The Premier League has long-term associations with several companies, but it hasn’t had a lead sponsor for the last five years.
When the deal with Barclays expired at the end of the 2015-16 season, a decision was taken not to seek a replacement.
Inspired by major American sporting competitions, such as the NBA and the NFL, the Premier League wanted to establish a simple brand identity, undiluted by sponsorship.
This was a significant change of direction for the league, which had previously had a lead sponsor for all but its first season of existence.
In 1993, the Premier League signed a four-year deal with brewing company Carling for £12million, which was then extended for another four years.
In 2001, Barclaycard took over for three years, paying £48million for its association with the Premier League.
When that came to an end, Barclays stepped in and would continue sponsoring the competition for the next 11 years.
With the ever-increasing profile of the Premier League, the value of that deal continued to rise, eventually reaching £120million for three years by 2012.
After Barclays decided against renewing, the Premier League could have continued to capitalise on the desire to be associated with it but chose not to.
It was felt that retaining the purity of the brand was more important than the money that could be raised through sponsorship.
But this hasn’t prevented the Premier League from developing official partnerships with EA Sports, Budweiser, Hublot, Nike, Oracle and former lead sponsor Barclays.
As the most popular football league in the world, these deals are still worth huge sums of money and provide valuable exposure to a global audience for the companies concerned.
