With the Tour de France’s Grand Depart in San Sebastián just two days away, we decided it was time to take a deep dive into the teams sponsors for this year’s Tour with this month’s Sponsorship Index powered by caytoo.
In cycling, as with many sports, the Consumer Goods sector tends to be the most common sponsor, however, cycling stands apart when it comes to the large share accounted for by Health & Wellbeing sponsors.
Among the 400+ sponsors across the 22 teams competing in this year’s Tour de France, 16% are Health & Wellbeing brands. This compares to just 2% in Formula 1, 4% among English football’s Premier League, 5% across global sports federations and 7% across both the NBA and MLB (both 7%).
Clearly, companies see cycling’s fanbase as much more interested in health and fitness, hence the prevalence of sponsors across the likes of fitness/training-related apps and health-related services. In this regard, cycling could therefore be seen as a much more socially responsible environment in that the messages being promoted to its fanbase are more likely to have a positive impact on people’s daily lives.
For example, two sectors which are often criticised when it comes to using sponsorship to promote their wares – Gambling and Alcohol – make up a much smaller share of sponsors among Tour de France teams (2.2% and 1.5% respectively) than in the likes of the NBA (10% / 5.8%), Premier League (6.6% / 7.4%), MLB (6.9% / 4.1%) and across sports federations (4.9% / 3.1%)
This is reinforced by the fact that five of the seven most common individual sponsors provide health/fitness-related products to consumers: training app TrainingPeaks, sport smartwatches Garmin (both with 9 sponsorships), QM Sports Care products (5), EME Italy physiotherapy-related products and body temperature sensor Core (both 4).
With the Ashes underway we spoke to Lancashire Cricket’s Acting Operations Director, Michael Hewson, about how the Club have diversified their income streams and how cricket can be more inclusive.
So, Michael to kick us off, take us through your journey in sport?
My background is a hotelier – up and down the country – from small boutique hotels up to five-star central London properties. A new Hilton Garden Inn was being built here at Emirates Old Trafford so that’s what brought me to Lancashire Cricket in the first instance. I joined in 2016 as General Manager of the hotel, which went on to open in 2017.
Prior to my arrival at the Club, Emirates Old Trafford had undergone a £60 million redevelopment which included new conference and event facilities – such as The Point – so the prospect of a new 150-bed Hilton Garden Inn was hugely exciting and offered the opportunity to maximise revenue, both on a match day and non-match day.
Having been in the role of General Manager, I then moved to the role of Head of Commercial Operations before recently moving into the Acting Operations Director position at the start of the year.
How is your current role at Lancashire different to what you have done before?
I used to be hotel-specific, delivering a hotel experience. Coming to Emirates Old Trafford – this is a venue that does it all.
It’s a 365-day business operation so you’ve got a 150-bed hotel operating, Lancashire’s domestic fixtures, Manchester Originals in the Hundred as well as England games. We’ve got an incredibly business Conference and Events business – whilst we also host 50,000 capacity concerts – of which we’ve just held two nights of Arctic Monkeys back-to-back, which was incredible.
It’s a cliché, but every day really is different!
The cricket season obviously only takes up part of the year, how do you make sure you are bringing in revenue 12 months a year?
One of the key words that you’ll hear me talk about is diversification. This is something that the Club have focused on over the last decade, in terms of diversifying our business model.
Unfortunately, county cricket does not bring in sufficient revenue to cover itself. International cricket brings in a significant amount through ticketing and hospitality and we also have the popular short form competitions in the T20 Blast and the Hundred, but for us, it was about developing a venue that allows us to further diversify our revenue streams.
We opened the 150-bedroom property – the on-site Hilton Garden Inn – which was record breaking in terms of local market penetration. We have Christmas parties in December and January that we do for up to 1,500 people a night. Taking it a step further, we are just month’s away from a 100-room extension to the hotel, taking it up to a 250 bed. This is going to further elevate our Conference and Event business too, as we’ll be able to attract multi-day residential conferences, which will take us to a new level. The new development will also include a dual-aspect new restaurant with views overlooking the pitch that will further enhance our facilities at the ground.
From a commercial partnership perspective, we work with some fantastic brands, including Emirates as our headline partner, Hilton, Heineken, UA92, Sportsbreaks.com, just to name a few. Our sponsorship levels are at a record level – which is fantastic.
