SPAIN. We answer this smart observation from an INFOPLAY reader about La Liga and the visibility of gambling sponsorships
Last Friday a reader left in the comment box the question about whether the current jerseys of the eight First Division clubs that sport bookmaker sponsorships were going to be seen in the first matches of the competition (which starts on Thursday 11 of June). The answer, in the absence of possible last-minute changes, would be NO: the exceptional measures against commercial gaming communications during the State of Alarm will also affect the First Division of Spanish football.
While the Spanish Football Association (LFP) and the Administration debate in admitting up to a third of the capacity in the stadiums after the positive news in the de-escalation, what is still not clear is whether the La Liga matches that are played before raise the Alarm Status will have or not advertising of gaming operators; a reality that is very relevant especially in the case of the eight La Liga Santander teams that have gaming companies as their main sponsor:
But in addition, ten other clubs would have to hide sponsorships of sports betting brands that appear in other parts of the clothing or in elements and spaces visible on their benches and on the advertising panels of the stadiums.
Doubt is also generated in the communications themselves and in the Liga de Fútbol Profesional that has Sportium as its main partner, or the ACB Basketball League (Liga Endesa) whose final phase begins on Wednesday, June 17 (before the end of the State de Alarma) and has 888sport.es as a sponsor.
First, it is clear that as we have been reporting since the end of March, the emergency decree that restricted advertising of the game to the extreme during the Alarm State, will affect all forms of external advertising by operators, after hours at dawn on television, which would obviously affect the massive visibility formats that are achieved with advertising on T-shirts and notorious places in broadcasts of First Division soccer games.
However, it is working against the clock to get a permit from the Ministry of Consumption. As explained in an article that remained on the cover of the online version of Marca for more than three hours, some clubs would be willing to play with advertising now that "the situation is not entirely clear":
"It is being consulted ... but without news", explain some sources consulted to Marca, who basically "do not understand this direct damage to the clubs since, right now, in almost all of Spain, you can enter a house at any time of face-to-face betting or you can listen to the radio advertising of the official State Lotteries ". And it is that eliminating this advertising for at least two weeks, would surely mean dispensing with one of the most important sources of income for the clubs.
That is why most clubs trust that Minister Alberto Garzón will allow these measures to be more comprehensive, at least in this initial period of the competition.
