Barclays Considers Premier League Role
Barclays could be set to end its £40m-a-year sponsorship of the Premier League after senior figures at the bank claimed it had zero value in the UK, according to media reports.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Barclays leadership team were concerned by the rapid rate of inflation for sports rights, which could result in the Premier League demanding a much higher price than £40m for its next three year deal.
The bank’s present deal runs until the end of the 2015/16 football season, having backed the Premier League since 2001, paying £120m in 2012 for the present rights – 50% higher than the previous £82m deal.
Sources at Barclays told the newspaper that chief executive Antony Jenkins has yet to come to a final decision on the sponsorship deal, but it is understood that senior figures on the board do not believe the deal provides value for money.
The move is believed to be part of a major overhaul of Barclays’ business, including job losses on a global scale and the cutting of branches, while pulling out of glamour projects to focus on higher levels of technology for customers.
Sources at the bank also told the national newspaper that the Premier League’s sponsorship deal was most useful for promoting the bank in Asia and Africa but Barclays could now explore other ways of getting its name recognised in overseas territories.
In December Barclays revealed it would not be renewing its Boris Bike sponsorship after a ‘strategic review’, but denied the decision to end its relationship with the London bike-hire scheme had anything to do with the cycling deaths in London that had occurred at the time.