The key word for us is innovation. We’re not a traditional county cricket club – which can be viewed as a bit stagnant. We want to be moving things forward, and pardon the pun, push the boundaries. For us, it’s all about creating a world class, multi-purpose venue that has a wide range of revenue streams, so we’re not fully reliant on cricket.
Your members are obviously so important to a county, how do you keep your members engaged through the year and make sure they renew their memberships?
The key for us here is driving the volume and engagement of our membership. We now have around 9,000 members, which is the highest it’s been for a while. Last year, we took a long, hard look at our membership structure, which included significant external research and consultation with new and old members.
I mentioned before about diversity – and we’re looking to grow and diversify our membership. Cricket in all its guises has to be more relevant and attractive to all audiences. Even simpler, the game has to be much more accessible than it has been previously. We’re a members’ club so engagement is absolutely key. They’re not just a traditional season ticket holder, like in football or rugby, so we look to run a programme of events throughout the year, including Forums and coffee mornings including Q&As with players and coaches from both our men’s and women’s teams.
There are lots of different groups who come to cricket from your traditional county members to your more casual T20 fans, how do you try and make sure each of these groups feels valued?
With the addition of the T20 Blast and more recently, the Hundred to the portfolio over the last couple of years, there really is something for everyone when it comes to domestic or international cricket. We know that we have our Traditional Members who have been Lancashire supporters for a long time – and we’d like to thank them for their loyalty – but we also know that there is a younger generation of supporters coming through that enjoy the shorter form of the game.
As mentioned, we simplified our membership offering at the start of the year to try and make coming to watch Lancashire matches easier, more accessible and affordable. The Hundred and the T20 Blast is now the gateway for new cricket supporters and Members, or those that have never been to a cricket match before. We need to the cater for all different supporters that come to Emirates Old Trafford and ensure they all have an unforgettable experience when they walk through the gates.
There’s a lot of talk about trying to get Gen Z involved in cricket at the moment, how are you tackling that challenge?
We’ve already touched on making our membership options more accessible to new and younger cricket fans and ensuring we look to diversify our audience. We have to do all we can to attract fans of the future to get involved with Lancashire Cricket. This is really important for Lancashire’s long-term future.
The digital landscape plays a really important role in this too. We’re developing younger audiences across social media platforms such as Instagram and Tik Tok and the creation of fun and engaging content is at the heart of our strategy in this area.
The team here at Lancashire have also worked tirelessly on LancsTV – our live streaming product, which is well known to be leading the way in domestic cricket. The growth of our live stream viewers over the past two years has been exponential – with over 70% being aged 18-35. We are also the only county to be live streaming in India, across both the Jio and FanCode platforms.
What do you think some of the challenges facing Lancashire and county cricket in general are at the moment?
As I said earlier, unfortunately cricket doesn’t pay for itself – so financial sustainability in the long-term is crucial. That’s been one of the key strategies here at Lancashire Cricket for the last decade, investing in the venue and diversifying our business model. The new hotel extension is going to huge for us over the next ten years, as we look ahead at our long-term plans.
For us, the growth of women’s cricket is right at the top of our priorities too. We’ve had a professional women’s side – Thunder – for the last three years and it continues to develop at pace. We’ve taken both our men’s and women’s teams on pre-season tour over the last couple of years whilst Thunder are playing more and more cricket at Emirates Old Trafford, which is great. Funding is really important and we – the ECB and all counties – must continue to increase investment over the coming years, whilst also ensuring our women’s side has the same access to facilities and opportunities as our men’s team. It was announced last week that we’ll be hosting five women’s Internationals between 2025-31 at Emirates Old Trafford, which is something we’re all looking forward to.
Lastly, we all know what’s happened with cricket over the last couple of years – and it’s been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons at times. We all have a responsibility – along with everyone involved in English Cricket – to ensure that cricket as a game is welcoming and inclusive and that we take every step possible to eradicate any kind of discrimination. This is something Lancashire Cricket is absolutely committed to and is very much part of our DNA and core values as an organisation.
Multiple sports are played and loved globally by people of all ages, backgrounds and genders, with peoples affiliations to clubs and sports being something that unites people from all across the globe.
