Man City dial in TECNO Mobile with global deal
December 2 – Manchester City have added Chinese-based mobile phone brand, TECNO Mobile, as a new global partner. Described as a multi-year deal, no amount for the sponsorship was announced.
Football Marketing
LaLiga cuts new global sponsor deal with Stihl
December 1 – Spain’s LaLiga has added another new global sponsor. Although no amount was announced for the deal, La Liga said it now expected to earn €70 million from sponsorship this year, more than double its annual sales of previous years.
Bundesliga merchandise sales hit record €243m
December 1 – Merchandise sales of Bundesliga clubs increased by €17 million to €243 million in the 2015-16 season, according to PR Marketing’s 19th Fanartikel-Barometer.
Twitter stats: Chelsea edge Liverpool again, but gap to Arsenal keeps growing
By Paul Nicholson
November 28 – Growth in new twitter followers this week across the Premier League is up to 0.42% from 0.37% last week – or in real terms from 166,700 to 187,300. Manchester United still top the weekly table but Chelsea are gently showing a return to form and favour after a halving of weekly gains from 12 months ago, due to a drop in form and the unsavoury antics of former manager Jose Mourinho.
Jiangsu lose CFA Cup, Suning open Nanjing store trading on Inter and Jiangsu brands
By Paul Nicholson
November 28 – Suning Sports, owners of China Super League club Jiangsu Suning and majority owners of Italy’s Internazionale, opened its flagship retail store in Nanjing’s Olympic Sports Centre. The store sell merchandise from both clubs and offers entertainment based experiences as well as retail.
Liverpool surge on Instagram as Man Utd hammer away on Facebook
November 25 – The growth of new Instagram followers to Premier League clubs in the week to November 20 has remained steady with another 276,000 plus sign-ons matching the previous week. What is emerging is a pattern of the biggest clubs putting on huge numbers of followers, in contrast to the 12 lowest ranked clubs adding less than 2,000 followers each.
Poki teams with Cosi to launch Pelé app game on web platform
November 24 – The hit game Pelé: Soccer Legend, available via an app, an now be played on the web following a deal between cross-platform game publisher Poki and game maker Cosi Games.
PSV add iFOREX to sponsorship roster
November 23 – Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven have signed online trading company iFOREX as their Official Sponsor and Official Trading Partner, no figure has been released for the deal.
Chelsea edge ahead of Liverpool in Twitter table, Burnley hit rock bottom
November 22 – Overall across the Premier League tweets are up this week as players returned from international duty, but total followers were actually down by 8.5% from last week’s increase of 182,000 to 167,000 this week.
Digiturk secures Turkish Super League TV rights in $3bn 5-year deal
November 22 – Digiturk, the Turkish digital TV platform has retained the broadcast right to the Turkish Super League in a $3 billion five year deal – $600 million a year – that is almost double the previous amount Digiturk paid in 2010 in a one-year deal that was extended for three years in 2011.
Man Utd top 3 social media rankings as PL tops 700K connections in a week
November 21 – Premier League clubs amassed a whopping 700,000+ new social media connections in the week ending November 13, with more than 277,000 of them on Instagram.
Daily fantasy sports giants DraftKings and FanDuel to merge
By Paul Nicholson
November 21 – The world’s two largest daily fantasy sports sites (DFS) DraftKings Inc. and FanDuel Inc. are to merge into one mega US corporate gaming operator as they battle against regulatory challenges to their business model.
China’s PPTV buys 3-years of broadcast rights to Premier League for $700m
November 18 – Taking advantage of the burgeoning Chinese market, the English Premier League has sold its television rights in the country to streaming service PPTV for a staggering $700 million (£565 million), according to a number of reports in the UK and Asia.
The cost of corruption: Samsung pulls out of Brazil sponsorship
By Samindra Kunti
November 18 – The Brazilian FA, the CBF, and Samsung have parted ways. Samsung is the fifth major sponsor the CBF has lost since the FIFA scandal engulfed the world game and shone the spotlight on decades of corruption in Brazilian football.
Barca land record €220m shirt deal with Japan’s Rakuten
November 17 – The rumour was that it would be a Chinese sponsor but in the end it was Japan’s Rakuten that signed up as FC Barcelona’s new main global partner in a four-year €220 million deal that could rise with bonuses.