When Toronto was awarded its Major League Soccer franchise 3 years ago, Toronto FC decided to mimic their European counterparts overseas and put the logo of a major corporate sponsor on the front of their jersey.
Instead of being honest and saying they just wanted the money, they tried to pass it off by saying they were influenced by the "continental" jersey's overseas and wanted to pay homage.
The rest of the MLS, which had previously refrained from such tackiness, quickly followed suit.
Before After
While putting a sponsor front and centre on your team's uniform is taboo in North America, it's been standard practice overseas for years. In 1978, Liverpool became the first team to place corporate sponsorship right on the team's shirt. And they didn't start subtle either, essentially making "HITACHI" the name of the team.
Of course the big problem with associating your team so closely to a corporate entity is what happens if that company's fortune starts to go south?
Some examples?
How about MANCHESTER UNITED, currently sponsored by (snicker) American International Group, Inc., or AIG. Last year, AIG was the 18th largest business in the world. Now? They teeter on the brink of insolvency, kept alive with government loans. Seeing that they are operating at a nearly 100 billion dollar deficit, now might not be the time for flashy merchandising deals. AIG decided to let their current shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester Utd., the richest in history by the way at over a hundred million dollars over 4 years, expire.
So who is taking over as the Red Devil's shirt sponsor next year? Well this is Manchester United we're talking about, worth nearly 2 billion dollars and the richest club of any sport in the world. Apparently the front-runner is AIRASIA.com - a small discount airline that doesn't even fly out of North America or most of Europe, headquartered in Malaysia.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Man U is not the only team finding their core sponsor in serious trouble:
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Newcastle were he first club to see their sponsor struggle. Northern Rock had to be taken over by the UK government in February. Northern Rock (UK tax payers) will continue to sponsor Newcastle until 2010 to the tune of £5 million per year.
WEST HAM: The XL Leisure Group went into administration in September 2008. They were one year into a three year deal as West Ham's shirt sponsor, paying £2.5 million per year.
I dont agree with your donating the space suggestion. As you alluded, why turn down more money? Clubs like Barcelona are wealthy enough to donate the space (and the big boys like Man U) but the majority of clubs do infact need the extra dosh
So when do we put in a bid to sponsor Juventus or Chelsea? My, my, my......I can see it now....TheDashingFellows emblazoned across a jersey in Europe.