What if we combined the power of football to unite people around good causes and drive social change by using the power of technology to bridge gaps, build and empower communities and deliver transformative solutions?
Sports Blockchain Chiliz and Common Goal, a pledge-based charitable movement supported by players, coaches and organisations throughout the global football industry, aim to find out, pioneering a movement that brings the football industry together to drive social change by using blockchain technology to allow them to reach and have an impact on a new audience.
It’s a journey that can usher in a new era of increased transparency, accountability and stronger governance in philanthropy, all made possible through the transformative power of blockchain technology.
How blockchain technology can help drive social change through elite sport is a topic that will be covered in great depth at the Emirates Stadium for SEG3 on June 28 & 29.
Be sure to block time in your diary from 14:05-14:35 on June 29th to understand how you can lead the way to a fairer sporting ecosystem alongside:
James Newman, Director for Corporate Affairs, Chilliz
Thomas Preiss, Co-Founder, Common Goal
James Flude, Head of Business Development, MatchWorn Shirt
Daniel Wood, Co-Founder, World Freestyle Football Federation.
This month’s index continues to show volatility between different categories and names. In sports, the surprise Saudi-PGA deal on golf has heightened speculation about which sports could be next to benefit from the investment of Middle East money in particular. That helped Formula One. In a related story, the speculation that the Qataris are still in the bidding for Manchester United and have a strong chance of winning helped boost its share price. Yet it was not all positive. Borussia Dortmund’s share price tanked as it failed to win the Bundesliga on the final day, which was then compounded by the sale of Jude Bellingham.
The major US Tech giants continue to do well and so seven companies – all in Tech – have contributed virtually all of the increase in the S&P 500 US index. That is likely to continue as investors seek safe harbours. Netflix benefited from this general trend but also hopes its password crackdown will help its subscriber numbers and profitability.
Apparel stocks also did well with Adidas continuing to benefit from better than expected results and reducing investor concerns over the Yeezy issue. The stocks generally are also likely to benefit from the perception they are recession proof.
Text by Ian Whittaker, Twice City AM Analyst of the Year
The fourth in-person event of iSportConnect Masterclass+ series of 2023 was built on our new highly-focused and interactive format with breakout discussions at the heart of the event. After many requests we turned the focus to women’s sport and dived into both media revenues and maximising sponsorship revenues as our main topics.
A great list of delegates took part including representatives from Formula 1, Premier League, Barclays, British Olympic Association, Cinch, Saracens, Visa, Barclays and Aston Villa.
In this View From piece Sportico’s, Kurt Badenhausen, Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams, look into the recent sale of the Ottawa Senators for almost $1 billion.
Michael Andlauer has reached an agreement to acquire the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. The team sold for almost $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The group is acquiring the team from the estate of Eugene Melnyk, who died in March 2022 (the Melnyk estate will retain a 10 percent interest in the club). The pharmaceuticals billionaire had acquired the team out of bankruptcy two decades ago for $92 million, and last fall, the Melnyk family retained Galatioto Sports Partners (GSP) to explore a possible sale. The deal is still subject to league approval.
“I believe that the Senators’ fanbase is one of the most passionate in the league, and I’m excited to take the franchise’s success both on and off the ice to the next level,” Andlauer said in a statement released by the team. “The short and long-term future of the team is incredibly bright, and I look forward to getting to know the team, the fanbase and the community.”
Representatives for GSP declined to comment on the sale.
Last year, Sportico valued the Senators at $655 million, 27th in the 32-team league. The Senators have missed the playoffs in six straight seasons, generate the NHL’s third lowest revenue and consistently lose money.
Nonetheless, bidding for the club was robust. Nine different groups submitted offers ahead of the first March deadline, including one from actor Ryan Reynolds and real estate developer Remington Group. Four groups made follow-up bids ahead of the final deadline; along with Andlauer, those included former Pittsburgh Penguins minority owners Jeffrey and Michael Kimel, Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos, and film producer Neko Sparks, whose group also included Snoop Dogg.
Andlauer is a minority owner in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and the owner/chairman of the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs (he previously owned an AHL team with the same name, but sold it to the Canadiens in 2015 and then bought an OHL club that he renamed and moved to Hamilton). He was born in France and raised in Canada, and is now the president and CEO of Andlauer Management Group, which oversees a number of transportation and logistics companies.
