Flutter moves to refine merger benefits against 2020 trading realities August 27, 2020 StumbleUpon Scott Longley details to SBC readers the industry’s first steps in football sponsorship and marketing, in what is now a multi-million £/€/$ discipline for all betting operators. _______________We start (perhaps improbably) with Fulham FC in the first years of the new century when in its second season in the Premier League the club signed a deal with Betfair that saw a betting company’s name emblazoned across the front of football shirt for the first time.It’s a deal which would have a greater significance than anyone could have guessed at the time. Following on from Fulham’s brief one-year engagement with Pizza Hut, the betting exchange jumped on board for the 2002/03 season.Betfair chief executive at the time Edward Wray said Fulham’s achievement at the turn of the century in coming from the lower divisions to compete with the Premier League’s biggest clubs “makes it a perfect fit with Betfair”.“Both Fulham and Betfair have been prepared to throw down the gauntlet to more established organisations in the last two years, and in partnership with each other we believe we will be the names to watch in the future,” he ventured.Such was the PR theory. In practice, however, the deal led to board level disagreements over how to measure the success of the marketing spend says Mark Davies, then managing director at Betfair.“One of our board members didn’t like the fact that it was less scientific than, say, PPC,” he tells SBC News. “So he wasn’t keen on us doing it for the second year and the deal fell away. I was always keen to continue (with the deal) but his view held sway.”Others, however, would prove to be far keener on what they believed was the exposure value of having a gambling brand name appear on the front of a football shirt.The Manfred and Norbert showEnter Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger from Bwin. Back in 2006, the company hit upon shirt sponsorship as the ideal way to promote the brand across Europe. First, they did a deal with AC Milan and this was followed a year later by the big one, the multi-year £14-a-year deal with Real Madrid that put Bwin on the map. Far from the issues of impossible-to-measure CPAs that worried Betfair, Bodner and Teufelberger eyed up football shirt sponsorship as dotcom marketing by the back door.The deal seemed to make little sense commercially. That £14m was seen as being excessive at the time, and indeed might be seen as being the point at which shirt sponsorship inflation generally took hold.But tactically the deal was astute. In various skirmishes with the authorities in Germany and France, Bwin (and others including 888) found that the publicity gained by using shirt sponsorship as a way to snub their noses at restrictive gambling regimes was a key aid in brand recognition.The strategy was clear. Get the European-wide brand recognition via football and the dotcom revenues would flow even as it irked the authorities.“I think Bwin certainly established the credibility of betting brands with such Tier 1 shirt-sponsorship and led the way for many more such brands to follow, albeit typically with lower-profile English and other European teams,” says Lee Richardson, founder and chief executive at Gaming Economics.Back in the world of English football a slow trickle of gambling-related shirt sponsorships followed the path forged by Betfair. 888.com became the sponsor at Middlesbrough for the 2004/05 season, a position it held for three years; Blackburn (then in the Premier League) had Bet24 for 2006/07 season; in the same season Aston Villa had 32Red; Sunderland had Irish bookie Boylesports on its shirt for the 2007-08 season; and Mansion truly broke the bank when it paid Bwin-sized sums to become the shirt sponsor at Tottenham Hotspur for the 2008/09 season in a four-year deal worth £14m per season.Yet, it was the more modest deal that occurred in the middle of that season that truly can be seen as a signpost for the future. When then little-known SBObet took over the shirt sponsorship at West Ham in the December 2008 from the failed holiday firm XL Holidays, it wasn’t the sum involved that was significant.Instead, it was the geographical targets markets for the sponsorship deal that holds the key to the significance of the deal. The Asian bookies had arrived. The trickle of gambling industry involvement in football sponsorship was set to become a flood.________________________The Betting industry’s relationship with Football and its wider stakeholders will be discussed at the ‘Betting on Football 2018’ (#bofcon2018 – 20-23 March, Stamford Bridge, London) conference. Click on the below banner for more information… Submit Share ‘Deal maker’ Rafi Ashkenazi ends Flutter tenure August 27, 2020 Related Articles Big Betting Balagan podcast set for live SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital show August 27, 2020 Share
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NBA free agency trend: Stay home, or sign short deals
