Aviva is putting plenty of support at present into its sponsorship of the Aviva FAI Junior Cup but there will be a nagging concern within football and rugby circles about the news that the brand is to end its long term support for the Aviva Premiership Rugby tournament in England.
That deal was signed one year after the Aviva Stadium naming rights deal in 2009, negotiations for a renewal of which will be coming into focus shortly.
Aviva is reported to have high brand sentiment scores and awareness largely driven here by the stadium deal but the end of the Rugby sponsorship in England, a similar exit from British Athletics in 2012 after 13 years and this being the final season of the current shirt sponsorship deal with Norwich City in English soccer will place sporting sponsorship in a different place to where it was within the company at the time of the stadium redevelopment.
“Aviva has been an outstanding partner during the last six years of huge growth for the competition, and we thank them for all their support,” said Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premiership Rugby as he begins a global search for a new sponsor from the season after next.
“Since they became our title sponsor we have seen our TV audiences increase by close to 50% and again this season we are on course to see attendances rise. Aviva has been a fundamental part of that commercial growth, as well as investing in our extensive community and grassroots development programmes.”
“The partnership between Aviva and Premiership Rugby has been extremely strong ever since we first came together in 2010,” said Andy Briggs, CEO of Aviva UK.
“In that time, Aviva Premiership Rugby has consolidated its position as one of the world’s leading club rugby competitions.”
“The sponsorship has enabled us to offer unrivalled opportunities for our customers and helped us build the Aviva brand. We would like to pass on our thanks to Premiership Rugby and everyone who has been involved.”
“Whilst the news is tinged with sadness, we are proud of the impact that we have had especially at a grassroots level through our Tackling Numbers programme – using the power of rugby to improve the financial literacy of youngsters across the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs.”
“We are really excited about a brilliant final season as the club competition’s title sponsor, and we look forward to this with the same enthusiasm as the past six years. We wish Premiership Rugby, the 12 clubs and all their supporters the very best for the future.”
It can only be hoped that those kind words of farewell do not set a template for a similar announcement which would challenge the FAI and IRFU here in a few short years.
On a more positive note however, the average length of naming rights deals in the United States has climbed from 9.9 years in 2010 to 13.8 years for deals signed in 2015 with a number of those across the major sports running longer still up to 25 years.