The Senators are the first Canadian hockey team to hit the market since the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2012, and one of the new owner’s biggest early priorities will be a new arena location. The Senators currently play at the Canadian Tire Centre, an arena about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the capital city’s downtown center. Many believe the location has limited the team’s attendance; the team averaged 16,757 fans at home this season, which ranked 25th in the league. The Senators also haven’t made the playoffs since 2017.
In June 2022, the Senators signed a memorandum of understanding for a new downtown arena at the LeBreton Flats site. And while a new arena would obviously add to the costs associated with owning the team, many incoming buyers are attracted to the proposition of being able to plan, design and control a new venue (a similar dynamic exists in the sale of the NFL’s Washington Commanders).
Other recent NHL sales include Fenway Sports Group’s 2021 acquisition of the Pittsburgh Penguins for about $900 million, and former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam’s recent purchase of the Nashville Predators, a deal that includes tiered payments that began at a $725 million valuation and will eventually jump to more than $1 billion.
(This story has been updated with Andlauer’s statement released by the Senators.)
Aston Villa have agreed a multi-year partnership with BK8, which sees the brand join as the new Principal and Front of Shirt Partner
The organisation, who have signed a three-year deal with the Club, will have branding featured on the front of Villa’s three shirts until the end of the 2025/26 season and have committed to giving back to charity with this latest announcement.
The club’s third kit, which will be unveiled later in the summer, will see BK8 make a contribution per adult third shirt sold, to a local charity in Birmingham. The move comes off the back of BK8’s previous work over the past two years, working with charities and programmes involving mental health awareness and this initiative is the first of what will be a number of collaborations with the Club.
They are currently co-operating with Her Game Too on the importance of gender equality in football.
Speaking about the rationale behind their charitable aims, BK8 EMEA Managing Director Michael Gatt, said: “We are really delighted to be able to announce our support for local charities as part of our exciting new partnership with Aston Villa. Being able to give something back to the supporters for their dedication is a hugely significant part of the reason we want to be involved with a prestigious institution, which is what Aston Villa Football Club are.
“As a brand working in football for the last few years, we have committed to working closely with our partners’ local community initiatives and ensure we continue our commitment to delivering on our ambitions in this area.
“Over the next three years of this deal we will work tirelessly to make an impact in this area with a number of programmes across the region that engage with Villa supporters locally but also on a global scale.”
An Aston Villa spokesperson said: Through this partnership with BK8 we look forward to exciting collaborations together that will help to grow both brands, particularly within Southeast Asia.”
The brand will also invest in several brand activations across the course of the partnership, which they believe will showcase their commitment to several local charitable initiatives in and around Birmingham. The deal also includes various advertising opportunities including advertising assets at Villa Park, which will be given to charity organisations to display promotional messages throughout the season.
CEO Salauddin SS of Outlast Sports Entertainment, who brokered the partnership, said: “We are thrilled to play a key role in helping BK8’s continued growth and helping forge meaningful football partnerships for the brand. Fans can expect more activations in coming months where we can give back to the community to help bring about even better opportunities for the future.”
In this week’s Member Insights piece David Alexander, MD of Calacus PR, looks into the recent turmoil in the world of golf and the sports lack of a clear PR strategy.
Golf has been going though a massive crisis over the past couple of years as Greg Norman’s rebel LIV Golf tour tried to shake up the very foundations of the sport.
We’ve seen before that their challenger brand approach has had mixed results – with big names such as Phil Mickelsen, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson taking huge financial incentives to join the tour, even though it disqualified them from prestigious golfing events including the Ryder Cup.
With accusations of sportswashing by backers the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and law suits ongoing by families of those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the PGA and DP World Tour were unequivocal in their condemnation.
At the time, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said: “You’d have to be living under a rock not to know that there are significant implications” for signing on with LIV.
“I would ask any player that has left, or any player that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologise for being a member of the PGA Tour?” and praising players loyal to the American circuit for avoiding “moral ambiguity.”
Two of golf’s biggest stars, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, echoed the PGA’s message, standing up for the integrity of the sport and its stand against the Saudi’s unlimited funding.
