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Four teams in Italian soccer’s top-tier Serie A has started a new 2019-20 season without main shirt sponsors. According to analysts, a new law banning the advertising of gambling companies had a significant impact there.
One of the four teams is Rome-based Lazio, two-times Italian champion and Coppa Italia cup competition winner from last season. Last August, Lazio signed a short-term sponsoring deal with Marathonbet, the international online betting company, in full knowledge that a ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship was looming.
Since the Marathonbet deal has expired, the club has yet to attract a new partner. A recent report by the Italian soccer federation (FIGC), stated that club would miss out on around €4.5 million income this year as a result of the lost Marathonbet sponsorship after the so-called ‘Dignity Decree’ was drawn up by the country’s coalition government and accepted into law. The legislation, which covers sponsorship across all sports, outlawed all forms of gambling advertising (except for the country’s national lottery).
In addition to Lazio, Serie A teams with betting sponsors affected by the ruling have included, AC Milan (StarCasino), Inter Milan (bwin), Juventus (Betfair) and Roma (Betway). However, all these teams have found new sponsorship deals and it’s Genoa, S.P.A.L, and Sampdoria which are the other three clubs without it.
The ruling also affects visiting soccer teams in Italy. For example, Wolverhampton Wanderers, of England’s Premier League, was unable to display branding of their main sponsor ManBetX, the Asian betting website, for their match against Torino in the Uefa Europa League last week. England team were instead playing with the logo of the Wolves Foundation, their charity arm.
A recent report sent to the Italian government calculated that between them, Serie A clubs would lose in the region of €100 million ($110 million) in sponsorship revenues as a direct result of the betting advertisement ban. Multiple Serie A clubs and betting companies have been critical of the legislation and criticised it publicly.
Among teams with active shirt sponsorship deals, Juventus, the Serie A champions for the last eight seasons, are understood to have the most lucrative one, with Fiat paying the Turin club €17 million a year to promote its Jeep brand. AC Milan, Roma, and Inter Milan all earn over €10 million annually from their contracts.
Sassuolo reportedly receives €18 million per year from Mapei, although that sum also includes stadium naming rights.
