Two-year 32Red.com deal comes to a close with UK-based soccer club opting for a charity logo instead.

Monday 9th June 2008

In England, Aston Villa Football Club has announced that it will be replacing online casino 32Red.com as its official shirt sponsor with a charity logo from next season.

Gibraltar-licensed 32Red.com paid an initial six-figure sum to have its logo feature prominently on the Birmingham-based club’s jerseys and training attire. In addition, the two-season deal signed in 2006 also saw it agree to share some of its affiliate revenues under a marketing arrangement.

“This is exactly the kind of deal we were seeking in our marketing strategy,” Ed Ware, Chief Executive Officer for 32Red.com said at the time.

“The sponsorship will give us significant exposure at matches. We have advertised at soccer venues and horse racing meetings and it has been very successful for us. The deal fits in very well with our strategic plans as it will further help build our brand through exposure on television and in the national press in Britain and around the world.'

The Premier League club will now feature the logo for the UK’s Acorns Children’s Hospice on its shirts, the first English club to switch their sponsor for a charity. However, this is not the first time a soccer club has forgone a lucrative commercial endorsement to support a charity as Spanish giants Barcelona took the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) as its main sponsor in 2006 followed by Swedish clubs Hammarby and Brondby.

'We are striving to react with one eye on tradition and the other on progress,” read a statement from Aston Villa.

“Aston Villa's history and heritage remain fundamental values that cannot be ignored and all these factors shaped our internal expectations regarding the sponsorship value of our shirt and the esteem in which we hold and cherish whatever symbol or message appears on it.”

Source: OnlineCasinoNews