year contract with the code following a string of incidents relating to player behaviour.

During the off-season, a number of high-profile NRL stars were involved in a number of incidents that included, among other things, allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence. It was so bad, it became known as the NRL’s “summer of hell”.

According to the Herald report, senior Telstra executives were set to walk away from the deal that expires in 2022 but were persuaded otherwise after NRL bosses decided to take a hard line on offending players.

“The policy changes announced last week are a huge step in the right direction and we congratulate the NRL on their strong stance, reflecting community standards and moving closer to the values that Telstra upholds,” Telstra’s executive director of marketing, Jeremy Nicholas, said at the time.

“We have full confidence in the NRL and the commission to effect real, positive cultural change within the game,” Nicholas said.

Advertise with us

Please login with linkedin to comment

NRL Sports Marketing Telstra