Comparing Premier League shirt sponsors at the start of this season with those twenty years ago gives an insight into how the league has expanded into new territories, both geographic and industry type.
The most commonly discussed change is probably the emergence of gambling sponsors, with five teams now advertising online. However, football sponsorship has always had a close connection with one vice or another, and in the last twenty years we have just moved from beer and crisps to gambling.
As you can see from the graphic below, at the start of the 2000/2001 season there were four drinks companies sponsoring teams and no gambling (understandable since it was illegal at the time), whereas now there are five gambling and no drinks companies.
Shirt sponsors in 2000/2001 season (top) and 2020/21 (below)
However, gambling to alcohol is not the only change from the past twenty years.
- Telcoms company 3 is the only sponsor from that sector this year compared to four at the turn of the century.
- Gaming companies are no longer involved in shirt sponsorship, perhaps because they have moved to sponsoring content during televised games and focussing on their own eSports leagues and teams.
- Airlines are modern day sponsors who were not around in 2000/2001, although many would argue that this final group is really sovereign states using football as ‘soft power’ in international relations.
Depending on your view the world, you might see these changes as part of a conspiracy to corrupt supporters through vice and political manipulation – failing to pass the FA’s own regulations prohibiting ‘ethically or morally offensive’ and ‘political’ messages. For example, worries about sponsorship have led to calls for increased regulation, with the Labour party looking to ban gambling advertising.
The globalisation of sponsorship
However, the desire to regulate shirt sponsorship throws up an interesting question about how much of this advertising is aimed at UK residents? Looking at changes in the location of sponsors in the last twenty years shows a dramatic shift outside the UK towards the Middle East and Asia. In 2000/2001, 14 sponsors were UK based, but now that number is down to just five.
Location of companies sponsoring Premier League clubs
In part that is due to the global nature of business, but more so it is driven by the increasing popularity of the Premier League in new markets, with many sponsors using Premier League clubs to promote themselves in other countries. This explains why the lucky Chinese number 8 often appears at the front of shirts as well as the back.
As a result, removing gambling from Premier League shirt sponsorship is unlikely to make much of an impact on the UK’s gambling problem as most of the companies are looking to the Asian market. This is the contradiction of the Premier League. While it is made up of teams still very much rooted in their communities, technology and television has made is equally relevant to people thousands of miles away.
Perhaps the time has come for the FA to review it’s regulations on sponsorship to take a greater account of this global phenomenon, or perhaps it is a time for greater international agreement on what can and cannot be put on a football shirt.
Sport.dat 