30 years of Premier League kits and sponsors
How the times have changed
The Premier League is about to enter its 31st season. This is close to a generational gap, which is generally believed to be around 25–30 years. A lot has changed in this time and what better narrator of passing time can we have than the changes in team kits.
I review shirt sponsorships for the past 30 seasons (1991/92 to 2021/22) at 10-year intervals, with the aim of surfacing key trends and finding out the fate of some iconic sponsors of yesteryear.
1991/92
Jerseys
For the 1991/92 season, the last before the Premier League era, the kit landscape was as below.
Sponsors
Shirt sponsorship in English football picked up full steam in 1987. At that time, information technology was starting to permeate into everyday use, primarily in the form of computers and peripherals. Not surprisingly many sponsors were technology related. While some still exist, others are defunct or have merged into other corporations.
Then and now
Commodore was a home-computer and electronics manufacturer, maker of the legendary 8-bit computer the Commodore 64. Tulip was a Dutch manufacturer of PC clones. Mita Copiers is now acquired by Kyocera.
Moving on the iconic jerseys of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal: Candy is now owned by Haier, Sharp by Foxconn and JVC is now absorbed into Panasonic corporation.
I could not determine whether the local double-glazing firm BAC Windows who sponsored West Ham are still active. The Peugeot factory in Coventry shut in 2006.
Review
8/22 teams had electronics or computer manufacturers as shirt sponsors, followed by homeware/tool makers and breweries/beverage makers (4 each). Others include athletic wear, car and even confectionery makers. This was a simpler time for football, which remained centred mainly on the local audience and their household needs. The game however was starting to become more international. The rebranding of the top flight competition as the Premier League from 1992/93 would change the landscape forever.
2001/02
Jerseys
Fast forward a decade, in 2001/02 the kit landscape was as follows.
Sponsors
As the game became more international, it’s not surprising to see global brands like Vodafone and Emirates become shirt sponsors. Emirates was interestingly the sponsor of Chelsea, unlike now, when it’s synonymous with their London rivals Arsenal. Audio-visual entertainment corporations were also well represented in sponsorship.
Then and now
NTL was a cable TV and telecom provider, now absorbed into Virgin Media. One2One was another telco which after a series of mergers ultimately ended up being absorbed into the Deutsche Telekom. Friends Provident is now part of Aviva insurance.
Review
6/20 teams had sponsors relating to audio-visual entertainment or telco services, reflecting the rise of the internet, cable and start of the telco-media convergence that a sporting product like EPL was perfectly poised to amplify. Food/beverage was next biggest category (5), followed by athletic wear, electronics, financial services and transportation (2 apiece). As the game became more international, we saw the Big 4 gravitating towards blue-chip brands that resonated with world-wide audiences. Technology was very much the flavour for sponsorships although compared to 1991/92, it was now more “information” technology now rather than “device” technology.
2011/12
Jerseys
In the second decade of this century, the kit landscape was as follows.
Sponsors
While the 2011/12 sponsors were completely different from 2001/02, they do provide a rough blueprint for the sponsorships of this season (2021/22) with three teams having the same sponsors — Liverpool, City and Arsenal.
Then and now
Spurs’ sponsor Aurasma, which was an Augmented Reality platform, is now defunct. This shows the fast-changing nature of technology on how a cutting-edge and well-used product can become defunct in a relatively short period of time. Northern Rock, which was a British bank, is now part of Virgin Money, and Britannia Building Society has merged into The Co-operative Bank.
Review
The 2010s started a noticeable trend towards betting sponsorship. With the rise of the Internet and micro-transactions, betting found a convenient platform online. 7/20 clubs were sponsored by casino/betting type organizations. Interestingly, most are smaller and mid-to-bottom lower-half clubs. I wonder why? Maybe because as underdogs, they offer more betting returns for the inherent risk?
Financial services formed the next biggest group (6), followed by aviation (3). The last two decades, before the arrival of the Coronavirus, were the golden age of commercial aviation. There were more flights than ever, more deals than ever and people flew across countries with impunity. What better place for airlines to advertise to than the Premier League, with the UK a popular destination for Asia and Middle East, and connected conveniently by direct flights. Also, what better place to showcase a brand than the Premier League which in that decade was raking in nearly £1.8b in rights revenue alone.
2021/22
Jerseys
Finally, we come to this season, where the kit landscape was covered in an earlier post by this publication (link below).
Sponsors
Review
Continuing, and indeed accelerating, the trend of recent times, 9/20 (45%) shirt sponsors this season are online gaming/betting related. The internet is becoming more mobile, consumption devices have proliferated and the game is now truly global. This combined with the advent of big-data, and the traditional association of betting with football games has perhaps driven this trend. Is it a good thing? Gambling brings broader problems in society and the impact of that has to be acknowledged. That’s a separate issue in itself.
Transportation is the next most popular sponsorship category (5), followed by financial services (4). Alcoholic beverage makers are not the main shirt sponsor for any Premier League team now, a trend continuing from the 2017/18 season. Compared to 1991/92 baseline, personal computers, home electronics, alcohol and local-industry sponsors are now completely absent from the shirt sponsorship landscape.
Over the last 30 years, we’ve experienced a generational shift. In the early 90s, our largely analogue society was starting to be encroached upon by computers. The arrival of the Internet then ushered in an unprecedented revolution. It allowed the creation of new products and services and changed how existing products and services were consumed.
Like technology and society, the financial landscape of football was also in for seismic change. When the Premier League was formed, the TV rights market was starting to starting to emerge. It would grow exponentially over time — in terms of both reach and dollar value. With the current TV deal close to £5bn, the Premier League is now the most lucrative in the world. Broadcasting rights are now the main earner for clubs, surpassing traditional gate receipts. The game is now global and the sponsors are also targeting global audiences.
How will the sponsorship landscape look in 10 years’ time from now?
Given the huge and fast-moving changes in football, the world and society, it’s difficult to pinpoint anything. In the last decade the 3 categories of sponsors accounted for 80%-90% of sponsorships. So perhaps the current trend might continue with just the specifics changing? As countries move towards clean(er) energy, we might see an entry by Electric Vehicle manufacturers? We might see a drop in betting related sponsorships as the voice against gambling picks up? Or perhaps we may see a more radical change? We could see the end of a main shirt sponsor and have the precious real-estate on a jersey taken up by more and more sponsors (sleeve, badge, neck etc.)? Alternatively, instead of jerseys being crowded billboards, we could see the hugely influential kit-makers do some “forward-integration” and make plain jerseys with just their brand on it? There are many possibilities. It will be an interesting area to watch for sure.
Shirt sponsorships tell the story of an age, an era and a generation. As the Premier League turns 31, the changing sponsors on football jerseys provide a rich context of many things.
If you liked this post, my kit review of this (2022/23) season will be appearing soon. Stay tuned.
