April 14 – US soccer is changing its Cola brand. PepsiCo, which has been a core sponsor of the MLS since 1996, is making way for Coca-Cola who take over as the official non-alcoholic beverage of the MLS and the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 13 – German Bundesliga club FC Augsburg has secured a new sponsorship deal with Germany’s insurance group WWK Versicherungsgruppe. The insurer will tale over as the club’s main sponsor in a deal estimated to be worth €3 million per year.
April 13 – Sports media services company delatratre has teamed up with TV graphics producer Vizrt to launch a new virtual sports graphics solution for broadcasters.
By Paul Nicholson
April 9 – The trends of the previous six weeks were followed last week with no change in the Insideworldfootball table of Premier League club Twitter followers. Manchester United again surged forward to continue their standout gains against their rivals as they chase the total number of followers to overtake Arsenal and Chelsea who head them in the overall table.
April 8 – Manchester United have extended their partnership with insurance giant Aon into the Pakistan market with an insurance affinity programme, the first in the region.
By Paul Nicholson
April 2 – In the week to March 27, Manchester United more than doubled their average weekly gain in Twitter followers over closest rivals Arsenal and Chelsea.
March 31 – UEFA has renewed its exclusive marketing deal with TEAM Marketing for a further six seasons from the end of the 2014/15 season. It has an option to extend for a further three years if it meets performance criteria.
By Mark Baber
March 27 – Turkish Airlines has announced to the Istanbul Stock Exchange that it intends to add the UEFA Champions League to its list of football sponsorships. The value of the three-year deal has not been revealed, but current Champions League sponsor packages are currently between €55-65 million per season.
March 26 – Copa90, the digital football network, will showcase a new broadcast distribtuion option for rightsholders and sports-sponsor brands at the Stade de France tonight when the Brazil World Tour kicks off.
March 26 – Spain’s 42 professional clubs have put strike plans on hold in order to give authorities more time to draw up proposals for a collective bargaining agreement for TV rights.
By Paul Nicholson
March 23 – Premier League Twitter stats for the week ending Friday March 20 show no change in the top five positions of clubs ranked by new followers. Manchester United continue top the table, 7,000 new followers ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea, with Liverpool fourth and Manchester City trailing in fifith.
March 20 – Premier League Liverpool, which earlier this week announced it had added a Malaysian fixture to its 2015 pre-season tour schedule, has announced a further expansion in the south-east Asia region with the launch of a regional partnership with Cobra Energy Drink, which sees the brand become the Official Energy Drink of Liverpool FC in Myanmar.
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 19 – The beleaguered president of Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, Alexander Tomov, has said he is now in negotiation with companies from Western Europe as Bulgarian firms can’t afford the price of a major club sponsorship.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 19 – Red Star Belgrade is close to finalising the negotiation of an extension to its Gazprom sponsorship, valued at more than €20 million over a five-year term.
By Mark Baber
March 16 – The release of a video clip by The Sun newspaper, showing England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney apparently knocked out whilst engaged in a boxing match with former team-mate Phil Bardsley, is largely being treated as a private matter and a hook for various one-liners.