One of the most important principles of communications, particularly when addressing an issue such as LIV Golf, is to have a plan, stick to it, and know what success looks like at its conclusion.
That relies on consistency and resolve, even in the face of mounting pressure. And it relies on collaboration and engagement with your stakeholders.
In that regard, golf has failed – and the result has sent shockwaves that go way beyond the sport itself.
Golf has a financial problem – global sports firm Nike pulled out of the clubs and equipment market in 2016 because it was not profitable and despite plenty of broadcast deals, the PGA and DP World Tour simply couldn’t compete with LIV Golf’s riches.
If Monahan had any indication that there was a situation where he would have to make such a dramatic volte face, he could have softened his messaging and advised his golfers to follow suit.
As it’s panned out, he now looks like a sell-out and a hypocrite at best and cowardly by eventually caving in to the financial temptations that LIV Golf have seemingly offered.
Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, sent letters to Monahan and Norman and said: “While few details about the agreement are known, PIF’s role as an arm of the Saudi government and PGA Tour’s sudden and drastic reversal of position concerning LIV Golf raise serious questions regarding the reasons for and terms behind the announced agreement.”
The fact that there were ongoing lawsuits between the PGA and LIV, which were already reported to have caused some embarrassment from the Saudis, raises questions about the virtues and motives behind the agreement.
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden have asked the Justice Department to open an antitrust investigation into the planned deal and ongoing investigations will continue.
The fact that the players, executives and even LIV’s Norman knew nothing of the ongoing negotiations and that they were made without consultation or wider approvals raises significant governance concerns.
No wonder world number two John Rahm said that players felt “a betrayal from management” with no clear engagement or clarity despite a reportedly heated and contentious discussion with Monahan.
McIlroy, who turned down millions to remain loyal to golf’s establishment, showed why he is one of golf’s most important assets, getting the balance just right between dismay and determination that the sport of golf comes out of this stronger.
He said: ““I still hate LIV. I hope it goes away. And I would fully expect that it does. And I think that’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF. Very different from LIV.
“There still has to be consequences to actions. The people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this Tour, started litigation against it.
“I told Jay, ‘you’ve galvanised everyone against something and now you’ve partnered it’. Of course I can see how that looks hypocritical.
“I’ve made my peace with it. I’ve seen what’s happened in other sports and businesses. I’ve just resigned myself to the fact this is going to happen. How do you keep up with people who have more money than anyone else? Let’s use the money in the right way.”
That no plans for what the collaborative competitions may look like have been agreed suggests how far the partnership has to go.
The fact that the word “merge” was removed from the press release on the PGA Tour website with so much yet to be agreed underlines the lack of clear strategy behind the agreement – something else which should have been established before going public.
The reputation of golf, its governance and even its new investors has never been more challenged.
Structured planning and communications could have limited the damage and shown a vision players, fans and sponsors could support.
The British Basketball League continues its rapid growth in popularity following a record-breaking season in which linear and digital viewership figures rose by over 200% in a season marked by impressive marketing efforts, historical wins and sell-out crowds.
The curtain rose for the 2022/23 season on 3rd September, with the 10 British Basketball League teams launching into a revamped season, backed by a renewed broadcast deal with SkySports and a fresh #KnowOurName marketing campaign designed to ignite fans’ passion and drive awareness around the League.
Across YouTube and SkySports, British Basketball League viewership increased by 217% across the season as interest continued to grow around the three major tournaments, with the Play-Off Finals recording 377% growth compared to last season. On-the-ground viewership also reached new highs as fans arrived in record numbers at the three major finals namely the Cup, Trophy and Play-Offs held in Birmingham, Glasgow and London, respectively.15,000 fans alone packed into the London 02 Arena to witness history as the London Lions competed for the domestic treble.
The London team dominated proceedings both domestically and in Europe, becoming the first-ever British basketball team to compete in the play-off rounds of the prestigious EuroCup. A mixture of homegrown talent and ex-NBA and international stars ranging from Sam Dekker, Kosta Koufous and Tomislav Zubcic helped contribute to record viewership figures for their EuroCup games this season on BT Sport, with a 181% increase in peak viewership recorded compared to the last peak record.
