Football sponsors at a loss

With stadiums dark, match shirts folded in closets and most players confined at home, football's sponsors have lost all visibility and are growing restless.

European clubs are struggling to offer their 'partners' a return on their investments as sport grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.

"We're trying to do activities with our players for our sponsors, who are even more demanding since the lockdown. But it's very complicated because of the health crisis," one club marketing manager told AFP.

The stars, the surest way for sponsors to attract an audience, are at home, many back in their native countries. Worse, there are no games for them to play. Matches on TV display the brands on the team jerseys or around the pitch to millions of viewers.

At West Ham, one of the sponsors, high-risk finance company Basset & Gold has just gone bankrupt, blaming the coronavirus crisis.  Many sponsors are in sectors hit especially hard, such as airlines and hotel and restaurant chains. Some sponsors are beginning to cancel payments.

"It's quite obvious that having no more events, everything has to be suspended, it seems so logical to me. It's a case of force majeure," Marc Vanhove, the boss of the Bistro Regent restaurant chain, which sponsors the Bordeaux shirt, told AFP. The chain suspended its contract, which runs until 2023, he said, "until we have the dates for the resumption".

French hotel group Accor, PSG's main sponsor, left open the question of whether it would pay the full amount provided for in its contract (about 50 million euros a year), before saying two days later that it had honoured its commitments.

With matches cancelled and some broadcasters, notably in France, beginning to withhold payments, club finances are already strained.

Deloitte said the primary source of revenue for its top five clubs is commercial and averages 49 percent of total revenue. Lower down the Deloitte table, the proportions change. For the clubs placed 16 to 20, 65 percent of revenue comes from broadcasting.

One market expert, who did not wish to be named, said that the risks of deserting can outweigh the financial costs, especially for companies "who are doing well" in sectors that are seen to be less affected, such as technology or the food industry.