This article contains information regarding the organisations enjoying a strong branding presence across the physical and digital assets of the men’s and/or women‘s teams of AFC Bournemouth (AFCB) as their sponsors and partners for the 2023–24 season.
Also read: Premier League Sponsors 2023–24
Based in Makati, the Philippines, online gambling company Dafabet was announced as a Principal Partner and the front-of-matchday-shirt sponsor of the AFCB men’s team in June 2022 on a two-year deal.
Apart from branding rights, the deal also entails Dafabet contributing to the club’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by making a “financial donation to the Club’s Community Sports Trust to support projects that help get adults into work”.
Vitality is a UK-based company specialising in private medical insurance sold to the British market which offers health insurance, life insurance and car insurance as well as investments.
Vitality has been one of the club’s most important partners ever since becoming a part of their sponsorship portfolio in 2015. The company not only serves as the naming rights partner for the AFCB senior men’s team home ground—thusly called the Vitality Stadium (otherwise known as Dean Court)—it also serves as the headline sponsor of their Community Sports Trust while also being their official wellness partner.
The public university has a long-standing relationship with the local club. The two formalised their association in 2013. In July 2022, an official extension saw the two enter a tenth year of their partnership. BU serves as the official higher education partner of the club and a Principal Partner of their women’s and girls’ teams.
Apart from branding rights, the partnership entails collaboration over student development, research and community projects. BU’s football teams are also coached by the club’s trainers, with its students able to avail meet-and-greet opportunities with club stars and also find work opportunities with the Cherries.
The Baltimore, Maryland-headquartered American industrial tools manufacturer was announced as an Official Partner and the official matchday-shirt sleeve sponsor of the club in July 2022 in a deal covering the 2022–23 season. The two then renewed their partnership in August 2023 in a deal covering the 2023–24 season.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based business analytics solutions provider was confirmed as the club’s official training wear partner in August 2023 in a deal covering the 2023–24 season.
The deal sees the Dun & Bradstreet logo feature on the front of the training wear (“including staff attire and matchday warm-up tops”) of the AFCB senior men’s team.
The Manchester-headquartered British sportswear brand has been serving the club as their official kit supplier since the 2017–18 season. The two last renewed their partnership in July 2021 as part of a five-year agreement.
Umbro has also served as the club’s kit supplier in the past: from 1974 to 1978 and 1983 to 1986.
The British commercial vehicle leasing company was announced as an Official Partner of the club in February 2024.
AFCB signed a multi-year deal with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) in February 2024.
As per the deal, the “Visit Las Vegas” logo features on the club’s training kit, while also enjoying in-stadium exposure and matchday activations.
AFC Bournemouth and Alan & Thomas go way back. The Poole-based British insurance broker played a crucial role in helping the club avoid going into administration back in 2000.
As the Official Commercial Insurance Supplier of the club, Alan & Thomas oversees all of their insurance activities.
The two parties last renewed their partnership in September 2023.
The British Broadcasting Corporation’s local radio station, serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, is home for extensive AFC Bournemouth discussions regarding matters both on and off the pitch.
The British division of the Slovak cyber security firm first partnered with the club in September 2020.
Working with the AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust, ESET UK contributes to the club’s “Safer Kids Online” internet safety project, aimed towards “keeping youngsters safe online”.
The two parties last renewed their partnership in August 2023 in a deal set to run until the end of the 2023–24 season. The new agreement also made ESET UK the back-of-matchday-shirt sponsor of the AFCB senior women’s team.
The British division of Amsterdam-headquartered Dutch brewery Heineken has been a partner of the club for over a decade.
Apart from branding rights, the deal also grants Heineken UK pouring rights at AFCB events, including hospitality presence at the Vitality Stadium.
The two parties last signed an extension agreement in November 2023 — a two-year deal that sees Heineken UK serve as Official Beer and Cider Supplier to the club.
Hendy Group is a car dealership for vehicles both old and new as well as provider of MOT testing, parts and fleet management services.
Operating across southern England, Hendy Group became the official motor partner of the club following its acquisition of Westover, their previous partner. The partnership sees the dealership not only provide AFCB players with cars but also provide their media team with transport to all away league and cup games.
The two parties last announced an extension to their partnership in September 2020.
The partnership entails IFX Payments serving as a founding partner of “The Net”, described as the club’s “free-to-join business arm”. IFX Payments also sponsors the club’s transfer content on social media, “including social media and specific in-game graphics”, while also gaining LED branding rights at the Vitality Stadium on matchdays.