On social media, both live and on-demand video views jumped from 1.4 million to a staggering 20 million during the 2022/23 season, while engagements across all platforms increased by 492%. The growth was aided by the launch of various user-generated campaigns including Your Coach which invited grassroots teams to nominate their coach for the Community Coach of the Year Award, as well as a Golden Ball treasure hunt around the Play-Off Finals which took place in each of the hometowns of the 10 teams.
Marking the end of a record-breaking year, the season culminated with Leicester Riders star, Blake Bowman taking to the skies to complete a dunk contest on top of the London O2 Arena. The first-of-its-kind stunt was designed to shine a light on another incredible year for the League as it continues to take the game to new heights. The stunt contributed to an additional 5.3 million views across the league’s owned and social channels.
Commenting on the results, British Basketball League’s Head of Marketing, Joe Edwards said:
“The 2022/23 season has been a particularly exciting one as we continue on our mission to make the British Basketball League a household name. The League’s growth is reflected in the end-of-year marketing results in which digital viewership rocketed in comparison to last season. The increased viewership amongst fans and media alike is a clear indication that Basketball is becoming more popular in the UK and it’s a testament to the hard work of the teams, players and the growing in-house British Basketball League team who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes all season to make it a success.”
He added: “I’m already excited to see what is to come next season, and I have every confidence that we will continue to reach new heights and build upon what has been a landmark year for British basketball. Watch this space!”
Vodafone has today made an addition to its partnership with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), in a landmark deal becoming Principal Partner of the men’s senior squad and pathway teams consolidating Vodafone’s commitment to Welsh rugby across the board.
Vodafone is now Principal Partner of men’s, women’s and pathway (U20s and U18s) rugby in Wales, uniting all teams within one partnership, committed to growing rugby at all levels in Wales.
Throughout the partnership with the WRU, Vodafone will support player performance and welfare across the whole of Welsh rugby through innovative tech solutions. This includes the continued investment into its PLAYER.Connect platform. The technology has seen major developments in the past year with the addition of menstrual cycle tracking technology which helps the Wales Women’s rugby team analyse how the menstrual cycle impacts performance, wellbeing, and recovery, showcasing the brand’s commitment to growing women’s rugby.
Vodafone will also use its 5G network to enhance matchday experiences for both fans in Cardiff and those watching at home.
The new partnership with the men’s team builds on Vodafone’s first year with Wales Women’s team as Founding Principal Partner of Women’s and Girls’ rugby which saw a recording breaking crowd of 8,862 for Wales Women’s clash against England at Cardiff Arms Park during the Six Nations championship earlier this year.
The announcement comes ahead of a busy year for Welsh rugby with World Rugby U20 Championship kicking off on June 24th in South Africa followed by the Vodafone Summer Series, the men’s Rugby World Cup in France, and the inaugural W.XV tournament in New Zealand for Wales Women.
Chief Commercial Officer at Vodafone, Max Taylor, said: “Vodafone’s expanded partnership with Welsh Rugby Union now covers both the men’s and women’s game, from grassroots up. With the World Cup just around the corner it is a hugely exciting time for rugby, and we are excited to see how technical innovation can help take player performance, player welfare and fan engagement to the next level.”
WRU CEO, Nigel Walkeradded: “We are delighted to have secured Vodafone as our key front of shirt sponsor for the Wales senior men’s side and pathway teams.
“Vodafone’s partnership with and support for our Wales Women’s side and pathway teams, and with Principality Stadium as our digital transformation partner, is already paying huge dividends to Welsh rugby.
“These are exciting times for the game in Wales, with sustainability now established off the field allowing increased potential for long term success on it.
“Through their partnership Vodafone will play an integral part in the future of the game in Wales and we are delighted to welcome their further commitment and support for Welsh rugby today.
“Finally, I’d like to say good luck to the U20s team who play their first match of the World Rugby Championships against New Zealand in Paarl this Saturday proudly wearing that Vodafone sponsored jersey.”
The announcement continues Vodafone’s broader commitment to help grow rugby at all levels of the game, following their partnerships with the Armed Forces Men’s and Women’s Rugby Teams and Premier XVs side DMP Sharks, and their landmark sponsorship of the 2021 British & Irish Lions’ Tour.
