By Mark Baber
February 14 – An updated study of Stadium Naming Rights by Duff & Phelps, the global valuation and corporate finance advisor, finds market rates of Premier League stadium naming rights have increased by over 80% over the last four years – rising from £74.6 million in 2013 to £135.6 mllion in 2017.
February 13 – Champions League sponsor Mastercard, who last week extended its 24-year partnership for another three-year cycle to 2021, has called up Pele to activate the brand sponsorship in advance of the last 16 knockout rounds.
February 12 – South Korean pharmaceuticals company, Cho-A Pharm, has renewed its sponsorship of Manchester United as the club’s Official Pharmaceuticals partner in South Korea and Vietnam.
By Mark Baber
February 9 – The Chinese company Yadea, a market leader in the production of electric-powered motorcycles, bicycles and scooters, has signed on as a Regional Supporter of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
February 9 – Mastercard have become the fifth sponsor to sign up for the 2018-21 cycle of UEFA Champions League rights, following on from the announcement earlier this week that PepsiCo were renewing their deal with the top level of club competition in Europe.
February 8 – Manchester City has signed a new multi-year regional partnership with online trading broker AvaTrade who will become the club’s Official Online Trading Partner for China, Asia and Latin America.
February 8 – Coca-Cola has announced that its eCOPA Coca-Cola tournament will be an official EA Sports FIFA 18 Global Series qualifier event as part of ‘The Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018’ that will be played in August.
February 7 – Italy’s Serie A has accepted Spanish’s MediaPro offer for rights to broadcast matches for the 2018-21 seasons at just above €1.05 billion.
February 6 – PepsiCo have renewed their sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League for a second three-year cycle taking them from the start of the 2018/19 until 2021. The deal also includes sponsorship of the UEFA Super Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
By Mark Baber
February 6 – The General Sports Authority (GSA), Saudi Football Federation and the Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding by which STC will have the sole rights for transmission of local football matches and the matches of Saudi national team.
February 5 – The move by clubs into general entertainment television programming via reality style behind-the scenes shows has now been taken a step further with Barcelona reportedly in preliminary talks with Disney-owned Pixar over the making of an animated feature film.
February 5 – Manchester City have become the first of Europe’s big clubs to confirm they will be playing in the International Champions Cup (ICC) tournament this summer in the US.
February 5 – Serie A champions Juventus have continued their marketing push in China with the addition of Shandong-based Linglong Tire as the Italian club’s Official Global Tire Partner.
February 2 – Revenue for the esports industry hit $1.5 billion in 2017 and is predicted to grow by 26% in 2023 to more than $2.3 billion.
February 2 – The fledgling eFootball.Pro e-sports league to be played on Konami’s Pro-Evolution Soccer (PES) game has handed its league media rights to the data and content division of Sportradar.