Examination of Witnesses (Question Numbers
1300-1308)
MR WILLIAM
BUSH AND
MR STEWART
THOMSON
15 OCTOBER 2009
Q1300 Charlotte Atkins: Is there
more or less alcohol sponsorship in football compared with 10
years ago? What has the trend been?
Mr Thomson: Do you mean the value?
Q1301 Charlotte Atkins: Yes, I think
the value.
Mr Thomson: Yes, the value of
the sponsorship of the Carling Cup, for example, has gone up over
the last few years but that is generally in line with the value
of sponsorship in football. It is not specifically that alcohol
sponsorship has gone up in value.
Q1302 Charlotte Atkins: As a proportion
also of the total, are you more dependent on alcohol sponsorship
or less?
Mr Thomson: At the minute it is
roughly the same. As my colleague said, it is cyclical and it
is down to whether an alcohol company at that particular time
wants to be involved with one of our competitions. I would say
over the last eight or nine years it has been about the same.
There was a period of time before that in terms of relativity
when it was less and there may be a time in the future when it
is more.
Q1303 Charlotte Atkins: What is the
story behind Liverpool Football Club giving up its sponsorship
agreement with Carlsberg?
Mr Bush: You would have to ask
Liverpool Football Club for the detail. They have had a long association,
one of the longest running sponsorships for any of our clubs.
I think it is very straightforward: they have new ownership, new
management, all these contracts are time-limited and they went
out to the marketplace and obviously Liverpool has a huge reach
around the world and a finance company with a large reach around
the world decided they wanted that association. I think there
is a general trend. It is obscured by individual financial deals
but there is a general trend that because the Premier League wants
to be careful about its reputation and wants to behave responsibly
I am not saying it becomes less attractive to alcohol brands to
sponsor but they are well aware of the kind of constraints that
it involves. For companies that suffer fewer constraints for the
obvious reasons, and I was about to say banking but perhaps that
is not obvious, banking and finance and technology companies and
so on do find it easier. Also, we have a very strong international
presence, and it is growing, and there are parts of the world
where culturally alcohol has what we might describe as less prominence
than in the UK. Again, you can see where a company that sells
all around the world, regardless of the religious and cultural
background, might find it more attractive to be associated with
Premier League football than an alcohol brand which finds itself
regionally more constrained. That is the long way round to saying
over 15 or 20 years the proportion of income that Premier League
clubs and the League itself takes from alcohol is a diminishing
proportion of our total revenues.
Q1304 Chairman: Could I ask you in
relation to that to quantify what you mean. Shirt sponsorship
seems an obvious one, and as you say there are two Premiership
clubs and one League club now with shirt sponsorship from alcohol
and competition sponsorship, but what about advertising on grounds?
Mr Thomson: A number of our clubs
will have individual alcohol brands that will purchase whether
it be a page in a match programme or an advertising board around
about the ground and that brand may have a supply deal with the
club to provide the club with products for its in-stadia bars.
That is something that would be quite normal.
Q1305 Chairman: The links are more
than just competition and shirt sponsorship but you have no idea
how much of that is on an individual club basis?
Mr Thomson: I am afraid not.
Q1306 Chairman: You are probably
far too young to be able to answer this, but I am going to ask
it anyway. I am in my fifth decade of supporting Rotherham United
Football Club and I have travelled and seen most grounds in different
shapes and forms with all the investment there has been over those
nearly 50 years. You never used to see any tobacco advertising
at football grounds. Certainly there was no shirt sponsorship
when sponsorship of shirts came along. There was never any tobacco
advertising on League football grounds at all. Do you know why?
Mr Thomson: I am afraid you are
right.
Q1307 Chairman: It was not illegal.
It intrigued me that I had never seen any at a football ground
and it was not illegal. We had quite an argument in here to get
it banned from the rest of society. You do not know.
Mr Thomson: I am afraid I cannot
answer that.
Q1308 Chairman: Could I tempt you
to see if you could get somebody back at the Premiership or the
League who could answer that question. They might be retired now!
I would be intrigued to know why such a popular sport never carried
tobacco advertising. I am pleased as well, but that is a different
matter.
Mr Thomson: I will undertake to
do that.
Chairman: Could I thank you both very
much indeed for coming along and giving evidence to this inquiry
this morning. Thank you.
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