Premier League's New Ban On Shirt Sponsorships Explained

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Gambling firms will no longer be able to sponsor Premier League kits, but why?

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:04 Premier League clubs look set to announce a groundbreaking change to kit sponsorships

00:08 with gambling firms likely to be outright banned from appearing on the front of shirts.

00:12 Hello there everybody, Adam Cleary, 442 here, and if something just looks

00:16 slightly wrong to you about this picture, then, well, get used to it.

00:21 I mean, obviously, not really. Premier League clubs simply love money too much to ever allow

00:26 it to get to this point, but the fact remains that the legislation they're planning on bringing

00:29 in was brought in right now, this is how it would look. And not just for Newcastle United,

00:34 but for nearly half of the entire league. So what's actually happened? Well, nothing,

00:40 yeah, you're right, but at a meeting on Thursday of this week, the Premier League were apparently

00:44 voting on whether or not to ban gambling firms from advertising on the front of Premier League

00:50 kits. Is that a big deal? Well, yes, it's an enormous deal, because if we just look at this

00:54 beautiful graph here for a second, you can see 40% of the Premier League currently have a betting

00:59 firm on the front of their shirt. That's Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Leeds,

01:04 Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham all potentially affected by this rule change.

01:09 Also, just a quick one, you've got Wolves, Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton all sponsored by

01:13 financial services as well. Pretty sure that's just gambling for rich people. Not that I'd know,

01:18 but... Now, reports are that clubs would get around three years to finish their existing deals,

01:23 and it's only a ban on the very front of the shirt, not the sleeve part or the bottom of the

01:28 back or the top of the back, which happens in some countries and looks really weird to me. But

01:32 anyway, I digress. So it's not as dramatic as it necessarily sounds, but still fairly significant

01:38 given how prominent it is. So the question is, why are the Premier League doing that? They get

01:42 loads of money from these gambling firms. Why voluntarily agree to get rid of them? Well,

01:48 the answer is twofold, my friends. First of all, this comes after years and years of pressure from

01:52 charities and anti-gambling groups saying the Premier League needs to take more responsibility

01:56 for the impact gambling has on society and just stop featuring it as prominently. And that's not

02:02 exactly new, because if you think back to the 90s, it was alcohol that was the predominant

02:06 sponsor of Premier League shirts, and over time, the clubs have steadily moved away from that.

02:10 Not through any legislation or any official rule, but they did at least see which way the wind was

02:14 blowing in regards to alcohol advertising. It's got some of the strictest in the world in the UK,

02:18 so it was a case of, well, let's just not pursue that as an avenue because sooner or later,

02:22 it'll bite us in the arse. And they are probably due a little bit of credit for correctly reading

02:27 the room on this one. Like, anti-gambling advertisement is unignorable these days,

02:31 and even pro-gambling advertisement tends to carry a little disclaimer saying,

02:35 "Are you absolutely sure you want to gamble? It could be pretty bad for you."

02:39 My favourite one, personally, is the ones that go, "Hey, use our betting app. It comes with

02:43 all these great tools that will stop you using this betting app." But the main reason they are

02:47 bringing this in is it is a case of them jumping before they are pushed by the government. You see,

02:52 there is a major government report due in April of this year that looks on gambling advertisements,

02:56 specifically in sport, and what impact that's having on people. And it's been repeatedly

03:00 implied by the government that that report is likely to recommend an outright ban on betting

03:05 advertisement in the Premier League. And ultimately, because it would be government legislation,

03:10 there's not really anything the Premier League would do about it. Like, don't get me wrong,

03:13 they'd be back and forth, and there'd probably be a bit of compromise. They would try and reach an

03:16 agreement together. But if the government just turned around and said, "Look, at the end of this

03:20 season, we don't care what contracts you've signed, get rid of all the gambling firms completely,"

03:26 the Premier League would probably have to do it. So this move by the Premier League is ultimately

03:30 designed to do it on their terms, rather than have something they don't like imposed on them

03:35 a few months down the line. And that's why there is a three-year grace period, so they can see out

03:39 all these contracts. That's why it's only a ban on the front of the shirt, and you still have it

03:43 on the sleeve, so you can still work with these companies, you can still get a bit of their money.

03:47 So while it's almost certainly not going as far as the government would probably recommend,

03:51 it's still a good enough step that their view will be, "Well, we could come down on them really hard,

03:55 we could go full scorched earth and get another whole thing, and then end up having to compromise

03:59 into pretty much this arrangement anyway, or we can leave them to it because, you know,

04:03 they're going to sort it themselves." But of course, this does beg the question about what's

04:07 going to happen to the Football League, because not only are the front of their shirts rife with

04:11 betting companies, but they have several divisions that are literally sponsored by them. I don't think

04:17 it's too much of an exaggeration to say that betting firms are pretty much propping up the

04:21 entire football pyramids in this country, so what are they going to replace them with? It's going to

04:25 be crypto, isn't it? Because that won't end in tears. So there you go, that is the Premier League's

04:30 impending ban on gambling firms advertising on the front of shirts explained nice and neatly for you.

04:35 I hope that cleared it up. Let us know what you make of this in the comments below. Good idea,

04:38 bad idea, all opinions welcome. And of course, don't forget to like, share and subscribe. I say

04:42 subscribe all the time because I really do mean it, it helps us out a whole bunch. Anyway, until

04:46 Until next time, I've been Adam Cleary, and I'll see you soon.

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