Take a look around the English Premier League and Championship this season and you are bound to see a number of sports betting firms’ logos on the fronts of football teams’ shirts.
Over half the Premier League teams have sports bookies sponsoring the fronts of their shirts for the 2019-20 season.
Football fans are gearing up for the new season with some looking for football accumulator tips to br able to capitalise on the raised odds from placing a wager on their favourite teams.
With so many sports bookies gracing the fronts of football shirts in the Premier League and Championship, it begs the question: why do so many sports betting firms sponsor football teams?
A captive audience
Football fans are diehard individuals that love their clubs. Each season, millions of football fans around England not only attend matches live, but they also watch hours of football through televised games and highlights. Football fans are ready for the next round of Premier League and Championship fixtures.
Whether watching live in-stadium, on television, or through highlights on social media, football fans are exposed to betting firms’ names and logos on the front of football shirts. By putting their names across football jerseys, bookies can reach far more people than by running traditional adverts on television.
Walking billboards
Not only are football fans exposed to the logos and names of betting firms by watching matches, but supporters are walking billboards when they wear the shirts of their favourite teams.
Last season, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ shirt had the W88 logo across it. According to reports, Wolves sold over 40,000 kits by October for their Premier League return. Many of those shirts featured the W88 logo giving the betting firm the chance to advertise to anyone within eyesight.
Later season as Wayne Rooney joins Derby County as a player coach he will take sports betting branding to a new level as her will wear the number 32 as part of a deal with online betting company 32red.
Football clubs offer an incredible number of possible customers that traditional advertising can no longer reach. Even social media and online ads cannot reach the potential customers a football shirt offers bookies today.
Fan loyalty
Betting firms have found that football fans are loyal to a fault. No matter how a team does on the pitch or off it, a fan is for life. That loyalty spills over to the sponsors that a football club has and it can see those companies recoup their money several times over.
Liverpool is a great example as for many years Danish beer brand Carlsberg sponsored the club’s shirts. It is difficult to go to Anfield, or even near the stadium today, without seeing thousands of supporters on a matchday drinking the beer. In the spring of 2019, Carlsberg even did a special red version of the lager which sent Liverpool supporters made.
Sports betting firms have used this loyalty and gained thousands of customers. While most betting sponsors that appear on shirts are clubs outside the Premier League’s top six, the Premier League’s biggest teams all have betting partners.
Sports betting firms have found a way to tap into potential customers. Thanks to fan loyalty and the number of eyes available on a matchday, there is an unfathomable number of people they are advertising to.
