Source:REUTERS/Paul Childs
[Saba Sports News] According to British media reports, although Chelsea finally wore shirts with a front-of-shirt advertisement last week, “IFS.ai” will not become a long-term sponsor for the club. Even if the partnership continues, it will only last until the end of this season. This means Chelsea will continue to search for new sponsors. While the visual effect of the blank shirt design may be simple, it is far from a respectable situation in terms of revenue and the club’s reputation. At the beginning of the season, there were reports that Chelsea would sign a long-term sponsorship deal, but that has not been the case. It seems Chelsea has fallen into a vicious cycle: prolonged negotiations that lead to high asking prices, ultimately resulting in a temporary solution to get through to the end of the season, or offering businesses some incentives to pay a bit more for a “standard” sponsorship that includes their logo on the shirt.
The editor believes that the situation will only get more difficult, as the market space becomes increasingly crowded. This season will be the last year that the Premier League allows gambling sponsorships. Teams like Aston Villa, Newcastle, and Everton currently have betting sponsors on their shirts, and next season they will all enter the market searching for non-gambling sponsorships. Furthermore, the market itself is shrinking, as there are limited non-gambling companies with both the capability and willingness to sponsor.