Sunday, January 20, 2008

Shirt sponsors and TV rights

In the “80’s big investments in football were made by some of the leading world companies like: Parmalat, Pirelli, Sharp, Opel, JVC, Carlsberg etc… Those companies “bought” a commercial space at the front of the kits and become “shirt sponsors” of those clubs. Later, many other big companies placed their investments in football. Top companies like: Fiat, Audi, Toyota, Tamoil, Siemens, Samsung, LG, Sony, Sega, AIG, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Tele+, Sky Sport, Fly Emirates, O2 and many, many others. After the magnificent success of these sponsors, football was never again the old recreational game. It became great way of making money.

The next level of making money in football became TV rights. Those big, rich, and successful clubs became very attractive because they had the best players of the world. The largest stadiums in the early 90’s could attend approximately 50.000 – 80.000 visitors, but it was not enough. Football was already extra popular around Europe and the world. Then, the largest TV media came on the stage. The clubs and the leagues started to sell TV rights to the leading broadcasting companies. Football was in everyone’s home.

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