Cloudy skies over Luzon due to amihan Jury of 7 men, 5 women selected for Harvey Weinstein rape trial MOST READ The Jazz have quietly crossed off many items on their summertime wish list, with general manager Dennis Lindsey going into free agency saying he wanted to keep all three of his team’s internal free agents.Check. Check. And check. The deals with Exum and Neto came one day after Utah agreed to keep Derrick Favors on a two-year, $36 million deal.Evans will give Indiana’s offense a lift. He’s a proven scorer, someone who expanded his 3-point ability last season when he averaged 19.4 points per game with Memphis.Green fills a big-man void, after the Wizards traded away starting center Marcin Gortat — the hole that Howard conceivably will fill — and losing backup power forward Mike Scott to free agency. Green, who turns 32 in August, spent last season with the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers.Carter-Williams gives Houston some guard depth behind MVP James Harden and Chris Paul, and Houston gives Carter-Williams yet another chance to restart what was a very promising career. He was the NBA’s rookie of the year for Philadelphia in 2013-14 when he averaged 16.7 points per game. But his scoring average has dropped each year since, and the Rockets will be his fifth team in six seasons.ADVERTISEMENT With LeBron James being a very obvious exception — getting four years to leave Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers — most of the biggest signings so far have been players staying home. Those include Paul staying with Houston, Nikola Jokic with Denver, Paul George with Oklahoma City, Aaron Gordon with Orlando, Golden State’s Kevin Durant and Denver’s Will Barton.Outside of James, the biggest-money deal that involves someone filing a change-of-address card is Dallas’ $24.1 million agreement with DeAndre Jordan. But even that one falls into the short-term trend, since that’s just for next season.Sports Related Videospowered by AdSparcRead Next Volcano watch: Island fissures steaming, lake water receding Carpio hits red carpet treatment for China Coast Guard PLAY LIST 02:14Carpio hits red carpet treatment for China Coast Guard02:56NCRPO pledges to donate P3.5 million to victims of Taal eruption00:56Heavy rain brings some relief in Australia02:37Calm moments allow Taal folks some respite03:23Negosyo sa Tagaytay City, bagsak sa pag-aalboroto ng Bulkang Taal01:13Christian Standhardinger wins PBA Best Player award FILE – In this May 4, 2018, file photo, Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum (11) lays the ball up as Houston Rockets forward Trevor Ariza, right, defends during the second half in Game 3 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series in Salt Lake City.The Jazz locked up their third internal free agent of the summer Tuesday, July 3, agreeing to terms with Exum on a three-year extension that will be worth around $33 million. The extension was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person with knowledge of the agreement, speaking on condition of anonymity because it remains unsigned. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)For those seeking the trend in NBA free agency this year, it’s this: Most players are either staying put, or taking short-term deals that allow them to hit the market again next summer.Such was largely the case Tuesday.ADVERTISEMENT Utah kept two of its free agents, agreeing to extensions with Dante Exum (three years, $33 million) and Raul Neto (two years, $4.4 million). Avery Bradley, in a deal that was struck late Monday night, is also staying put — coming to terms with the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year contract worth $25 million.Most of the other known deals that were made on Day 3 of free agency were all of the short-term variety.FEATURED STORIESSPORTSGinebra beats Meralco again to capture PBA Governors’ Cup title Aussie assistant coach blames Chot Reyes for Fiba World Cup violence Nadine Lustre’s phone stolen in Brazil
SPORTSAfter winning title, time for LA Tenorio to give back to Batangas folkSPORTSTim Cone, Ginebra set their sights on elusive All-Filipino crownTyreke Evans got $12 million to spend next season with the Indiana Pacers. Jeff Green agreed to terms on a $2.4 million, one-year deal with Washington — which is expected to seek another one-year pact with Dwight Howard later this month when he finalizes his Brooklyn buyout — and Michael Carter-Williams got a veteran’s minimum deal to play in Houston next season.All the deals were confirmed to The Associated Press by people familiar with the negotiations, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because the NBA offseason moratorium on signings does not end until Friday. Christopher Tolkien, son of Lord of the Rings author, dies aged 95 Bicol riders extend help to Taal evacuees Gretchen Barretto’s daughter Dominique graduates magna cum laude from California college In fight vs corruption, Duterte now points to Ayala, MVP companies as ‘big fish’ LATEST STORIES Taal victims get help from Kalayaan town Don’t miss out on the latest news and information. View comments