Check out my latest article for Super League Fans...
The Right Sponsorship Choices For Rugby League?
Although we are still waiting for news of a sponsor
for Super League, two positive sponsorship deals have come forward recently in
the form of Tetley’s agreeing a two year deal for the Challenge Cup and Foxy
Bingo becoming Super League’s official bingo partner.
Any money being thrown into rugby league can only be
a good thing but there has been mixed views about these latest announcements.
Foxy Bingo is at present the UK’s biggest online bingo site and can boast Real
Madrid and Manchester United in their sponsorship portfolio but let’s stop
there. Yes, that is impressive but football already makes millions more then
rugby league ever will so we can’t really use that as an example. Would
football really miss it if Foxy Bingo no longer sponsored them?
I can’t deny however that the bingo site does get
good exposure here in the UK appearing in the advertisement breaks for
television programmes such as Jeremy Kyle. Despite this, I once again can’t
help thinking, is this appealing to the right audience? Not to draw on
stereotypes but do many of the people who watch early morning television or
play online bingo really care about or would watch rugby league?
Nevertheless, the new partners are planning an
extensive programme of community -based activity to support the partnership and
this will be rolled-out throughout the season. Any exposure is good for the
sport and as it turned out, big Eddie Stobart trucks driving up and down the
country couldn’t give us much endorsement, maybe a big friendly fox can.
Let’s now
turn our attention to Tetley’s sponsorship of the Challenge Cup. Now owned by
the Carlsberg group, Tetley’s have enjoyed high profile deals with rugby union
teams such as Northampton and Sale and I can only hope this success can be
reflected with the league game. However, rugby league’s constant emphasis on
being a family sport seems to have been overlooked by this sponsorship deal with;
let’s face it, a company that only brews alcohol.
I also can’t help that think this comes at a bit of
a bad time when not so long ago, Tetley’s closed down their brewery in Leeds, a
city so famous for its rugby league team. There are people still majorly
disappointed about the closure, is this deal rubbing it in their faces or could
it be seen as the company trying to make amends?
All in all, although there are some questions being
raised over these particular sponsorship choices, hopefully they will bring in
the money and exposure that rugby league so desperately needs to progress and
move forward. Surely now it will not be long before we get a new name for Super
League as well, with the clock ticking down to the start of the new season.
No comments:
Post a Comment