The IRFU are reported to have signed the biggest sponsorship deal in Irish team sport with a ten year deal with Vodafone that is worth €50 million.
That would be almost double what the current sponsors Three are paying having taken over the long term deal that O2 had upon its takeover of that brand last year.
The story first broke in the Sunday Times and was followed up in the Herald from where it has circulated widely online over the past 24 hours. Nobody from either side has made any confirmation of the deal and mainstream media has shied away this morning from carrying any further information.
Kit-catch
This may be as a result of not wanting to overshadow the launch of the Ireland Rugby World Cup Jersey. This will be Canterbury’s second shirt for the Senior Irish team and given the rising temperature of anticipation around the Rugby World Cup it would be expected to be a major seller.
In previous Rugby World Cups sponsor brands have not been permitted on the fronts of jerseys so if this is the start of a long farewell to Three it will be less obviously apparent at the most high profile tournament for four years.
All of the replica kits though that fans will be buying will carry the Three logo, as will the team in all advance promotional activities. The fact the the same sponsor will be on board through next season’s attempt at a three-peat of RBS Six Nations Championships does give a longer shelf life for the existing branding but there must still be a fear that the likely switch of sponsor brands will delay some purchases of the jersey.
Stability
At that reported €5 million a year value, and especially given the stability that comes with a ten year deal this is a major win for the IRFU and it’s commercial department.
Over the past year there has been a concern over whether Three would be willing to maintain sponsorship of the national soccer and rugby teams as well as the Three Arena and its other smaller properties including Waterford GAA.
The fear on Lansdowne Road may have always been that soccer had been a longer term deal and more likely to continue. Both featured prominently in the recently revamped Three loyalty programme and that will continue but if Vodafone is the brand to come on board it is likely that competition between the brands will also be a winner for fans.
Vodafone
Vodafone have been one of sport’s major commercial partners over the past decade. The way the company tends to operate is that deals are signed on a local basis and activated globally where most appropriate. The biggest deals have included Manchester United, the Champions’ League, the Epsom Derby, Ferrari and McLaren in Formula One. All of these have ended in recent years with a seeming change of focus away from these biggest global deals.
They also have a relationship with South Africa in Rugby as an associate sponsor.
In Ireland they were three year sponsors of the Dublin GAA team prior to AIG taking over. They also support Triathlon Ireland.
This deal though would be a substantial step up on what they have been involved in. It is likely that much of the justification will lie in content which will be exclusively available to Vodafone customers. Rugby’s demographic is at the right end for higher spending customers and the ability of sport to reach out with a strong business case is going to be good for all areas of sport.
Once the deal is confirmed Vodafone would sit alongside Aviva, Guinness, Ulster Bank, Volkswagen, Paddy Power, DHL, PwC, Lucozade, Dove, Aon and Cadbury among others.
Now we just have to wait for the partnership to be confirmed…
Join us tomorrow and on Friday when Sport for Business will reveal two more substantial sponsorship deals in Irish sport…