The Sidcup-headquartered British sports drink and hydration company was announced as an Official Corporate Supporter and Supplier of the club as well as their Official Hydration & Sports Drink partner in March 2021, also becoming the front-matchday-shirt sponsor of their U21 (development) team.
Apart from branding rights, the deal sees iPRO supply the club staff with its products and also offer hydration insights to help them achieve optimum fitness levels.
The two parties last renewed their partnership in September 2023 — a three-year agreement.
An independent jeweller and luxury watch brand with showrooms in Bournemouth and Fareham, Michael Matthews is a longtime partner of the club, currently serving them as a Corporate Supporter and Supplier as well as their official jeweller.
Apart from branding rights, the deal sees Michael Matthews supply the trophy for the in-house Player of the Month award to the club.
The two parties last renewed their partnership in August 2023 as part of a two-year agreement.
Apart from branding rights, the deal entails a matchday promotion called “Clean Sheets with Uber Eats”, which sees local restaurant El Murrino offer club supporters 50% off on orders via the Uber Eats app every time “the Cherries keep a clean sheet at any game”. The deal also entails “regular discounts on local restaurants in the Bournemouth and Poole area” as well as headline sponsorship of “birthday” content.
The US-based health, wellness and lifestyle company has been serving as the Official Nutritional Supplement and Official Multivitamin supplier of the club since 2015.
FOOTBALL·FOOTBALL SPONSORSHIPS
November 4, 2023
This article contains information regarding the organisations enjoying a strong branding presence across the Premier League’s physical and digital assets as its sponsors for the 2023–24 season.
Also Read
Premier League Sponsors 2022-23
Premier League Sponsors 2021-22
Premier League Sponsors 2020-21
MAIN NAME: THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (EPL)
FOUNDED: 1992
EA Sports has held a license for the English topflight for its annually-released football simulation video games for many years in at least some capacity.
In 2014, ahead of the release of FIFA 15, EA Sports strengthened its ties with the Premier League with a first-of-its-kind partnership that granted the video game company access to integrate Premier League licensing within FIFA to an unprecedented level — with fully scanned stadia of all 20 Premier League teams of that time as well as head-scans for all major players from each club. The partnership has gone from strength to strength ever since.
EA Sports was announced as the Premier League’s Lead Partner in August 2016, ahead of the 2016-17 season, in a deal reportedly worth US$28.3 million per year. Apart from increased branding exposure, the expanded deal saw EA Sports become the sponsor of the league’s Player of the Month and Season awards as well as the Fantasy Premier League.
With its 2023 release, EA Sports’ football simulation video game series is set for a rebrand, with world football-governing body FIFA having walked away. Now known as EA Sports FC, the video game series—despite the rebrand—is set to continue its association with the Premier League, with the latest deal between the Premier League and EA Sports having been announced in July 2023 — a multi-year agreement.
The British financial services company has enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership with the Premier League. Aside from having served as the league’s title sponsor between 2001 and 2016, Barclays continues to serve the Premier League as its Official Bank.
The two parties renewed their partnership in March 2019 to run until the end of the 2021-22 season in a deal worth £31.5 million. Later, in December 2021, the two again renewed their partnership, with the new agreement set to run until the end of the 2024–25 season.
Barclays also serves as the title sponsor to the topflight of professional women’s football in England — the FA Women’s Super League.
The AB InBev beer brand has served as the Official Beer to the Premier League since July 2019 in a deal that covers over 20 countries across five continents.
The partnership sees the two parties work on several fan engagement activities, with Budweiser also holding image rights for the Premier League players to feature in its promotional content.
The Pangbourne-headquartered British oil company was announced as the Premier League’s Official Engine Oil Partner in November 2021. The deal, reported by SportBusiness to be worth between £10 million and £12 million per year, kicked off in January 2022.
Apart from bringing rights, the deal entails Castrol engaging with Premier League fans not only in the UK but across the world, including China, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, the Middle East and Europe. The deal also entails showcasing of Castrol products and service during Premier League events, with Castrol also sponsoring the Premier League Golden Awards programme.
Hublot replaced fellow Swiss luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer as the Official Timekeeper of the Premier League ahead of the 2020–21 season in September 2020.
The deal sees Hublot provide watches to the officials during Premier League matches as well as receive pitchside and broadcast advertising.
In February 2021, Hublot released a limited-edition, Premier League-themed Big Bang e connected watch.
