Now that General Motors is pulling Chevrolet out of Europe, what next for the brand’s expensive sponsorship deal with leading UK soccer club Manchester United?
The US$559m, seven-year deal is looking less good this year as the famous club has started to slide down the Premier League and is in danger if missing out on next season’s lucrative European Champions League.
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An analysis by Reuters also noted that, by the time Chevrolet exits Europe by the end of next year, the players will be wearing a logo for a product that is non-existent in the region.
The sponsorship deal was aimed at raising the Chevy brand image in Europe where it has faced tough competition, particularly from GM’s own Opel and Vauxhall nameplates, and an economic downturn.
Reuters said the deal still holds promise, however, particularly in emerging markets where Manchester United is popular, but quoted industry experts as saying the value took a hit with the exit from Europe.
One said: “I would not classify it as a bad deal, but if you could rewind the clock, knowing that you’re not going to be marketing the Chevy brand in Europe, would you do this deal at that price? I think the answer is clearly no.”
GM believes that there is still value in the deal, particularly in Asia.
Alan Batey, GM’s North American chief and global head of the Chevy brand, told Reuters: “”Anyone who’s ever lived in Europe or understands Europe will know that there is not a high proportion of Germans that support English soccer clubs. They follow the German professional soccer league. We never, ever did this for Europe, we did this because frankly soccer is the sport of the world. We really did this for our emerging markets, particularly China and Asia.”
Manchester United said almost half of its 659m followers globally are in Asia, including 108m in China. Another 173m are in the Middle East and Africa, and 71m in the Americas, while only 90m are in Europe.
With Chevy pulling out, the European field is left clear for the Vauxhall-Opel brands which chief Karl-Thomas Neumann said were perfectly placed to help spearhead the company’s European revival and a return to profitability by 2016.
Last year, Vauxhall-Opel halted a 14-year slide in market share in Europe, and Neumann was confident it could start to rise again this year.
