Scotland sides sign record sponsorship deal

Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh have both received a cash windfall after they announced a new four-year shirt sponsorship deal with BT Sport.

The sponsorship has been described as a “substantial multi-million pound” deal and will see the clubs wear BT’s logo on their shirts. The deal also sees BT sidestep Sky Sports’ ban on screening its rival broadcaster’s adverts as both the Warriors and Edinburgh will feature in the Heineken Cup and the RaboDirect PRO12, competitions which will feature on Sky next year.

The announcement of the deal follows an Ofcom ruling last month which rejected BT’s complaints over Sky’s refusal to promote its new rivals on its own channels.

When Mark Watson, CEO of TV for BT Retail, was asked whether the sponsorship deal was a ploy to scupper Sky Sports’ ban on advertising their channel, he said: “The RaboDirect (PRO12) will be covered by Sky and other broadcasters too in the next few years and that broadcaster exposure is one of the elements – but not the only one – in what is quite a broad deal with Scottish Rugby.

“This is a sponsorship deal, not a broadcasting deal. We will look in the future at all opportunities to broadcast sports as they come up and if an opportunity comes up to broadcast (the Scottish) rugby teams then of course we will look at it.”

Mark Dodson, chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union – which owns both Edinburgh and Glasgow – hinted the deal would see extra money be made available to strengthen both squads. He said: “This is the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal we have ever signed – by some margin. It dwarfs any deal we have signed in the past.

“We will always be looking for the best players possible. If that means the player budget rises as a consequence, that is what will happen. I’ve given both coaches the reassurance that if there is a top-class player out there that they want, who wants to come to Scotland, we will fund it.”

Scotland sides sign record sponsorship deal