Almost half of La Liga clubs remain without shirt sponsorship deals
While Barcelona and Real Madrid continue to grow ever stronger in La Liga, with shirt sponsorship deals worth an estimated ?30m each per season, the rest of the clubs in arguably the world´s top league have to settle for what is left in an ever-diminishing market.
Villarreal and Valencia, in the Champions League, and Europa League contenders Atlético Madrid and Sevilla, are all without a shirt sponsor as the new league season approaches - the first time four of the strongest clubs in Spain have all failed to find a backer since sponsorship began. As Marca report, at the same time, the management of the four agree they are not going to give away sponsorship agreements and are unwilling for their players to wear publicity on their shirts for less than €3m-a-year.
Despite a spate of gaming companies having had their names emblazoned on shirts over the past few years, that the market is changing is borne out by the news that both Atlético Madrid and Sevilla have received €2.5m offers from dating agency Ashley Madison. Curiously enough the proposals included an additional €50,000 if a player was caught being unfaithful and another €150,000 if he admitted it - unsurprisingly they have not been accepted.
In Atlético´s case the club has earned around €7m over the last six seasons wearing the logo of motor company KIA, yet are now searching for a successor to invest at least €5m-a-year after the South Koreans decided not to renew their contract. Something similar has occurred at Villarreal, Valencia and Sevilla. The Yellow Submarine´s ´Aeroport Castelló´ insignia will not be seen on their shirts this season, leaving the club without a sponsor for the first time since it has been in the top flight, while Sevilla and Valencia shirts will also remain blank for the time being, although both clubs remain confident of €3.5m deals in the future.
The nine clubs besides Barca and Real Madrid that do charge for shirt sponsorship hardly reach €10m-a-season between them: Sporting Gijón, Levante and Real Sociedad count on finance from local government, while the rest have agreements ranging from the €2m Athletic Bilbao receive from the Petronor oil company to Chorizo Palacios´ €400,000 paid to Racing Santander every year.
An exception to the trend is at Málaga, where the club´s Qatari owner Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani has opted to pay UNESCO for the honour of wearing their emblem in an agreement not dissimilar to that of Barcelona with UNICEF.
Clubs with shirt sponsorship deals:
Barcelona (Qatar Foundation): €30m
Real Madrid (bwin): €25m + €5m in add-ons
Athletic (Petronor): €2m
Sporting (Gijón/Asturias): €2m
Levante (Comunitat Valenciana): €1.5m
Real Sociedad (Guipuzkoa): €1.2m
Getafe (Burger King): €1m
Real Betis (CIRSA): €1m
Real Mallorca (Bet-at-home): €0.8m
Racing Santander (Chorizo Palacios): €0.4m
Granada (Caja Granada) not disclosed
Clubs without shirt sponsorship:
Valencia
Villarreal
Atlético Madrid
Sevilla
Málaga (UNESCO for four years paid by the club)
Real Zaragoza
Osasuna
Rayo Vallecano
Espanyol
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