Premier League contenders for next season, Chelsea FC, scrapped a proposed front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with betting company Stake. The club was reported to have been close to signing a one-year deal with the betting firm that was worth a similar amount to its previous deal with Three. This amount was said to be around £40 million per year.
Since backing down from the potential agreement with Stake, the club has had issues securing a deal with another sponsor in time for the start of the season.
Decision to back out of deal due to fan pressure
Pushback from fans is the reason for Chelsea being in its current position. A survey by the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) found that 77% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposed agreement with Stake. The CST also made a statement that said any deal would make a “total mockery” out of the work the club has done in London schools, warning about the potential harm of gambling. It went on to talk about betting sponsorship being against the values of the club.
Given the strong anti-deal feelings from fans, Chelsea made the decision to back away from the connections with Stake. The situation the club finds itself in after making that decision is part of an ongoing general pushback against betting sponsorship in sports, especially football.
Situation at Chelsea a reflection of overall pushback against betting sponsorship
Humanitarian agency CARE is one of several organisations pushing for more to be done to protect individuals from the potential damage caused by gambling. The agency believes that more can be done despite the regulation of sports betting in the UK and player protections from schemes like GAMSTOP and from individual sports betting sites outside of gamstop that have their own processes in place.
It’s easy to see why organisations like CARE are concerned, given the high levels of betting sponsorship in competitions such as the Premier League. Seven clubs have a betting company as their main shirt sponsor. These clubs are Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Burnley, Everton, Fulham, and West Ham. Aston Villa has only just announced a new multi-year sponsorship deal with online betting firm BK8. This deal means the company will be Villa’s main shirt sponsor until the end of the 2025/26 season.
The end of this agreement coincides with the league-wide ban on front-of-shirt betting sponsorship that was agreed to by the Premier League in April this year. When this ban is introduced, more clubs could find themselves in the same situation as Chelsea, struggling to find a shirt sponsor. In the case of Chelsea, the club has just released its new shirt for the coming season without a sponsor on it after the Stake issues and the blocking of a potential deal with Paramount+ by the Premier League.
How many clubs face similar issues when the ban begins remains to be seen, but there is a potential for difficulties to happen. However, organisations like CARE will believe that any sponsorship problems for clubs are more than balanced out by the benefits of reducing betting sponsorship in sports.