Nike has served as the official match ball supplier to the Premier League since 2000. It also provides equipment for the league’s youth development programmes and supports the Primary Stars Kit and Equipment Scheme — a Premier League initiative to encourage school kids to play football by providing kits and equipment.
The two parties last extended their partnership in November 2018 to run until 2025. In July 2023, it was confirmed that, with the start of the 2025–26 season, Puma would be the official match ball supplier of the Premier League.
The Austin, Texas-headquartered American tech giant was announced as the Premier League’s Official Cloud Partner in May 2021.
As per the deal, Oracle implements its cloud infrastructure and machine learning models to deliver advanced data-driven football analytics. Most of these analytics feature as infographics in the league’s live broadcasts in real time, both on-screen and across its social media channels. Some of these new offerings include average formation, live win probability and momentum tracker.
The California-based global sportswear branding and labelling manufacturer has served as the Premier League’s official supplier to all teams for names, numbers and sleeve badges since June 2019.
Avery Dennison’s products are made in a low-carbon, landfill-free facility in Norway, where the plastics used in the process are re-used within the supply chain to ensure minimum waste generation in an environmentally-friendly process. Avery’s products also come with smart digital technology that offer bespoke fan experiences to customers.
Modena-based Italian publishing company Panini is the official sticker and trading card licensee of the Premier League.
The Panini Group and football go back a long way. For many decades, Panini has created trading cards and stickers based on football players, making “Panini” a very common word among many football-mad households.
Panini’s partnership with the Premier League gives the company image rights to the league’s players to feature in its trading cards collection.
The two parties last announced a renewal of their partnership in November 2021.
Sorare is a blockchain-based digital collectibles and fantasy football platform developed by Saint-Mandé, Paris-headquartered French company SORARE SAS.
The Premier League announced a four-year deal with Sorare in January 2023, which grants the latter license for clubs and players from the league to feature in the free-to-play fantasy game.
Unlike in India, where Star Sports holds rights to broadcast each and every Premier League match via the league’s in-house Worldwide feed (Premier League Productions), broadcasting in the UK works differently.
Ideally, the UK observes a “3pm blackout” where no major football is broadcast live between 2:45 pm and 5:15 pm to encourage people to go to the stadiums. This was temporarily lifted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but since the 2021–22 season the 3pm blackout has been in effect once again.
Instead, Premier League fixtures are spread across major British broadcasters throughout the season. Apart from that, companion shows such as BBC’s Match of the Day are also a staple of football consumption among the British people.
These are the major broadcasters that hold rights to show Premier League football within the UK:
Sky Sports, a London-headquartered, March 1990-founded group of subscription-based sports channels, is the official sports division of satellite pay-TV company Sky, which is owned by Philadelphia-based American telecommunications conglomerate Comcast.
Previously known as “BT Sport”, TNT Sports is a London-based, August 2013-founded pay-TV sports channel and is owned jointly by BT Group and Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe.
Also Watch: A conversation with Akiko Kamiya, Deputy Director of Kodansha Ltd.
Launched in September 2006, Prime Video is Amazon’s OTT streaming offering, with the service based out of Seattle.
Founded in February 1988, BBC Sport is the sports division of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is headquartered in Salford, Greater Manchester.
In May 2021, the Premier League announced that it had “rolled over” its existing £5bn agreement with the aforementioned companies for its live and non-live broadcast partnership to cover the next broadcast cycle that covers the seasons 2022–23 to 2024–25.
Also Read – Brands That Have Partnered with the Premier League for 2018-2019
Radio-based consumption of football matches is also widespread in the UK. Here are the major radio stations that offer live commentary on Premier League matches:
Radio 5 Live is the BBC’s national radio service dedicated to sports. Operating since March 1994, the station is based in MediaCityUK in Salford and is part of the BBC North division.
Owned by News UK, talkSPORT is a 1995-founded sports radio station headquartered in London.
Also Read
Indian professional cricketer KL Rahul has been roped in as a brand ambassador by Italian…
Multi-year deal announced Italian Formula One team Ferrari have announced a new multi-year partnership agreement…
The phrase ‘There are no easy games in the Premier League’ isn’t just a cliché.…
Here's our preview for the third T20I of the 2024 England tour of the West…
BWT Alpine F1 Team have signed a partnership agreement with Mercedes, which will see them use…
Here are our preview and predictions for the fourth T20I of the 2024 India tour…
View Comments