The revenue earned by clubs has already taken a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic preventing patrons from entering stadiums. If that wasn’t enough, La Liga’s latest rules will have a nasty impact on the finances of most clubs.
According to a law passed by the government, betting companies will be banned from sponsoring teams. Have a look at the official declaration by the government here.
Spanish Minister for Consumer Affairs Alberto Garzon told the press of the government’s intentions on La Sexta. His statement reads as follows: “In the decree that will be approved in October we are going to prohibit that football clubs carry bookmakers on their shirts; it is reckless the clubs that are signing deals for two or three years and will have to correct it. They are making mistakes and they will have to correct it,”
To wrap it up in short, the government is looking to ban La Liga teams from having betting companies sponsor them in any form.
Impact of the declaration
The declaration by Garzon prevents the logos of betting companies to appear on the shirts of clubs in Spain. Although the league itself is involved with Sportium as the official sportsbook company of the league, the ban imposed on clubs will hamper the amount of money they get from these betting companies by up to 70%.
The biggest teams in Spain that are sponsored by betting teams include Sevilla and Valencia. While Valencia is sponsored by Bwin, Sevilla sports Marathon Bet’s logo in bold on their kits. Other teams that earn profit from betting companies include Alaves, Leganes, Granada, Mallorca, Osasuna, and Levante.
This is not the first time that the Spanish government has tried to cut down on betting.
After play resumed following the lockdown, teams were forced to hide betting sponsors for three matchdays. This was because of the state of emergency declared in Spain until the 25th of July.
The league looks set to make a change in the sponsorship landscape from the 2020-21 season. This could impact a lot of clubs negatively, not to mention putting their future in jeopardy.
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