Eircom international contract extends but league deal to end

EIRCOM are extending their sponsorship of Ireland’s international football teams but, as was widely predicted, will not be renewing their title sponsorship of the League of Ireland when the current contract ends in December.

The announcement was made at eircom’s new Dublin headquarters yesterday, at an event attended by senior international manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

The new deal will see the telecommunications company extend their sponsorship of international football through to 2010, with an option to renew thereafter. They will also maintain an involvement with the domestic game as the official communications partner of the League of Ireland but the league will no longer bear the company’s name next season.

FAI chief executive John Delaney said eircom’s continued input into the domestic game would still be worth €200,000 a year and noted that a deal already brokered with the betting firm Boylesports is worth €75,000 a year to the league.

Under the previous deal with eircom, the FAI internally allocated €400,000 to the League of Ireland, and yesterday Delaney insisted that, with further sponsorships to be announced in the coming months, the FAI would “well exceed” the existing figure.

However, he did leave open the possibility that the league might not have a title sponsor next season.

Said the FAI boss: “I don’t want to speculate on whether there will be a title sponsor or not but we’ve got a good number of sponsorships to announce in relation to the league over the next couple of months. I think it’s important that we put more money into the prize fund and into the resourcing of the league. That’s a commitment we made and we will certainly be honouring it.

“There’s a strong appetite out there to sponsor the league in different categories — because of its profile in terms of media coverage and live TV — and the evidence of that will be shown over the next couple of months. I’m satisfied with where we’re at and that the further announcements to come will be good for the league. They will be significant in terms of cash and for leveraging and branding awareness.

Ultimately, we will be able to give more money to the clubs, which we all know they badly need.”

On the international front, Cathal Magee, managing director of eircom Retail, said he did not want to disclose the commercial terms of their new deal as the FAI’s primary sponsor but said it would involve “an increased financial commitment over and above what we have contributed in the past”.

Eircom’s sponsorship of the international team dates back to 2000 and, under the terms of the deal when it was renewed in 2004, was worth €1.7m a year.

Trapattoni welcomed eircom’s support, saying: “It’s always important for football and business to work together. Eircom do a fantastic job for Irish football. For football to develop, a good relationship with the main sponsor is vital and I am very glad we have that here in Ireland with eircom.”

Eircom’s new contract with the FAI comes into force on January 1.

Meanwhile, responding to the announcement by Platinum One that they are withdrawing their proposals for an All-Ireland League, John Delaney reiterated his belief in the concept but said it could only come to pass when it has the full backing of the associations in Belfast and Dublin.

“The IFA didn’t want it and all we can do is continue to work closely with them on greater cross-border cooperation,” he said.