BT Becomes The Exclusive Main Sponsor of English Football
BT, the British multinational telecommunications holding company, is the exclusive main sponsor of all 28 English football teams. While the details of the agreement have not yet been released, the 5-year deal is worth an estimated 60 million pounds making it worth close to 10 million pounds a year until 2024.
Additionally, EE, a British mobile network operator owned by BT, renewed its sponsorship with the iconic Wembley Stadium and its role as lead connectivity partner. The goal is to keep Wembley known as the best-connected stadium in the world; a stadium in which fans will experience super-fast WIFI as well as an enhanced 4G and 5G experience.
As part of a press release, BT stated that they will focus their partnership and investment on connecting the nation to every level of the game with an emphasis on supporting football from a grassroots level.
“Announcing our partnership with England and The FA is such a proud moment for all of us at BT,” stated Marc Allera, chief executive of BT’s consumer division. “We have worked with the FA for six-years as part of our partnership with Wembley Stadium to connect even more fans with the national game, and this ground-breaking deal sees us extend that from grassroots football all the way to the pinnacle of the women’s and men’s teams.”
“We’re committed to making BT a national champion, and what better way than backing the national game and the national teams. This partnership will reach all areas of football, including grassroots football and communities up and down the country. We look forward to revealing our plans in the coming months, and we can’t wait to get started.”
As part of the agreement, the BT logo will appear on all 28 English team training kits. The partnership will kick off this week as the women’s national team, who is currently ranked 3rd in the world, wore the new BT branded training kit ahead of their first FIFA World Cup game taking place in Nice France on Sunday, June 9th against Scotland.
The Men’s National Team also sported the new BT logo this past week leading up to their 3–1 loss against the Netherlands in the Nations League semi-final last evening.
Additionally, the BT logo will appear on all training kits worn by the senior English men and women as well as all development, futsal, and disability teams.
Also to note, there is no indication that the BT sponsorship deal included moving all English matches to BT Sport. Currently, both Sky Sports at ITV have agreements to broadcast English games through the 2022 World Cup.
“We are delighted BT will be our new Lead England Partner, encompassing our 28 England men’s and women’s senior teams, development teams, futsal and disability teams,” stated Mark Bullingham, FA chief commercial & football development officer. “Furthermore, I’m thrilled we have also extended our long-standing partnership with EE who will continue as principle partner of Wembley Stadium. We look forward to working with BT and EE over the coming five years, continuing our commitment to developing the game and bringing our fans and teams closer together.”
“This is a great start to an exciting week for England football, with the Lionesses starting their World Cup campaign and the men’s senior team in the finals of the Nations League. I’m really pleased that alongside Barclays and Boots this year, we can add BT to our growing portfolio of commercial partners.”
Good luck to all the women this week as they begin their quest to become the 2019 FIFA World Cup Champion.
FIFA Women’s World Cup Coverage
Host nation: France Dates: 7 June — 7 July 2019
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and the BBC Sport website and App
