New Shirt Sponsor Revisited

By: Elisa | July 28th, 2008

I am not sure how I feel about this. I have had a day to think about this now and I am still scratching my head. This is a huge historic change and decision. 110 years of tradition gone - poof! The Athletic supporters on the foros/forums are furious and ready to boycott. Fans are sending protest letters to the club. What will the socios think? What next, the cantera? The Basque only policy? A corporate sponsor, an oil company, on Athletic’s kit for a mere 2M Euros a year for three years. OK, there are escalation clauses for Europe and Copa del Rey performances, but this doesn’t even cover one transfer? Are we in dire straits financially? Are we that desperate for monies? Is it all about branding? I don’t get it.

Below is a translation of an article from Canal Athletic, posted on the Xtratime Athletic Board:

Petronor, first private sponsor on Athletic’s shirt

Athletic reached an agreement with the Basque petrol company “Petronor” and they will be the first sponsor on Athletic’s shirt for the first time in history (not counting the “Euskadi” experience some years ago).

The agreement was signed for the next 3 seasons and, even though the amount isn’t public, it seems that Athletic will receive 1.5M € per season, although some other sources talk about 2M per season. The only thing it’s known is that it depends on variables.

Garcia Macua defends the agreement, because it’s an important injection of money for the club and the debate about “dirtying the shirt is already a thing of the past”.

Macua considers that the fans are mature enough to understand the decision. “People realize that there’s a relationship between doing an important project and the strength of the economic aspect. The other option is to diminish the weight of the sport aspects, because we would have to sell an important player every 4 or 5 years to keep the balance of the accounts”.

The amount of 2M “are relative, because it’s 3 years depending on variables, for participating in Europe and Copa del Rey results”.

The operation was closed last Thursday after months of work. “One of the objectives, when we talked about the necessity of finding new regular economic resources, was this one. It’s the moment to show the implication and support of the society of Bizkaia. We know we have a difficult model and, if we don’t have the support of the big companies, institutions, socios and professionals, we have it complicated. All of us must be involved. It’s easy to talk well about Athletic, but now it’s time to show it with facts”.

“For us, reaching this kind of agreement with such an important company in Bizkaia, an engine of the economy that creates jobs and incomes, has a lot of added valie and we are satisfied for it”.

The agreement will be officially announced on Tuesday, before the presentation of the team. Josu Jon Imaz, president of Petronor, and Antonio Brufau, president of Repsol YPF (owner of Petronor) will attend to the presentation.

Maybe I am overreacting, but I am kinda dumbfounded and speechless. Is this indicative of the financial state of La Liga? Let me know your thoughts….