By Alec HoggThe globalisation of Brian Joffe’s R100bn conglomerate Bidvest is reflected in its continued sponsorship of the Barclays Premier League club Sunderland for a cool R89.7m a year. One of last season’s strugglers, Sunderland has traditionally enjoyed one of the largest support bases. Its home base, the Stadium of Light, has the capacity to hold 49 000 fans – the fourth largest of all English clubs. Joffe will be hoping that translates into an improved on-field performance this year after it required some divine intervention (pic above) to rescue the team from relegation last season.
Joffe’s team pays £5m a year to have the Bidvest name emblazoned on Sunderland’s kit. But that pales next to the investment required to secure one of the big guns. After its worst season in a couple decades, Manchester United rung the changes among its management and players. It has already reaped some reward through Chevrolet’s decision to sign a £47m short sponsorship – more than double the £20m that it cost Aon last year. This adds to the enormous spending power at the disposal of new manager Louis van Gaal who was responsible for Holland’s respectable third place finish at the recently concluded FIFA World Cup.
The full table of what shirt sponsorships cost (below), published with an article today in London’s The Independent, shows why the English Premiership remains such a fascination for football fans, throwing up David and Goliath contests every weekend. Although the top six clubs enjoy a massive financial advantage and tend to dominate the league table – their billionaire owners or bigger stadiums add to the spending power – most weeks throw up a surprise or two. A bit like horse racing, part of whose fascination lies in fact that the cost of the horse never guarantees a successful outcome.
@alechogg absolutely insane numbers there.
— Tshipi (@tshipifela) July 30, 2014
