By Mark Baber
May 21 – William Hill has extended its sponsorship of the Scottish Cup until 2016, after agreeing a new two-year seven-figure deal, believed to be £3 million, a year before the existing contract was due to end.
However there is no escaping the storm clouds hovering over Scottish football, even at the press conference to announce the new contract. The Scottish Premier league has still to announce a new title sponsor as it battles to agree a new, merged league structure.
Scottish Football Association’s chief executive, Stewart Regan said: “We have been absolutely delighted with the partnership with William Hill and especially pleased that they have today reaffirmed their commitment to Scottish football by extending their contract as title sponsor of the Scottish Cup.
“In a tough economic climate for Scottish football, it is reassuring that one of the United Kingdom’s most established brand names have demonstrated that they are passionate and imaginative supporter and champion of our game.”
Kristof Fahy, chief marketing officer at William Hill, said: “Above all it’s the passionate support of fans in Scotland that continues to attract our sponsorship.
“That passion is intense and William Hill wants to be part of that.
“The value we get from the Scottish Cup is incredible. As you have seen from the semi-finals and hopefully the final, you never know which way the games are going to go.”
With Clydesdale Bank’s six-year sponsorship of the SPL coming to an end, Regan said the failure to find a new sponsor was “no surprise” given the uncertainty over “the shape of the competition; the number of teams; whether there’s play-offs; one or two leagues.”
With SPL clubs hoping to set in place a new merged league body for next season in a plan yet to be voted on by the Scottish League clubs, Regan said more commercial deals were in the pipeline but “it is fair to say we are not in a particularly healthy place and we’ll work as collaboratively as we can with the leagues and the clubs to turn that around.”
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