Corporate sponsorship of football (also known as soccer) shirts has existed for many years and is both an increasingly important source of revenue for professional clubs and is establishing itself as a potent marketing channel for companies.

The history of football shirt sponsorship isn’t exactly clear, but seems to have existed since at least the 70s in Europe. West German club Eintracht Braunschweig are often recognized as one of the first to take the leap into shirt sponsorship, bravely donning the logo of an alcoholic beverage on their sleeve.

Initially in England, authorities were nervous about the prospect of companies getting a corporate free kick of advertising. The non-commercial government broadcaster, the BBC, broadcast football and required corporate sponsors to be removed from shirts when they televised their match of the day.

It wasn’t until 1983 that sponsors were allowed to appear on shirts during broadcasts, which in turn lifted the value of sponsorship to companies. Suddenly a nationwide television audience of millions was within potential reach for 90 minutes of football action.

In the early days of shirt sponsorship, sponsors could largely only expect to reach, at best, a domestic audience. The majority of likely ‘eyeballs’ was mostly attendees at stadiums and in print media. The odd broadcast match was a real boon for advertisers.

While this is still true for some sports teams, things have changed drastically in terms of corporate sponsorship at the top end of the market.

So, from a business perspective, let’s look at two key questions:

1) What benefits does shirt sponsorship offer to a company?

2) What companies might be best suited to shirt sponsorship?

Let’s use the example of Italian football giant, AC Milan.

Based in the northern Italian fashion capital, AC Milan are one of the most successful football outfits on the planet, having won every major title in the sport. AC Milan also carry heavy clout in the brand stakes, you’ll find Milan fans in many parts of the world.

Turning back the clock to the 80s, AC Milan were a good side, but if you were to pay for shirt sponsorship, you would have be largely restricted to getting your message out to Italians on TV and in print. This may not be such a bad thing if you’re an Italian company or you had a brand that was well known in Italy. Twenty years later things are very different.

AC Milan now play on average, two matches per week. This includes their own domestic championship (the Series A) and cup tournaments, but most years also includes the lucrative and very high rating mid-week European Champions League. Both of these are now broadcast worldwide.

With the advent of global merchandise sales, pay television and the Internet, AC Milan shirts are seen pretty consistently around the world. This is no doubt fantastic for a shirt sponsor.

Milan’s current shirt sponsor pay a total of 12 million Euros per annum to appear on their shirt and in various other spots such as websites and signage. Given that the cost of a 30 second commercial on prime time American television costs $400,000 and beyond, 12 million Euros may not be such a bad deal for a worldwide advertising deal in a sport where matches go for 90 minutes.

It’s important to recognize that television commercial and shirt sponsorship are not directly substitutable products. The amount of ‘selling’ that can be done by a logo alone is fairly limited, where a 30 second commercial may enable a company to convey greater depth of a brand’s unique selling propositions.

Nevertheless, a shirt sponsorship deal with a club like AC Milan offers incredible media coverage and the opportunity to pass through the well documented filters that many consumers have towards traditional advertising channels.

So, what sorts of companies are most suitable for shirt sponsorship of a team like AC Milan? In AC Milan’s case, they’re probably happy to just go with the highest bidder. But some companies are more suited than others to sponsoring AC Milan’s shirt.

Given AC Milan’s regular global coverage, it makes sense for an organization with global reach to sponsor AC Milan’s shirt, such as Sony or Apple. An Italian based brand is relatively unknown to a large portion of Milan’s global audience.

It also makes sense for well known brands to use the shirt sponsorship as an opportunity to reinforce other advertising that might be running in other channels.

For example, you might see an advertisement for the Sony PlayStation 3 during a commercial break and this is then reinforced during a match when you see the message on AC Milan’s shirt.

Football shirt sponsorship is a cost effective way for sponsors to extend their brand reach around the world. As can be seen, brands with a global reach and global brand recognition have the most to gain from a sponsorship deal.

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